Manky's Pop.

[Manky Monkey]

Loony & I spent the day today at the NSRA swapmeet in Essex, where I picked up a couple of odds & ends for the Pop.
At the same meet last year I bought an old Bakalite Ford Prefect dashboard. Lovely looking thing, full of period gauges. It's got an ashtray at either end of it. I'm a non smoker & didn't want ashtrays in my car, but you couldn't blank them off without messing up the Bakalite. Also, being brown, it clashes with the all black interior of the Pop & it'd be a crime to paint it. So I bought a fibreglass dash today for 10 quid. I can paint that any colour I want without feeling guilty, plus it hasn't got any ashtrays & only one gauge, which I think I prefer. For a tenner it's worth a play with anyway.

[Manky Monkey]

A '50s Lucas rear view mirror of unknown origin with anti dazzle flip up action. 10 quid. The back matches the Bakalite dash ...which we're not using.

[Manky Monkey]

And a very shiny new chrome plated Lokar handbrake lever for 30 quid. Loony stopped to chat to Scottie & Gina, (hi guys), & I got distracted by the stall of many shiny things. Before I knew it this was mine.
Nice & short, so perfect for the Pop's limited cab space & I like the push button. Thought of dismantling it & powder-coating the body black, but there'll be chrome window winders & stuff in the cab, so it won't be too out of place. I like it anyway. A bit nicer than the Reliant one we were going to use.

[SteveRedd]

watch out for the shiny stuff...it creeps in and before you know it you've been out and bought a Harley 

[panthershaun]

before you know it Manky, you gonna be building a Street Rod 

[VALLEYSBOY]

looks spot on does that hand brake tank location is spot on too, says he who knows nout

[Manky Monkey]

We know slightly less than nowt Gareth, but can talk like we know what we're doing with the best of 'em.
A super smooth, shiney & modernised Street Rod Shaun? I think not Sir!
I fully intend to drive my truck as often & as far as possible, (though I doubt I'll be commuting to work in it), so blingy thingys will be kept to a minimum -like they used to say: Chrome don't get you home.
The new fibreglass dash propped in place. On reflection, the Bakalite one looked too posh -too refined for a truck. This looks more in keeping with the style I think. Probaly paint it gloss black with the rest of the body then add some red in the horizontal grooves, scrubbed back off till it hardly shows, so it looks old & faded, to pick up the red piping on the seats.

[Manky Monkey]

My lovely assistant, Loony, holds the miror in place. By the time we've added windscreen wipers, a tax disc & my hands on the steering wheel, there ain't gonna be much screen to look through.

[NeilG]

Looking good sir,at least at every Thornycroft show theres a bit more of it 

By god you can move fast when you want to,shouted to you at the swap meet yesterday but you ran away,you know i'm too unfit to chase after anyone 

You were looking at the black Zepher/Zody sled in the car park.We were parked just across by the fence,sat by the car drinking coffee and warming up.

[Manky Monkey]

Oops! Sorry Neil, you should've chucked summat at me to get my attention!
This one? It belongs to Elliot from Thanet in Kent.
http://www.jackchitrodaz.co.uk/
I was on a mission- I nipped out from the queue for the entry gate to grab a snap of it. Didn't realise till later that it was parked in front of the black Gasser Consul, (forgotten the owner's name). Would've made a great contrast for a photo.

[NeilG]

Nope,it was this one,if you look over the roof of it you can see us in the back ground stood behind Justines red landrover.
Tried to throw something but could,nt reach that far 
Weird thing was i'd just walked back from having a look at the same car!!

[Manky Monkey]

Belongs to Dan of jackchitrodaz, Kent.

http://www.jackchitrodaz.co.uk/page3.php?view=thumbnailList&category=1

Loony & I were freezing by the time we left the swapmeet -every year it seems to get colder at that arena. So we didn't hang around for long in the carpark. Sorry we missed you Neil. 

[poprodder]

that s**te hole don't deserve to warm up!!!

nice dash, and shiny parts!!!!

[Manky Monkey]

I hope you're talking abut the arena & not Lunatic!  Yeah, I love the swapmeet, but it's the bleakest, coldest, most windswept place in the world.
A little bit more done. I've extended the framework under the pick-up bed, that will hold the fuel tank, forward. With an extra couple of bits of 1 inch square box section added, it'll now hold the battery too. I could've just made up a sheet steel box & welded it directly to the chassis, but apart from not being able to remove it if I needed to, it's a bloomin' heavy battery & I didn't want it just sitting on the sheet. So it's supported by the box section. Only tacked together here, so now I've got to fully weld the whole frame, then make a couple more captive nut thingys to weld into the chassis to hold the front end.
After that I need to make the battery box itself, which will bolt to the framework. That'll give me a convenient place to bolt the battery earth cable to. There'll be a battery access hatch in the floor of the pick-up bed eventually. 

[Manky Monkey]

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