Projects 41 plymouth coupe 392 hemi build thread

I agree with Finnrodder thats look is just right if fact the whole car is way cool.
Sorry Eric looks like more work for you.

 

I think you guys are right. The best look will be where the radius is decreased at the ends, "pulling" the bumper towards the fender. I'll make a template of wood to get the correct shape and then see if I can find a blacksmith who call perform his work on the bumper. Unfortunately this will all have to wait until the end of this week. Thanks again gentlemen for the input!

 

Thank you for the photoshop OahuEli! That was exactly what I was looking for! Instead of shortening the bumper, I'm going to try, by changing the radius of the ends, to bring it closer to the car. Thank you again for the magic.

 

That's a lot better than the one I had!

 

I like it!

 

Any time Eric, gotta support one of my favorite threads when I can! Also, thanks to all the rest who had good suggestions and liked the photoshop work.

 

Thats an awesome look!

 

I agree, Eli did great work.

Extra work doesn't bother me, as long as the end result is good.

Thank you very much for the photoshop Eli! I'm going to change the radius of the bumper ends and bring them in closer, but no shortening, as otherwise the pan would become too small in my opinion. After the bumper has the correct shape, I'll need to shorten 2 of the brackets and modify the pan. I hope to have it all done by the end of this week.

Agree.

 

Thats just perfect,good to hear that you are going to use that idea.But how about the front bumper,have you planned anything for that yet?

 

May as well make 'em match huh?

 

Looking good! The wheels make it look so different from what it had when I was driving it around back then.

As for Farmer12, the devil is in the details. Your car has a lot of "devil" in it that you've been tackling. It's coming along great but I'm just about ready for that celebratory donut video!

Keep the pictures coming!

 

Thank you Finnrodder. I have nothing planned for the front, because it looks out of place somehow. It looks to me like an add on, rather than complimenting the car. This pic shows the look I'm going for with regards to the front end.

Sorry, no match.

 

Hi Eric,
as we talk frontal view now anyhow...What is your idea for the frontal license plate?
Still struggling with that one myself.
As you know, I like the clean front look of the Japanese Plymouth you attached, as much as you do.
But it seems like a sticker or magnet foil solution (that you e.g. see on Jaguar e-types now and then) can cause issues when trying to get it street legal in NL.

Right now I am thinking of some kind of short nerf bar that I can screw the plate on, painted body color so it optically disappears when the plate is taken off.

Any thoughts yet?

 

Me? Thoughts? Definitely! I'm not a big fan of stickers and magnets. My idea is to make a bracket, which runs from the frame, underneath the grill and ending with the license plate in front of the bottom part of the "V" trim. This way you don't need to drill holes in the grill and it's still detachable.

 

I also would like to avoid drilling holes so we might both end up with a very similar solution like the two Fords attached.
Also has the advantage that it can protect the sheet metal from below when bolted on.
Looking forward to see that part of your built. As it will be a piece that has to deal with quite a lot of force from drag and vibration.

Keep up the excellent work Eric- it is so great to see your Plymouth evolving.
Cheers
j

 

Oh man, I can see why you don't want one! I gotta agree after seeing that picture.
As for your license plate, can you legally mount one on a motorized hinge that would swing down when driving the car but up and out of sight when parked?

 

Thank you TexasSpeed. You'll have to wait for that donut video until next year. The plan is to get the car painted this winter and have it driving in the spring. That is unless I get caught in the details.

 

After looking that pic,i think it looks good without the bumper.Just some kind of "floating" style plate bracket and thats it.Keep up the good work!

 

In my opinion... Unless you either never drive a car, or can watch it every minute, you need a bumper. Other drivers are not quite careful enough in parking situations.

 

I do agree with you if the car was going to be a daily driver, but my plans are to go cruising to shows. I understand the/your concerns, parking will be done in such a way that the front is not vulnerable to other cars/drivers. A front bumper is not in the planning.

 

With every detail you're doin' on the Plymouth you are proving a good taste and a vision of how it will look after all is done. always a pleasure to watch, Eric..

someday we will sit down together on the grass at some car meet and take a look over our long years work, think we will be proud of it, and drunk too!

no bumper needed in front, Eric, good choice!

 

My thoughts exactly. Clean and simple.

 

Spent most of the morning re-shaping the ends of the splash pan in order to bring them further inwards. Next it was off to Ron, the local blacksmith, to re-shape the bumper. (decreasing the radius on each side.) He and his brother are continuing the 200 year old family business. Bumper came out looking great!

 

How cool is that?!?!!? Never would have thought about taking the bumper to a blacksmith. Shoot, only blacksmiths I've seen are in Amusement Parks around here.

The splash pan is looking great!!!!

 

Thank you David. The blacksmith is less than a mile away from my place, so I went to talk to him yesterday. He said "no problems, take your splash pan with you as a mold, and I'll re-shape the bumper to it."

So I went over today, helped him for about an hour and it was done. (and 50 bucks.)

 

that's what you call money well spent.

 

Thats really cool!
I was a bit surprised to see blacksmith working with the bumper.I've seen blacksmiths in here,but the ones i've seen fabricate knifes etc(including one friend of mine),not mess with an old bumpers.

 

He was very cool about it. Loved the fact that it was a 71 year old bumper and was willing to give it a shot. What did occur was that when the radius was reduced, he had to hit the top and bottom edges in order to prevent it from becoming wide. He is a true craftsman for sure.

 

Had a few more spare hours this afternoon. I cut the brackets off the old splash pan, cleaned them up and cut them to size for the new pan. Also had to cut the outer bumper brackets off due to the new bumper radius. (re-welding tomorrow).Mounted the pan brackets and test fitted the pan. Looking good so far, with still a little tweeking required here and there. Will finish it off tomorrow.

 

Fantastic attention to detail as usual. You're one of the few people I know that will spend countless hours on a splash pan and bumper to get it absolutely perfect. Keep up the awesome work.