This truck was named the Toad by my friends as it had several different spots of paint on it some brown and many different shades of green. Here it is just before it went into the shop.

 

Custom Gauges
 

These gauges are from a 1983 Toyota Landcruiser and "grafted" to the original AD gauge buckets.

 

 

Seats for the Toad

                

The seats are out of a 1988 Plymouth van, the console in the left picture is from a Dodge Van I flipped it front to back.  When I put it between the seats it turned out to be too wide and did not allow easy access to the driver seat controls.  My wife purchased the one in the two right pictures at COSTCO.  They look good and have several lockable compartments and the colour is perfect and they will be retained.

And of Course a Gas tank.

 

This 30 gallon tank is from a 2000 Chev 2 ton Van it's a great fit. And as you can see I've gone with a 9 inch Ford with 3.35 gears for the rear end."
 

 

 

 

 

A Pacer IFS

Provides IFS, power steering, disc brakes and I was able to retain the stock steering wheel. Ride height seems very close to stock.  I'm not sure of this set up yet and if it doesn't work out I think I'll go the Mustang route - there's lots of after market stuff available for the M2 that allow for slamming it a bit.
 

 

The Toad is powered by a small block Chevy with an RV cam and pretty much rebuilt from the bottom using a 600 Edlebrok carb and delivers the power through a TH400 to a 9 inch Ford rearend with 3:35 gears.  Wheels are aluminum 14" Ford Ranger up front and also matching aluminum 15" Ford F150 rear. 
 

The back of the Toad was a mess, it appeared that several hundred boards had been thrown in from the tailgate end and a lot of them hit the back of the cab on the way.  After two and half months of heating, shrinking, pounding, filling here's what it looked like after two coats of Zero Rust.

     

 

The rear fenders are hanging gracefully on the inside of the shop doors.

        

 

 

     

The engine and transmission are finally installed. 
A small block Chevrolet with a TH400.

In previous restorations I installed the cardboard (paper) headliners.  They are a pain in the butt
and never look as good as I wanted them to look.  So I bought a 4' X 8' sheet of textured ABS from the local
plastic shop, used the cardboard crap as a template and cut these ones out of it. 

It was an easy install on a warm day, didn't take me twenty minutes - the good thing is that ABS takes paint.

  

HERE'S A FEW SHOTS OF THE CANARY AND THE TOAD
OUT BACK OF THE HOUSE.  THE PAINT ON THE TOAD  IS
100% ZERO RUST, GRAY ON THE FRAME, BLACK ON THE FIREWALL
AND THE INNER FENDERS.  THE EXTERIOR IS "CAT YELLOW" FOR THE CAB AND BOX, FOR THE FENDERS I MIXED ONE PART WHITE TO THREE PARTS CAT YELLOW.  IT CAME OUT KINDA CREAMY COLOUR WHICH I'M OK WITH.

IF I SAY SO MYSELF THEY DO COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER.

 

AND THEN THE FIRE .....

 

     

ALTHOUGH AT FIRST GLANCE IT PROBABLY ISN'T OBVIOUS BUT THAT ZERO RUST SEEMS TO HAVE SOME INTERESTING PROPERTIES IN AS MUCH AS IT DIDN'T BURN, IT BLISTERED BUT IT DIDN'T ACTUALLY CATCH ON FIRE.  

IT WAS A HELLOFA MESS,  I HAD TO REPLACE 90% OF THE WIRING, WINDSHIELDS, SIDE WINDOWS AND THE ENTIRE IGNITION SYSTEM. 

TO FIX IT UP I REMOVED THE FRONT SHEET METAL, HOOD, GRILL, ENGINE  TRANNY , ETC.

  

    
 

 

TWO MONTHS LATER ... OUT OF THE ASHES THE TOAD RISES

NOW WITH A AM/FM/CD RADIO, ELECTRIC WIPERS AND

SERIOUS DRIVING LIGHTS (AIRCRAFT LANDING LIGHTS @ 250,000 cp each).

 

 

Here's a few recent pictures taken October 10, 2004.

        

And then on January 1st, 2005.