Richard Graves’ Gets to the Details on his Truck
Photos: Billy, Story: T-Bone
The devil in the details. We stopped by Richard’s shop to see the progress on the cab-over truck he is building. He had the cab off to fix up some minor bodywork issues after getting it sand-blasted. The undercoat was sprayed and covered to protect it from dust and particulates. Yet, if you see his shop, it has to be the cleanest shop we have ever seen. Plenty of room to get around and a clean floor.
The bed is pretty much finished up and will be going to the powder coater this week. I asked how will he take it there, that thing must weigh a ton!? The forklift will pick it up and drop it in the bed of his Ford Ranger truck standing it up. The powder coater is only a couple of blocks away in Long Beach. The steel structure will be powder coated then the sides of the rails will be painted the body color. Note the rounded corners on the rails, and the wheel cutouts. For the bedwood, we mentioned in the last article that he uses Apitong, a Philipine Mahogany. That will get treated with linseed oil while the bed is getting powder coated. The side panels are already complete and treated in a box tucked away in the shop.
Back to the details. The tongue and groove panels are immaculately drilled with tight countersunk holes. There are recessed access holes built into the bed for access to the fuel sender and other under/chassis components. The chopped nose of the frame is nicely detailed and supported with 2×6 box steel cross member. Bitchen and safe. In the rear, a custom tow hitch receiver is flush with folding looped steps.
Stay tuned as we bring you more of this build in the near future.