1960 - 62 Fenderside Tailgate

[WDShaffer]

Lazarus has had a rough life, well a truck's life. Does anyone know of a correct reproduction tailgate? How about home-made dies (or dimensions) for stamping the correct letter pattern into a plain re-pop?

[BillT]

I've got one that I've had in storage for over 40 years now, but it has the newer GMC Letters. It was on a '64.

Your tailgate really doesn't look that bad. A good body man could have it looking fine in no time.

[AZKen]

Agree with BillT. We don't know what level of restoration you have in mind, so it's hard to advise. From the two pics, your tailgate is already in daily driver quality. If you want a higher level, you have several choices.
1. Buy a good used donor.
2. Fix the existing one.
3. A brand new tailgate with correct lettering is $350/$310. Click Here....or Here. If you are wanting perfect, you can't get there cheaper than that, unless you do all the body work yourself.

A no bondo body man will charge more than $350.....and I can't even see the inside of your gate.

The "GMC" lettering was not modernized on the Fenderside, only on the Wideside. The Fenderside tailgates are the same from 55.2-62.

[WDShaffer]

Thanks for the links, for some reason I didn't see those! Lazarus is not worthy of restoration with too many missing parts to start with, so it is being greatly customized. I do my own body work and paint, and would rather spend the time on other parts...since the gate is available at $309-$350. The 55-62 letters are the correct look for Lazarus too. Plenty of energy will be required on rust patches.

It doesn't look horrible, and it still works; but the top roll is banged up all the way around from his previous life of use. POs had something welded on at some point too.

I did consider a generic gate for the top and bottom rail replacements, just like you would section a doner panel to patch other parts of the vehicle. the pierce and tare on the right can also be fixed pretty easily (with patience).

With time on my hands, I am able to wrap up some other projects around the garage and get back to Lazarus.

[AZKen]

I did fix one with the top bent as yours. Cut off sections of the top "tube", used a pipe as a mandrel to beat the pieces back to shape and rewelded them back on. Longer story than that but that is the gist. If you choose to buy a brand new one, your tailgate is worth at least half of new, for sure. That will pay for the shipping.