High Sierra - Project Completed

Day on trucks. We'll finish off project High Sierra as we add a canvas cap and cargo rack to carry your favorite toys.

And we'll take it out for a test drive in the great outdoor.

And later from one way, it looks like a car from another, it's a truck. We'll take a close look at a rare 1959 dodge swept side.

That's all today on trucks.

Welcome to trucks. Now, a few weeks ago, we started a build up on a 99 GMC Sierra.

Not this. We're gonna deal with this a little bit later. It's on over here. Now, the first thing we did was whack out the roof, put in a sliding rag top, jacked it up six inches and put on 35 inch tall tires. This week,

we're gonna finish it up. We're gonna put on some equipment that'll make project high Sierra, a great vehicle for any kind of outdoor enthusiast.

Now, the best part about having a truck is you've got a bed to carry all your junk

stuff. Of course, a couple of drawbacks to having a bed is number one, people can steal stuff out of it. Like that toolbox number two,

all your stuff is open to the elements, which means it's gonna get rained on.

So, the only way to fix that is to put on some sort of a cap or a rack and that is exactly what we're gonna do.

You know, there's a lot of nice hard caps out there, but

uh we wanted something different, something a lot more versatile. So we went to can back and got one of the really slick canvas covers. As you can see, this is a complete departure from a hard fiberglass cap. It actually looks more like a tent

and we've got all kinds of bracing. You've got hoops and hardware to support the top

and then you've got a really nice thick piece of canvas.

Ok.

The first thing that you need to do is assemble the frame for your top and the best place to do that is down on the ground, not up on the truck. So lay out your side rails, your front rail

and go ahead and bolt it together using the supplied hardware.

Yeah,

then mount the hoops to the framework

and bolt them on,

then mount the spreader bars between the hoops. This will strengthen everything up.

Finally, once you're sure everything is straight and true,

all you have to do is tighten it all up

ready.

All right. Now it's time to put this frame on the truck. Now, if you don't have a friend, like Barry to help you out. Well, you need to get one because he doesn't come with the kit

and you can't have ours. Well, I guess for a price they could have

money. Always talks.

Yeah.

All right. With the frame on the truck bed, just line it up, using the cab as reference how you looking over there, Barry? Hell good.

Ok.

Once you're happy with your mounting location, it's time to drill. Yeah, you need to drill your bed, but here's a nice trick clamp everything in place. So it doesn't move around on you. Now, where you drill your holes is entirely up to you, but I definitely recommend you stay out toward the ends as much as you can

just make sure you don't have any kind of obstruction like this up underneath.

Finally bolt the frame down to the bed.

Yeah,

with the frame bolted on, it's time for the fabric.

Now, the first thing you need to do is decide where is the front, the back, the top and the bottom

and then lay it over the frame.

Now, don't be afraid to pull and tug on this fabric because it's so heavy duty,

you're not gonna rip it.

The first thing that you're gonna wanna do

is snap down all the corners,

followed by the remainder of the snaps

on the front

and on the sides.

Now to get some tension in the top,

we'll secure these straps around this center hoop.

Now you don't have to go crazy here and just crank down on these things,

they just need to be firm.

A tailgate flap is also held in place with snaps

and it goes right to this piece which will mount to the tailgate, see how it mounts.

Unfortunately, this stock plastic piece is in the way. So that's got to come off

and they are held in place with some nasty adhesive. So once you get it off,

make sure that you clean up the tailgate with some adhesive remover,

snap the strip to the flap,

pull off the paper,

then pull it tight

and stick the strip to the tailgate.

Now, make sure you take your time here because you don't wanna get it crooked.

That looks good.

Now, the final adjustment for the top comes with these ropes that are all four corners

and they take out all the final wrinkles. Look at that.

It's like a covered wagon.

Now, once you get these tied down,

take this velcro flap,

tuck it inside here

and you're all done.

Not bad for less than an hour's worth of work. That's what's cool about the can bag.

It disassembles down into that little pile that you saw earlier on the table and you can also disassemble it out in the field. You can't do that with a fiberglass cap. Another option.

He said you can unsnap these sides and roll them up for a safari type vehicle. Now, one drawback to any kind of a soft top is it's not a secure because you can't lock it.

Now, is this the end of Project High Sierra? No, we got more after the break.

Next Stacy's a basket case and he's gonna add one up top for your junk. Uh, stop

and later it's Dodge's rare styling experiment. The swept side from 1959.

Welcome back to trucks. We're right in the middle of putting the finishing touches on project high Sierra.

Now, there's no question that this soft top is very cool, but this is an outdoorsman truck. We wanna put skis and bicycles and canoes up on the top, which means

we have got to have a roof rack. Now, I know what you're thinking. What are you crazy? You can't put a roof rack on a soft top. Yes, you can because this one is designed specifically for it.

