Customizing A Classic Truck - Freedom Of Expression

In areas where it’s possible to create a template I’ll use construction board to do so. From there I transfer my template to the sheemetal.

Using Vice Grips, C-clamps, Cleko’s or whatever will get the job done, the panel is hung in position. Once things are in place, and only once they are in place, do I began tacking the panel in position.

In instances where the sheemetal comes to a visual end, I’ll leave excess material on my patterns and hammer a roll into the sheemetal around the correlating rod. This approach will give you nice clean and round edges.

It’s a bit fast-forwarded but here it is all skinned! Using the previous techniques the entire rearend was skinned. Note how the sheetmetal has formed around the skeletal outline to create the desired shape. The side angle shows the tailgate slants parallel with the rear fender slant. Also at this time any bracing that I haven’t welded sheetmetal to gets removed.

The first step to creating the tonneau cover is figuring out the dimensions.

This tonneau cover is broken down into two halves. The front half will house the gas tank, battery box, air tank, etc. The rear half will be the everyday cargo area. Because of this two separate covers were constructed from 1/2-inch square tubing, per the dimensions of the bed.

The hinges for the tonneau cover were cut from 5/16-inch plate. Located at the top of the hinge is a 3/8-inch steel rod that acts as the pivot point for the cover. The tubular insert that I was able to locate in the hardware aisle of Lowe’s, inserts between the 1/2-inch square tube of the cover and the 3/8-inch rod as a bushing for smooth operation.

The hinges bolt directly to the bedsides at the front of each cover. A divider, constructed from square tubing as well, was also installed between the two covers to separate the compartments.

Because of the custom shaped bedrail, the rear of the second tonneau cover needed to be shaped. I used the reference lines I tacked in place in caption #3 as the downward shape of the tonneau cover. Again, everything was based around the shape of the rear fenders for a consistent and even look.

Custom latches, bear claw style from Auto-Loc, were built into the center of each tonneau cover. The pin resides on the tonneau cover, whereas the latch bolts to the bed. Here, I’m tacking the support bracket to the tonneau cover’s framework.

To assist in opening the tonneau cover and keeping things held upright, gas charged struts were added. Again the bottom mounts to the bedsides while the top bolts to a small bracket welded on the cover.

There ya have it; A totally custom and unique rear end with a matching tonneau cover. By the way, the tonneau cover at this point can be skinned in various styles. This cover will get the touch of upholstery to match the interior.