Projects 1948 F1 rattle can rebuild

Answered a craigslist ad a couple of days ago for a good F1 radiator. Guy said he was building a 60's style 1940's hot rod truck and would trade for parts.

I offered this:


Recieved a nice radiator in return. That was the last thing I needed to really make the truck road worthy. Also met a cool guy. Said he hadn't heard of the HAMB but will check it out.

Got the can of ham cleaned up a little bit. Inside was a mess (a garbage can full) but there was a few treasures.

A couple of large 1940's porcelain mixing bowls and a large matching bean pot with a lid in excellent condition. A very old flint fire starter shaped like a modern butane style. Under the seating was all of the needed 'hook up' hoses, cords, leveling jacks, a whole set of new clearance lights(plastic) . The missing tail light and the original license plate light was in there too.

 

Forgot to show the best treasure. The original license plate in good condition that matches the title. Has a pretty cool "City of Roses" (Portland, OR) license plate frame.

 

Just read the entire thread, what a fun project this was. You really pulled off a miracle, the truck looks great. But I bet you will have a permanent depression in your index finger from pushing the nozzle on so many rattle cans. You should be very proud.

Don

 

I too just read the entire thread and am a HUGE fan of your project build.

Congratulations on an outstanding ride and the progress to date.

 

Man--my favoriite thread gets even better with the addition of the Canned Ham project!

 

What an awesome thread!! I had a 49 Ford years ago, and an ongoing adiction to old trailers. This is awesome!

 

"Canned Ham" What a perfect description for those old time smaller trailers.

Will you keep the interior original; as much as possible any way? The old birch cabinets can look really good with minor sanding and refinishing w/ modern urethane. I can hardly wait to see it after its initial power wash and scrub down.

As a head's up, I've had amazing good luck w/ Soft Scrub on a kitchen sponge that has mild Scotch Brite on one side. Please post photos as soon as you can.

 

great thread

 

Hi LowKat, you are an artist with a rattle can.

I used to live in, er actually outside of Beaver Creek. I lived on Colton Road, had a Beaver Creek phone prefix, a Mulino address, but the closest town was Molalla. I got lost a lot...

That "Bear" guy you bought your trailer from looks like a typical Oregonian. And that's coming from a SNOB (Society of Native Oregon Born).

RH

 

I worked on the ham can last weekend and all week after work. First couple evenings was to get the leaks found and fixed. I think they're under control now.

Yes, the interior is staying mostly original. I've already sanded and got a couple coats of Golden Oak urethane on it which really makes the birch look great.

I had to replace one panel inside that was rotten which led to replacing about 1/3 of the framing on the side with the door. Also had to rebuild the kitchen cabinet but reused the original face, top and drawers.

I've been looking for some steel 14" or 15" rims to replace the 13 inchers without much luck. It's a 4 lug on 4.5 bolt circle (same as Chevy Nova, Ford Falcon, early Mustang)

Been so busy with the trailer I haven't gotten the 'new' radiator installed in the F1 yet.

I'll post some photos this weekend.

I like Beavercreek, it's just far enough out of the city to avoid the rat race but close enough if you need to run to the parts store.

 

Maybe you should consider some adapters to change it to some common five lug rim?

Can't wait to see the photos of the redone interior (I hope you took "BEFORE" shots) and of the exterior minus all the fauna and flora growing on it

 

A page or two back are some shots of the inital clean-up after the devegitation.

I've already stripped some of the paint on the exterior that was flaking off and I had to strip around all the windows and edge moldings in order to get them sealed up. Right now it looks worse than when I got it.

I'm not really a fan of wheel adapters and they'd create too much offset for larger tires. The rims on it now are 13X6 reversed chrome mods and offset too much. I need standard rear wheel drive offset 14 or 15X6.

I got a couple of steel 15" Datsun 240 or 260Z wheels that bolt up but are slightly different in appearance, width and offset.

I have a couple 'before' shots of the interior that are shot through the windows. They're on my camera but haven't uploaded to the computer yet.

Also been looking for a better color oven/stove. Mine is brown, need white, blue or yellow. I can paint the icebox to match.

 

Post to bring this up front...hoping to see more pix soon. Anything new with the F1?

 

Need to get my 'new' radiator installed in the F1.
Been working on the can of ham and not the truck.


Got the passenger side nearly stripped of paint.
It was loose and flaking from moss growing on it.



The driver's side still needs more.


I swapped the axle to below the leaf springs to gain a little height.
You probably noticed the wide whites. They are ground/sanded.

