Project "Black Betty" (bam-A-lam)

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Check out a middle bench or rear bench from a plymouth or dodge caravan late 90's early 2000's. The fit great in Model A's

Thanks for the info. The problem is that the steering column & large, original wooden steering wheel don't provide much space between the bottom of the wheel & floor pan. It currently has boat seats sitting directly on the floor without brackets. Even like that, dad said he can barely fit in there to drive it. The original front bench seat is in the rear. I don't have any interior pics or I'd show ya what I'm referring to. He wants to keep the original steering wheel, but some modifications are likely gonna need to be made in some aspect.

[truckswede]

Hi there, just read through this thread and wanted to say congrats to a great truck and the very nice wedding photos. And sorry for cluttering in your thread like this, but i just wanted to say thanks also for answering me over in RockTonkas thread. Can't believe i missed it, but i just spotted the exact panel i've been looking for here in projects and builds, Free Candy Inside is the author. First one i've ever seen, they do exist! One way or another, i'm gonna get one. OK enough OT, just wanted to say thanks and keep up the good work.
Back to business

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by truckswede

Hi there, just read through this thread and wanted to say congrats to a great truck and the very nice wedding photos. And sorry for cluttering in your thread like this, but i just wanted to say thanks also for answering me over in RockTonkas thread. Can't believe i missed it, but i just spotted the exact panel i've been looking for here in projects and builds, Free Candy Inside is the author. First one i've ever seen, they do exist! One way or another, i'm gonna get one. OK enough OT, just wanted to say thanks and keep up the good work.
Back to business

Thanks for the compliments & for checking out my build thread! No need to apologize, as I don't mind anyone posting here even if it's not truck-related. So glad you were able to find a Panel like you're looking for! I checked out the build just to make sure it wasn't the one I was thinking of. While not the same one, it's making its way towards being pretty darn cool. The one I had seen was in some car show pic coverage I think.

If you check out this thread, you'll find some Panel pics:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=262994

There might also be more if you check the various other pic threads:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=449613

Btw, welcome to the board!

[truckswede]

Thanks for the welcome! And for the links, lots of eye candy there.
The reason i want a "long bed" panel is for the loading capacity, i really love these 60-66 trucks, and i think the panels are supercool. Maybe because they are really rare over here. By the way, do you mind a question: i've always wondered why you guys in the US seem to prefer the short bed trucks, don't you use them to haul stuff? Or is there another reason for it?
Don't get me wrong, i love these old trucks, but over here we use our trucks as trucks and always load and haul stuff with them, so i never really understood why you prefer the shorter beds. Hope you don't mind.

[TJ's Chevy]

The truck is beautiful! And the rat rod rocks!

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by truckswede

Thanks for the welcome! And for the links, lots of eye candy there.
The reason i want a "long bed" panel is for the loading capacity, i really love these 60-66 trucks, and i think the panels are supercool. Maybe because they are really rare over here. By the way, do you mind a question: i've always wondered why you guys in the US seem to prefer the short bed trucks, don't you use them to haul stuff? Or is there another reason for it?
Don't get me wrong, i love these old trucks, but over here we use our trucks as trucks and always load and haul stuff with them, so i never really understood why you prefer the shorter beds. Hope you don't mind.

For me personally, I guess it has to do with the fact that my dad loves the short bed. He always had them when I was growing up, so I guess that's what rubbed off on me. The old blue '66 beater we used to have was a short bed, & it saw lots of hauling duties through the years. On the other hand, my truck will probably never haul anything significant. It did haul the old 283 that once lived in the engine compartment, if that counts for anything. Other than that, I just prefer the look of the short bed vs. the long bed. I guess it has more of a "sporty" look in my eyes.

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

The truck is beautiful! And the rat rod rocks!

Thanks T.J.! Speaking of the rat rod, I need to find out the status of it. Not sure if dad has messed with it anymore or not.

[likaroc13]

Figured I'd update a few things. Nothing new to report on the truck. It's motorcycle season again. However, my wife and I went to Myrtle Beach in March for the Run to the Sun car/truck show. While I was there, I picked up a new sending unit for "Black Betty" from Tommy's Pickup Parts. http://tommyspickupparts.com/default.html

We had a great time at the show. This is the first year we actually stayed for all three days. Even so, there was still some stuff I didn't see. The last I heard, there were 3000+ entries. For you folks that like pics, I made sure to take plenty. You can take a look here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/985431...7642707269945/


In April we went to the Charlotte Auto Fair for the first time. If you've never been, it can be quite overwhelming. I didn't end up buying anything other than some center caps for the rally wheels I plan to use on my Tahoe. It was neat seeing the Charlotte Motor Speedway for the first time as well. You don't realize how steeply banked those tracks are when watching on TV. I snapped a few pics of some 60-66's we saw, & I'll post those here once I get them uploaded.


