Updates

New bed that I found that is rust free! Which was a pretty rare find in New Zealand as most of the 79-83 models came with a flat bed.

Its hard to tell from my previous photos but the bed thats mounted to the truck is rusty as f@$k.

The truck is in storage now awaiting to be pulled apart for a freshen up



Thought I would throw this photo to of my other truck RDGR8A & my Shepherd

 

Nice!! Hadn't seen this thread, thanks for updating. Now just another reason for me to hate myself for not moving any faster on my projects.

 

that truck rocks ! ! !

nice build..

 

nice builds!

 

Very NICCCCEE! I am looking to do the headlight swap as well. Where did you pick up your lights and housing for the round bulb? I am not having much luck finding any.

 

Can't believe I hadn't seen this! looking slick man, good work!

 

i opened this thread and my jaws dropped.
kept scrolling down and i think i lost my jaws...

 

Looking really good man. Whats next on the list to be done?

 

Thanks guys!

The truck is now off the road (& its mean to be a daily lol)

Next plans as follows

1) Fully strip the truck, cab off etc.

2) Notch the rear, sandblast and paint the chassis. Just a simple black colour

3) Tub the firewall and install trailer tubs in the engine bay. Repair rust in the floor, not to major

4) Put the whole truck back together, panel & paint. Satin sky blue

5) Drive it again

 

Well you better get started. Sounds good though

 

Hey bud Dylan here from whakatane ya truck looks good now but guna look sick sittin lower. What are you gunna do with ya rusty tray? il buy it off you. im lookin for a wellside for my 77 which iv never even seen in nz before so was guna modify a old b1600 or simaler. Im bagging it so il have to chop it up anyway. Cant have my ktm sitin on the gas tank haha. Hit me up 0276647311

 

Hey man

To be honest with you, you dont want it. Its ****ing rusty all over, and I mean all over.

I recommend modding a 89-97 bed. I have seen one mounted to a 77 before and it looked ok. Just need to narrow it slightly and you could graft the rear quarters on and mod the body line to suite.

Other option could be to find one overseas and get the bed sides shipped over (not the entire bed) Shipping wouldnt be that bad

 

Recently did some digging on the history of this truck. Found the owner who originally imported it into New Zealand on facebook (stalker much? haha)

And received this email

Hi James.

I bought the truck in Alaska in 1985 from a school teacher named Mike who was the sole owner. I drove it from Alaska to Tennessee in 1986 and then acorss the country to LA in 1988. I shipped it to NZ since cars were expensive then and new immigrants could bring in one car duty free at that time. It has driven the length of New Zealand many times. I sold it in 2004 because the clutch appeared to be going. Where did you get it and what sort of condition is it in now? I had that car for 19 years and it was a good one. I may have a few photos somehwere

This what it looked like, circa 2004



Check out the OG graphics and camper shell haha

 

Holy crap that camper shell is awesome haha, would love to get my hands on one for mine... still for the price that full length canopies fetch i suspect it is unlikely... truck looks mean too (now i mean) haha

 

love the truck man. i think its pretty cool you found the old owner who imported it, id go looking for the original owner of my truck but after seeing the questionable work that was done by him i dont think hes someone i would want to meet

 

Got the old rust bucket tray off today, oh my dam what a bastard of a job that was

Unbolted 3 bolts and had to cut the rest of it off But as a bonus called in to a local wrecker a scored a good set of tray bolts for nothing



This is what I'm working with now, rails should clean up well after sand blasting. But for now I'm just getting the new bed on and putting it back into storage

 

Well got the new tray on this afternoon but its wasn't the result I was aiming for.

Its a NZ new bed and it appears to be a tad bit longer and none of the mounts line up :x

 

ah man thats no good at all! so it was recently imported to NZ? hard to believe how many different wheelbases there were.

 

The truck itself has been in NZ since 1988, and the new bed would have been assembled here in NZ.

I will have to get this bed modified to suite, there is no way I will find another one, as they are super rare over here. Most have wooden flat decks.

Shouldn't be to much of a major to fit?

 

i'm sure you can handle making it fit!

those beds are all over around me. especially the longbeds. i've got one sitting in my back yard, but it's already going to another project lol