47-55.1 If I had more brains...And more money. (New Whole Cabs)

[b-mac]

You guys see these?

Pre-gapped doors!

http://www.lmctruck.com/preassembled...m_medium=email

[Driver_WT]

Nice, and I would like to have a five window. But that cab costs more than I paid for my truck. Interesting that the market is large enough to make this viable.

[mongocanfly]

yep...its a lot of money...but if your cab is like most needing extensive rust repair...and you counted your time and materials...in the long run itd be cheaper....but if you have a good cab with minimal rust then itd be a nogo..
if you've ever worked with one that didn't need a bunch of repairing then it kinda spoils you..
there was a thread here the other day about a different company selling the cabs...probably made by the same people

[MARTINSR]

But it's still a reproduction, "similar to original, can be used if nothing else is available." But at the same time, these cabs and doors were MILES from perfect from the factory, I have a feeling those doors fit better than originals.

I have to wonder how good they are. This is also coming from a guy who will be ordering his new bed complete with tail gate from LMC this week. LOL

Brian

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

But it's still a reproduction, "similar to original, can be used if nothing else is available." But at the same time, these cabs and doors were MILES from perfect from the factory, I have a feeling those doors fit better than originals.

I have to wonder how good they are. This is also coming from a guy who will be ordering his new bed complete with tail gate from LMC this week. LOL

Brian

These cabs are licensed by Chevrolet, so I assume they'd have to meet the same quality standards as original.

[Jesse Z]

Brings up Theseus' Paradox: if a 1953 Chevrolet truck has had every single component replaced, is it still a 1953 Chevrolet truck?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

And how will the VIN plate paranoiacs handle removing a VIN plate from the old cab and affixing it to the new? I can just hear them now: "Federal offense - you're going to prison!"

[mongocanfly]

what about mar-k for your bed Brian?

[MARTINSR]

mar-k?

Brian

[mongocanfly]

https://www.mar-k.com/
top quality products...I bought all my bed components from them..sadly they don't do fenders...but the rest is top notch
much better than anything ive got from lmc

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

https://www.mar-k.com/
top quality products...I bought all my bed components from them..sadly they don't do fenders...but the rest is top notch
much better than anything ive got from lmc

I purchased my bed from Mac Pro and then wished I would have bought it from Mar-K. There were minimal instructions and the holes for bed side to front panel were not pre-punched.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

https://www.mar-k.com/
top quality products...I bought all my bed components from them..sadly they don't do fenders...but the rest is top notch
much better than anything ive got from lmc

Thanks, it is a LOT more money, but I will look into it. Shipping is a big deal, I will see.

Thanks again.


Brian

[1project2many]

I think I'm with Brian in regards to panel fit. I can't tell you how many hours are sunk into making the body line at the top of my TF window opening match the body line on the cab. And the cab was assembled wrong... the RH doors (I tried two originals) couldn't have left the factory with proper fit. The RH door pillar was welded in crooked so the bottom of the cab was below flush when the door was adjusted properly. The hinge pillar ended up getting work as well. I had to build hinge pockets since the available ones just didn't fit right. The floors needed repairs in all the typical areas and the stamped support ridges did not line up with the factory stamping. The replacement cab corners needed to be hand formed to actually match the shape of the body lines in the rocker and at the back of the cab, and I had to remove a section in the bottom of the curve because they let the excess steel fold into an accordion rather than designing the mold to form it properly. There's so much time invested making the old cabs look nice that it's hard to understand until you go through it.

The problem is I just don't know if I could part with the money for the new cab up front. $11,000 invested in weekends and evenings over a year is a different animal than $11,000 divided up and taken out of the weekly budget.

[Matt_50]

Its awesome you can basically buy a new truck but I don't think I'll ever have that much spare cash lol Has anyone added it up from a places like LMC what it would cost to get a 100% new truck?


What is the average cost to have a rusted cab repaired from a shop? All usual stuff like corners, floor... sandblasted, primered... vs buying this new cab?

[dsraven]

here is the write up from the hotrod network for premier street rods new cab assembly. they use jigs as they go for a product that fits when complete. I have never seen a finished new cab from anybody so don't know how any of them fit but these guys seems to at least try to get a good product. I wonder if all the parts were added up how much the cab costs to build without the labour for the guys building it or the special tools required or the shop time, jig research and build etc etc.
like said earlier in the post, the old trucks were not that great for fitment anyway and some guys spend a lot of time getting things right with an original cab and doors. there is a thread on here about a $188k truck built at a hotrod shop and then auctioned off a bit later by the owner. there is a prime example of where a new cab, fenders, box etc could have saved a lot of time and money. if you fix it yourself and don't count the time it is a bit different but still can be costly. some guys will say they did the rebuild but then when asked they simply took it apart and sent the modules to get fixed. the rust repair was done at this shop, the body was done at that shop, the engine was done here, the trans came from there, the frame these guys, the wiring from those guys, etc. add those numbers and compare. a new cab and a new custom frame may be cheap in comparison to the unknown final number of building a truck that way.
from experience, if I had bought the new cab when I had started I would be driving my truck right now. the cab was pretty bad but you are just happy to have found a project truck and be endorsed by the "accountant" finally. it was cheap but needed work. holy cow, that's an understatement for most of us. once it is dissassembled and you add up all the parts, welding and sheet metal supplies. power, extra tools you didn't have, sandblasting, etc etc and time spent, it would be cheaper to buy new. especially if you have a job where you need to NOT work the second job so you can work on your project. that is time lost at the second job which could be worked instead to pay for the cab. see where I'm going here? you get NEW sheet metal, never welded on or patched up with rust on the back side etc. you don't have some one else's previous repair lurking behind filler or patch panels. the truck is done faster and the accountant will be happier since you will have more quality time to spend doing together things (I know, right?)
anyway, just a thought for some of the newbies, you gotta start somewhere and will need a registration from some original vehicle likely but you can sure open a can of worms with some projects. sometimes, if you can't afford the new cab or whatever, it is better to pay a bunch more for a known good solid unit with some build history than get something almost free and then spend more money to fix the crusty stuff. in the end you get something fixed.
ok, end of rant. sorry.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/prem...hevrolet-cabs/

[joedoh]

imagine what the bill on the $188k fantomworks truck would have been if they would have ordered this cab, in the episode the cab seemed to be the biggest problem.


