Resto Rod Autocar

[Gary Chastain]

I am liking the visor and the mirrors, gives the truck a more modern look to fit the Resto Rod theme. Now, custom make CB radio and FMRS antennas, will need to be roof mounted. 

[Jürgen M.]

Wow Gary! That is one awesome truck you got there! Amazing work! 

Jeff was absolutely right wenn he said that anyone would be proud to wheel that down the road!

[Gary Chastain]

This bumper is kicking my…….. it is bent plastic and it keeps moving. You can see the gap on passenger side fender. Oh, this is the third bumper I have made so far. 

[Jürgen M.]

Don't worry about it! Ever seen a truck where everything's symmetric?

I saw a Bentley Arnage the other day! The gaps left and right of the trunk lid were totally different! 

Even the best of the best have faults! 😉

[Biggu]

This build is off the clock good!!!!!!! So much of it ties together perfectly. The absolute perfect paint , is a show stopper , then start looking at all the updated bits. To gather this completely takes a good study of it to see all the nuances of this truck. This just gets better and better.  What a joy to watch this. 

[rattle can man]

Very nice build! No hood sides definitely gives it a hot rod look..

[Gary Chastain]

The finger nail tape arrived today. It measures .035 width and is extremely thin. It comes with 25 roles (3 in various chrome) colors. Some colors I will never use but for the 5 bucks I spent, I’ll just toss them. Will do some experiments to see how this stuff works or I wasted 5 bucks. 

[BK9300]

I’m curious to see what uses you can find for it, too - looks interesting.

[Gary Chastain]

22 minutes ago, BK9300 said:

I’m curious to see what uses you can find for it, too - looks interesting.

Wanted the chrome for radiator clamps, let ya know how that goes. Second, one of my favorite truck color combos is a black truck with silver panels and really thin red pinstripe between the black and gray, hence the tape. 

[Gary Chastain]

Broke another rule, I chromed the steering column and steering wheel. Also got my tall shifter made and installed. The one I seen on the interweb had a blue custom transparent shifter knob, so I cut down a red runner from a parts tree and polished the top. 

[Biggu]

Very, very cool!!

[Gary Chastain]

Detailing done on the interior, a look thru the back window. Now I wish I had finished the back of the seats, but not seen when assembled. 

[Rockford]

Very realistic interior, well done. Could you put a reinforcement behind the bumper whilst it's held at the right angles? I find laminating scratch built stuff helps to maintain angles. 

[Gary Chastain]

8 minutes ago, Rockford said:

Very realistic interior, well done. Could you put a reinforcement behind the bumper whilst it's held at the right angles? I find laminating scratch built stuff helps to maintain angles. 

Agree, Was thinking about that very idea, let you know how that goes. 

[cifenet]

You got yourself a beautiful truck, Gary!!

[mustang1989]

Yeesh!!! Just happened to stumble upon this build here Gary and your progress on this is looking really good so far. As far as the back of the seats go, you could always tint that back glass and no one'll ever know. 

Praying for you on the heart valve issue man. 

Joe 

Edited March 14 by mustang1989

[Gary Chastain]

4 hours ago, mustang1989 said:

Yeesh!!! Just happened to stumble upon this build here Gary and your progress on this is looking really good so far. As far as the back of the seats go, you could always tint that back glass and no one'll ever know. 

Praying for you on the heart valve issue man. 

Joe 

Thanks Joe for looking and prayers 

[Scott Eriksen]

On 3/12/2025 at 1:48 PM, Gary Chastain said:

Agree, Was thinking about that very idea, let you know how that goes. 

Gary ,maybe some K&S brass bent to the same shape to reinforce the bumper or even a piece of brass rod tucked in the upper 90 angle

[Gary Chastain]

3 hours ago, Scott Eriksen said:

Gary ,maybe some K&S brass bent to the same shape to reinforce the bumper or even a piece of brass rod tucked in the upper 90 angle

Thanks Scott those are good ideas, another option could be to run a brace back to the frame under the front fender apron 

[Gary Chastain]

Fitting the inter cooler lines to the larger turbo. It is a tight fit but does fit under the hood, barely.  Now to detail them out and reinstall. Motor is in for the last time, radiator installed, next all the water/heater lines. Exhaust is going to be a challenge. 

[cifenet]

Nice fine work, Gary.  

Your grille is looking mighty clean and shining (lately, I am obsessed with grille) too!
 

 

[Gary Chastain]

Bending aluminum tubing for the exhaust stacks. Using a brake line bender for 1/4 inch tube. Problem when bending, tubing collapses as seen on the tubes on the right side. I inserted some very snug fitting plastic tube (about a three inch piece to support the tubing) to give the tubing enough support to not flatten on the radius. I also left 3/8ths of an inch sticking out for glueing, the plastic is now trapped and makes a good glue location to the cross pipe. I will polish the aluminum when fabrication is complete. 

[Gary Chastain]

Couple modifications and this might work. Next, build exhaust tubing hangers. The plastic tubing is the same width as the frame which allows the hangers to be vertical from the frame, now to get hanger length to clear driveshaft. Then determine stack heights. 

[Gary Chastain]

One pipe polished, think it’s gonna work. 

[Gary Chastain]

I think the straight pipes work well on this build, gives it a hot rod look.