Now, the first thing you need to decide is how big a load you're gonna carry. Now, if it's gonna be fairly small,

you probably wanna use these close mounting points. But if it's gonna be big like ours,

you wanna use a mounting point here in the rear and all the way in the front.

Yeah,

with the top snap down and tight, we are going to burn through the canvas for our mounting holes. Now, the reason that we're gonna use heat is because this actually seals the edges of the hole together and keeps it from becoming a rip, which can happen if you cut your holes with a knife or a razor blade,

then lightly bolt the brackets on,

slide in your bar

center, everything up and tighten it down. Now, this system

is very strong and it needs to be. Here's why

we went to Yakima and got one of their mega warrior baskets so we can carry all kinds of junk up on top of the truck.

Now, this has an all metal construction

and all the brackets you're gonna need to bolt this thing on.

Yeah,

installation is a lot easier than you think because

this thing is not that heavy,

just slide it into place, center it up

and clamp it on.

Uh

Now Yakima gives you a lot of choices with these racks.

You can get brackets for lights

bicycles and as you can see even canoes or kayaks.

So, are we done yet? No, not yet. We got two more things to do and those are up on the front.

We're gonna replace that old stock hood with something cool. Literally. So we went to Keystone Restyling products

and got one of their fully functional ram air good hoods. Now, this thing bolts right in place of that old stocker is made completely of fiberglass, has a fully finished back

and of course, has a functional outlet for those twin scoops up on the top.

Now, swapping out hoods is not hard, but you will need an extra set of hands,

just unbolt the old hood

and install the new one using the factory hardware.

Now, an important tip, make sure you check your alignment before you slam that hood down the first time or you may end up damaging it.

The second part of this hood install involves getting rid of this stock air box, putting on something that'll take advantage of this outlet that comes from the twin scoops.

The new piece bolts right in place of the old one

has a rubber seal to seal it up against the hood

and finishes it all off with a high flow air filter.

One last thing to do

protect our front end.

The last thing we're gonna do is put on a brush guard to protect the front of our truck when we're out, goofing around in the bushes. Now, we got this one from DZ. It's got an all metal construction

and it extends all the way out to protect the lights and the fenders. Now, it's coated with a nice thick powder coat to prevent scratches

and it also matches our sun roof in a rack.

Hey, that kind of stuff is important too.

What?

Now, putting the brush guard on is an honest to goodness bolt on.

You bolt the brackets to the frame,

bolt, the brush guard to the brackets and that's it.

That also finishes up. Project high Sierra. So, what do you think? Pretty cool? Huh?

Now, just in case you missed the build up. Here's a recap.

We started out with a stock 99 GMC, put on a six inch lift, front and rear,

finish that off with 35 inch tires. Don't forget, put in a sliding sunroof

and that brings us up to what you saw today. Now, there is one last thing that we need to do. We need to take it out

and put it through the paces, which is exactly what we're gonna do

without that canoe after the break. You don't wanna miss it.

Next. We're going four wheeling as we take Project High Sierra out of the shop and off road for the first time

just can't get enough of trucks. Check us out online at trucks, tv.com.

Welcome back to the show and the payoff of Project High Sierra. Now, there's no doubt this is a cool truck and something just about any outdoorsman would like to own. But is it functional? Is it something that you can really get there and back with or, uh, is it just gonna fall apart and leave us stranded on the side of the road?

There's only one way to find out.

Of course, the cap, the rack and the sun roof have all been tested before and they did exactly what they're supposed to do.

The biggest test today will be the handling and off road ability of the suspension.

So we hit the trails to see how this truck responds when it gets its hands dirty.

Now, a week of rain had left everything very muddy. Exactly what you would expect when you venture into the wild.

The first thing we checked were our approach and departure angles and as you might expect, they were much better due to the lift. This allowed us to attack much steeper inclines without the front end digging in

maneuverability on tight trails was a little challenging.

The truck is not only long but with the lift, the cap and the rack, it's a big sucker too

and it seemed like every tree and bush was determined to get that rack off the top.

It's a good thing. We left the canoe at the shop,

ground clearance is excellent

under the body panels. But since the torsion bars and traction bars hang lower in the middle,

you're gonna have to protect them from the rocks and from getting yourself high centered

when things get twisty, like in deep ruts or creek beds,

the Sierra will take some pretty good abuse. No, it's not a hard core off road vehicle, but it wasn't intended to be.

But if you're not careful, it might try to convince you that it is

mud.

It's the one thing that everyone has to deal with when you go off road

and this is where the high Sierra knocks it clear out of the ballpark,

the lift, the long wheelbase, the lumpy mud tires, they'll keep you out of most sticky situations.

