Drive Train / Chassis Donor
1990 Ford E-350 7.3l Diesel (ex-U-Haul box truck)
The chassis donor for this project, a 1990 Ford E-350 was used to retrieve it’s own new skins. Then, with the new skins in place, the ’56 COE delivers the discards to the recycler.
The ’56 Ford COE cab came with a damaged passenger side front fender — most of it was missing. The best we could do was a portion of a ’55 pick-up which is close in shape, but different in size. We’ll make it work…
The drive train/chassis donor — a Craigslist purchased 1990 Ford E-350 with a 7.3 Liter Diesel — was acquired as a complete box truck.
The box was cleanly sawzall’d off, which we don’t have any footage of, but we had a good time getting it off in one piece. Stripping the donor, harvesting the wiring harness and prepping the chassis to accept the ’56 cab is underway…
Donor cab off and the ’56 cab gets initial trimming for placement on the donor, about 8 feet forward.
Fitting the cab went pretty smoothly, as much of the floor and firewall were cut from the ’56 cab. The firewall front the donor was left in place and welded to the cab to seal off the engine compartment, but also allow for the use of the late model truck engine cover (dog house) to be used.
With the cab planted and the firewall mated to the cab, fitting the hood become the task at hand.
And then get the ’55 pick-up truck fender fit as well as possible to the missing area of the ’56 cab, and figure out which grill to use.
Even before it was complete, the Oscar was called upon to rescue a friend with challenges in his ’57 Chevrolet…
Tightened up and serving it’s purpose, Oscar brings home a 1969 Subaru 360…
After many months of dependable service, Oscar was sold, and dressed nicely by new owner, as seen below…
