After l was convinced by my ( now ex) wife to sell the 34 cabriolet l built from a sedan cowl and a roadster back that was hanging in a guy's shed for 20 years; l wanted another! I had no money so l looked around for something that could be used and found out the front roof of a Toyota bus was eerily similar. Armed with a transparency l traced around a picture of Jamie Musselman's roadster and an overhead projector, l made a life size pic on the wall using a 15 inch rim for size. Then l transferred that to a sheet of plywood which became the backbone of the body buck, l made a cowl and doors and built a ch***is from 4x2 RHS, using second hand bits from a $100 Holden wreck and a dead rover SV1. The rest was scrounged from friends and rebuilt by me. A mate was making gl*** guards and l got a set and running boards and a grille shell, made my own grille and bonnet. I eventually finished it and drove it on a trade plate till my ex sold it on me (that's when l left). It was sold and l haven't seen it since.
It was 1990s and l was teaching myself bodywork. I learned how to mig weld after welding 4 metres together several times! I didn't have an English wheel or shrinker stretcher so the panels looked flat. I have since got some metal fab equipment and l made another body for a friend, this time a deuce roadster pickup which is closer; l didn't try to replicate a real deuce and made the doors longer and shortened the bead. Once again l learned a lot and now feel capable to do justice to a traditional build.
The Jalopy Journal
