That car is just amazing! I'd love to see people at car shows trying to guess what it is. 'Yeah I had a Ford just like that'
You nailed it, Gene paints the way the light hits the car. A lot of people wouldn't notice the pearl fogged on the fender lips because they think it's just light hitting an upward facing surface. It's like the car has it's own light source.
This is what I like about the HAMB ... Vision ... I would have never guessed in a million years a Kaiser would look cool as a custom (or any other style for that matter). Really enjoyed following this build, and very impressed with your Vision
It's great to see all of the outdoor, full photos of your car... It turned out sooo good! Congrats, man.
I've been following this thread from early on. All I can say is that I am absolutely astounded by how cool this turned out. Just slick.
Amen to that! I have learned many, many things from the HAMB but the most important are that anything can be made from scratch and any car can look great if you're willing to do enough to it. This car is absolute proof of that.
Hot damn, I love the profile shot...love the whole car. Really nice to see it all come together...congrats! Round Up 2012? ;-)
Seen the Drag'n this weekend at Goodguys. Pictures don't do it justice. Just a killer kustom!! Found the website on the carpet you used,thanks for the tip! Hope to see it at the GNRS or LB Motorama?
I had real nice fellow named Steve Coonan shoot the car today. We're going to try out some dragging action shots tomorrow, could be a first for TRJ! I want to post some pics of the shoot, but I'm going to play it safe and have him okay it first.
I wanted to post a direct link but I haven't gotten the video yet, so hopefully this Facebook link will work. Pretty cool video of the awards ceremony at Goodguys. https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1948573614286
Just spent the past 2 hours reading up on the entire build. Man, what an absolutely beautiful kustom!!!! I'm blown away! All of the mods are just killer, the interior is gorgeous, and Winfield's paint work is perfect! Congrats! Well deserved award and upcoming feature in TRJ.
The link works for me and I wasn't even signed in to Facebook. It was awesome riding in the Kaiser like I was somebody.
Good to hear, I made it public so everyone should be able to view it. I think if it was embedded in the thread more people would click but oh well. Josh you are somebody...somebody who busted his ass on the Kaiser!
I shared it in my profile (hope that's okay) I see you have Paul Swanson as a friend, that explains your current avatar picture!
We finished the shoot tonight and Steve said it was okay to post this pic. He spent two days shooting my car, which was two low light sessions with really long exposure times as the sun went down, and some rolling shots today. We tried some dragging shots today but it was too bright to see the sparks. Man, what a cool guy, totally down to earth and friendly. I got to have dinner with him two nights in a row so we talked quite a bit about the business of running a magazine and about cars in general. It's been quite a rush the past couple of weeks and it's finally winding down. It feels strange to not be running out to the garage to be honest. I'll try to get the last of the build pics up this weekend. A lot happened in a couple of weeks and I didn't have time to put the pics up. Also, Steve says he is trying to get my car into the next issue of TRJ, #54.
Yeah he knows how to wait until the light is just right. It's a pretty narrow window that we waited all day for. I just can't wait to see the shots through his lens.
NTAPHSE, I thought I would give you a heads up, your car is on the Build thread website again. Very cool.... http://www.build-threads.com/build-threads/kaiser-dragn-build-complete/ The car came out amazing.!
Thanks for the tip CBB, it's really cool of Anth to keep posting up my car. I like his site because it exposes people to all sorts of builds. There are guys there who build Golf track cars who are now exposed to kustoms. Hope I get to meet him one day.
I have a few minutes this morning so I am going to try to get the rest of the progress pics up. It's bothering me that there are finished pics without this last chapter of the build. I have a little 30" combo slip roll/brake/shear that is not capable of cutting and forming the stainless door sills, so I used 20g steel and made them in two parts, then took them to the sheetmetal shop where they duplicated them. They used the stainless with the white plastic backing that has a nice grain to it. Here are the prototypes. The A-Pillar was bugging me, but it was the best the upholstery shop could do. I was kind of expressing my disappointment in this area and Lui said, "If this part was just wider, we could make it look nicer." Well the windshield trim is steel and it only took me about an hour to extend and rewrap it. I'm learning that each shop has a certain set of capabilities and tools and when they reach the limit that's all they can do. Anyways, I'm glad he mentioned that because it was an easy fix and it looks much better. This is as good as they could get it. I like the quick welding jobs. No worries about warping, just get it done! Little bit of filler roughed in with 80 grit and it's ready to wrap in vinyl. Much better!
I had the upholstery shop sew the corners for the window frames since I still have not learned to use my machine. It was a lot of running around, but Kaiser Larry really came through and did the running for me so I could work. I had them do french seams this time (they used a regular stitch on the back window frames and it didn't look as nice). I glued the vinyl on because I'm picky! I blew the door apart one last time and welded stops on the window regulators so the windows could not be rolled down too far. To me, these are the details that make the car something you can live with every day. I also did one last vacuuming inside the door and made sure there were not any rattles. Finally complete. Rob repainted the gauge cluster while he was spraying the steering column and some other small stuff. He can really lay down paint so it's smooth as glass. I buffed out the lens one last time and got out the freshly chromed bezel. It was nice to get this assembled and installed. I redesigned some aircraft seatbelts for a local company and they hooked me up with a set of custom belts for the car. By custom I mean I chose the buckles, ends and webbing and they made them to the exact length so the buckle sits right in the middle of my lap. Anyone bigger or smaller is out of luck!
The Jalopy Journal
