I do have some 8ba flatheads that I could very easily put in it but being that this car has more of a radical hardcore hot rod vibe going on, mainly due to the heavy chop and no frame horns, I think it needs something a little more nasty to bang gears in. Haha. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Threw the hood on it to get a better idea what it will look like. It’s fit bad but only did that for the picture. This cars chop is already a lot at around 4”-3/4 but I’ve never liked how it looks in the front. It looks like a square up there being chopped this much with no lean back. So I do plan to set the windshield back a hair and chop the front a tad bit more. Nothing dramatic just enough to to notice and break that hard edge that I see. It’s always bugged me since before I bought the car. So I’m gonna fix that eventually. Narrowed my rear end today. Only had to take about 2” from one side to center the pumpkin in the frame horns. Being that I won’t have a stock 32 fuel tank and frame horns either, the rear end and buggy spring will be a little more obvious than usual. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Looks great my friend perfect chop how much did you take out if you mind me asking? If you have any pic of the chop post them would be cool Sent from my LM-Q720 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
The chop was done back in the 50s and is pretty poor quality as you’d expect. Fixing the chop on this car will be a big job in itself. I figured it’s around 4”-3/4 chop. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
That was part of the deal the I gladly made with the guy who previously owned it since 1967, I assured him that I would always own the car and he’d be able to drive it again soon. It’s more than just a car to me! Haha Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Thanks everyone for the nice comments and encouragement. Made a rear crossmember for the spring and set the overall ride height. Kicked up the rear part of the frame to the body and shortened the rear frame horns since I won’t have a stock 32 fuel tank. Then made a slightly curved spreader bar that perfectly curves with the rear body line. Then after moved onto repairing one of the doors. It had a patch done in it long ago and they did a very bad job, so I spent about three days straightening it back out and re welding the patch. Using templates I was able to re create the 32 door curve. I have been learning lead work the last few weeks and decided to go that route on the door in a few places. Also figured lead was appropriate since this was a old 50s hot rod. Really happy with where this door is now, it will be about perfectly straight with a very light skim coat of filler I’m thinking. Also picked up a cool set of louvered hood tops. I got lucky because the Louvers just so happen to match my hood sides. View attachment 4988193 View attachment 4988194 View attachment 4988195 View attachment 4988196 View attachment 4988197 Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Excellent! Nice work. Nice ride. Lifelong pleasure. Great father son time too. Keto it up! Adaptive Reuse Drive em
Can’t say I’ve made any huge noticeable differences in pictures but I have made huge progress overall. Since the body has almost zero original structure, for the last few weeks I’ve been fighting the body fitmit. It was beyond far off and really getting the best of me. So I had to step back, cut everything back out and start over. Starting over with hanging the doors correctly and fitting them as close as possible to the quarters and the cowl. That made me way better off for setting my rockers, patch panels, and also sub rails. Finally feel pretty good about where the body is. With measurements from some other 32’s, the distance from bottom of frame to the bottom lip is finally correct, and also the distance of how much the body hangs over the frame rails. Which also creates that specific 32 curve. And finally with all that, the doors swing open and latch with ease. They’ve never done that since day one. Then heated and bent the hinges to make “in the ball park” door gaps. Also a few pictures of how bad the door lines were before and a better picture of that rear spreader bar that curves slightly to match the rear body line. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
Update on the coupe, I hated the chop it had from the 50s so I needed to chop It a hair more. It now has a half inch inch wedge chop overall from what it was before. Then a pic of the beginning‘s of the lead work. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
You are suppose to keep the lead on the car not the floor. It takes a while to get the hang of running lead, even if your good at it and haven’t done it for a while you can have problems. We ran nothing but lead and I went to Nam and when i got back everyone was wipe I got plastic filler Bondo and you darn near had to surface it with a grinder. At the Mercedes Body shop we ran lead up till the late 80’s. If you do enough of it you get really good at it. But be sure to use Personal Protection. Good for you choosing a lost art. Frank
Welded in the driver side wheel arch, something I’ve actually been dreading for a while now and it went surprisingly fast and I’m super happy with how it turned out. Really cool to see the body with all the lines now. Spot welded it to the sub rails and tied the quarter patch to it. I’d imagine it has a lot more strength back there now. After some more metal finishing I should be able to call this side of the car pretty much done. Then also a picture of how this side started the day I pulled it from the basement I found it in. That picture also shows the new chop I did. Also want to add a picture of how bad this drivers side was only a little bit ago. Nothing fit and the body was beyond far off, so welding in the wheel arch really helped me feel like the body was getting closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
I'd say that your very subtle but work intensive mods to the posts take that body from "that's nice to "Oh Wow" , well worth the effort. Now it's time to fill us in a bit on where you learned these skills. That didn't come from a couple of semesters of high school Ag welding class.
Haha I really appreciate that! Actually I never had the welding class everyone else did. I took two years of lathe and cnc machining but other than that best I can say is I’ve never been afraid to just try something. My father is a insanely talented fabricator so I think it’s safe to say I’ve probably picked it up from that. Haha. I’ll probably never be the fabricator he is. Although I can say This car has been 100% built by me up too this point, I’ll be building the engine, doing the paint and body work, all of the fabrication, etc. I started this car back in late December from a pair of frame rails and I’ll admit that the welds I did back then versus the welds I’d do today have greatly improved and I have a way better understanding now. There’s a lot already on this car I’d re do now. I’ve always worked on stuff though my whole life between building guitars early on, to just paying attention to detail and proportions. That’s the best answer I could come up with for right now! Haha Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
At first this picture didn’t come through but now I’ve seen it, great drawing!!! Very detailed. I’ve drawn a lot of cars (mainly during school, haha) and I know how hard it is to get proportions and details right on a drawing. I never could master it, You clearly did. Great job! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
The chemical city coupe is from my town midland michigan, it’s long gone and sold now but yes they have similar aspects, look back and see the pictures of my car with the windshield frame mocked up in it. That’s the original windshield frame from the chemical city coupe Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
After remembering seeing your name and profile picture before, I soon remembered your thread about your father being the new owner of the chemical city coupe. Haha! Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
The Jalopy Journal
