GTB restoration and making parts
I recently restored a 1943 Ford GTB Bomb Service Truck. If you are also doing so, you are aware of the difficulty in finding parts for them as they are an unusual vehicle and there are not enough of them around for most of the big companies to make parts for them that are unique to those trucks. I hate to see people go through the same frustrations I did.
I'm working with a few people, local (not foreign countries) to make some parts for the Ford GTB vehicles. GTB owners really have very few sources for the parts that are exclusive to them.
Things are starting slowly, as you would imagine, so I am starting with some of the most needed parts as a result of the many phone calls I have received since completing mine. When I restored my Bomb Service Truck, many parts were missing or severely damaged. I made my passenger seat from drawings supplied by another MVPA member. We later found that the drawings were mostly accurate, but left out some details.
I also made my top bow set from the remnants of the one on my truck and used other drawings to make up the rest. It is also not absolutely correct. I had to make the rear tail light brackets, too. They are correct, and very difficult to make. I have a few extra sets of them.
I also made a new tool box, the metal one. It is exactly correct. I even drilled holes in the top just like the other original ones I have seen, but have no idea what they were for.
These machinist friends of mine also made me a wheel for my chain hoist that rides on the I-beam. It is much better than the original. It just tells you what they can do.
I finally borrowed an original passenger seat from John Zimmernam. Friends of mine who are machinists are now measuring it and are going to reproduce it. I do not yet know the cost for them and won't until they make one. They will make several of them.
I am looking for some help. I need to find an original top bow set for both the bomb truck and the cargo truck. I will gladly return them to the owner. I'm sure that the one I made for myself has some little details that are incorrect, and I do not like incorrect.
We can also make other parts but need to find the need from owners. This is not a get-rich scheme for me. I just want to be able to help others that had the same problems. The more we make, the cheaper they are.
We are considering making the rear fenders, but they are very, very complicated and I'm not sure how many people would want them. Because of the tooling, I would have to make a bunch to make them affordable. To repair the ones that were on my truck, took about 60 hours of labor.
I am looking for GTB owners who have parts that they would like to have reproduced. I don't know exactly which ones they can produce, but unless I ask you I will not know your needs.
I am also looking for all of the help I can find on these topics and would appreciate any forums you use to help in our quest.
GTB owners are in a small circle. Let's work together to find some solutions.
I am fairly certain there were more then a few Generals who were loathed by their own men, Col. Dixon S. Miles, who surrended Harpers ferry to the Confederates on September 15th, 1862 (The largest capture of American troops by an enemy until Bataan and Corregidor in WWII) was mortally wounded before the surrender, one cannon crew from Vermont claimed to have done it, though their gun was not in the right spot to do the job.......![[thumbzup]](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_thumzup.gif "Thumbs Up [thumbzup]"){kind=icon}
