65 townie body work

[Darryl in Austin]

As some of you know I am doing a frame off restoration on a 65 townie.
The chassis has been taken apart sandblasted, painted and put back together.
I am working on the body now. It has been sandblasted inside and out And primed. Now I am pounding out the dents and using body filler for the final smoothing. There are still a couple of badly rusted places that I am going to cut out and weld patches in. Though finding an old 70-85 utiline for patches at the junk yard has not been as easy as I thought it would be. Still looking.

Looking for an A/C unit for the townie too... Already in the upper 90's here!

Spent the day today out at another TW nuts place outside of Austin. This is the first guy in 2 years searching that I have found, who has a townie within 3 hrs of Austin. He's got 4 townies and one is a parts vehicle which he has been kind enough to let me get parts from. Today got the front seat, emergency brake assy, spare tire bracket, visors, 1 arm rest, ( still looking for another arm rest) and a few other misc parts. Still need middle and rear seat if anyone can spare them.

More pics of the TW restoration and also of my 59 power giant at photobucket







More pics of the TW restoration and also of my 59 power giant at photobucket

[Darryl in Austin]

link to photo bucket http://s368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/obed2765/

link to tw and PG

http://s368.photobucket.com/albums/oo122/obed2765/

[Ron in Indiana]

Looks good Darryl. We have a lot in common, we both have TW's and 59 Power Giants. That's an interesting front bumper with the extensions welded on to the original bumper. I'd take them off so those nice front fenders don't get wrinkled. I'll look to see if I have an extra set of fender patch panels. I have one set spoken for later this summer but I may have another I can part with. I might even be able to copy my article on how to do the repair. I've been working on my 59 to get ready for Iowa. I replaced the manifolds on my 230, having the seat recovered and painted my new factory rear bumper today.

Have you looked into Vintage Air for the A/C on the Townie? My neighbor put one in his 35 Plymouth street rod and it's a very nice compact unit. He said they have great tech support.

I don't envy the sanding you have ahead of you on that body, been there twice. Don't want to go back. ha ha

[Darryl in Austin]

Ron,

Yes. it is one "heavy duty" front bumper and winch.

Patch panels with instructions sounds great! If you do find a set you can part with, let me know how much I should send for them.

I know your '59 is going to look sweet for the rally. When you say new factory rear bumper, can I still get a new rear bumper or is that the one you straightened out little while back?

The guy I got parts from today has a couple of factory grill guards for the townie. I haven't seen many of those, are they rare?

I'll check vintage air, and Ron, I haven't minded the sanding so far. I'm really enjoying all the body work. The floor pans I made really look great now that the welds are smoothed out and primered.

As always, thanks for your help and advice,

Darryl

[Ron in Indiana]

I just know from experience that the factory bumper which has no support at the ends usually get bent without much trouble. This is why I have a custom built bumper on my TW. It was cut on a laser and formed in a press then welded from one piece of sheet stock. DODGE was also cut into it below the winch. I have it painted body color now. This was on a trail ride at Windrock in TN. The same happens on the aftermarket rear bumpers that bolt to the fenders. I've straightened two sets now with another one in the same shape.
I'll look for those patches which are already cut out. The rear bumper was from a new friend who attended my rally. It was tweaked to say the least but with my bumper machine and a BFH it came around. I did use a skim of filler due to the past abuse. I won't be pulling anything with it.

Bumper guards on a TW or PG are right up there with hen's teeth. They called them dragon's teeth if it came with all four. I can't say that I really care for them all that much but to each his own.

Always here to lend what what I can to the fray. haha.

[mattsoldmopars]

Dragon's teeth, Bumper guards, and Grill guards

Dragon's teeth, Bumper guards, and Grill guards are three totaly different things.

Dragons teeth are tow hooks mounted to the front bumper, and used for towing and pulling ect,,, these are pictured in the first photo.



Bumpers guards are pretty much for looks only. I am sure they were made/thought up to use for pushing or protecting the bumper. These are pictued in the 2nd photo. (Thanks for the pictue Kevin) Bumpers guards were available in sets of two or all four, and as far as the info I have seen were never called Dragons teeth.



And last, The grill guard which was use to protect the grill, and had nothing to do with towing, or pushing. Which is what the 3rd photo shows. This grill guard is missing the horizontal bars that go side to side on the grill gaurd, if you want to see a better piture of one I can get another one.




So to answer your ? Darryl, I am not sure how rare grill guards are? I have only seen 4/5 trucks with them, and 3 of them I now own.

[Darryl in Austin]

Matt,

Thanks for the photos, and nice trucks.

I would like to see another photo of the grill guard. The ones I saw have 4 tabs that come down in front of the bumper where they are bolted through the bumper.

Darryl

[Darryl in Austin]

Ron,

That is really a cool custom bumper you put on you r TW. I am jealous.

Darryl

[Darryl in Austin]

Matt,

Is the red 59 a w200?

[74w300uteline]

i want dragons teeth

just because they look mean. any idea on prices? don't have to be original. repros ok

[Ron in Indiana]

I guess I should have gone to bed than to reply on that one. I wasn't reading what was written. The red 59 is belongs to our own Kevin in Rehoboth. It really is a nice former fire truck with single rear wheels. I have another one of those bumpers but it's not folded and welded. I added D rings to the front also.

Andrew, it's always about mean, nasty gnarly looking with you isn't it? Maybe some anger management is in order? LOL Just pulling your chain. ha ha

[74w300uteline]

Ron, image is everything here in NYC

I'm trying to hide my soft heart of gold HAHA. I tried anger management but they were all *&^%$#@ jerks. Power Wagon therapy is much better, rubbing elbows with folks who don't have their hand in your pocket or are looking for the next angle. Thats why the Rallys are so great, being able to let my guard down for a few days a year.
Rust is my bling!
Overkill is just enough!

PS speaking of mean, tell Pieter that he owes me a 165 lb Kuvasz dog.

[Darryl in Austin]

Patched a panel today

Cut out a rust spot and filled it with a patch I cut off a spare door I had.

[Darryl in Austin]

[Darryl in Austin]

spot welded it in then ground it down primed it and used a thin layer of body fill.