what kind of bed for my 52 f1

C

chappychapperton

Active Member
So I am looking at putting a bed in the box of my 52 ford f1 soon. The box is tubbed about 6" and in prime shape now. I do not want to go wood but was thinking of either bolting in some aluminium or welding a steel bed in and then finishing it with a spray liner. I seen one truck in a mag with a s-10 bed cut to fit and it looked sweet. Anybody have any other unique ideas or advice on what they did? Cheers.
 
When I was building a 52 Merc a few years ago, I used a floor from a late 80's Dodge box. If I remember correctly it was about 50" wide x 8ft long with no holes in it at all. I think the Merc box was 49". I trimmed it to the size I needed and added an angle flange, toes down, on the sides and front and bolted it to the box sides. The price was right and it looked pretty slick. Here's a few pics.

Al

PS: why do they change photobucket every time I go on it? dirty rotten...........

box1.jpg

box6.jpg

Merc012.jpg

Merc017.jpg
 
Good idea, gotta be cheaper than buying the wood kits and the runners. I just wonder if the wreckers would cut that out of a good box. Would have to find a damaged box i guess.
 
how long and wide of a bed do you need? I might have one wide and long enough? thats if you were gonna do the above swap??
 
b-bob said:
Good idea, gotta be cheaper than buying the wood kits and the runners. I just wonder if the wreckers would cut that out of a good box. Would have to find a damaged box i guess.
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You want to find one with damaged fenders and if you luck out had a box liner in it. That way its not worth much to the wrecker. I paid like $75 for the one in the pics and cut it out myself in the wrecking yard.

Al
 
No offense intended, but I LOVE wooden beds in 50's Fords. But I understand different strokes for different folks.
 
b-bob said:
Good idea, gotta be cheaper than buying the wood kits and the runners.
Click to expand...

ledzled said:
No offense intended, but I LOVE wooden beds in 50's Fords.
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All the f1 wood kits with strips that I have seen (USA) are with seven boards about 5 3/4 in. wide, couldn’t figure out what was wrong, (learning disability) weird, because my Canadian made 51 f1 has eight boards 4 ¾ (approx)! All the cross sill bolt holes would be in the wrong place. Not impossible to cut your own wood and get a extra strip of course, but that metal floor looks real good for a daily driver.

Loading pictures is a pain but have them of the old floor if you want them.
 
Thanks

Hey thanks for all the info guys. I like the idea of cutting out the bed of a box like the pictures above, will have to get on that asap. I am painting the truck black and I have a load of extra dark dark hardwood leftover from my house renovations last year, that would look sick laid out in the bed if I could figure a way to do it. Maybe I should get a sturdy gauge of steel bed cut out at the laser cutters and then lay some hardwood in the back, it would give me some nice weight in the back too and look pretty custom. Anyone ever seen something like that? haha:D

Here is shot of my bed before it was primed a few months ago.

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rotten...........

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Talked to my friend who owns a wrecking yard yesterday. Iwill get over there and we will take a walk to see what we can find. This is right on my budget.:D
 
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