TheSamba.com :: View topic - My 1959 (60 model year) DC "Roach" Build Thread

Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:00 am

Well, I figured it was high time I actually added a build thread for Roach.

I was involved in a pretty serious car accident in December 2008. A 2002 Escalade going 50 in a 35 rear ended me in my 66 bug while I was stopped. After we settled on the value of my bug with the insurance agent. I was left with my 66 13 window. As my medical bills piled up and a settlement was not happening anytime soon, I was forced to sell my bus. About that same time, my brother spotted the roof of a bus when driving home from work and called me up. The deal was struck truck unseen and he was shipped out here to Utah.

I don't have a picture of Roach when he was found, I yet, the phone that had them died and I am trying to get some picts from the PO. This was one of 2 trucks the owner had, he had a 58 single cab and this 59 double cab. I actually got the stories mixed up about how he got the dc and scab.

The PO bought Roach in 1963 if I remember right. It was crunched in the 70's and built to run again in the 80's and has sat in his yard since the early 90's. It is originally Dove Blue, but was resprayed 3 times. It was painted mint green in the mid 80's and then white later. I picked it up in 2009. Here it is on the truck:

Interior:

I called it Roach because it had this on the rack and I thought it was pretty accurate:

I tore down the engine, rebuilt the carbs and got it running again. This is a video my wife took of his maiden voyage:

After that, I pretty much decided to drive Roach as he stood until last year. I'll post more later.

Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:27 am

LOL never to be seen or heard from again?

Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:33 am

LOL, screaming tires on maiden voyage. I love Double Cabs.

Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:33 pm

More pictures. The dc had been in one heck of a rear ender and was hit on the driver's side. The cargo floor was solid, front floors had the usual rust.
Inside of driver's side:

Outside damage marked:

Cargo floor

The gates are all OG seamed gates, but they all were pretty dented up and had rust holes on the bottom.

The bulkhead was rocked. Not sure how someone can pull that off.

Both sides were jacked. Wheel wells were cut and then patched with incorrect wells. To make it even worse, the patches stuck out about an 1/8" inch and the sides were just filled with bondo.

Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:35 pm

61TXghia wrote: LOL, screaming tires on maiden voyage. I love Double Cabs.

Those tires were so old that they shredded during this trip around the block. I was rolling or the rims when I got back home.

Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:18 pm

Hmmm I went to high school with the guys who own that tow truck company, where was this found?

Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:05 pm

Somewhere around the Modesto area in CA. The driver was a pretty cool guy from what my brother said.

Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:17 pm

More Updates:
I sent Roach down to Big Mike's shop, Washington County Collision and Customz to have the bodywork done. This is after blasting:

Mike got to work on the bad driver's side:

The Passenger Dogleg was full of rot and bondo:

More to come.

Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:16 pm

Looking good man! Any more pics of some of the problem areas? Looks like a good strong start!!

Mon Mar 26, 2012 11:01 pm

I keep digging through them and post some more.

Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:46 pm

The lower hooks for the front seats had been cut out and filled with tar. I guess they were going to use some other type of seat but never finished he job. Lots of random welds all over the seat area.

The floors have been gone for a long time. Here is the old floor patch:

Both of the battery trays were rotted too.

While the truck was gone, I started getting to work on the seats.
This after blasting, priming them in the garage. Wife was not too pleased with the gray primer dust all over her side of the garage.

She was even less thrilled with the black paint, but the frames came out great.

A nice package arrived for me from Matt Miller.

I could not help but be stoked with how awesome these looked! I jumped right in and started getting this on my fresh frames.

Bottom:

Sun Apr 08, 2012 9:55 pm

Stack of seat goodness!

Back to the body------

Here the funky green sides have been installed. How sweet is that to NOT see the crappy lipped patch job! My wheels back from fresh paint.

Seamed gates being straightened:

Nose:

While Mike was sorting the metal, I was sorting the engine.

Here it is, just about done:

Thu Apr 19, 2012 11:16 pm

After seeing Cjsmitty's incredible build, I'm almost embarrassed at mine but i appreciate what I have. Anyway, here is another update:

What i will be running for tunes:
SecondSkin AlphaDamp .060 Dampening
Tsunami 4g amp kit
Tsunami Battery Terminals
Stinger 6-channel Twisted Component cables
Audiocontrol Three.2
Kicker ZX700.5 Amp
Alumapro ALC 5.2 Component system
Alumapro BP-12
Running off an ipod touch with no head unit.

Fri Apr 20, 2012 6:59 am

Nice Dude!!!

Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:38 am

ldsvwguy wrote: After seeing Cjsmitty's incredible build, I'm almost embarrassed at mine but i appreciate what I have.

Of what! Man that looks great! I am itching to get started on mine!!

Fri Apr 20, 2012 8:32 pm

Thanks! I'll keep posting as the build moves along.

Fri Apr 20, 2012 8:55 pm

That's looking awesome! Nice work!!

Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:57 am

WOW you really hit fast forward on that DC! Now the fun part begins, the reassembly. An you have nothing to be embarrassed about, it turned out great!

Ben in SC

Sat Apr 21, 2012 6:57 am

ldsvwguy wrote: After seeing Cjsmitty's incredible build, I'm almost embarrassed at mine but i appreciate what I have.

Thats crazy..... You have done a great job with your DC and it looks great! Don't think for a second mine is perfect because there is no such thing when it comes to restoring a car :wink: Keep up the good work and keep us up to date with your build and if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.

Corey

Wed Apr 25, 2012 8:45 pm

Thanks for the encouragement guys.

Here are some more shots. I have been working on wiring up the audio right now. I'm just about done and will start laying down the dampener friday or saturday. After that will be engine and interior. I've forgotten how much of a pain assembling the popouts and pretty much every window was. I haven't had to do this since 92. I'm actually wondering if Wolfgang assembles windows now....

Anyway, here are some updated picts.