Projects A late introduction-Junior Conway coupe build

wow !!! wish my interior in my 49 was that nice !

 

This is the mock up headliner using surplus material. It's been installed 6 times.

 

Each individual panel is cut out and transfered to the ivory leatherette. Sorry about the quality of some of these pics. I'm working on it.

 

Wow, I know it's a bit of a cliche, but "How did I miss this thread?" - over the past week I have gone through the whole story, and you're doing an amazing job, JJ. There are few out there who would have gone to the lengths that you have: for instance, how many would have welded up the spotlight mounting holes, redrilled them and repainted the area, just to move them an inch?

One thought I had in your discussion on how low to get it was that the shot of the original on the grass doesn't have the lakes pipes on it, so does that account for the difference in some way?

 

The car was at its lowest in that pic. It did go up and down in response to police pressure. In those days these kinds of tickets filled the coffers of many municipalities. The money slacked off as the car culture felt the money pinch. They (the cars) eventually "leveled off" at an acceptable height.

Definitely a "you had to have been there" thing.

 

This is the 7th install for a fit. The goal is a smooth flow from front to back. This one is fightin back.

 

The headliner looks awesome, WOW ! best thread on the H.A.M.B. !

 

Well, this is quite the undertaking. This is the 8th install for a fit. I think these backwards headliners were a 1950-1955 thing. As with most of the stuff from the classic custom car era (47-57, Pat Ganahl) these things all came together, flourished, went out of favor, and were gone forever. This also applies to most of the cars of this period.

Rik has helped out with some looks at other backwards headliners from this era from his archives. The trimmer (Bob) breathed a little sigh when he saw that they weren't perfect.

 

While wer'e waiting for monday and another go at the headliner lets look at the trunk. I appreciate that everyone has been careful to study the pics.

 

Regarding the moving of the spotlights, it's a pain issue. How much pain is involved in moving them compared to not moving them and knowing their not right. Simple?

 

Jer, you have done alot of work to make everything correct. It's tough one to decide on. I guess at the end if you know it's not right, and it bothers you maybe do fix it. Simple right ? not at all. Great build have watched from the beginning, the details are awesome(I said it again).

 

Jerry...

Is it possible that Gaylord's made new headliner bows which ran front to back in order to mount their custom head liners? The attached photos give an idea as to how it might have been done. The photos show a pickup, but the idea would be the same for a passenger car. Hopefully this will help your trimmer...


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From the new Watson book. Good profile shot that shows ride height.

 

Thanks for the pic Eric. Bob is hanging the headliner by the stock bows in the correct manner. This was cofirmed by the pics that we got from Rik. Wer'e going to try a little trick tommorrow and see if it makes a difference.

 

As promised.

 

wow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love the trunk ! Need to get mine done.

 

What an incredible build.... You sir have one beautiful car, and an even prettier story to go along with it.....

 

Holy Crap!!! That trunk is amazing!!!

 

Awesome!

 

Beautiful!!
Question. What's that white horizontal panel under the hinge area? (picture # 3. upper lefthand corner)

 

Lets continue with the trunk while we lick our wounds (headliner). We'll get back at it after a rest and some brainstorming.

This is where we want to be. Compare fuzzy pic (Jr) with magazine shot, post #652
These are circa 50's cans. Very common and plentiful at that time. Not so much now.

Why is this important ? It shows (as always) the culture and the 17 y.o. Jr's response to it.

 

The trunk pic shows a gal can with a wide mouth and a "flopper" wire handle. Wev'e all seen these. The smaller can is 1/2 gal with a wide strap handle. I don't remember seeing these that much.

This pic shows a modern day gal can with a small mouth and a strap handle. There's a bizillion of em out there. It won't work for what wer'e trying to do.

 

I actually found a wide mouth gal can at the trimmers. It had a strap handle on it but, I had found a "flopper" wire handle on another can.

Here it is with the strap handle being removed. The next shot shows the two cans.

 

It's fantastic project.. really..
BRAVO!

 

Your attention to detail is amazing and everytime I check up on this post I get excited that someone has cloned this car finally! How cool would it be to see it next to the Kopper Kart clone...someday, hopefully!

 

I couldn't agree more.

 

Might happen sooner than you think!
We are trying to get the Kopper Kart to the GNRS Customs Then & Now show. Jer's car will be there too. Maybe we could pair them up!
Then, wouldn't it be cool to have them parked outside of 11054 Atlantic Ave in Lynwood? What a photo op that would be!

 

All right, how many of you have done body work on tin cans? Pick and file? Thats better.

 

Im still curious as to that horizontal white panel in the trunk. You can see it in both earlier and later versions of the car. A wider piping maybe?

You can see it in two of the pictures (post 652) you posted but its absent from the close up. (658)

Any idea when the picture from post number 658 was taken?