In the seventh installment covering the California Hauler's buildup (the first six, published last year in KIT CAR, are available online at www.KitCarMag.com), we stray a bit from the "normal" build to fabricate a very custom piece for the truck. In the initial kit, available through Auto Classics, you not only get a superior fiberglass cab and steel bed for your Chevy S-10 chassis, but you also get a working tailgate, too. However, the manufacturers leave it up to the individual to decide how to finish the tailgate-using the supplied fiberglass piece (with a Willys script logo) or fabricating something themselves.
We chose the fabrication route, as we wanted to use an older stencil-type logo Willys used prior to World War II. Luckily, we were able to locate a company called Classic Enterprises that stamps this stencil-type logo into a plate of heavy-gauge steel sheet, which we bought and had shipped to us. Each plate (we bought two-one as a backup in case we messed up the first one) arrives as a 6x9-inch unit, and the logo is about 1.5x7 inches.
Just by chance I saw this original Willys tailgate while walking around in Houston one day, so I took a picture of it for future reference...
We then took the tailgate's framework and stamped plates to Marcel's Custom Metal, which is highly qualified to fabricate entire cars from scratch, let alone do simple cut 'n' weld work. But as we found out, there is more than meets the eye when doing sheetmetal welding, as warpage is a common byproduct that adds time and effort (which directly translates to money!) to the project.
Luckily, we chose the right guys to do the welding, as the father and son team of Marcel and Luc spent nearly the same amount of time working out the warps and bumps that they did creating the piece in the first place. It's just the way it goes when you roll beads into flat metal and then follow with weld-sheetmetal likes to warp when subjected to these stresses.
The finished piece is a simple design that resembles a stock Willys tailgate, but it is custom all the way. Now that the tailgate will have a steel inner and outer skin, I will probably add some oak wood sections between the skins for added strength, and thus be able to make it a working tailgate you can actually sit on without fear of bending it.
The next installment of the California Hauler series will cover the installation of the V-8 engine and transmission mounts, so stay tuned to KIT CAR!
