Dean Shimmin inspecting–6 Sep 2018

Thursday and Dean Shimmin wanted to see the Dodge. Dean is recovering from a terrible fall in which he struck his head hard. He is in recovering but now walks with a cane.

We decided to drive to Ephraim. Ralph agreed and we spent a couple of hours discussing progress and making plans for the next steps.

Front end sheet metal about finished–just final details now.

Full hood now on and working

Pin stripping finished along the belt line

Bed is now painted and mounted–6 Sep. 2018

Exterior of cab and front fenders finished. High-quality paint. New rubberized running boards

Bedsides have been painted and mounted. Rear fenders are ready to be bolted on.

Looking proud 6 Sep 2018

Trial bed floor–much work to do. Now just three months later, the bed is finished with new graphics. I considered doing the bed floor in the old, traditional way. This would involve many strips of finished hardwood separated by polished stainless steel dividers. This technique always looks good but by now is so commonplace that, at least to me, it has lost appeal. So naturally, I had to go a different direction.

The graphic is a slight redesign of an existing Mopar design. It was done by a local Ephraim design shop and set on a big piece of maple wood cut and finished by Ralph. It is bold and bright and I hope everyone who sees it likes it as much as we do.

The most complete view of the old Dodge to date. Shot by Ralph on September 11, 2018