Saga of the Truck - Chapter 5

 Progress!  And sooner than expected.

The moving of Quasimodo from the conversion shop in Valparaiso to the body shop in Elkhart happened as planned.  It was expected that at least three weeks would elapse before the next sign of any progress in the build.  However progress was seen in days instead.

 

Evidently the body shop had started fabricating the tow body in advance of the arrival of the truck.  The all-aluminum construction looks pretty rough in this stage but it undergoes a major transformation and refinement as progress continues.



The tiara (also called headache rack) is also well on its way.  There is still lots of work left to do but at least it is just a matter of doing it and not waiting for weeks on end for backorders to be filled.

Once fabrication is complete then all these bare metal parts will be prepped, primed and painted to match the cab of the truck.



And that happened pretty quickly.  The next thing I knew there were photographs posted on the Classy Chassis Facebook page showing a shiny, deep red tow body ready for fitting to Quasimodo.  It's getting real folks.










Another ten days or so go by and then again, sooner than expected, Quasimodo is back at the conversion shop in Valparaiso.

A peek at what the almost finished job looks like.

I'm really going to have to come up with a new name for the truck, and soon.  Quasimodo is no more, it's a full fledged truck now.  All that's needed are some finishing touches.  However these finishing touches entail a lot of work, patience is still the order of the day.

The patience needed though is not for want of work getting done.  The finishing process started almost immediately upon return to the conversion shop.  There is a ton of wiring and fitting of bolt-on equipment to be done and it has to be done in a choreographed manner.  Hitch rails, lights, camera, service lights all have to be located and drilled, dry assembled and then taken all apart so that the bedliner can be sprayed in.  This assemble, disassemble, reassemble process happens about three times before it is all said and done.

Quasimodo moved indoors almost immediately.
Tiara and factory installed running boards removed.

New hitch arrived just in time.
Similar design to the one in Big Gulp but beefier with higher load capacity.

Hitch being fitted.
Tailgate and bumper removed and rear panel taped off for
spraying in the bed liner.

Quasimodo moved to the spray booth and getting final masking
put in place.

Rear bumper and tailgate in spray booth and masked off 
for having bedliner sprayed on some selective surfaces.

Patience has been easier for me to come by with Classy Chassis' posting of these progress photos.  Still saying August for a completion date though.  I think they are setting expectations to exceed them.  Customers love that (the exceeding part).  I know I do.


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