I have spent a hundred hours fixing rust, it can sure get old.

[MARTINSR]

Yeah, the cab with all it's nooks and crannies is a rust party ground!

Brian

[mr48chev]

Premier street rods has been assembling and selling cabs for years. I have to agree with Joedoh about that Fantom works truck. I'm not sure what they paid for the roached out replacement cab but it no doubt wasn't cheap plus probably 30K worth of their shop hours to make a cab out of it.

The 10399.95 for the 52/53 cab with recessed firewall equals 104 hours of 100 an hour shop time costs. If you are paying someone else to repair your cab that needs a lot of work the price of the new cab is a lot more realistic than if you are doing all the work in your home garage and buying patch panels a few at a time

No it isn't "the original" that some guys are so totally wrapped in and spend thousands of bucks saving the"original" cab that was so roached out to begin with that very little of the original is left. The Cab I am putting together for my 48 will be the third cab that has been on the truck since I bought the truck for 75.00 in 1973. That cab was damaged in a wreck and had other issues. The cab on it now has issues that would call for replacing a lot of it including my 80's idiocy of wanting a sun roof and then filling the hole that was left when I decided I didn't want a sun roof anymore.

[mr48chev]

Looking at Fantom works website faq their shop rate is between 78.00 and 98.00 an hour so figure 80 an hour that 10399.95 equals 130 hours for their body men. That is for guys who don't seem to know the ins and outs of working on AD trucks all that well and spend a lot of extra time on tasks a lot of guys do here in short order.

[Lokin4AReason]

just have to add an additional 1000.- for shipping

wonder if you can get the same cab cheaper elsewhere .... ?

[mongocanfly]

Yes...LFR....here is one for $7995.....https://www.premierstreetrod.com/dep...ruck+Cabs.html

If a person kept up with the hrs and cost of repairing a cab on their own ,and divided costs and hrs up I'd be willing to bet you couldn't pay yourself minimum wage with the time you have invested...and most of us, not being pros means most repairs take us much longer than it should....
now if your paying a shop to fix what most of us deal with then youd be money WAY ahead to buy a new cab...just divide the new cab cost by the hrs invested....
some if us have sentimental attachments to the trucks we have...so we will toil away at our rusted out junk...
And even though we do repair all the rust we can on our trucks you'll never get rid of all the rust...

[mongocanfly]

Martin...on the bed I know the mar-k is higher and shipping costs suck...I've only held in my hand ,pieces of a LMC bed..not the whole thing...but piece for piece the mar-k is much heavier gauge metal and overall quality beats the socks of LMC...so when I bought my bed I went straight to mar-k and sucked it up......I wish mar-k made the rear fenders also but they dont....I bought my new rear fenders some 20odd yrs ago..they're still in the boxes up on the shelf....the fender boxes have tri-plus on them

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Martin...on the bed I know the mar-k is higher and shipping costs suck...I've only held in my hand ,pieces of a LMC bed..not the whole thing...but piece for piece the mar-k is much heavier gauge metal and overall quality beats the socks of LMC...so when I bought my bed I went straight to mar-k and sucked it up......I wish mar-k made the rear fenders also but they dont....I bought my new rear fenders some 20odd yrs ago..they're still in the boxes up on the shelf....the fender boxes have tri-plus on them

Daaaamn, with shipping it's about $900 more, over twice as much!

Brian

[jweb]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Daaaamn, with shipping it's about $900 more, over twice as much!

Brian

I'm sure the Mar-k parts are higher quality, but how good do you need them to be? Once you truck is rebuilt I would guess it will be stored inside and the biggest thing you will haul is a lawn chair and cooler.

You could contact some vendors to see if they will be at any swap meets in your area. I try to buy my big items local or at the Portland swap meet, The truck and car shop is there every year. Then you can see the parts and save shipping cost.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by jweb

I'm sure the Mar-k parts are higher quality, but how good do you need them to be? Once you truck is rebuilt I would guess it will be stored inside and the biggest thing you will haul is a lawn chair and cooler.

You could contact some vendors to see if they will be at any swap meets in your area. I try to buy my big items local or at the Portland swap meet, The truck and car shop is there every year. Then you can see the parts and save shipping cost.

Anything over a thousand dollars and the shipping is free! Even for those bed sides!

The bed pieces don't go over a $1000 but with all the other stuff I am ordering it does.

I really wonder, I would be ticked it they sucked, but anything pretty close I would forget real quick that it's not perfect. But I am still rolling it around in my head, American made, real nice, I am thinking about it.

Brian

[b-mac]

For some reason, watching that video of the cab assembly makes me want one even less. Maybe it's the lack of professionalism, or just a regular dudes in t-shirts building it. I don't know. I'm sure my cab that was built in 49 was just a sloppy, and probably even less safe. I just don't know. Makes me glad I fixed my original cab.