How-To Making A Pickup Bed

A home-built short version of an authentic styled bed. Part 1

Right from the start of this re-creation project I have had in mind to keep many of the elements of my original Model A bucket that I finished in 1969, but not to make it an exact copy – more of a tribute car. The original bucket body was made up from the cowl and doors of a roadster, plus the centre door pillars and rear doors of a Model A tourer. All these pieces were welded together, making entry and egress from the vehicle via the jump-over-the-top method – okay when you are only 19 years of age, not so easy now that I am a little older!

To form the back of the original bucket body I made an angle cut across the lower rear corner of the tourer rear doors where there is the original scallop to fit around the rear fender. Then I just joined the rear edge of the rear doors with a square tube framework and filled the area in with sheet metal, giving the body its unique shape.

If I had the ability at the time to purchase an original one (almost impossible back then) or to make one myself, there is no doubt I would have used an original style pickup bed. I have gained a little experience since those raw learner days, so I felt confident to tackle making my own short version of an original pickup bed for the re-creation project. Adding to my confidence is the fact that I have my ’30 Model A pickup bed to refer to while building this version. The beds on ’28-’29 pickups and ’30 Model As are all the same. Ford changed to a squarer design in mid ’31 and that was the style of bed that predominated from then on.