Meet Homer

[swamp rat]

Perfect!~

[Beetle]

Came here for a possible camper build then my heart got tore out. These things are getting harder and harder to find. Why not start with a cab and chassis to start with and leave the campers to people who want to restore them?

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Came here for a possible camper build then my heart got tore out. These things are getting harder and harder to find. Why not start with a cab and chassis to start with and leave the campers to people who want to restore them?

Well, first off this camper was rotted completely. The roof had sunk in where the ac unit sat. As a camper I would not have spent one penny on it or one minute of time.
Second, this is my truck. I will do any d*mm thing I want to my truck. You are free to do the same.
Maybe you should buy these campers and save em. You could start a business doing one after the other. Most get cut up or parted out. It is just how it is.
If I see another one out there for sale would you like me to notify you? I sure as H*ll would never touch another one. I know another guy who bought one, patched the cab, put a flat bed on it, and had to practically give it away. He also will never touch another one.
The guy I bought mine from said he had been trying to sell it for about a year on/off. Once people looked at it they walked away. He was getting ready to part it out.
By my way of thinking "I saved this trucks life".

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by cooperhw

Well, first off this camper was rotted completely. The roof had sunk in where the ac unit sat. As a camper I would not have spent one penny on it or one minute of time.
Second, this is my truck. I will do any d*mm thing I want to my truck. You are free to do the same.
Maybe you should buy these campers and save em. You could start a business doing one after the other. Most get cut up or parted out. It is just how it is.
If I see another one out there for sale would you like me to notify you? I sure as H*ll would never touch another one. I know another guy who bought one, patched the cab, put a flat bed on it, and had to practically give it away. He also will never touch another one.
The guy I bought mine from said he had been trying to sell it for about a year on/off. Once people looked at it they walked away. He was getting ready to part it out.
By my way of thinking "I saved this trucks life".

Well said!

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by Average Joe

Well said!

Thanks guys. I have often thought that Homer had a cut up cab back & roof, smashed fender, didn't run, was 5 hour drive away, 157" wheelbase, 457 gears, & drum brakes all around. 2 ton of motor home that needed to be cut & hauled off. The list of things that were good was very short as you can imagine but something was calling out to me to SAVE ME.

[Beetle]

Originally Posted by cooperhw

Well, first off this camper was rotted completely. The roof had sunk in where the ac unit sat. As a camper I would not have spent one penny on it or one minute of time.
Second, this is my truck. I will do any d*mm thing I want to my truck. You are free to do the same.
Maybe you should buy these campers and save em. You could start a business doing one after the other. Most get cut up or parted out. It is just how it is.
If I see another one out there for sale would you like me to notify you? I sure as H*ll would never touch another one. I know another guy who bought one, patched the cab, put a flat bed on it, and had to practically give it away. He also will never touch another one.
The guy I bought mine from said he had been trying to sell it for about a year on/off. Once people looked at it they walked away. He was getting ready to part it out.
By my way of thinking "I saved this trucks life".

Well you did it justice, and might I say at the current state the truck is in, it looks killer. Wasn't tryin to come off as a jerk I just hate seeing them cut up. But hey its a wooden box that is what 45 years old? I guess saving it wouldn't have been smart. Keep on keepin on with your truck she looks damn good

Gonna keep watchin to see what you make of it. What is the tire on the front grille for? I see it alot

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Well you did it justice, and might I say at the current state the truck is in, it looks killer. Wasn't tryin to come off as a jerk I just hate seeing them cut up. But hey its a wooden box that is what 45 years old? I guess saving it wouldn't have been smart. Keep on keepin on with your truck she looks damn good

Gonna keep watchin to see what you make of it. What is the tire on the front grille for? I see it alot

Thanks Beetle. Like I said before somebody needed to save it. I really appreciate it when I see others "saving" an old truck 2 live again. That's all I'm doin

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by Beetle

Well you did it justice, and might I say at the current state the truck is in, it looks killer. Wasn't tryin to come off as a jerk I just hate seeing them cut up. But hey its a wooden box that is what 45 years old? I guess saving it wouldn't have been smart. Keep on keepin on with your truck she looks damn good

Gonna keep watchin to see what you make of it. What is the tire on the front grille for? I see it alot

Beetle,
I apologize on not answering you question on the tire in front of the grill. That is tied on so I can push it with my truck. If it needs to go forward I pull it with a chain tied to the truck, back with a push.
I usually work alone and have given up asking the wife to "help me push".

[nlped]

^^^ Amen!!!

[66-PMD-GMC]

You did Wayne. ..
That thing was scrap waiting to happen.
There is also a thing called supply and demand.
I had a 66 100% rust free GMC long bed.
I had it for sale for 2 years... pulled the 3/4 ton suspension out from under it and put 5 lug... tried selling it for another 8 months.. swapped the frame to a short bed and sold it in a week.
Supply and demand
There is no real demand for those old campers and anyone that wants one only wants to pay a buck for it...
restoration of your would have cost 10 times what anyone would have paid for it.

