My Sons 69 Long Fleet Resto

[JRBECK64]

I was talking with my oldest Son and asked him if he would mind driving a 69 Long Fleet. Much to My amazment he said heck yes he would. I was under the impression he wanted one of these little 140 MPH Rice Burners with the big wing on the back. I guess he showed me where his loyalties Lie. We are going to paint the truck Black and Silver. We have decided to use the moldings from a 67 and Paint below the molding silver and the roof will be silver and the rest will be black. The Tailgate will be silver up to the molding and above that will be black. The letters on the tailgate will be Black. I was playing around with the thought of putting in a steel bed to replace the wood but after doing some research they want $1200 for the Steel Bed Floor Patch Panel. Little to rich for me. The power train will be a 69 350 Rebuilt from top to bottom with a TH400 behind that. It looks like there is a 4.10/1 Gear in the back and we are thinking about changing that to a 3.42/1 so it will go faster than 65. We are using a lot of spare parts to build this thing but it should turn out ok. The best part of this is I get to work with my Sons restoring this old beauty. I will try to keep the pictures coming.
JRBECK64

















Right now we are fitting panels so we can get the spacing right on the core support so all the panels align with the cab. We are going to hange the doors to make sure they fit properly then we are going to start doing the bodywork.

JRBECK64

[JRBECK64]

Today we worked a few dents out of the cab, Repaired the Tailgate, and grounded down the welds on the Cab Corners. Tomorrow we are going to go to work on the bed. We need to put the side marker lights in the back of the bed. Does anyone know if the measurments are the same on a short fleet bed for the marker light as the long fleet bed? We are going to cut them out of my shortwide bed and use them in the 69 long fleet bed. I needed to get rid of them on the Shortwide bed because its going to be a 67 shortwide with no marker lights. I apprectiate any help or advise that someone can give with the marker light placement.

JRBECK64

[VA72C10]

Cool build

I'd imagine the mounting distance is the same for the sidemarkers. I have a long fleet and it is approx 4 1/4 from the back to the back edge of the recess. and 13" from the top rail to the top of the recess for the lights

[oldblue1968chevy]

sweet! how old is your son? YOU WORK FAST! What wheels ya gonna run?

[JRBECK64]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Cool build

I'd imagine the mounting distance is the same for the sidemarkers. I have a long fleet and it is approx 4 1/4 from the back to the back edge of the recess. and 13" from the top rail to the top of the recess for the lights

VA72C10,
Thanks for the info that will come in handy. I will chech the measurements you gave me on the ones in my short fleet bed. Also Thanks for the Compliment on the Build.
JRBECK64

[JRBECK64]

Originally Posted by oldblue1968chevy

sweet! how old is your son? YOU WORK FAST! What wheels ya gonna run?

oldblue1968chevy,
I just finished a 64 Chevy Shortwide for my youngest son (19) and the Son I am building this one for is (26) which is my oldest Son (he's the one in the picture above). I have 5 kids so this could be a lifetime proposition if they all want one. My 19 year old is a machine when he gets to working. I wish I could take most of the credit but he does the lions share. I tend to be more about the bodywork and the paint and he does the patch panels (welding and alot of the grunt work like cleaning the frame and painting it). We both work on taking them apart and putting them back together at the end. My Wife does the bed and she does a great job. Her Dad was a Cabinet Maker and she inherited his finess with the OAK. You might say its a family effort when we get to going on these old trucks. I will post a picture of the wheels I am going to put on the truck later tonight.

JRBECK64



Scored these at the Portland swapmeet for a really low price. A guy bought them for his truck that he was restoring and never restored the truck. They are 17 inch rims, now I have to find a great deal on some tires and the score will be complete. I think they should look ok on a black and silver paint job.