This isn't tech, but it's definitely on topic! After spending the first few hours of my day off yesterday freezing my *** off in my shop, I took a ride down to Ron's Kustoms in South Baltimore to see what he had going on down there. I met Ron a few years ago when I wrote a piece on his chopped and sectioned shoebox in the first issue of CK Deluxe - the same car that popped up on here a few months ago in one of the shoebox threads (it's lime green now). Anyway, he's a hell of a nice guy and he does a lot of nice work - not to metion the fact that his shop has heat - so I spent a few hours ********ting and snapped a few pictures of what I saw. Shoeboxes and Mercs seem to be his specialty - he had three 'boxes and five mercs in various corners of the shop (as well as a Camaro and a late-model station wagon dragster). This coupe had a very mild chop and a few other things done to it at another shop before the owner brought it to Ron to finish. They wound up having to straighten a lot of bodywork and square up the body a bit better before rounding the hood, door and decklid corners and finishing the chop. There was also a low spot on the front fender where the door creased it, so you can see in this picture they're in the process of adding some metal to bring it up a bit.
This blue Merc was really slick. There was actually a picture of it in Rolls and Pleats a while back, but I forget what run it was from. Apparently the owner drives the **** out of this thing most of the year, and then brings it in to Ron in the winter to get more stuff done to it. This time it was in to get the hood corners rounded.
The corners have been rounded and the pillars canted slightly. The gaps around the door are consistent all the way around, and the stainless work is damn near perfect...including the smooooth operational vent windows.
The owner wanted the top "to look stock, just lower", so it was given an even chop front-to-back and they kept the body line that runs under the window and around the pillars. They also clipped the drip rail horizontally to finish it off. The chop has a really nice line to it.
This car is pretty insane. Every inch of it has been modified. It has been sectioned twice - a couple of inches from the bottom and a couple somewhere above the beltline. It has also been lengthened both at the cowl and behind the rear window. It has also been widened a few inches - in the center the roof got the split, but up front and out back the hood/decklid were kept stock while the quarters were widened. You can also see here that the side feature line was altered and the rear quarters were stepped out about an inch and a half. When you hold a piece of Buick trim up to the side, the contour of the new feature line matches it exactly. I like the proportions of this one...some cars wind up looking like they've been stepped on when they've been sectioned (this much) and widened, but I like this one.
Here you can get a better idea of the section job on the car...and the wider fenders. The hood is stock height/width - it just looks pancaked because of the rest of the car's proportions.
No sweat. I don't have any more pics because my battery died in my camera. I'll be back down there in a few weeks and I'll snap some more though...
Dang Kurt! You need to tell me when you go next cause I'd love to check it out too... sbarich@comcast.net What's Ron's last name?
[ QUOTE ] What's Ron's last name? [/ QUOTE ] Ron Borkoski...he's been building kustoms for 20+ years that I know of....maybe longer...so your dad probably knows him/knows about him.
GEE WHIZ! He sure does beautiful work. Please email me his name and contact #. Maybe he'll work on my 51. Thanxfor taking those pix.
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