A little light entertainment: 1939 Ford 1 ton Utility restoration

[Mike K]

I always liked those utes . Never got the chance to get hold of one in good enough shape to restore. I did have a 11D hardtop . I looked at a 1941 11Y at Werribee garden centre but it was stuffed , the guy wanted 2k$ for it , a chassis and cab .

Regarding the panels . I was at John Belfields workshop , he was fabricating new side panels for his ute. He used formers to make the 3 ribbed section with a brake press. He is a clever chap, the job turned out excellent . I guess you have seen his ute at Corowa ?

[jack neville]

I did start to post this on another thread but since I have got the photos on the computer and can load them better I will update onto here. New blank side panels for the rear body, door skins and tailgate. The first two photos show the small original sample and a test piece. Third photo shows how the die was formed up. I got some panels with a longer section to be used for door skins as required.

[jack neville]

Photos of full panel. Still considerable amount of folding and shaping to be done but it can be hand finished. Nice to have clean straight metal to work with instead of chasing warped rusty rubbish full of holes.
Mr Jones is a very handy man to know. Well done Colin.

[jack neville]

Its been a while since I touched the Ford ute but time to do some more work on it.
I need to put the rear body together before I can continue on with the running boards as whichever way I go with them I need to line them up between the front and rear guards to get them right. I picked up a rear tailgate separate to the rest of the vehicle from Colin Anderson many years ago. The pictures tell the story of its condition.

[jack neville]

The inner panel looks promising but there were signs that the outer skin had already been re-skinned once before.

[jack neville]

Most of the locks and catches are there and can be salvaged. Not one screw or bolt could be removed even with plenty of heat so the two outer skins were cut off. I melted most of the bolts out and removed all the fittings leaving the inner panel bare.
The first photo shows the second skin over the original.

[jack neville]

The inner panel needs sandblasting obviously and a fair bit of repair and straightening. I will need to make new catches and housings and then reskin the outside.