pmmjarrett
Not just tired..... RETIRED!!!
It’s official, I’m retired, again, and my Freightliner haul and tow truck is sold. I’m looking for a new direction to make a couple bucks or at least break even so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and keep me busy doing something I love.
Some of you may know I’m having some medical problems right now with horrible pain in my arms and shoulders and super sensitivity to cold temps in my hands due to peripheral neuropathy, the pain is pretty under control right now so we’ll see how things go. They did find 2 bulged discs in my neck. Good news is the neurosurgeon says I don’t need surgery after looking at the films and looking hard at my symptoms, instead of being like everyone else that just looked at the narration of them. He thinks I have Parsonage-Turner syndrome…. Oh goodie, another rare problem that nobody knows what caused it or how to fix it. Why can’t I just get something normal like a cold or flu like everybody else? Maybe it’s just because I’m special; my Mom always told me that…special what however, she never said. LOL
Many of you have watched me build 2 haul and tow trucks for the RV transport industry. What I did to those trucks is just a small fraction of what I am capable of. I am capable of building show quality custom cars and trucks including the paint and body work and have the tools to do it…and now have the time and funds to do something I always wanted to do, which is have my own rod and custom shop. I ain’t working on anybody’s stuff but mine in the shop. Nope, I don’t want to see other peoples stuff at all in my shop unless I built it. If someone brings me some broke Honda ricer wanting me to fix the brakes or whatever, my shop labor rate will be $500.00 per hour straight time for every minute it’s sitting in my shop taking up valuable floor space with ha minimum charge of 1 hr.
There is a pretty good niche market for well done custom resto-mods that are built well enough to be reliable daily drivers that didn’t tank like the rest of the economy and America has had a strong love affair with their cars for many years, there are a lot of people that love to drive their rides and not just save them for show, and many are willing to pay well for something “different”.
That said, I’m researching what I want to do for my first project. I want to build a late 30’s to mid 50’s Ford COE on a modern E series 250 – 450 chassis with a 7.3 Powerstroke diesel, auto tranny, hydroboost 4 wheel disc brakes, room for the entire family by adding a sleeper with a custom interior or converting it into a crew cab and be able to be used to haul a show car, tow a trailer or might even just go with a pickup bed so you could take it to Lowe’s and haul the lumber home if you wanted too. The early step side beds look great with these cabs as do modified Superduty beds if you blend them in correctly. Modern Superduty front bumpers can be blended in also.
Keep things simple, clean, smooth, classy and like the factory might have done it if the technology existed 50 – 70 years ago. Make it easy to repair and get most parts at the local parts store or repairs at a Ford dealer if needed on the road. Make it easy and comfortable to drive with all the creature comforts everyone expects today. Rebuild the entire chassis and driveline so it drives and is reliable like a new car, something that you wouldn’t be afraid to drive across the country and back.
Those old COE trucks are ugly beasts, but done right they are uber cool rides. Anybody can do a pickup cab; the COE cabs are much rarer.
If I build it, she will be for sale as soon as it’s finished so I can move forward and build another one.
Yep, that’s what’s bouncing around inside my head right now for those that are brave enough to venture there.
Now I just have to locate a good, solid and straight 30’s to 50’s Ford COE at the right price and get it in the shop…right after I finish cleaning it out from the mess I made modifying the deck on the Freightliner.
Some of my favorites.
Nice clean crew cab conversion and matching pickup bed.
Nice crew cab conversion with a hauler bed and a molded in superduty front bumper.
A couple nice clean pickup conversion
How about a Ford Superduty bed that could be used daily blended in. They could have done some more to match body lines to the cab but overall not bad, not bad at all.
How about a hauler body to tote your RV or horse trailer around.
Some of you may know I’m having some medical problems right now with horrible pain in my arms and shoulders and super sensitivity to cold temps in my hands due to peripheral neuropathy, the pain is pretty under control right now so we’ll see how things go. They did find 2 bulged discs in my neck. Good news is the neurosurgeon says I don’t need surgery after looking at the films and looking hard at my symptoms, instead of being like everyone else that just looked at the narration of them. He thinks I have Parsonage-Turner syndrome…. Oh goodie, another rare problem that nobody knows what caused it or how to fix it. Why can’t I just get something normal like a cold or flu like everybody else? Maybe it’s just because I’m special; my Mom always told me that…special what however, she never said. LOL
Many of you have watched me build 2 haul and tow trucks for the RV transport industry. What I did to those trucks is just a small fraction of what I am capable of. I am capable of building show quality custom cars and trucks including the paint and body work and have the tools to do it…and now have the time and funds to do something I always wanted to do, which is have my own rod and custom shop. I ain’t working on anybody’s stuff but mine in the shop. Nope, I don’t want to see other peoples stuff at all in my shop unless I built it. If someone brings me some broke Honda ricer wanting me to fix the brakes or whatever, my shop labor rate will be $500.00 per hour straight time for every minute it’s sitting in my shop taking up valuable floor space with ha minimum charge of 1 hr.
There is a pretty good niche market for well done custom resto-mods that are built well enough to be reliable daily drivers that didn’t tank like the rest of the economy and America has had a strong love affair with their cars for many years, there are a lot of people that love to drive their rides and not just save them for show, and many are willing to pay well for something “different”.
That said, I’m researching what I want to do for my first project. I want to build a late 30’s to mid 50’s Ford COE on a modern E series 250 – 450 chassis with a 7.3 Powerstroke diesel, auto tranny, hydroboost 4 wheel disc brakes, room for the entire family by adding a sleeper with a custom interior or converting it into a crew cab and be able to be used to haul a show car, tow a trailer or might even just go with a pickup bed so you could take it to Lowe’s and haul the lumber home if you wanted too. The early step side beds look great with these cabs as do modified Superduty beds if you blend them in correctly. Modern Superduty front bumpers can be blended in also.
Keep things simple, clean, smooth, classy and like the factory might have done it if the technology existed 50 – 70 years ago. Make it easy to repair and get most parts at the local parts store or repairs at a Ford dealer if needed on the road. Make it easy and comfortable to drive with all the creature comforts everyone expects today. Rebuild the entire chassis and driveline so it drives and is reliable like a new car, something that you wouldn’t be afraid to drive across the country and back.
Those old COE trucks are ugly beasts, but done right they are uber cool rides. Anybody can do a pickup cab; the COE cabs are much rarer.
If I build it, she will be for sale as soon as it’s finished so I can move forward and build another one.
Yep, that’s what’s bouncing around inside my head right now for those that are brave enough to venture there.
Now I just have to locate a good, solid and straight 30’s to 50’s Ford COE at the right price and get it in the shop…right after I finish cleaning it out from the mess I made modifying the deck on the Freightliner.
Some of my favorites.
Nice clean crew cab conversion and matching pickup bed.
Nice crew cab conversion with a hauler bed and a molded in superduty front bumper.
A couple nice clean pickup conversion
How about a Ford Superduty bed that could be used daily blended in. They could have done some more to match body lines to the cab but overall not bad, not bad at all.
How about a hauler body to tote your RV or horse trailer around.
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