[idrivejunk]

Today I finished rust repairs on a 59 Catalina job. Been on that for months now, so whew. Shop I work at has A/C so don't hate but it was fairly warm out today. Hot where you are today? Supposed to be even hotter tomorrow.😓

Anyway, the daily thread is kinda full and I need to take a pic dump really bad so I pulled over and am squatting in the ditch to write this.

This car has been a long row to hoe and it was all right here mostly in this flat stall at the good old vise and anvil. Pull up a chair if you like bodywork and such... more to come. Feel free to bring your own picture story.

 

[idrivejunk]

By the way, yes this is a build thread but not any one in particular. I get to work on mostly interesting stuff but the stuff I do isn't necessarily interesting. I do have some fun learning. Allow me to just pick up where I've left off...

Inside the right rear wheelwell, you can see where the quarter has been patched but the wheelhouse has a crusty section-

It needed this little lip strip patch on the quarter also-

 

[idrivejunk]

Howdy John! Theres your chairs, sir. Punch bowl is over yonder...:mwink: Its.... RED so you might like it!

Back to the grey room and hey that was a what and a where but where's the how? Sit tight. Observe as I wander aimlessly in the dark forest of fabrication on my quest in search of the elusive junior metal forming merit badge.

The first side goes best, for this bodyman. This rustout was larger, as was the outside patch.

So heres whatcha do. Tape over the hole and scribble with a magic marker on it. Peel and trim it, mash that flat onto a piece of metal and cut 'er out like so-

And theres yer new metal. Did not have any old license plates to cut it from. Before I get fancy, heres the bottom seam of my quarter patch being finished. Wanted to peel the old wheelhouse section out first so I wouldn't weld to it.

Now... don't get your beady eye too close to this roller. Keep your hands in the car, this heres a power tool-

From the bead roller to the english wheel for some quick tipping-

Then came the vise-

Then the anvil-

Back to the bead roller-

Kinda rolling one bead alongside the other-

Got me here-

BRB

 

[idrivejunk]

Don't try these slipshod techniques at home now. This is no textbook.:nono:

Oh, hey theres that left quarter lip thing again-

Well how about that? Knew I left my gum someplace.

That english wheel unscrew a ways? Good, let me try this-

Voila!

Well... yeah, y'know... um had to cut it but yeah look-

The less than glamorous fab glam shot-

All wire brushed, cleaned and bombed. Ready to go-

That, folks... was good to be done with. Oh, how good.

An interesting new toy relevant to this monster project arrived so hang loose I got one more. Maybe you spotted it already.

Welp... sorry if it reeks in here but I feel much better. Regularity is golden. In bodywork posts, I reckon.

 

[idrivejunk]

Friday, short day. Previous pics were more than one day's work. Only have these pics for today. I whipped up some patterns for closing the tubs, except the front panels which will be done at a later stage to avoid tire and back seat area clearance guesswork.

If you can picture the body 2-3 inches lower (suspension drop), that is the stance-to-be. Level, with rockers under 6" from ground.

 

[idrivejunk]

 

[idrivejunk]

Well I sure stay buried. Arr. T'is no chest of gold, only another bucket of rust.

Thank you sir. Its free entertainment. Dump your admission fee in the punch bowl and have a seat, this will take a spell.


Howbout lets do this... backfill the Cat box just a little. She was a tri-power car with skirts, moons, dice, whitewalls, and leaky trans. Customer made carb noises when describing punching it but I've only met him once. His Dad had one back in the day, he says. He had a concept rendering made. My Dad was a Tempest man in the 60s and Pontiacs are my favorite. Not the X frame ones, but... anyway this one will NOT be red. So they say. He's going black so they also say I may be mudding the body myself.:sweat:ain:

 

[idrivejunk]

 

[idrivejunk]

Yep, tri-power. Getting a Butler engine. He got an Art Morrison chassis for it.

 

[idrivejunk]

I made the stuff in this post and more. Been a nice introduction to fabrication work for me. That about brings you up to speed on this build, I reckon. In a nutshell. Job started last fall.

I may throw up some other projects for variety.

 

[idrivejunk]

Aw heck, about forgot... heres the 60 Biscayne I "practiced" on last year. Stock frame, EFI SBC. This one is RED!

That one had a similar amount of rust but can hold it's own at a show now.:thumbup:

 

[idrivejunk]

Wasup G?

John, I had one of those in my front yard. Yep, they crack and fall, its what them overgrown bushes do. Of course mine fell on my friend's truck long ago. Seems like it thundered all last night but rained little here.

