STEEL TO SPOTTED GUM
BIG BLUE gets hard.. wood!
The infamous Big Blue is back, the legend that started our love affair with Chevy Pickups! Its been over 12 months since we finished the resto-mod build, it comes back to us with a list of wants and needs by Michael, top of the list is a timber bed! Not uncommon, timber bed kits are available from over the pond, in a variety of timber species and colours, usually found in catalogues with prices with a small image attached. This wasnt good enough for us, infact buying anything outside of our country isnt good enough. This was to be the beginning of our new product line, the timber bed kits!
With our 65 C10 having an original factory timber bed, we used it to our advantage, obtaining exact measurements, the layout and also the routering profile for the bed strips, as we wanted to replicate the factory timber bed exactly how they did it almost 60 years ago. We found a local timber merchant that could supply Australian hardwood to our lengths, widths, and thickness, so we ended up choosing a Spotted Gum variety.
With the timber sorted, we started carefully removing the old steel bed. The decision was made early on to raise the timber bed 90mm above the factory height. This was done to future-proof the truck if the owner ever wanted to go lower with the truck; ie, bridge notch and airbags. The 90mm height brings the timber up to the first suage line on the bed sides. With no kit available, we designed and manufactured our own raised bed brackets, and timber bed braces with the correct bolt spacing.
The timber was treated to a natural oil then laid out for final measurement prior to fitment.
A rear filler panel was designed and cut, we included "BIG BLUE" in the panel, which was a nice surprise for the owner.
Here's Matty starting to fit the timber bed,
As a final touch we fitted up one of our TCF Aluminium Under-Bed Fuel Tanks with our chrome filler cap. Each part of this kit is available in our store, from the raised bed brackets, the reproduction bed braces and also the complete timber and stainless bed strip kit.