Thread: Project '49 Shoebox.

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Don---I have to sign in here, just so I will be notified when you add more to the post. I am impressed by what your son is doing, but somewhat dissapointed that he didn't stay with his other project untill it had reached a conclusion. I know what happens when I do that------Brian

Don-If I'm guessing correctly, your son wouldn't allow vintage Michigan (read-rusty) doors on a project of his. With all the rust repair, it would be easier to use the fordor ones and weld them together.

Brian, he and I have talked about the fact that he is diverting his energies to this car now rather than his '29. I think he needed this break, he has been knee deep in the '29 for about four years now (of course that is because he keeps scrapping it and starting over ) but I think some of the fun has gone out of it for him. He said last night that his plan is to fool around with this '49 for a month of so then get back on the '29. From working side by side with him on this new project I have to say it is more fun than any other project we have done in a while. Even my other Son Don said it was like old times the night we got the car home and spent hours just drinking a few beers and washing all the dirt off of it. Something about an old junky car that makes it fun to tear into. I am going to make sure he is reminded often that the '29 is pretty close to being done so he doesn't forget about it.

Tonight we spent a little time just moving some of the metal around to get some idea of what we need to do to get it to all line up. The front windshield posts were now off about 3/4 inch per side because of the 4 1/2 inches we removed from the top, so we started making some slits in the area above the windshield to see what it would take to push the top portion out to meet the bottom portion. We used a portapower and with just a little pressure things lined up pretty well.

We are nowhere near done with the front posts, the top will be on and off a whole bunch more times, trimming here and grinding there until we get a tight gap all around. The top on my '39 Dodge was probably on and off 30 times until we got the tight gaps we wanted. This one should be about the same. At least I am getting a good workout benchpressing it each time.

Here are some pictures of where we ended up tonight, like I said this is only the very beginning of a lot of trimming and pushing until things come together, but at least some of our fears are put to rest now that things were not going to line up at all.

Don

wow!! looks great so far don..

Thank you. Long way to go yet, but it is coming around I guess.

Don

Don good pics. It helps those of us who would never think of doing this, to understand how it's done. I get the cutrs, to allow the window frame to expand wider! You must have lots of patience to get it exactly right, not to mention some skill!
Nice side project for Dan too. I think the cats must be happy to have you guys there all the time again!

Yeah, Scooter and Sniffy love getting out of their nice air conditioned office and getting all dirty in the shop.

To be honest, we weren't really sure where to slice the header panel so that it would stretch out the inch and a half it had to go. We considered one cut per side, but then we figured that three slices per side would make each gap a little smaller, requiring less filling. It seems to have worked, we got very little distortion and what we did get can be bodyworked out once we weld the top part of the post to the bottom part.

The thing that you just have to keep in mind is that it is only steel, and with enough patience and work you can move it around any way you want. But I can't say we didn't have some moments when we wondered if it would meet up the way it should. That is why we HAD to cut an try it last night, to put our minds to rest that we hadn't gotten in over our heads.

Don

Don the top looks great at the windshield. Is he going to put opera windows in the sail panels or fill it with steel.
BradC

Another interesting project, Don. Guess I'm just not spending enough time reading the threads since I just found this one too!


I know it's easy to burn out sometimes. These projects have a way of consuming you when you build at the level your son does. Hope this "diversion" helps to get his energy level back up.

I've never really been into customs, but I can certainly appreciate the talent it takes to build one. This one will be worth watching too!

Damn Don, how did i miss all this action? You guys are not messing around. Its looking real good.

Im sure you guys have already thought about it, but you can use those doors. just a litttle more cutting, but you guys have the skills.

What amazes me is the fit you guys got without tilting the lower posts inward. It looks really good; I'm looking forward to watching the door post installation.

I keep saying I'm going to build a custom some day just so I can put '56 Packard Clipper taillights in something. It's only my opinion, of course, but those are the most beautiful taillights ever designed on any car anywhere. The first pair I ever saw were in a black '55 Chevy in Franklin, Indiana. That was in 1957 or '58; I was about 9 or 10 years old at the time and I have never lost my infatuation with them...

Thanks guys.

Brad, he isn't quite sure yet what he is going to do for the back side windows. He may modify a set of tudor windows or build his own framework and have it chromed, which is the way he is leaning right now. He is going to pretty much remove most of the sail panels so the side window sweeps back further.

Hotroddaddy, actually John that was the original plan to just modify the front doors by adding 6 inches to them, but after he thought about it he figured it would be easier to just start with tudor doors and not have to go through all that fabrication work and welding. He has one coming and thinks he found one in Oklahoma that is rustfree too. They will save a lot of rust repair work too.

Jim, I love those Packard lights too. I even like them when they extend the fenders way back and tuck a continental kit in between. I bet those lights bring a big buck right now, all of that old custom stuff has been rediscovered.

Funny you should mention about tilting the lower windshield posts inward, that is something we actually did tonight. Dan didn't like the way the top and bottom came to a peak in the inside lip, and it was bothering him. I told him the rubber seal around the windshield would more than cover it, but it was eating at him, so tonight we put a slit in each lower portion and bent both posts in an 1/8 of an inch per side at the top. Now the two posts kind of make a smoother transition. We still have to trim the gap between the top and lower posts to get it tighter there, but now the rear portion of the top lays down pretty tight against the body because we removed some metal back there that was obstructing it.

We are going to go to the shop every night and spend a few hours just tweaking and finessing the top until we get good gaps all around, then we can start tack welding it in place. Every time we work on it things start to fit better and better. It looks like we are seeing some daylight.

These pictures won't look much different from the last ones I posted as the changes are subtle, but they did allow the top to relax a bit more.

Don

Don i see some great work coming here and a great class. I have studied the chop work at the other site learning technics and where and why they cut in certain places . Great sheet metal work comes of this and this one i will be glued to as Dan transforms it .

Keep up the good work, and reassure Dan he will finish both projects before me!
Don sorry for this momentary hijack, but not knowing the clipper tail light I googled it and came up with these for sale on the HAMB from 2005
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=120932
also on ebay for 150. Cool lights.
Highjack officially over!