Added some mismatched 13" Nova caps I had laying around.
I think this one is a 1962.

And this one is a 1964.
I'll look for a mate to either one but still looking for 14 or 15" wheels.

 

You work fast. If that is with the trailer raised some, it must have really been low before. Maybe I missed it but are you planning to polish up the bare aluminum (I assume its in decent nough shape to do so?) or do you plan to repaint? If so, rattle can or sprayer? And graphics planned?

 

I hope you plan on repainting the trailer to the way it was, you cant beat those atomic designs!!

Heres an idea for you, what if you painted the whole trailer, but left the "arrows" bare, then polish the hell out of them to make it resemble chrome trim? Its just a crazy idea ive always had

 

Hadn't checked on your progress in awhile. I still like what I see. Keep it up.

 

I ran one of the old 223s in a b model dirt car, Clifford intake,Holley 500 cfm carb and a duntov cam it made some weird torque boy!

 

Yea, moving the axle to below the springs raised it about 3 inches.

At first I was thinking polish the siding, then reality hit. I polished about a 2 foot square section on each side of the back window and decided 'screw that'. I don't have inside storage for it either.

I'll repaint with a gun (I have one) and also have some off-white paint I might use. I'm thinking the same dark blue paint for the contrast or graphics color but undecided on that.

I'll be painting with some kinda 'period correct' graphics but Mrs LowKat doesn't like the original "arrows". I'm still working on that so don't count them out. I really like your polished arrow idea!

I'm collecting photos to help decide what to do. The location of the door glass kinda limits what can be done heightwise in the front. It'll need to start below the door glass, which is another 'plus' for the factory arrows.

I work in spurts but try to do at least a little something every day to keep interest. Thanks for the good words!

When I first drove the truck, the torque surprised me. It gets up and goes pretty well in stock form. I'll be on the lookout for a 3X1 intake and some glass bowl Holleys at the Portland Swap Meet in April.

 

Here's the only 2 'before' pictures I have of the interior during the initial clean-out.

It had a bi-fold, double size bunk bed above the table but was too wide to fold all the way up. It was a head banger, so I got rid of 1 panel and made it into a twin bunk that folds all the way up.

The seating on either side slides together making a king size bed or use them as two twins without pulling out.



Notice how crooked the stove sits. Under it was Masonite for support. Besides sagging, there was a 6" round scorched spot under the oven burner. I could stick my finger through the 'burnt' Masonite. I used plywood with cement tile backer on top of that instead of Masonite.

 

And a couple premature 'after' shots. I added another coat of gloss urethane on the inside today but forgot to take pictures.

When I cut the bunk bed in half, it left the ledger on the wall for the bed that I didn't remove because it was glued and screwed to the paneling. So, I built a magazine rack / holder over it. The ledger on the opposite wall, I removed because I had to replace the paneling.


I got a full length mirror that will cover the old mirror spot on the closet door. Also have the original shades for the 120 volt electrical lights.
.

 

Mrs. LowKat got the under bed compartments painted and also a couple coats of enamel on the inside of the drawers. I added a little what-not shelf under the back window.


.

 

The mahogany dining table was water stained really bad and the finish was toast.


I put some 60 grit on the circular sander and burned through most of the water stain. Then belt sanded, then vibrating sander, then 220 grit hand sand. I put a coat of finish on it today but no pictures. It's gonna look awesome.


Also rebuilt the connection for putting the 2 table halves together. And redesigned, built new legs. It had wobbly tent poles for legs since the originals were broken.
.

 

The stove surround was originally polished aluminum. I pulled it out and polished it back but every little thing marked the surface, so I used some Scothbrite and gave it an all over satin finish. It'll be easier to keep looking good that way when it needs scrubbing.



Here's the interior panel I had to replace. Hard to tell but it matches very well. The panel next to it has some water stains but the cushion will cover.


One more shot of the ceiling.

 

Oh yea, check out the 'atomic' floor pattern that's under the gross green carpet. It even has little pieces of metalflake that don't show in the pictures. The vinyl is in good enough shape to use.

 

You gotta love vinyl. Especially atomic art vintage vinyl.

 

The table is installed.


You can see the upper bunk in the 'up' position.


Got the front and driver's side stripped of paint.

 

Looking great! What's your plan for the exterior? Paint or polish?

 

Wow, you are not messing around.

That is gonna be a great trailer.

-W

 

I have a set of rims that might fit, they are off of a 72 Maverick with 4 lugs. I don't know what the lug patern size is or the offset, but I can check for you.