The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Restoring the underneath of 1953 Chevy Panel Truck

How did you guys restore the underneath of your Panel Trucks ?? Has anyone here used a rotissere or made a rotissere or body jig so that they could turn the underneath around so you can stand up and restore that area ?? I saw a couple threads here with a guy making one from 2 engine stands but that was for a pickup cab. The cab/body section is alot bigger on a Panel truck. You would think in todays era that you would be able to rent one of these better expensive rotissere's ?? I dont want to have to lay on my back and restore this area. Im 62 yrs. old now and I wouldnt be able to do a good quality job laying on my back. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I think you could build a rotisserie to work on your panel, similar to what I did for my cab. You'd need an attaching bracket to the firewall and brackets to bolt to the rear door hinge locations. I used mine with an extension tube between the two engine stands and put my frame on it for painting as well.

I don't know if rotisseries are available to rent, but you'd have to check around your area. The manufactured ones have pretty complicated (adjustable) brackets that use the body mounts. Pretty spendy to purchase.

[on edit] Here's a link to some photos of another member's (older) panel on a rotisserie: Link

I did a complete overhaul of my 1953 panel about a dozen years ago. I took the body off the frame. The frame was not too difficult. The underside of the panel body was mostly a big sheet of plywood, it didn't need anything. I did have a hoist for the doing the front section. We welded in some patch panels in the toeboard area.