No word on the Travelall this week. I was hopeful they might call me sometime Friday to pick it up, but I didn’t hear anything.
Meanwhile, I was out in Frederick shooting video for work, and when I was done with that, I texted my Travelall acquaintance Tyler, who’d told me a while back he had a bunch of parts left over from his project. We were only about five miles away so it was a short drive over to his house. He showed me the updates to his truck, which is now running and driving, and it is beautiful. He put a Crown Vic subframe under the front and a SBC in the engine bay, tubbed the rear wheels, and put the whole thing on bags. He fired it up and it sounds loud and mean. We looked over the other stuff he’s done, including installing an inexpensive headliner kit from Jegs, and traded some information on parts.
His headliner is a five-piece set, which might not work with the bows I’ve got, but I liked the look of it. I also looked carefully at the shoulder belts he put in, with nutserts on the B and C-pillars. I’ve been thinking about how I would add shoulder belts to my truck, and I like the way he put his in. So there’s some inspiration for a winter project there.
When I got back home, I went through the bin and catalogued it. There’s some stuff I was happy to find—things I’ve been looking for, and a couple of things I’d forgotten about:
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- An almost full set of original seatbelts in much better shape than the ones out of both of my trucks. The chrome buckles and metal mounting rings are all in excellent shape, as are the rubber protective covers.
- Two round metal dishes with circles in the center, and threaded O rings. It took me a minute to identify these, but when I did I was thrilled: these are the countersunk rear seatbelt mounting points that are set into the wood floor. One of the seatbelts has a carabiner-style latch which is clearly meant to be removed when the rear seat is folded forward. I’ve been kicking myself for having junked the green truck with these still inside; this is a fantastic stroke of luck.
Also in the bin were
- A late-model coolant overflow setup, which is basically a Scout-style container retrofitted to a metal panel.
- a single rear tailgate pot in good shape
- Four late-model IH hubcaps
- A brake pedal lever assembly
- A dual-chamber brake master cylinder and a clutch master cylinder, which would be an upgrade to my single-pot unit. I’ve got a set from the green truck along with the firewall mounting plate, which will be the firs things I try.
- Two rear seat safety rods and latches; these are the pieces that hold the rear seat in place.
- A rubber body mount that goes between the frame and the front clip, in excellent shape
- Two suspension components from the front steering assembly
- A bag of assorted bolts.
- A full set of gauges in a style I’ve never seen before—I’m pretty positive these are all aftermarket, but they’re pretty cool, and definitely different.
- Another working horn. Out of the four I have, only one works reliably, so I’m hopeful this one is the second of the two tones I need for a proper setup.
I know I can find a good home for a bunch of this stuff; I also sent him photos of my tailgate in the hopes that a guy he knows can use it for another project. So I owe him a trunkful of very good beer, or perhaps some good bourbon if he’s a cocktail sort of guy. We’ll see.