Because the last thing you wanna be doing when the fish are biting is digging your dang truck out of a mud hole.

Oh,

well, there you have it. Project. Hi, Sierra. What a great well rounded vehicle. Now, do you have to have a truck like this to enjoy the outdoors?

Oh, no.

But to get places like this you do.

So, go build your one.

What,

after the break? It's one of the rarest trucks you'll ever see. The 1959 dodge, swept side

and now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

Any time you put on bigger tires, you run the risk of body damage,

uh, body damage.

So you have three choices.

You can hack

on the fender to make room for the bigger tires.

You can continually fix the damage every time you do it

or you can bolt on a set of bushwhacker fender flares and be done with it.

These

just happened to fit an 88 blazer.

Now, when a big flare like this, you cut out the fender to make room for the big tire

and then the flare covers that. So you have a nice finished look. They also

keep you from getting mud flipped up on the side of your truck. Now, Bush Whacker makes a flare for almost every truck out there in various different widths. So give them a call, they'll be able to help you out.

One of the biggest things that you can do to upgrade your interior

is to put in a new set of seats. Now, if you're even thinking about doing this, you have got to check out the C five seats from steel horse.

Now, these are a sweet leather bucket seat that stylistically

look just like ac five Corvette seat, but

these are made specifically for a truck.

Now, they got all the supports and the adjustments that you would expect in a high performance bucket

also comes with a folding console,

carbon fiber

storage area.

And of course these all important cup holders. Now this whole setup run you about 1200 bucks. Now, that's not cheap.

But

have you priced a Corvette seat lately?

Oh, these are great.

I wonder if these will fit an 88 Blazer.

All right, here's the deal. It's 1959

and you're in the market for a new pickup.

Now, you kind of like what Chevrolet has done with that new cameo truck. But

uh

no, Chevys, you're a dodge man.

So you're flipping through the brochure and all of a sudden there it is 59 Dodge swept side. You gotta have it

sound like a dream. Well, maybe for you and me but not for Jimmy Johnson. He doesn't have to look at pictures anymore because he's got the real thing. Check it out

in 1957 Dodge engineers were in a bind.

They needed to come up with something to compete. With Ford and Chevy and the swept side. Was it

the front end had the high hood, low fender design

and it also hit the scene with quad headlights and a big chrome grill and bumper, all of which were extremely popular styling trends in the late fifties.

Another signature styling mark was the two tone paint job

and of course, the swept side not only had that,

but it also had special stainless trim that ran all the way down the side and into the bed.

Of course, those wide white wall tires and chrome hubcaps were exactly what you wanted to cruise Maine crank up Jerry Lee Lewis and look cool with it.

Now, in the fifties, trucks were still pretty much trucks

and the interior definitely shows that there ain't no tuck and roll in here, although extremely clean and restored to light new condition.

It's pretty basic with a painted metal dash,

the old trusty three on the tree shifter and of course a bench seat.

However, it did have some luxury, had a headliner and some door panels

under the hood.

I know you're thinking of heming

but

no, nothing quite like that.

But what we do have is a meticulously restored straight six Dodge.

And this is really cool because it's like a time capsule to let you see exactly what this looked like when they rolled off the showroom floor in 1959.

Now the bed is where Dodds got a little crazy,

believe it or not. This thing is all steel.

They took the rear fenders from a 57 2 door station wagon and grafted them onto the stock bed.

Graceful stainless trim breaks up the two tone paint job and it all sweeps back into a big old rear fin

that ends in about the wildest set of tail lights ever designed.

The chrome continued with a special rear bumper and you had a modified tail gate which opens up to a perfectly restored bed and a painted wood floor.

Now, obviously the days of working are over for this whole classic.

The only thing it hauls now are a lot of first place trophies that it wins all over the country.

Now, you're probably wondering. All right, just how rare is this truck?

Well, here's what we know

production started mid year, 1957. It ended early 59 which makes the 50 nines the most rare because

they only made them a couple of months also,

since all the swept side modifications were literally done by hand off of the production assembly line.

Well, nobody has the actual production numbers. So

how rare is this?

Well, this is not the only 59 swept side ever made, but it's probably the only one you'll ever see

next week on trucks. Stacy's pulling the bed off a 95 ranger for project prerunner

and with some big new meats and cool new fenders, he's gonna turn this tame truck into a street legal desert flyer.

Then we're going to the annual Street Rod Nationals for a look at some of the hottest and coolest show trucks on earth.

And finally Stacy's got new trick parts for your ride in truck gear.

That's all next week on trucks

for a VHS copy of today's show call toll free 1877853 7216. Show videos are just 1295 plus shipping and handling

trucks is an RTM production.