Travelette Limo with 6 doors

[Fat Boy]

Hello All,

I recently purchased the foor door version of this truck, and I've been going back and forth with what to do with it... I think I figured it out! Whadayathink?




Now, if only building it were as easy as photoshopping it...

Ok, so... in theory... how would you do it? Assume that you already have the Travelette. Would you get a Travelall cab and rear doors, split the Travelette cab, and graft the middle of the T-all cab into the middle of the T-ette? Better to use two T-ette cabs?

Yeah, I'm just dreaming, but if you're gonna dream... dream big!

[Cory Smith]

You're crazy! I just put together an extended cab Terra, but I didn't have to mess with any extra doors.

I had thought about taking the middle out of a 60's Travelall and making a two door out of it, about the size of a full size blazer.

[Baradium]

I think the easiest would be a travelall front with the rear half of the travelette cab. Would need to reinforce the cab and frame...

You could always just buy an airport limo and keep it as travelall.

That is a very interesting idea though, a lot of work though...

[pri]

Ryan is absolutely right on this... Front piece of a travelall and the rear piece of a travelette. I'm not sure about reinforcing the cab, they're pretty stout as they are, and if you're a good welder it shouldn't be a problem. Might need another cab to frame mount though...
The frame is another story though. I dunno if the 4x4 frame is boxed already, or if it's a U-beam design. If it is a U-beam, I'd drop in a center piece from the donor, and then box it.
Don't forget to cross measure the frame before welding....

This looks like a project I'd like to do....

Paul

[Tom Mandera]

Originally Posted by Fat Boy

Ok, so... in theory... how would you do it? Assume that you already have the Travelette. Would you get a Travelall cab and rear doors, split the Travelette cab, and graft the middle of the T-all cab into the middle of the T-ette? Better to use two T-ette cabs?

Yeah, I'm just dreaming, but if you're gonna dream... dream big!

I think the Travelall would be a donor. The center doors are already set up for a "continuing roof/body" fore and aft, while the Travelette cab has a bit of a curve behind the doors, that would need to be taken out.

There are some changes to the roof line, at least in the D series - there's a tell-tale method of determining if a WagonMaster is a WM, or a backyard modified Travelall based on the roof, IIRC.

In any case, I'd cut the B and C pillars out of a Travelall, cut the Travelette at the B, and graft the T'all parts inbetween.

Watch out for any "kick-up" of the frame, so you'd probably have to slice and fishplate the frame to stretch it appropriately.

Was it originally a 3/4T, or did you just swap the axles? I don't have the frame specs handy, but the 3/4T D-series had a heavier frame, so did the Travelettes, with the 1T and 166" WB T'ette having the heaviest frames.

Along those lines, you might want to plate the entire lenght of frame from the "kick-up" to the engine mounts to help account for the extra span.

Did the rear seats in the 60s T'all fold down? I'd make an attempt to use at least one Travelall seat in there, so you can fold it down more or less flat to make a deck and/or bed sized area inside (if you can get both seats to fold flat, that'd be great!)

[MUDDAWG]

LOL !... thats great

but ya gotta ask yerself one question ?????








WHY ?




if youve stepped away from the beer and you still think its a good ideer

DO IT ! DO IT ! DO IT !

[Jim Grammer]

Originally Posted by Tom Mandera

I think the Travelall would be a donor. The center doors are already set up for a "continuing roof/body" fore and aft, while the Travelette cab has a bit of a curve behind the doors, that would need to be taken out.

One would want to look long and hard at the compound curves in both the Travelette and Travelall roofs, that part of the project is far from trivial. You'd likely *not* end up keeping the same roof section over the spliced in joint.

There are some changes to the roof line, at least in the D series - there's a tell-tale method of determining if a WagonMaster is a WM, or a backyard modified Travelall based on the roof, IIRC.

I was wondering who else had noticed that the D series T-ette roof is taller than the Travelall. If I ever fix the roof rust in my 1210 with a WM conversion, it's going to take a better eye than that to tell

[Baradium]

Originally Posted by Tom Mandera

I think the Travelall would be a donor. The center doors are already set up for a "continuing roof/body" fore and aft, while the Travelette cab has a bit of a curve behind the doors, that would need to be taken out.

There are some changes to the roof line, at least in the D series - there's a tell-tale method of determining if a WagonMaster is a WM, or a backyard modified Travelall based on the roof, IIRC.

In any case, I'd cut the B and C pillars out of a Travelall, cut the Travelette at the B, and graft the T'all parts inbetween.

Ok Tom, you've got me curious. Why so adament about the front half of the travelette cab? It seems to be doubling the work, but knowing you, I must be missing something.

If you cut the front off a travelall and graft the rear of a travelette, you've got one splice of the two bodies. If you are inserting a travelall section into a travelette cab, you've got two splices. Plus, if the cab roofs are different, it seems it'd be easier to "blend" them at one point then two (especially going back and forth).

[pri]

Originally Posted by Baradium

Ok Tom, you've got me curious. Why so adament about the front half of the travelette cab? It seems to be doubling the work, but knowing you, I must be missing something.

If you cut the front off a travelall and graft the rear of a travelette, you've got one splice of the two bodies. If you are inserting a travelall section into a travelette cab, you've got two splices. Plus, if the cab roofs are different, it seems it'd be easier to "blend" them at one point then two (especially going back and forth).

Ryan, I think Tom meant to use the T'all cab from front to just after the rear doors, and the Travelette cab from the rear doors and back. That is one splice...

Paul

[Tom Mandera]

Originally Posted by Baradium

Ok Tom, you've got me curious. Why so adament about the front half of the travelette cab? It seems to be doubling the work, but knowing you, I must be missing something.

If you cut the front off a travelall and graft the rear of a travelette, you've got one splice of the two bodies. If you are inserting a travelall section into a travelette cab, you've got two splices. Plus, if the cab roofs are different, it seems it'd be easier to "blend" them at one point then two (especially going back and forth).

Good points, Ryan, and I WAS talking of sectioning the T'all doors into the T'ette cab, but as you pointed out, it would be simpler/easier in many ways to start with a Travelall, cut it at the C pillar, and graft the rear section of the Travelette cab in place.

You could then either shorten the Travelall roof, or section in the Travelette cab rear roof area.

I wasn't thinking. I was thinking "If I have a Travelette cab, how do I stretch it?" not.. "how would I go about building a 6-door T'ette if I had a Travelall and a Travelette handy"

Once you've come to the conclusion you NEED a Travelall and a Travelette to do it, I think you're right on the money with starting with a Travelall and replacing the rear half.

Did Stageway build stretched C-series? Start with a Stageway Airporter and then slap the back of ANY single or double cab in at the point you want it.

While we're at it, why stop at a 6-door T'ette cab? Use the very rear section of the Travelall body to build an extended-cab, too.

There's a picture of a D-series single+excab in the Crismon book. A Travelall body was shortened to make the cab. The "extended" part was roughly made by taking the top rear portion of the T'all glass, and cutting straight down, keeping the rear "triangle" of glass in a D-series Travelall, and bringing that forward to the back of the cab.