Project: Goin' For Broke..updated

Now that I have made some progress on the Mazda, I figured I should start a build thread.I purchased this in Minnesota on Dec 23, 2008. I found it on eBay and it didnt meet it's reserve at auction's end. Long story short, the guy wanted $500 for it.

One of the many sales managers at my work volunteered me to deliver a 2005 Corvette to Moorhead, MN with a 2005 Escalade EXT. I told them I would use my car trailer to do the delivery if they paid for my food and fuel, they agreed with it.

I was set out on a 16 hour round trip delivery, ya right! I left my house at 8am, loaded up the night before. Not too bad of a drive until Austin, MN, after that, hell froze over! My 8 hour, 1 way drive turned into 15 hours of white knuckle driving at 35 mph on the interstate and seeing 40 cars in the ditches, buried halfway up the doors. It was the worse drive I have ever taken in my life. I finally picked up the new project at about 11pm, had no chance to look it over, but didn't care. I knew the truck was wrecked, so I kinda knew what I was gettin into.

I got it home and parked it, it sat and sat and sat. I started to contemplate junking it until my girlfriend told me she wanted to see me get it going and to build a new minitruck. WOW, that was the fire I needed. So, here ya go, let me know what you think, word of encouragement and criticism are always appreciated!

added the burbans first


then I busted out the tools

and went to town!

then i took it to the bodyshop to get the frame straightened and brought it back home a month later.

spare tire with tilt bed mock up

side mock up for tilt bed

bye bye spare tire

driver side ground down

passenger side ground down

my buddy scott weldin up

scott again

side welded up and ground down

hinges in and ground down


angle iron

angle iron cutup, i love the band saw

battery box base to be welded to the side of the frame(coming soon)

lookin good so far man

lol I hope your buddy scott was just tacking and put on a mask/goggles before laying a bead. but its looking good man!

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ya, he does his best welding with his eyes closed! i'm goin out to the garage to get the tank holder measured and cut. thanks for the comments so far.

Minnesota winters.....Gotta love um!! The trucks looking good so far. Keep up the good work!

looks good man

tilt bed bolted in and ready for the struts

how do you plan on latching the bed while driving?

MAN LOOKING GOOD BRO.