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Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
Lots of work on Brad's part ... pure enjoyment (and references) for you!
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For helping keep this great
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| | | | Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 667 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 667 | I've been doing a lot of cutting and patching on my '46 1-1/2 ton and have to say...the sheetmetal used on civilian trucks seems to be real caca. I'm no journryman welder, but I have never had metal blow out as easily as this stuff.
Of note is the fact that most of the body (it's a school bus) was not made by Chevy and seems to be leadnesium or some similar alloy. But the Chevy parts are not much better.
My understanding is that the "good stuff" rightfully went to the war effort and what went into non-critical parts on civilian stuff was pretty low quality and full of impurities.
I've been a pretty good hobby welder for 20+ years and have a couple of little Miller wire-fed migs. On just about any other metal I can keep a nice sizzle going down to 24 gauge. But this stuff? No setting seems to work on it.
Just had to ask if anyone else has run into this. | | | | | Joined: Apr 2014 Posts: 924 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Apr 2014 Posts: 924 | A friend of mine had similar issues in a restoration of a "good metal" government vehicle from the war era. It had been repaired with some of the metal you're apparently working with and it welded like visqueen. I'm speaking second hand here, I didn't work on it any, but they had sections of the metal tested for its composition to get a better idea of how to work with it/weld it. I'm not positive, but I think it was chemically tested.
I've enjoyed looking at your project photos; no, you're not a beginning welder for sure!
Brad
Wrench Fetcher, PhD | | | | | Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,611 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: Nov 2011 Posts: 1,611 | Tango,
Was your truck made in early 1945? If you look back in history, resources were stretched very thin at that time. Even post war I am not sure that the supply chain of materials rebounded that quickly. I would imagine that recycled scrap may have made a greater percentage of sheet stock production. War effort steel was no different than for the civilian market as the supply chain was one and the same. One of the nine production lines continued to make civilian use vehicles during the extent of the war.
I found that the metal on my 41 welded okay provided it was not thin from rust. This is being said from a non-professional welder, but they were not cold lap welds.
Paul | | |
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