715 at Labor Day Car Show

[Jay Dog]

Hey everybody,
Just wanted to share some pics of the 715er rubbing fenders with some of the best Hot Rods around. After the past few months and I cant count how many spray cans, as well as fenagalin the canvas shell to fit, my rig is looking about right. Before I start getting into the mechanical side of it, I decided to have some fun and make the trip from Long Beach to the Orange County Fairgrounds (via side streets of course -about an hour) for the 25th annual Labor Day Hot Rod Cruise. A buddy of mine owns the 49 Chebby and talked me into going. I was a bit reluctant as besides the SBC my truck isnt much of a hot rod, but I am sure glad we went. The rig got more attention than most of the customs. I must have talked with over a hundred people about the history of our sweet rigs and shared some moments with a hand full of Veterans who taught me some history as well. I had all of our friends pile into the back and we spent most time cruising around checking out the show. The show is set up with a "cruising course" that snakes through the fair grounds and the cars/trucks line both sides of the course. Cruise at will. All in all it was a good weekend with the smells of Bar-b-que, Race Gas, Beer, and fresh spray paint (no B.S., I finished the final touches on the camo job and bumpers/grill/headlights late friday night). Hope every body had a good holiday too, Cheers, Jay.


P.S. I know what everybodys thinking, dont worry, Ill have some wheelin' pictures once it cools down a bit.

[LuckyPabst]

Nice! I used to make it there every year to bum around and harrass the vendors. I never could pony up the cash to actually put whatever pile I was driving into the show though. Some good friends of mine go every year with their early 70's Chevy trucks - two red ones and a green/yellow one.

Chris

[gimpyrobb]

I like that topper you have on the back. Maybe my nexy project will be to make a tube frame, soft sided 725.

[Jay Dog]

Chris, yeah no doubt its pricey, to get me and my girl in it was gonna be $24 anyway, $20 more got the M715 in too. The way I look at it, it saved me money because the cooler w/ food and drink was in the truck. That 20 bucks would have bought how many beers at the show? 2 or 3 maybe? Then food too? Yikes! Ill start saving for next years show.

Gimp, the shell I bought off a buddy for $300 and he even threw in a Con-Ferr port hole roof rack that I am debating on putting on top of it. It was on his F-250 and I had it on my 96 Ram 2500 L.B. The company that makes them, Can Back, used to be down the street from me but the company was sold to an outfit that took it to Pheonix, AZ and I have had trouble getting ahold of them for some small parts. A custom fab jobber on a 725 would be very cool. Check out their their website for some ideas:
http://www.can-back.com/
Let me know if you want some close up pics on how its put together.

[compexp]

Nice looking truck - looks like a fun day!

[vrod02]

I like the custom buzz bomb. Nicely done:

[bluesman2a]

Gimp, the shell I bought off a buddy for $300 and he even threw in a Con-Ferr port hole roof rack that I am debating on putting on top of it. It was on his F-250 and I had it on my 96 Ram 2500 L.B. The company that makes them, Can Back, used to be down the street from me but the company was sold to an outfit that took it to Pheonix, AZ and I have had trouble getting ahold of them for some small parts. A custom fab jobber on a 725 would be very cool. Check out their their website for some ideas:
http://www.can-back.com/
Let me know if you want some close up pics on how its put together.

Jay,

I've been thinking of something VERY much like that for my truck, but doing it off a rear cage. If at all possible I would VERY much like to get some close ups of how that is put together please sir!

[Jay Dog]

10-4, Not a problem. Ive been pretty busy, give me a couple of days to get the pics together.
Jay

[Jay Dog]

Bluesman2a, Heres some pics of how its put together. The sides roll down and snap at the base. The trick to keeping the sides from sagging between the straps when rolled up is to insert a piece of tubing or round stock and roll the canvas up around it. The base rectangle tubing that sits on the bed rails has plastic end caps and when the sides are unrolled the round stock can be stored in the hollow tubing by removing the caps. Roll toward the inside and it will keep the water from soaking the roll. The top bows are bolted to the base with "nut-serts" (a sort of hollow threaded rivet). This came off a long bed full size and was a bit bigger than the M715 bed in both dirctions. The forward spreader bar was removed and the sides were ratchet strapped together to fit within the bed's lifting tabs. Besides keeping the base rails straight the tabs serve as the tie downs for the tops tension lines. Let me know if you need another angle, Good luck and post some pics of how it comes out, Jay

[bluesman2a]

Jay, THANK you very much sir for the follow-up pictures!!!