Bob Rankine's 1941 Chevy 1/2-Ton / Flatbed

27 December 2004

From Bob:

     Hello guys, thanks for a great site! My name is Bob Rankine (Mozzie). I'm from Western Australia. I have a 1941 Chev half ton pickup which has been rebuilt as a flatbed.

     The truck was originally purchased for the Australian Army. It was sold to a farming family around 1948 and used on their property. About 1972 it was parked in a field and left to rot. The previous owner (Marc Bursill) bought the truck in 1992 and rebuilt it over the next ten years. I bought the truck in October 2004.

     Marc built the truck as a show truck and it is certainly a credit to him. I needed storage space so the truck could be used in my business. Ian Macpherson and I built the timber storage boxes (Ian is the one with the skill). We used jarrah which is a Western Australian hardwood. Beautiful timber.

     The spare wheel is stored in one side of the large box as I wanted to keep the under tray area clear as I intend installing an lpg system next year so the truck can run on dual fuel. There are still a number of little jobs to be done over the next few months or years. I've included a couple of photos and will send some more later.

     The guy in the photo below is Ian Macpherson who built the boxes. Over the last couple of months, this truck has proven to me that it is a practical daily driver and great fun. What more could you want?

     I'm using the old chev most days for work. I get some time off work in May and I intend doing some touring with it. I hope to travel around the southwest of the state and maybe do two or three thousand miles over a couple of weeks. Should be fun. All the best Bob

     Thanks to everyone for all their help so far. This really is a great site.

Cheers,
Bob
Western Australia

     Bob's truck was Ms. August for the second Stovebolt Calendar. ~~ Editor