I have a break in the action while I get the pickup pinstriped, so I turned to another winter project on my roadster to prep it for summer. A couple of years ago I removed my gas tank from the frame rails and had Rock Valley build a SS tank for behind the seat in my roadster. I finished the outside of the car but I left the trunk unfinished and it has always bothered me. This is what it looks like. Big tank, fuel pump and sender in the top. Not many flat panels. I decided on 1/8" plexi because it is easy to bend when you get it hot and holds its shape. It also care it if gets wet. I started by making the little corner pieces and covering in them in some leather scraps left over from the interior. This panel covers the starter solenoid and fuel lines. Not bad for a wrench turner and the other panel, which is more recessed. The face of the tank will be secured easily with 3M double sided tape to the tank itself. It would only be removed if the tank had to come out. It won't take much to secure it. I didn't have enough leather to cover the tank piece and I didn't want to buy more, so I decided on wood. This is walnut veneer 36" wide. I have used this stuff before repairing juke boxes and even my dart board (which my wife didn't want it the house unless I made it look nicer). I hid my subwoofer in the bottom of the dart board and used furnace grates in the front. Ok back to car stuff. The walnut will get some stain and varnish, it makes quite a rigid panel once glued to the plexi. I used 3M 90 adhesive. Get it right the first time. No do overs with that stuff. The top is tricky as it must be removable to get to the wiring, fuel lines, etc. And it can't be a box or the trunk will hit it when it closes. So, I built this aluminum rail and sunk some 14 x 20 zerts in it and fastened it to the bulk head. Then, using that large chunk of sewer pipe I borrowed off @Kim Strobeck (come get your pipe). I heated and molded a curved piece of plastic for the top. I block sanded a few ridges out of it, this was not an easy piece to bend being 36" wide and only 8" deep. I ended up using a propane torch to spread ample heat over such a large area and still had to work in sections. And covered it in walnut veneer. It fits to the tank through the trunk opening on top and secures with some hardware bits. So far it looks like this. The top fits just under the weather trunk weather strip. I tried to keep the grain pattern matched up best I could. Again, not a carpenter. My plan is to make it look like a trunk...in a trunk (sort of redundant). With a filler neck, but that is going to get the treatment as well. The connector on the right is the quick disconnect for the battery box which is also luggage if you recall (ah, theme). This was the hard part, next comes the fun stuff. Stay tuned for another exciting episode of This Old Trunk.
That's cool as hell Billy! I am in the process of doing the exact same to my 31's trunk right now. Just started making templates out of cardboard. Will do white prefab tuck and roll to somewhat match the interior. Problem I have is it has a rumble lid and the hinges get in the way of the side panes so they might have to be done in 2 pieces. This is how I want it to come out. Stole this off the web somewhere?
Hey, BB; Nice job, esp on bending (rolling) plexi. Not as easy as it looks, esp at home, w/a propane torch. BTDT, still got some small bubbles at the bend(for slip-in side windows on an OT custom). Turning out really nice. . Marcus...
I like it. Consider the plexi. It is very strong and workable. Master of none! But thanks Monkeys are always a big draw. Especially that cigarette smoking monkey from Hangover 2 No, plenty of time to rest when you are dead. And, to be honest if I rest my wife will give me shit to do around the house. I like to finish what I start, other than marriage and those 72 ounce steaks. It is not as easy as I thought. But, not knowing how to steam wood and create actual wood panels, it will do.
I got some more time in on the trunk thingy, stained it with some stuff in the cupboard, a color called Jacobean. Hit it with clear and I like it. Then it was on to doing a surround. I found a pic on etsy (HAMB for non car people) of a trunk that I liked. The metal around the edges looked old copper to me so I sourced some copper and some copper rivets to duplicate the look. And the wood color I liked as well. My copper is still bright, but it follows suit. I bucked the rivets down on the lowest air setting I could dial in on the cheater valve and only broke one small corner of the plexi. I will epoxy that tomorrow. That move over the fuel neck was tricky but it worked. Snazzy, yeah? The copper aint cheap. But that is 99.9% pure. Paul Revere would approve (sorry British viewers)! Tweakers dream regardless! Tomorrow I will add the belts. They must be separable to remove the top piece, so it is a bit tricky to figure out. I am still looking for a copper latch, if one of you has one floating around, give me a shout. Trunk Monkey is 10-10 on the side.
I found a couple of cheap ass, distressed, leather belts on amazon with double buckles that I thought looks like trunk hardware. But I didn't like the ends so I made a buck out of aluminum and pounded out a couple out of copper. They aint perfect but this supposed to be, it's an antique...Well you know what I mean. Those belt holes are the perfect rivet size, like it was made for it. On the top where it fastens to the rail, I made a couple of finials and riveted them on as well. The bottom of the chest got the buckles and I made more of those belt loops and fastened them to the belts. To install you unbuckle the pieces and remove the top then the bottom is just press fit. I didn't have to secure it at all. And yes, the bottom looks crooked. I just went out and moved the buckle on set of holes on the right and it is straight now. I may have to secure it after all. It is a bit silly but I like it and it was fun to build. And it looks better than what I had 3 days ago. I still have to address that filler. I have a screw on flip cap coming that I will have copper plated. And I am planning on stitching together a leather sleeve to put over the neck. I also am looking for some copper 1/4x20s to replace those SS fasteners up top. With the battery box back in it looks ready for vacation. I hope you enjoyed the trunk monkey mini thread. I shipped the carbs off to @uncle max, they will come back chrome and ready to install. An oil change and the roadster will be ready for summer...when and if it ever arrives. I swear the rain lasts longer every year. Get your projects done! Show your work. BB
Looks great so far. What about slipping a piece of copper pipe over the fill tube to mimic the rest of the copper? You could polish it up to match.
Had a guy that went to one of our larger local summer cruise events with a model A coupe, he had a monkey (fake) in the trunk set up with a water reservoir and pump and a tube pointing out of the monkeys crotch, he would stand back a distance and press a button on his remote trunk lid opener/closer and the lid would open revealing the monkey and surprising anyone standing behind the car, the next surprise was when he pushed another button and the monkey would pee on them, pretty entertaining.
A rolling stone gathers no moss. I have a few projects in the garage I sure could use your expertise on if you ever come east of the Mississippi!
That idea has the potential for galvanic corrosion of the copper if you get any moisture, fuel, condensation, etc between the pieces. It would be best to put a gasket between both pieces to keep them out of contact.
Billy, you never cease to amaze me. Very creative and also extremely well executed. Thanks for sharing it.
I had to look at a map , Mississippi is quite a drive! Thanks man! I am still thinking about a leather sleeve. I am going to show it to my daughter and see what she creates. Something that can slip off for cleaning would be nice.
You seem to NEVER run out of cool ideas, but you can make it happen as well, unlike me. Is the next how-to a tutorial on “spanking the monkey”?
Very slick, as usual. You continue to make my work look bad... (edit: I just had to go out and look at the trunk of my roadster to see if I could copy, er, steal, er, use your idea as inspiration, and YES! It would work!)
The Jalopy Journal
