'34 Dodge Brothers, double build.

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MercuryMac

Builder Junky!
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
Messages
4,919
Location
Northern Alberta, Canada.
I'm trying this thread for the second time. Anyhow, my plan for this '34 Dodge Brothers truck was to make it into a ratrod with a wide block, poly 318, New Process 435, 4 speed, and a Dodge Dart rear-end. The whole truck is a rough barn find, in fact too rough for a ratrod, so I'd have to tinker it up a wee bit to make it a rat.
This summer a lady phoned me and asked if I was the guy who had a lot of jalopies. I was almost offended but thought maybe she didn't know that we didn't use that term anymore. I nodded, so she wanted to come out to the farm and look them over. I am always up for an old car tour with a nice sounding lady. She came out and looked over the cars and trucks, all the while telling me her story. She was part of a team putting on a play in town, [The Grapes of Wrath] and needed an old jalopy. I was thinking my Model A, but no, she needed a truck to carry a big family and their stuff. [I was supposed to read this book in grade 12, but it was summer out and I had things to do.] She picked the '34 Dodge Bros truck. It was a bit rough in places for her liking and too nice in others. Could I rough up the wheels that I had already sand-blasted, primed, painted and installed new tires on? Could I fix up a better seat and throw away the 12" x12" block of wood and mouse poopy towel that was there? Could I fix up the grille a wee bit?
Anyhow I was putty in her hands and meekly said yes, all the while scheming what it would take after this play was over and I could make it back to the original planned ratrod.
Think of the fame and fortune, guys.
The pictures are of the truck in the shed where I found it.
 

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Heck, half the job of making it a "Rat Rod" is already done for you. Mac .:D[cl:cool: [ddd
p.s.
She would need a stake bed truck to be legit for the grapes of wrath.
My grandfather, who was born long before the great depression, would mutter"Grapes of wrath" under his breath every time we went by some shack that had stuff piled up all around it.
Glad he's not around to see my "shack.":eek:[ddd
[P [P [P
Torchie
 
I haven't figured out yet if we have to bow or just tip our hats when enters after all that fame...[ddd:D
 
Thank you guys.
Skull, I get fussy when the grille looks like that. This truck has one little rust hole in it, which is really good, but there isn't a square inch on it that isn't beat all to heck. The old fellow that had it, picked rocks into it for forty years. He couldn't fix anything so when the brakes went he just ran into trees and granaries to stop.
I'd need some of your magic to rub this out, Small. A tip of the hat will suffice.
Torchie, yes, it is almost a ratrod already. I offered her a pretty good '36 two ton which I could have cobbled up a stake deck for. No Dice. Too heavy to push around on stage. Besides, this story was set in about 1934 so the truck should be about a 1926.
Soltz, I mostly wasn't silver tongued, I just nodded and smiled at the good lookin' lady. [That's got me into trouble before too.]
Dr. Crank, It's going along 'pretty not too bad', so far.
The seat was first on my agenda. The bottom springs were of unknown origin but fit nicely in the Dodge seat riser, and the back is out of a Plymouth four door sedan. I bought some foam, some backing and some thin canvas and made some seats that will do for both builds. Mrs. Mercmac sewed the tucks up that we had to make.
 

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OI, which one are talking about, the volunteering to help out in the artsy industry, or smiling and nodding to a good looking lady?

Joedoh, I agree the front end will need a wee bit of tinkering up.
 
And speaking of tinkering up the front end, here goes. The lady from the Grapes of Wrath, wanted the truck to look like it was on it's last legs, but the grille was a way past that she grumbled. I agreed, so I started the fixing. It was a wreck. I've seen guys that would just weld a cultivator shovel or a coyote trap on this grille and call it a ratrod. Not this cowboy.
Here's a Plymouth grill that I thought I'd use, but it's about 1" too short.
 

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More welding on the grille shell. I believe you shouldn't use body filler on the front of a vehicle where rock rash happens, so all body work should be done with ----- metal. Anyhow it's done and picture two is showing my secret weapon, [Ultra-flat dark brown camouflage]. If I paint any old rusty thing that I've worked on for days, then no-one will ever guess that I touched it. They think I lucked out again and found a gem.
 

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