Pickup storage compartments

Slowpoke

Well-known Member
I don't know whether I saw it or dreamed it, a pickup having storage built into the exterior side of the bed, between the cab and wheel well. Between the side inner wall and outer wall of the bed is nothing but air. My '98 Chevy 1500 has about 6" in the upper area and 12" between the frame and outer wall in the lower area. I think a box could be hung using the cross supports of the bed. The problem I see is having a frame and door that matches the outer panel contour. Of course each make and model truck would have to be slightly different. Has anyone seen such a compartment or actually made one?
 
YES, several years ago I met and talked to a fellow who was traveling through town (Pahrump, Nevada) whose truck was set up as you describe, and I asked him about it. He was from the Mid-West and there was a shop not very far from where he lived that did those Custom conversions. His truck had compartments on both sides of the truck and both infront of & behind the rear wheelwell. He said that the compartments gave him all the space he needed, for all the extra stuff he needed for the fifth-wheel travel trailer he was pulling. If I remember correctly, I believe the truck was a Ford One Ton. - Really professionally done, because it looked like a factory conversion.

Doc :>)
 
I am about to show just how bad my memory is, but I remember seeing the show that Lee Majors was in where he had a Chevy or GMC pickup with a "door" right behind the driver's door. In one scene he opened it up to reveal a gun rack with several pistols in there.

Now, you guys tell me which series that was, he played a bounty hunter or something like that.

I thought at the time I wish I had a hiding place like that.
 
Back when the pick-up box was a straight side, I worked with a guy that had bolt on boxes on the outside. It looked much like a service rake/box.

Dusty
 

I owned a '76 Ford 1/2 ton that had the optional tool box. It was mounted on the right side, between the cab and the right rear wheel well. Looked like a very good idea, but was not very useable because it was always full of dust, and sometimes even mud. Eventually the hinge rusted up enough that I couldn't even get it open. Just another one of Ford's "better ideas".
 
We had a Ford in the early 70's that had the tool box you describe, kind of a big glove compartment. As best as I can recall, it was about 10" high, 18" wide, and about 18" deep. It was OK, but we ended up removing it to install fiberglass saddle tanks so we could carry enough gas to get by back when gas was rationed. I recall that the box was a single stamped sheet of galvanized steel, because it sat in the corner of the garage for years.
 
Yep Ram trucks has it as an option.
The old Fords & Chevys were just big enough to hold a case of 12oz cans.
 
Ford offered a 1 ton LWB in the late 70's where the rear axle was pushed way back, with that option one of the bedsides (right I think) became a door and the spare tire was mounted between the box inside and outside.
 
Might not be considered a true truck but the chevy avalanche had the compartments on the bedside top rails too. They even had a 3/4t version of the truck with the Vortec 8.1 liter V8
 

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