This is Davins Truck as found in a friends shed.
Pic by Davin.

Pic by Davin.

Pic by Davin.

Scary stuff I know- but its only metal- we don't let a few small dents spoil our day. ( well year then..)
Yes it is as bad as it looks - but we have a cunning plan - and no it dosent involve Turnips...

Well battered - yet obviously not yet beaten. Another year and another dream to build for someone. This 1950 Desoto is quite quirky and rare- so I figured it would be something different to the usual diet of Holden projects I tackle for clients.

Its hard to believe - but they made quite a few different variations of this truck. One was just a cab chassis- then there is this version - with a Ute section crudely tacked on the back of the cab- thus making it an overgrown Ute- and the third was the Coupe version - which had a more car like appearance. The weird part is that it was available not only in a few different body styles - but also Brands! You had a choice of Dodge, Desoto or Fargo. It becomes clearer that back in the post war period- Trucks were a necessity. Cars were scarce and demanded lengthy waiting periods if you wanted a new one- so most folk bought commercial vehicles- hence the reason why there so much choice and after all they were practical vehicles.

From this angle the truck dosent look like its in too bad a shape. The front never really copped the same hard life as the business end - but still requires a lot of work to make it like new again.

The front floors are pretty solid for the most part - but there are some pinholed areas that will require replacement.

That rear bulkhead is all but punched through and although not at all rusty - is rather bashed- and yes it has to be fixed! You may also notice some small amounts of rust around the rear of the seat support. This is gone on both sides- and as its part of the body mount - its crucial its repaired

Although the truck isn't overly rusty- where the rust is - its quite severe. The bed channels used to hold timber for the floor to screw to- the channels are nearly non existent now- and the rust ate right through the wheel tubs on both sides

The inside of the left door has been intensively repaired - the filler you can see is over the panel beaten and welded areas - its actually not really filler- its a finishing product called Dolphin Glaze. The nature of this product means its only intended as a thin skim - note it is applied directly over the epoxy primer which is acting not only as a sealer - but a bonding agent. These repairs will last for many years if the vehicle is looked after.

The factory never got really enthused about making sure everything was welded properly - a bit of braze adds some strength back to an otherwise poor join.

Every welded area is re sand blasted to be rid of oxides and other impurities from the welding process prior to re priming with epoxy primer.

Some small holes and splits and the odd heat shrink required some delicate oxy torch work. The DHC or Henrob oxy torch is weapon of choice for all our oxy welding jobs.

The two bonnet halves file finished and now ready for some more epoxy primer. All welded areas have been blasted and acid etch treated areas have been washed down and sanded.

The bonnet centre on these trucks are a poor design and cop a hard time. The primered centre I have rejected in favour of the other on the left. Note the creases along the edges of the primed unit- they are a result of forcing the bonnet halves open - and also caused a lot of stress cracks.

These bonnet centres are the same despite the obvious difference in length- the primered unit has copped that much abuse- its shrunk! Actually its due to the cracking that the nose is flopped forward.

While we were waiting for the truck itself to show up from the sand blasters - the loose panels were worked on. This nose cone took several days to get right. When its off the truck it is just a big floppy panel - with a lot of dents and cracks. It didn't appear too bad until we started work on it and found it required quite a lot of massaging and repair.