 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Dr. Sorrell's '68 is the very first cruiser I ever worked on, 14 years ago. Haven't got a clue what I did then but I do remember it was the first one I worked on. The truck is a family icon and Dr. Sorrells treats like it a queen. Barry felt it was time to go through the truck and do some major overhauling to help avoid the eventual decay that was creeping in. The truck has been through alot and as you will see from the following pics is now a beauty.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Took the truck apart and we found the normal extra's. Rust hiding under cover and excessive bondo in familiar places. We stripped the truck down to paintable pieces and then had the truck soda blasted. We got rid of the rollcage and put in a factory replacement for a more yota feel. Plust it allowed us to redo the mounting of the rear seats to make them much safer.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
After the blasting you can see the bondo cakes and the damage done in the rear sill area. We cut out the rusted portions and fabbed up pieces to fit in and welded them in. I made the rear sill on an anvil vise and it worked out great but took a bit of forming.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
You can see here how we retrofit some things before powdercoating. The rear jump seats get new welded in bracket that attach to the roll cage. I see the broken door pulls on early style doors all the time, as well as the cracks in the top seam portion of the door where the window slides in. Barry's doors had taken a beating over the years and had more fatigue cracks than normal. His windshield had alot of extra holes from mounting stuff that didnt look good so we welded em all up and ground them down to look factory again.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We ground all out all the old bondo, hammer and dolly the warped areas better than before and the smoothed the body back out. After working the tub and getting some epoxy primer on the tub we prepped the inside for some liner application. You can see below the body tub pieces hanging on their racks and getting the coats applied. We did a base/clear silver on his truck because it had a silver gray look before and Dr. Sorrell's wanted to keep it close to that.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Putting the pieces back together after the work is finished. Notice the windshield lights. And now you can see how the retrofit seats came together after the powdercoating and upholstery. We put on a new softtop and voila Schuss is back.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Dr. Sorrell's with his old girl.
The Cruiser Company 2009