Hot Rods A Long Time Coming, But Not There Yet...The Bass Hemi Model A Coupe Version 2.0

It will be a shame to paint it,not much on bear metal cars,UNLESS there this clean.

 

awesome work mr. bass! look forward to possibley seeing you guys at ardmore next weekend. cya herb.

 

true art by a true artist

 

Great job and cool video. How come hearing it,never gets old??!?!?

 

Damn your good, and the car looks great.

I used to own a little model-A called the Green Grenade and ended up with some photos of it and your car sitting side by side at your shop. I've been studying/admiring your car for years. You have definately gone to the next level!
Somehow, you make it look easy. Great work young man.

 

What happened to the mag Halibrands?? I like the chrome reverse but it looked super aggressive with the Hal's and slicks.

Awesome car.

 

that coupe was killer before and even more so now. quality stuff!

 

Great update to the car and fantastic work in general! Your work is always stunning - I'd admire it very much and can only hope that what I produce may someday get to your level. The new mods are great and I really like the new rear setup.

I've struggled with my 34 coupe a bit -- trying to decide what to do for the rear. The original tank is too small anyway (once you cut it for the Quick Change), so I'll definitely have a tank in the trunk. You've given me some good ideas once again.

Keep up the work and the posts -- hope to cross paths some day.

Dale

 

Just bought myself a 28-29 5 window coupe. I 've been following the build on this beautiful coupe. I love the look of her.
Clay

 

The wheels were did you get them or who chrome plated them. Knuck from indiana.

 

Any progress with this second version?

 

That brings back memories K-member! I have still got that pic of yours somewhere, doing a wee burnout...

Bass, that's killer! Some mighty fine work!

 

Brian I loved your coupe when I saw it for the first time in M.F.S. 4. I love listening to the road trip you guy's did. All the mods and finishing just keep making it better.

 

Outstanding. Love the video.

B

 

How much of the original bullet holed metal remains?
Doesn't look like much!
Nice car and great work.

 

You're right, there's not a whole lot of it left anymore. Most of the subrails, the door posts, part of the cowl, some of the top, the panel above and below the deck lid....all of that is part of the original car.

With that said however, I'm glad I saved what was left of that junky bullet-hole-filled body. It gave me a reason to buy enough better parts to build it into a car again.

Speaking of being a car again, it took another big step towards being a finished car this weekend. I took a little "me time", and made the top insert.

I started with a '59 Chevy 4 door roof that my dad gave me. I think it turned out pretty swell....




I can post the series of photos I took as I made the insert if you guys wanna see?

Thanks again for all the kind words on this thread.

-Brian

 

No more troll doll hair. That looks great! "...if we wanna see?" he says.

 

That top looks good. Oh Yeah let's see the pics.

 

Best looking '28/9 coupe I've ever seen, and i just keeps getting nicer.

 

You have amazing talent and have worked hard i am sure to get where your at I envy you and your car.I have looked at your other pics more than once, i would like to see your pics of you making the roof insert.Very nice work

 

Yea Brian, post your roof insert pictures, that's how I learn......

 

you better post those pics...the hamb hasnt had a "bass class" in a long time..haha Looks good Brian

 

Thanks Eric.

Ok, I just finished resizing and uploading the pics. Now, please keep in mind that I'm not an upholsterer. In fact, this is the first thing I've ever tried to cover.

Here's the roof I started with. If you are a fan of '59 Chevy 4dr Sedans, I apologize for cutting one up.



I measured the hole in my roof, and cut the center of the roof out a little wider so that I could trim it to size later. I also cut it waaay longer than it needed to be so I could match it up where it fit the '29 the best. The easiest way to keep everything centered is to mark a centerline down the roof, and measure off of that. You want to be sure that you are keeping the crown of the roof centered.

Here's the trial fit after hacking it apart.



That's where the crown seemed to match the best, judging from the fit of the roof to the wood top bows looking from the inside of the car.

After trimming it to size, and rounding the corners, it's starting to look better.



Some of my top wood was sticking up above the sheetmetal, so I had to shave it down to get the insert to sit flush down on the body.

I made this piece to attach the front of the insert so I wouldn't have to drill through the body. It also helped to strengthen the header of the car a lot. If you look at the wood that runs from front to back, you can see where I have already drilled and countersunk the wood for 10-24 countersunk screws...these get welded to the insert.



I'm fast-forwarding a little bit because I didn't take photos of welding the screws to the insert. I measured and drilled a guide hole in the insert where every screw was located, and plug-welded the top of the screws through the holes. I went slow and welded with the TIG to minimize warpage. An extra set of hands would have made this step a LOT easier.

Anyway, here's how the insert looked after I got it bolted down.





The next step was to pull the insert off and paint it. I covered both sides with POR-15, and then rolled "Lizard Skin" on the bottom of the insert. I wanted to insulate the bottom somehow to keep it from radiating heat through the eventual headliner, and this stuff seemed to be the best option. It took five coats to get the recommended thickness.



After letting it sit overnight, I flipped it over and glued the shit out of the top side with industrial cement. Then I attached 1/8" closed-cell foam. I didn't want there to be a tall edge where the insert met the body, so I feathered the edge of the foam inward with an 80 grit disc on my DA (on spin). Then I finish-sanded by hand with 80 grit on a block.

If you are planning on trying this yourself, be sure to scuff both sides of the foam before glueing to keep it from seperating later.

So with that done, it was time for the material. I thought about using the short-grained vinyl that is commonly used on Early Fords, but I don't particularly like the pattern that the grain has....so I found something I liked better. It's just a heavy grain vinyl that comes in late model Fords...not too shiny, and no pattern in the grain.

Here is the material after trimming it up a bit.



This shows how the glue looks after spraying it on. I let it sit about 5-10 minutes before sticking it together.



And here is the nearly finished insert, all trimmed and glued.



I wanted some kind of edge to seperate the body from the insert, and finally decided that welting would work best. I had a local shop sew up 5 yds of welt for me out of the same material...I used 3/32" welt. To attach it, I used vinyl to vinyl glue, and carefully glued it to the bottom side of the insert. Once installed, it's sandwiched between the body and the insert, so it ain't going anywhere anyway.

Here's the finished insert with the welting installed, ready to go back on.



Once installed, this is what it looks like from the inside. There are 50 screws holding it on. You can also see how tight the insert is to the wood bows....the Lizard Skin helps here to keep the wood of the metal. I didn't want any squeeks once the headliner goes in.



Here's how the outside looks with the welting to finish the edge.

 

And here are some over-all photos.







I think that it looks pretty good. Since the insert had to sit on top of the body...unlike a '30-up Ford passenger car...I tried to make the overall thickness as thin as possible.

All the materials I used came from Sunbelt Fabrics here in Dallas. Go see Dean if you are local and planning on attempting something similar.

Thanks again, guys....hope some of you can use those photos to help out when you are ready to do your next top insert.

-Brian

 

Great addition to an already outrageous car. truly art..

 

Nice.....Thanks...

 

Wow Brian your car just keeps getting better and better!!!

 

Sano stuff BASS!!

Loosing my mind spotting Bare Metal Deuce's & A BONEers everywhere!!

HC.

 

What an awesome car.. It sounds so wicked too.. Amazing works of art....

 

Brian - you're far too humble ... "looks pretty good" is a huge understatement! ... I'd say it looks perfect! ... very clever design! ... makes me really wish we never filled the top on our coupe ...


circa '79 or '80