serial car restorer
Yes, I'll restore almost anything...
Back story - the original hard top for my '69 Bronco was destroyed probably 20 years ago. (Interior fire, trashed the top, interior and all wiring.) Guy I bought the rig from was 1 or 2 owners removed from when the damage happened, but he gathered some parts over the years he had the Bronc in storage. Among those parts was a replacement top, mostly disassembled. Side glass and lift gate not installed, but included.
He actually gathered a pair of lift gates - 1 fairly nice with glass and decent hinges, but no latch hardware; and one (possibly original, paint burned away?) with latch hardware, but no glass and fairly nasty looking hinges.
I figured I'd use the nicer lift gate. But I finally got to looking at them the other day, and the nicer one is apparently the early (1966?) style, with separate holes for lock and handle. The top itself is the proper later style, judging from the rear opening and latch anchor locations.
I'm going to assume that it is not feasible to modify the top, lift gate or both to make the early gate work with the late top. So I'm either going to need to use the early glass and put new hinges in the later lift gate I have, or just hunt down a complete gate that's in better shape.
Does this all sound correct to you all who have far more Bronco knowledge than me? And is there any market or demand for the early lift gate? Or is it just scrap metal?
He actually gathered a pair of lift gates - 1 fairly nice with glass and decent hinges, but no latch hardware; and one (possibly original, paint burned away?) with latch hardware, but no glass and fairly nasty looking hinges.
I figured I'd use the nicer lift gate. But I finally got to looking at them the other day, and the nicer one is apparently the early (1966?) style, with separate holes for lock and handle. The top itself is the proper later style, judging from the rear opening and latch anchor locations.
I'm going to assume that it is not feasible to modify the top, lift gate or both to make the early gate work with the late top. So I'm either going to need to use the early glass and put new hinges in the later lift gate I have, or just hunt down a complete gate that's in better shape.
Does this all sound correct to you all who have far more Bronco knowledge than me? And is there any market or demand for the early lift gate? Or is it just scrap metal?
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