This is the famous "Schenck Streamliner" and the cab of this car intriques me. I was looking for advice on how difficult it would be to generally dublicate the body part of this car. I know how to do the rest of it but would prefer to hire out the sheet work. I would not do the "wing" on the front I figure to make it as wide as a Model A--maybe less--and only have one door-driver's side. Glue in winshield. I could make the frame and cage.Thinking traverse rear spring while the original probably had no suspension. The panels could be welded together or I could use rivets. My plan is to drive it on the street. Could I get some advice from those that uderstand how to work metal if this is a difficult project from the point of the metal work?
It can be done but depending on who dose it & how well you want the metal work to look will detremine the man hrs to build the body.
This is not that hard of a body to build, as only around the windows are any compond curves. most of the body is flat panels, with the hood having radiused edges.
Price will all depend on how nice you want the sheet metal work. You can get away with a few flaws in the metal work if its going to get body work and painted. If you want the sheet metal work as nice as Dan Webbs Golden Sub, plan on spending a good amount of dough. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=304622&showall=1 You can look at it and think it's an easy body to build because most of the exterior panels appear to be flat, but are not. It's the planning and details that will make it challenging and costly. Such as the structure work under the skins, framing in the doors to make them work with hinges and latches, etc.
There could be more shape to the panels than can be seen in the photos. Panels that appear at first glance to be flat often have shape other than flat. Was the hood a modified car or truck hood? Whoever designed/built the body obviously wasen't afraid to build shaped panels so I doubt that there are any flat ones. Do you want steel or alluminum? Will you paint the body? Eliminating the front cowl means you must design parts that will allow air flow to the radiator. As far as changing the dimensions of the body remember that you are attracted to it AS IT IS. I would make some accurate drawings with changes you suggest to be sure that you would like it AS IT WOULD BE. Luck.
Nothing on it is overly complex, but don't kid yourself. That is hundreds of hours of metal work on the skin alone. Your best bet would be to build up the ch***is and drivetrain fairly close to completion, ***emble some plywood bucks around the car and begin shaping metal on a wheel. You will learn what to do and what not to do, but this would be a great, long runnning project to take up the art. If you are bound and determined to farm it out, I would expect to pay $15000 or more. Last I checked, this body was going for $10k. I was unable to find the site that I pulled these from a couple of years ago. Maybe someone will chime in.
Very good points and thank you. I have learned a lot since my earlier posts. I cannot spend that kind of money. I am waivering slightly on the build but if I do it have decided to do most or all of it myself and just take longer to do it. I could also maybe enlist the help of a talented guy I know to help with the door (only one) and windows. The frame and framework is something I can do. Were I to get that far I believe I can learn how to make a plywood buck to give an idea how things should look. At least I can keep symmetrical that way. That's where i'm at right now. I'm 61 and have seen and done most things and want to build things that I might have never seen before and are a little more edgey. Just tame enough to drive on the street. I'm going to use aluminum and right now am not planning on paint. And I plan no fundamental changes to the body. I have learned to leave what looks nice looking nice. Thanks for the info.
As Scotty mentioned, build your ch***is and get your driveline fairly close to completion, then build your buck. If you are looking for more information, check out www.metalmeet.com. How easy this would be to build, will depend on what tools you have and your capabilities. There is a good DVD, Bodywork Restoration Tutorial[FONT=Impact,sans-serif] [/FONT] using basic hand tools. Many of the earlier car bodies were made by hand, so it can be done. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373568
As fordcrager said, check out metalmeet. There are quite a few different ways to develope the body design and the bucks to build it. It depends on what your good at. Wood bucks, metal bucks, wireforms, CAD, artistic renderings, wall sketches. Here is a link to 3 pages of how I developed a roadster from the first sketch to the start of hanging panels. I did the concept, design, CAD drawings, a couple of friends helped build the wireform. Members of Metalmeet and Metalshapers helped build the panels that got done. Unfortunately the project took a back seat to life, I may restart it in the future. http://rides.webshots.com/album/13844137HuxfgalOKN
Les, thanks for giving us an update and another look at your car. Hopefully you will get back on it and finish it. I always thought that it was a great looking car. The last year it was at MetalMeet, it didn't seem like much was accomplished on it. Larry
Oldtin, In you album there's an image labeled a scan. Is this a scan of a photo or ? Could you comment on any advantage (other than cost) of entering all the surface points manually vs. having someone laser scan or CMM directly to a CAD file. What CAD software did you use? Thanks for any hints you can give about this process. <input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">
Larry, As far as I know all of the original panels have been s****ped, If I start it again I would like to do it in aluminum. Harry Bergeron, The scan is of the clay model. I scanned it on my flatbed scanner before I had a digital camera. I manually entered all the surface points because I couldn't afford to have the clay model scanned.....scanning has become quite a bit more reasonable but still out of my reach. The digital model and section drawings where all done in Unigraphics. If I was to do a similar one off project now I would go straight to the wireform and skip all the scaling and cad work. I didn't intend to hijack sixdogs post, hope the info helps him.
I see a lot of excellent work being done by you guys, am I doing this the best way: I have a 1952 Chrysler which has been chopped, sectioned, shorten (rear door area by 21 inches) and the front end extended right behind the A-arms, 6 inches. I only have the body and frame, no doors or front end. This work was done in 1963 in CALIF. This was originally a four door car (now a two door car). The B-post has been move back but will not take on the fit of a standard two door (to long), a standard four door, door (to short). What I need to do is take a regular door from a two door sedan (I have those now) shorten the door by three inches and section the door six inches. I plan on sectioning the door first and to do this I am planning on cutting the inner panel of the door six inches, separating the outer skin from the inner skin, sliding the inner panel up, t******* the bottom of the door to size, then with duck bill pliers, fold the outer skin over the inner panel just as it would be stock. The car was section at the crown of the panel, center line with the cuts being three inches above and 3 inches below, then join together. <O></O> I was planning of doing the shortening processing the same was but going in a different direction.<O></O> Thanks for any help.<O></O>
I agree with the others, build the ch***is and body framework, then go with wheeling panels in sheet metal or even aluminum. The car has an aircraft look to it so riveted panels may look good. Look to utilize some donor sheet metal sections to get you started; I'd look to start with a 40 Ford like hood-sectioned, etc. to get your basic front end shape started. The front end w/ grilles sort of reminds me of 40 Hupmobile (sectioned). You may look at a 50 Studebaker starlight coupe rear window opening/roof crown narrowed up to rough in your windshield opening.
You guys already know I'm reluctant building myself from scratch on the sheet metal. I would have to spend a lot of money and time to turn out a even a fair quality job. And I like to do nearly perfect work. Building a body from scratch takes a lot of experience and I'm already 61. Someone suggested to look for a military trainer aircraft and I ran across this plane on the net. It's a 1946 and looks not bad. I would have to chop, channel and section widthways to narrow things up but I think I am capable of that work. It's probably two days away from me--I don't even know--but I wonder about this. Wouldn't even have to be this plane but i wonder? From a practical standpoint I would have to have someone computer map the original car I liked and compare the two to see what had to be done or even IF it could be done. Will I burn in hell for thinking of starting with a plane? Photo in next post.
I don't believe that the original was metal. I believe I reads that it was canvas covered with dope to shrink it like early airplane wings and bodies.
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