Last month we went to a local car show here in North Charleston. It's always a nice turnout for a smaller show. Some pics here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/985431...7644488916752/

[likaroc13]

Here are the pics from Charlotte Auto Fair:

[likaroc13]

Some more:

[likaroc13]

Forgot to mention, if any of you guys have an account & want to follow me on Flikr, you can. Call me a mad man, but I've been working on color coded albums for '60-66 trucks, Subs, & Panels. I've got a pretty decent collection so far, & I keep adding as I see something that catches my eye. The truck pic albums are set to "public" so anybody can see them.

Here's the link:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98543199@N05/sets

[TJ's Chevy]

That stepper for sale was BEAUTIFUL! Wouldn't paint mine that color, but..Wow! I like it.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

That stepper for sale was BEAUTIFUL! Wouldn't paint mine that color, but..Wow! I like it.

I agree, I've always liked that color too. I thought it was original paint at first, but then I decided to take a closer look. When I walked up to get a better glance, I could tell it was repainted at least once. It was a pretty nice truck overall, with the typical rusty spots. I was curious how much they were asking, but the price wasn't listed anywhere (just phone #).

[markeb01]

Nice work on the Flickr account. I have been through all of it yet, but you've got a lot of stuff I haven't seen before. Great job, and thanks for sharing the link.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by markeb01

Nice work on the Flickr account. I have been through all of it yet, but you've got a lot of stuff I haven't seen before. Great job, and thanks for sharing the link.

Thanks Mark, & you're welcome. I'm a bit OCD at times. I have most of the same pics uploaded to my Facebook, however they're not separated. Rather than digging through every pic just to find one, I thought it might be easier to sort them by year range/color. Digging through the pic albums here on the forum also gave me the idea to do it this way.

[1963c-10]

Hoping to make the Myrtle Beach show 2015!!!!

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by 1963c-10

Hoping to make the Myrtle Beach show 2015!!!!

Hope you get to make it as well! Although I'm not sure if we'll be around or not. We've been trying for a while now to get relocated back closer to our families in MS. Just waiting for the right opportunity to come along. The MB show is a nice one for sure though.

Speaking of shows, you guys can check out my various show pics on Flickr as well, because they're set to "public" also. I still have several albums I need to transfer over from Photobucket, but I'm working on it.

If you know me from the forum & want to add me as a friend on Flikr, feel free to do so as well. That would allow you to see any other pic albums of our various excursions & life happenings.

[likaroc13]

Forgot to post pics of this one. They were still on my wife's phone. We were on our way back to SC from my nephew's H/S graduation in MS late last month when we saw this. We spotted it along the interstate heading East, just outside of Oxford, AL.

[likaroc13]

Had to make a trip back to the old hometown last week/weekend. Stopped by dad's to visit, & I decided to dig through a few parts. Lots of stuff was stored at his friend's place through the years, & he just brought it home last year. Here's just a couple finds that I was happy about:

I knew we had these somewhere, but I just finally came across them. As you'll see in the pic below, they were once installed on the ole '64 we had:






And a set of GM taillight bezels still in the package. He thinks he has lenses, but I haven't seen them yet. I did find the original box for lenses though.

[jcramsey]

Man, I love those caps! Would love to have a set of those.

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by jcramsey

Man, I love those caps! Would love to have a set of those.

I hear ya! I know they're fairly hard to come by.

[hopped up]

I need some of those caps, painted white of course

[likaroc13]

Well guys, I post with a heavy heart today. It's getting close to 4 years since "Black Betty" was last on the road. Sadly we may have hit another big setback. My dad was having some back & stomach pains & ended up having tests run at the hospital earlier this week. He just got results back yesterday, & he has kidney cancer. It looks to be mostly confined in the right kidney, with a tumor just below. We won't know much more until he sees the cancer specialist early next month. Just trying to be positive & hope for the best outcome possible. Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers. Thankfully, "Black Betty" is safely resting where she sits. We'll get back to her one of these days. Until then, any of you '88-98 fullsize Chevy/GMC guys can keep up with my Tahoe tinkering here:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=601142

[TJ's Chevy]

I'm sorry to here about that. I'll be keeping yer Dad in my prayers.

[clemdaddy]

we will keep your dad in our thoughts and prayers... and your whole family too. the doctors are doing amazing things these days. and betty can wait for dad...

[jcramsey]

Sorry to hear about your dad's health. Will be praying for you and your family.