This weekend I did actual work! Surprised, right?

Most of that work, really, was on my new Buick. Nothing particularly photogenic.

I did, however, succeed in getting bed sides made for my flatbed.

Those are the original side-board linking brackets. Only original pieces left, all of the wood was VERY rotten.

Now, I am pretty proud of my tailgate design for this, I think it's clever.

I used standard strap hinges to carry the gates. Everything is installed with 1/4" carriage bolt hardware to mimic the original design, and also minimize the number of potential snag points. The gates are held shut with a 5" barrel bolt, which locks directly into the framing of the bed. These particular models also have an opening for a padlock, which I'm using to install a 3/8" lynch pin to keep the gates positively closed when driving.

I aligned the supports on the gates (and the hinge pivot point) such that they will swing 270 degrees out and lock back flush against the sideboards, in the event I want to use the bed with the back open, or for dumping.

This thing right here is a product I've never seen before - it's a simple hook and eye arrangement, but intended for positively securing a gate so it has a spring-loaded keeper that prevents it from coming unlatched. Pretty neat and perfect for what I'm doing.

So that ought to make the truck that much more useful.

As an aside, I was working on this part of my Buick earlier today:

And yes, it was running when I took this picture.