Elle L's 1975 Bedford KDLC3

[Elle L]

Where to start . . . . . . Probably with my truck, Maddi, that I bought on impulse after the love at first sight viewing when I wasn't even looking for a truck!  While a truck wasn't particularly in my plan building a little house has been a dream of mine for quite some time.  Spending my childhood with Dad and Popa constantly in the garage working on neat old and home made cars it seems fitting that I have ended up with my very own old school truck 

So this project is part reviving a neat old truck and part building a house!  Hopefully it may be interesting for some of you, and you may even have some tips and tricks to share, as this is one whole new learning process for me 

Also please bear with me as I figure out how to navigate this forum, thanks!

[anglia4]

Discussion thread:

 

[Elle L]

On 29/03/2022 at 14:34, Elle L said:

Where to start . . . . . . Probably with my truck, Maddi, that I bought on impulse after the love at first sight viewing when I wasn't even looking for a truck!  While a truck wasn't particularly in my plan building a little house has been a dream of mine for quite some time.  Spending my childhood with Dad and Popa constantly in the garage working on neat old and home made cars it seems fitting that I have ended up with my very own old school truck 

So this project is part reviving a neat old truck and part building a house!  Hopefully it may be interesting for some of you, and you may even have some tips and tricks to share, as this is one whole new learning process for me 

Also please bear with me as I figure out how to navigate this forum, thanks!

 

Admittedly I have owned Maddi for just over a year, yikes that went quick.   But as they say:   'Good things take time'
Just to play a little catch up which where I'm up to now on the whole project journey . . . . . . 

So after unexpectantly falling in love with the truck I then had a stressful couple of hours wondering whether to buy it or not.  Finally my grandma said "If you don't will you regret it?" to which I said a prompt "Yes".  And that was that.  Except then I owned a truck that I couldn't drive (still working on that) and had no where to store it!  The guy I bought it from was great and held on to it for a couple of months, then a lovely couple offered to park it up by their house truck until I found a shed.  So I made up little flyers and plastered them on every local notice board, posted on line and even did a letter box drop looking for a shed to rent.  Then I got a call from an amazing local family who had just the thing!  A large shed with 4m tall doors!  Perfect, and not far from home.
 

[Elle L]

Having now secured a truck and a shed I now needed to figure out what's next!  Being totally green with this whole project I spent a good amount of time on the phone to dad asking advice on where to start.  Maddi had a fresh COF when I bought her, just needing a couple of minor things and two new tyers.  Her cab had a bit of surface rust, with some heavier rust in the lip around the top of the cab.  I wanted to get this tidied up, especially the roof and back, before I put my house on.  So with several phone calls and photos sent to dad I started learning how to sand/grind back the rust, treat, prime and paint!  This was a very slow process, especially as I felt I needed to check every step.  Working by yourself whilst not really knowing what you're doing makes for slow, but satisfying, progress! 
I bought an angle grinder and my most common reply to 'what are you up to this weekend' was now 'going to the shed'  

[Elle L]

And then dad came down for a week to help   Not only was it fun working with him, but man it's quicker with two pairs of hands.  Not to mention a pair of hands that actually know what they are doing!!   

[Elle L]

[Elle L]

We had six days with dad here, and I must say he was a very dedicated worker!  I made lunches and took hot flasks for the coffee and we got stuck in.  I had all the supplies we needed, with only a couple of the corners on the roof rim that needed filler, otherwise it was just dedicated sanding.  I had taken one of the engine flaps in to a paint store in Nelson for a colour match as I loved the green she came to me in.  I was desperate to check out the colour so we got one top coat on the back before dad left, it was perfect.  Then it was back to just me and Maddi again.

I then had lots of fun with trial an error of how to paint her and have it look half decent.  I'd decided to go with hand brushing, partly because I didn't have access to spray gear and partly because I thought if I could do it well enough it would really suit the age and style of the truck.  And there was a lot of trial and error!  I was also a bit enthusiastic so didn't always wait for the best weather.  I tried multiple brushes, sponges, rollers  . . . . . . . . .  And ended up settling on a combination of a brush and with a roller taped so it didn't actually roll 

Getting the roof finished felt like a huge achievement!

 

[Elle L]

While I continued to work away on the painting when the weather cooperated through winter I also had lots of fun collecting things for the house.  And I must admit it got a little obsessive at times!  I was looking for windows and doors and a little fire place, timber and such.  I became a regular the the local tip shops and spent too much time on marketplace and trademe.  But I did score some neat things! 

I ordered some timber, bought a drill driver set (and learnt what the difference between the two was ) and figured how to put together window frames.  

I also made a start on tidying up the chassis which proved a grubby and fun job   

[Elle L]

[Elle L]

And then something really quite exciting happened . . . . . . . . Maddi got her steel frame work done!!

After quite some time thinking and researching I decided to go with and 'outline' of steel framing and 'fill in the blanks' with timber system. 

I'd met Alex and Hannah who had got in touch with me when I was searching for a shed.  Not because they had a shed but because they thought Maddi was cool and liked the project.  Firstly they asked me around to have a go with their welder!  Now that was a little intimidating but actually rather fun.  Although I did decide I didn't need to learn how to do absolutely everything and the framing would be best outsourced.

As it turned out Alex and Hannah operate their very own workshop, Yellowhammer Workshop.  And very lucky for me they agreed to take on my project.  They have done an incredible job!  I was just like a kid at Christmas going to see it for the first time    Not to mention when we got to take Maddi for a drive, so exciting!

[Elle L]

I must say being unemployed this month as made for a productive time working on Maddi    If not always appearing fruitful there has been organising and planning as well, trying to think ahead to the next stage.  It's been great to finally get stuck in and make some headway!

The first mission was to get the floor down.  So I got busy with the polystyrene offcuts that had been sitting in waiting, filled in all the gaps then came the fun part;  learning how to to drill and screw into steel!  It took some practice to get the technique right but with a few handy pointers form Dad and Lance I was away.  Getting the 17mm ply sheets onto the tray also required some extra muscle which my brother was also awesome at providing.

Next challenge was doing the 'under floor' on my bedroom loft over the cab.  That took screwing into steel to new levels with odd angles and above my head!  But of course I got there with my brother again helping with the lifting and clamping in place.  By that stage putting the floor down in my bedroom seemed like a breeze with all of my 'expert' skills gained so far.

And then all of a sudden I had a floor to walk and sit on without risk of falling through a gap, amazing!! 

The organising, ordering, collecting supplies and getting quotes for timber and roofing always seems time consuming but necessary.  The the most exciting thing was getting the ply cut for my curved roof beams!  I'll have 12 beams with 4 laminates per beam and as dad wisely said I didn't want to do them all with my jig saw if I wanted a roof before Christmas.  As it turned out a friend of a friend has a CNC machine and was happy to help!!  What a lucky surprise.  And so the list of awesome people I'm meeting along the way grows.  Plus I now have a whole bunch of cut outs awaiting the glue I've ordered.

Progress   

 

[Elle L]