[flashed]

And what a great save it was ,one of my favorite builds here .

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by flashed

And what a great save it was ,one of my favorite builds here .

Thanks Flashed. It is also one of my favorite builds here. Probably biased though.

Although I lump it together with other builds I have seen here that are being build with used parts. No P.B. stuff (yet) or other really cool parts.
I do plan on building one of those type builds with my 63 GMC S.B. but not with Homer. Just trying to make "chicken salad out of chicken sh*t" kinda.
Believe it or not my biggest motivator to keep pushing forward has been that the dash, gauges, and interior on Homer is cherry. Since I cut the motorhome off and opened up the interior to the elements I have felt it my responsibility to get it closed back up and protected.
I got a deal with Homer going. I "will keep moving forward and he will not fall on me or bite me in the a**". So far, so good.

[flashed]

And you are doing it so well ,I cant wait to see whats next .

[cooperhw]

Well just a small quick update. Didn't get much done this past weekend as I had to go out of town to our cabin so my wife could help pack up her recently passed fathers house. Dropped her off and went and cut the steel floor out of a square body bed I had stashed in the back of my property. I wanted to put a steel floor in so I didn't have to worry about wood and all the headaches that go with it. My long term plans include a "Rhino Line" of the bed once complete and start hauling with it and forget it.
No pics but I am sure you have all seen a steel bed floor before. I will post pics while I am trimming it to fit in case anybody else wants to follow that mod at some point in the future.
Oh yeah, gonna slow down a little bit next weekend too (dang) cause I got another motorhome to cut up (not an old chevy) it's got a 454/turbo 400, 70,000 miles, on a 79 Chevy 1 ton dually chassis.
Yeah, I know,

[cooperhw]

Well finally got back to working on Homer.
Last week cut the bed floor out of a square body fleetside long bed.
Started out this morning by hauling the bed floor out front near my welder then took a 8 inch sliver out of the middle

Plan is to get it welded into place tomorrow including the inner fleetside tubs.
Then I need to make a couple new perch mounts for the bed supports to sit on. Hopefully have it all done by tomorrow.

[flashed]

Its looking good .

[66-PMD-GMC]

Definately need to stop in at your place for a visit. .
Nice job Wayne. .

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by 66-PMD-GMC

Definately need to stop in at your place for a visit. .
Nice job Wayne. .

Thanks Chris, yes, stop on by. I always enjoy your visits. Not that you got anything on your plate at your shop anyways

[cooperhw]

Yesterday the floor got narrowed.
Today it got welded into place and the tubs installed.
On the tubs I cut the outside edge away leaving about an inch and a half. Then once the floor was in and happy I cut the tubs to the correct width minus about 1/4" to 3/8" gap. This gap was there so I didn't have to fight the tubs in. Once the tubs were cut and bolted in underneath I installed the trimmed edge piece using it as a ledge for the leading edge of the tub to rest on. Then just welded it up.
Still have to make some new perches for the bed frame crossmembers to rest/bolt onto. Hopefully get it all bolted up tomorrow.
Anyhow, the new floor is in and STRONG. No more wood floor for me.

[tommys72]

Nice work! Looks great

[nlped]

Nice!!!

[bj383ss]

Wow what an awesome build! I have read it from the beginning. I thought you had a cool idea. Then I saw the huge hole in the cab and I was like how is he going to fix that. I could just see a warped roof and back cab. You pulled it off. You made it look easy putting the new cab on. Still not sure I would try that myself but its one of those things you don't know until you try.

Before my Father in law passed away he wanted a built in desk and bookshelves on a 10' wall in his study. He asked if I could build it for him. I told him I had never built anything that big and he was a very picky man when it came to things looking right and done right. I gave it shot and low and behold it came out pretty good and I saved him about $6,000. He only spent $1,000. So you never know until you try.

Look forward to the rest of your build.

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by bj383ss

Wow what an awesome build! I have read it from the beginning. I thought you had a cool idea. Then I saw the huge hole in the cab and I was like how is he going to fix that. I could just see a warped roof and back cab. You pulled it off. You made it look easy putting the new cab on. Still not sure I would try that myself but its one of those things you don't know until you try.

Before my Father in law passed away he wanted a built in desk and bookshelves on a 10' wall in his study. He asked if I could build it for him. I told him I had never built anything that big and he was a very picky man when it came to things looking right and done right. I gave it shot and low and behold it came out pretty good and I saved him about $6,000. He only spent $1,000. So you never know until you try.

Look forward to the rest of your build.

Thanks, I appreciate that. It is always cool to hear somebody else that gets it. I feel like I am in good company even though I might not actually ever meet most of you guys.
Made some new perches for the bed to sit on. Still not bolted up but welded up and back in place. Gotta save some for next weekend.

[HOT WRECKS]

NICELY DONE !!!!!!!!

Perhaps one day we'll meet
On my bucket list is a NASCAR race at Phoenix

[Average Joe]

Seat looks great. I like that their is no headrests blocking the back window.