yup back in the saddle jim. i can imagine the welding you gotta do haha the hard parts over for me!!! no caddy hood the peak was waaaay to big and looked hokey on that smaller front end. grills gonna end up bein a desoto or a simple custom made floater bar. zz i heard gary quit shipping but i guess im wrong? thanks rusk i sure hope they are easier then the quarter windows . any pics of you extending your quarters? thanks hemi and hot rod. james..i dont like kustoms with hood ornaments thats just me and i dont wanna give away what kinda car it is because noone is gonna say pontiac. also why im switchin out dash boards.and there will be posts till its painted. well onto todays progress dug into the hood a lil bit i would say .also had a hamber Ahotrod from florida poorboys stop by. heres where we started with some inspiration taped on the hood.with the top of the 53 surround on the hood wouldnt close the whole way so i had to cut some off the bottom of the hood first. inch and i half i believe now it closes gotta make both sides the same soooo some pink poster board came into play.. wonder what the cashier at the rite aid thought the dirty kid was gonna do with some pink paper new profile of the hood another.. i totally dig the front end of the car now used to totally hate it. the edges need a little massaging to make them perfect but you get the idea.more tomorrow when i start to make the surround part of the fenders.
I've got a bunch of in progress pics, but I've been holding off on posting 'til I finish the tail lights. Here are a couple,,, Are you using donors or just fabbing some up? Bryan
lookin good man. im probably just gonna make somethin that will work. probably gonna go out and down around 3 or 4 inches and follow the orig shape of the quarter if that makes sense.
Thanks. Yeah, that's all mine are. I just wanted something subtle to match the contour of my bumper and keep the original lines of the quarters. I've seen some atrocities that looked like attempts to out-extend the Ernst Chevy,,,which I think pulls them off nicely, mostly because of the conti-kit, but also because it has a longer top than a coupe. Bryan
yah i dont understand quarters that are extended 6 and a half feet behind you.but hey its not my car.sure you will impress all your asshole friends.but these cars require a good eye to have a tasteful and flowing car in the end . also the reason im extending is i gotta fit the chrome piece that sits ontop of the caddy bumper into the quarter and i need the body to flow into that
Hey Tom ! Thanks for the invite to your club's shop today, I really enjoyed the visit. Your a Mad-Metal-Fabricator brother ! The work that you have put into the car is astounding, you have not missed a single detail....fact is, you have done so much to it that allot of folks are gonna miss 'em. The car SCREAMS Cool Do take care, Glenn
Yea Flop, he said he was getting out of hauling, this California trip might be the last He said he'll try the car business again, if it doesn't work it's back on the road Gary's in Long Beach now looking for a load, he's leaving tonight one way or another
are ya sick of me yet haha heres another little update . gonna be alot more work then expected up front.imagine that got the whole 53 surround tacked on today some trimming along the edges to get the ends to fit right but all in all im very happy after the surrounds on i realize wow heres comes a ton of work. you can see the pontiac fender stickin out from under the surround so thats getting cut out . and a whole new pan is gonna be made for inside the surround. here ya can see my rough cut for the new shape of the grill opening and the reason the other cut line is there is because i dont want the surround to look like it was just thrown on the front of the car im gonna blend the fenders into the surround .. ahhh the pie cut again!!! more when i get the first corner done.
Nicely done matey. Can you maybe take some more photos so I can get my head around it better? I know (roughly) what you are doing in the front with the surround, but it looked like it fit pretty darn good in the other photos. I'm sure what ever you're doing, it'll work. Cheers
it fit ok . i just want the surround to blend into the fender instead of sitting on the front of them. thats what i am gonna accomplish with that cuvry cut and some pie cuts.
heres what i ment bash n weld in picture form how the fender gently curves into the surround how its fits just being held against the car some what finished with the drivers side more pics when i finish the rest
...awesome work flop, just awesome...an absolute treat to check in on this thread when you update it dude...you are Sir an inspiration to all......
Thanks for the explanation. I now see that you really ARE blending it into the car and not just making it look like a bolt on, nice job. Sorry for the cliche, but.....aw hell.......it's bitchin!
6 more months and ya might see it in primer linetech.. unless winter comes first cant put bondo on then.. thanks everyone more pics when i get more done.
hey flop, Looks awesome! Are you going to keep the grill in pieces in case you have to take a fender off at some point? I was wondering if you thought about getting rid of the pressed lines on the sides of the grill surround?
thanks yo ...i have a heater its gonna be the price of kerosene ...its already at 4 .60 a gallon cant wait to see what price winter brings... ill stay cold before i run that thing for 2 hours to ge tthe metal up to working temp. surround is gonna be one piece .. pontiac is not like a chevy the whole front end is already one piece.. inner fenders are rivited to fenders ..inner fenders spot welded to the splash pan its a crazy set up.. you have to adjust it as a whole. i dig those lines blkcat cause everyone else gets rid of them.
looks good flop, i always like 53 grillshells on these type of cars, nice job on making more flush with the fenders
well no more flat faced boring hood pontiac. made the piece thats now welded to the fenders and surround with a dolly in a vice. hit the metal over a nice curved dolly to give a slight curve into the surround ,then the other side to give the piece crown like the fender . i did this because i couldnt pie cut it like i did the fender. finally diggin the front end of the car. closer view
no more screwin around im gettin stuff done now. half the new surround done but the gap still needs work on the side ya can see the gap needs work didnt have the patience for the gap today so i started on the inside of the surround . no way in hell i was leavin it the way it was to much work to leave that half assed. had to cut out a bunch of orig fender to get the new curve in used the ol bend it around your knee trick .. worked great. finished with that piece for the most part. still needs a little touching up and i gotta do the piece above it gotta make the bottom pan but i gotta use my buddys bead roller so it has a stock feel.
Wow this is inspiration for a new project that i have planned thanks for all the detail and pictures!!!
The Jalopy Journal