This is the latest Cat rendering I made. When they were thinking grey. I am hoping to lose the fender ornaments. Like so-

 

[idrivejunk]

You just never know about color combos, at least I don't by comparison to the boss. He has a knack for that. Its not a look I'd imagine working on that era of car but... did find the result of the grey edit handsome. Trim treatment is everything when theres that much. Black centered wheels have always polarized car guys, love or hate em. I sit on the fence leaning toward the positive side about them. If the car can follow the look that goes with them, I can dig'um. Really best on just neutral colors and not white, IMO.

I did the edits on me, at home. For fun and out of curiosity plus a want to practice the pictures thing. Nice ones cost a bundle, crap ones are done for too cheap. I prefer a semi-realistic background because cars don't drive on studio backdrops. Perhaps that could be my unique feature if doing them were to lead to some freelance renderings or an added in house service at work.

I did do other smaller renderings on a side view with trim options and one was black but whether the customer saw them could be a don't tell don't pay deal or a first ones on the house deal. Could be we are both just testing the water. Boss recieved all of them that I was happy with and if they even served just as a help to him in guiding the customer, my effort was worthwhile in my mind. They want to see colors, I wanted to play kustomizer and propose red-hot body mods. You want one done? Can't grab if you don't reach, br'er. Ask. It has crossed my mind to do so without your consent.

Pugsy's needs more work. I dig the B post angle on his ancient mopar.:thumbup:

I'll post some others later. I liked the dark red one. Car happens to look great in orange if you can believe that. A sorta darkish firey pearl job, picture it. I don't think I rendered one that way but saw it during the doing of that.

 

[idrivejunk]

 

[idrivejunk]

Yeah black wheels are a hanging offense on the Grand Prix forum. But now don't get me started on Pontiac or Chevy Rally wheels. Or Gymkhana wheels. Which is worse, black wheels or body color wheels? I do like a bright center and rim with grey if its darkish. Like the Bullitt wheels on my GTP, those go with just about anything.

Pugsy I think you're right... can't put a finger on why but some bodies look best in certain hues. My thing is everything should have gobs of mica in it. I just can't imagine why everyone doesn't want pearl in everything.

 

[idrivejunk]

Concur!

I heard Cat guy changed wheel choice so none of the renderings are correct. Black centers he was pretty keen on. Trouble is, until the body is all fitted, tubbed, and smoothed out in primer... you can't know where the have-to's end and the want-to's begin. Moneywise. So from next week forward, mod ideas, trim choices, colors and all that can be tossed about more freely.

Speaking of which, Pugsy I had a thought about a look for yours. I sense that you'd like pretty much traditional fare like seen at local street rod shows more so than Ridler contender wanna-be style... so I wondered how this might grab you and perhaps keep cost down. Now that you have a fully loaded luxury Camino.

Early sixties salt flats style.

You could even take it there some year and earn your "legit" merit badge, you have the hardware. If theres still salt by then. Imagine the Pugsy Special, caked with salt in a big pic for your work or play space. Misty mountains in the distance... a flattie car blurring past, etc. My mental picture is wicked to me but may be way off of your obviously refined taste. That chassis woulda been the shiz for salt runs. Hmm.

I better stop and mow.

 

[idrivejunk]

Found some shiny on a sedan and may have stumbled onto how to do red. Still a mighty rough edit but that rod does have something goin on.

Oh yeah, I think I used the sedan roofline just scooted it forward. Wierd.

 

[idrivejunk]

Wow, now we're looking good. That's the look, just a basic rod that is crisp and clean looking.


I'm thinking of doing a bit (lot) of metal work on the doors to make one piece windows.


No stainless moldings around the glass. That side molding is looking interesting though.

Isn't the side molding like what it had? I just left it on from the sedan.

Overlaying yours on the sedan revealed how much you shortened the hood. Cool.

Can def ditch the window chrome and wings.

Study that roofline. It takes away some rear headroom because the coupe roof is more boxy at rear. I was just doing the easiest thing and slid the sedan roof rear forward to where the coupe roof starts, on the belt line. For me, it seems to take a lot of the stodgy uprightness away. Like the hood does. I dig the profile much more this way.

 

[idrivejunk]

 

[idrivejunk]

What I was eluding to is maybe theres a sedan roof out there you could splice with minimal seams. You're right, it needs something back there because stovepipe hats are out.

I made a pass through the skunkworks-

This is what I've got going on-