Customs 47 Chevy Custom build thread?

Sick work as always Mark. I'll have to stop by with some Belgian beer to keep the progress rolling!

 

If it's Belgian, it may STOP the progress for a while! I think the creativity that flows, when the beer flows, is what keeps making the design changes. But it is for the better, in the end!
Looking forward to seeing you, Joe! It's been a while!
And Ian, I always had trouble doing tucks before I got this hammer, Ron was good at them, but I always had difficulty keeping them trapped, and not just flattening out.

 

I'm always on the search for a great custom build. Thanks for sharing.

 

This needs to be moved to the traditional customs thread for sure. This will keep it from getting buried.

 

Thanks for showing the rocker. Mine are shot. Gives me ideas how to fab new ones.

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How do I do that?????

 

Not sure myself. Maybe a mod can help. Someone put mine there and it never goes more than 2-3 pages deep.

 

I was always under the impression that if you placed this thread here, it automatically showed up on what forum (rods or customs) it fit...but perhaps that was on the last version of the forum before this new one came along...

R-

 

Its the other way around whatever forum you put the thread in it will show up in the general one.

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nice work the car looks great,, wana see more....keep it going

 

Now, with the other design changes, which involve angling back the door extension, and fender end, the plain Jane wheel well opening looked out of place. Obviously, it, too needed some tweaking, and angling back of the trailing edge. I also wanted to raise the opening higher a bit, to visually lighten the front of the car, to counterbalance the heavy solidness of the rear. After days of everyone in the shop giving their opinions, we settled on a new shape for the fender! Using masking tape to visualize it, I then transfered the taped off cardboard to plywood, and cut out two forms. I then routed the sharp edge of the wood so that the fender edge would be a bit softer.
The wood was placed over the fender, and with a couple alignment holes drilled in them, and bolted together, and the help of every clamp in the shop, I hammered a new opening in the fender. I only had to add material at the front bottom edge to match the shape we developed.
That's me, and Harley Pete Ch***e working on smoothing out the edges of the hammerform. When I talk about the building of this Chevy I often use the work "I", but it is really a collaboration of friends who have helped tremendously in both the design and build. My friend Ron Blaufedder, is the biggest help. Since I helped him restore/customize his 70 Impala convertible, he's been learning about mechanics, and metal fabrication with me. His sense of design is fantastic! But we also depend on input from Ken, who I chopped and upgraded engine, trans, rear and suspension, on his 54 Plymouth, to keep us on track. Harley Pete is also around most weekends to lend a hand, and give advice.
The last photo shows the difference in the two openings, which you might not notice if you didn't know the look of the Chevy in detail. But it does help enhance the overall look I'm trying to achieve.

 

getting better and better

 

I am loving this thread more and more with each post. Thanks for taking the time to continue posting the updates.

 

Looks great wow. I need to get busy.

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Perfect, looks fast sitting still now.

 

said it once and say it again ....KEEP IT GOING!!!!!! GREAT DETAILS AND SKILLS

 

Just a short one to follow up on the opening up of the wheel wells. Oce we did that, it left too much frame, and cowl exposed. The stock inner wheel wells didn't hide much, as the openings were pretty small. My GF's grandson, Austin, was in town long enough to design and fabricate me some new mud guards for the fenders. Did a great job !

 

Wow, looking good chopolds!! You now have one more subscriber

 

Very, very impressive. This is going to be a killer car.

 

More please.

 

Awesome looking work. Got your g/f's kin working on it, too? love the opening, and the side view of the car.

 

Getting pretty close to the end...of the real fabrication stuff, in any case. I had a heartbreaker, with the upper grill bar I had made back when I installed/modified the grill. I could not use the stock bar, as it was pot metal, and did not work with the new grill, and not easily modified. So I took a 54 Chevy upper bar, and cut it all up to fit, but it was lost by the chrome plater! So a few years later, I decided I better make another one.
To make it short and sweet, I had to cut it into 4 basic pieces, remake some of the edges, to match the curvature of the hood, as the 54's was straight. Then add more metal at the curve downs at the ends, to meet up with the upper grill bar of the Chrysler. In all, about 14 pieces of metal all joined together to make this one part! Then to the chrome guy (yeah..a new one!) to get coppered. Some soldering, filing, and sanding to fix the imperfections from welding, and then a dip in the chrome tank!

 

Got to find shot of it back from the plater for you all!
Then only the hood is left, at least in build pictures.

 

Looks good Mark! Thanks for the update.

 

Awesome work! I'll be watching this one!

 

This is cool as hell, Mark. I love how it's all tying together. Thanks for all the extra effort to scan the photos for us. Can't wait to see the final form.

 

CHROME!!!!!!

 

Looks great! Thanks for the updates.

 

The chrome picture really shows the "vision". Awesome work.

 

Getting to the end! The hood is the last big piece of sheet metal to bend, torture and weld.
Wanting to put a peak in it was holding me up for quite a long time. I tried finding a good looking peak on a stock hood that I could graft onto the Chevy hood, but no luck. Then, JerseyMike, here on the HAMB, showed some pictures of him putting a peak on his shoebox Ford's hood, with a piece of sheet metal he made on a bead roller, with a roll he made himself. I got a hold of him and arranged to meet him while I was out at Carlisle last year. He made me 2 pieces, in case I screwed one up.
But first...knowing I had to cut out a 2 inch piece out of the center of the hood, made me a bit nervous. These hoods are pretty flimsy to begin with. So I designed a shape, for some extra braces inside the hood that I would weld in before I did any major cutting. I made another hammerform (I am really getting to like them!) and made mirror images of each, and welded them together into a U channel. I made separate sides, so I could vary the length and use one form to make 2 different braces. I also reinforced the sides of the hood with some bent 16 ga. pieces, so there wouldn't be any extra strain on the part I weld the brace to. Then welded in a couple temporary cross braces.