HAMB Chop GMB Style, Semi Live Updates

Man, the chop on Saturday was awesome, I wish I that I could have made it back on Sunday. I have to say that it was unbelievable the amount of help and support that I saw on Saturday! There was plenty of talent there to get it right. Mark, your car is going to look awesome, it already does actually. Thanks for the participation shirt! Your artwork is great. I can't wait to see this car completed!!

 

Damn guys, very cool!

I need to do this to my 48 Olds! Great instruction manual for me.

 

So there's more work going on today (Monday)? I'm off work, and so is Evan. I haven't talked to him yet, but I bet he'd be up for coming out. It's about time he "came out" anyway. He can weld and I can grind. Or I can sweep or something.

 

Learned a ton just watchin' the old dudes. Sat. Obviously the most importanat step is bracing the body before anything else. Looks killer.

 

Marc, Sorry I missed the Sunday thrash... unfortunately the wind decided to make a parachute outta the pool in my backyard and beat it into the side of the shop... Not a good time.

You guys did some amazing work on the ole chebby. One helluva good time. So when is the 'bondo blocking' party?

 

I thought you guys might get a kick out of seeing the cost for the chop.

Sheet steel and tube for bracing 110.00
4 Boxes of Roloc discs 150.00
Pizzas 101.93
Chips, Dogs, burgers, buns, and condiments 43.84
Pop and water 42.93
Tshirts 385.00
Cutoff discs and sawsall blades 46.42
Misc. groceries 43.64
Doughnuts 18.00
Beer ?
I know I'm forgetting some little stuff...
_________________________

Grand Total: 941.40

Plus, Rudy has to invoice me for labor yet. He figures 30 hours times 10 guys times 50 dollars an hour... that works out to about $15,000.

That was the best-spent money in the history of the world.

 

Such a deal!!!

 

I think that was the beer from the party store on Saturday nite???

You went all out with the t-shirts bud. Thanks alot, I'll wear mine proudly.

 

Ah, that's why I didn't recognise it. I've never spent that little on beer before.

Fast Elvis and Phil brought a case of premo Canadian Ale, so that explains it. They also brought 2 gallons (or Imperial Buckets) of premo Canadian Bondo, too! "never come to a party without wine" i think were his words. You guys are a cl*** act!

Glad you like the shirts. That was the only way for me to express my gra***ude, so I wanted to do the best I could with them. I screwed up though and forgot to save one for Ryan, MarkX and bluebrian. I'm going to give them something though... not sure what yet, but I have a couple of ideas.

 

They had a high wind warning on the Bluewater bridge and I almost got blown off as I went over. They closed the skyway on the way home because of wind too.

DirtyTbag was nice enough to put me up for the night -hes a good guy. I almost didn't mind when I woke up in the middle of the night and he was trying to live up to his name on me...

 

DirtyTbag was nice enough to put me up for the night -hes a good guy. I almost didn't mind when I woke up in the middle of the night and he was trying to live up to his name on me...[/QUOTE]

Damn you heard that

Thanks for leaving all the beer here dont know if that was a mistake or not but im preety sure it wont be here when you come back

 

Looks really good. Almost looks like you guys knew what you were doing...ALMOST

 

Well I didn't make it until WAY late...but damn...glad I did.

We all know it's tough as hell to get these cars chopped right, and they did a helluva job. Dropping the trunk down and the huge craters that leaves is a big enough challenge by itself, but they managed to keep it all flowing...nice and curvy throughout the transitions. Since there's basically no straight lines anywhere on the car, using basic angled shapes would have been blasphemous. Check out that panel behind the trunk and how it rolls down to meet the splash pan. Check out how they rolled the corners between that panel and the quarter-to-trunk panel. Guys this is how it should be done.

Kudos to those who put their sweat into this car for Marc. That was truly a ******** effort. Marc's got a bunch of work to do yet, but wow what a jumpstart he's got on it now!

Guys it was good to meet ya...great to see you again Denise (damn that calender ROCKS!!!! and I finally got some COOOKIES! hahaha) Rudy yer just one cool kat man. Marc you gotta great ride in the works. Wish I lived closer I'd volunteer for slingin' some magic surface aid.

 

And that pretty much says it all...

Olson

 

Damn, the internet is a powerful thing! Thanks to Ryan and this great site I got to see a real chop occur over a two-day period and never had to leave my chair; though I would have liked to been there. It would have been awsome to see you craftsmen do your thing. Thanks to all that participated in doing the work, taking the pictures, resizing and posting so the rest of the WORLD could see what the HAMB is all about; people helping others in a common cause.

Thanks for makin’ my weekend!

 

I'd like to hear from guys like CharlieChops1940, Roadstar, SecaTim, ProEnFo, and others regarding whether you thought this was tougher or easier then others you've done. Did it get done quicker or take longer then you thought. Did you think the whole HAMB Chop process went smooth? Too many distractions?? Any tools or materials that should have been there that weren't, to ease the process? Give others your thoughts and maybe more will feel confident about doing a chop in their area.

Feedback Greybeards, we want feedback

 

I see that my favorite Michigan hippie got a haircut. What am I supposed to grab on to the next time I get my unit serviced?

Looks like ya'll had fun.

 

Just got back from the shop again. I didnt get there till around 1:00 or so and rudy had the p***anger side qtr all about done. So i cut some templetes and tin to finish up the two sections on the driver side. got all that in and welded a little longer and grinded some more. its not 100% done being welded but its far enough along that i think in a weekend mark can get it ready for filler. We did a bunch of staring at it today and it just flows so well. the pictures do not do it justice i cant wait to see it with some filler and paint on it. Should be even more bad ***!

 

Wow! I really had a good time. I've done a ****load of chops but this was the first community chop I ever participated in and I really didn't know what to expect. Everyone worked so well together. We probably had more help that we could use, but that was okay too. There were only so many work stations so to speak. Everyone kept at it and helped one another. I would have killed to have a band saw there to trim the pillar pieces and little bits that needed to be added here and there, but hand shears worked okay. I never thought about what might not be available since I've never worked in a body shop, just a different environment from my shop at home.

Mark did a great job of keeping us refreshed and fed - I think Denise sorta took that on as her job though, since Mark was a willing, and able, participant in the work. Roadstar, Tim, Mark, and Hotroddrummer really stuck with it and there were lots of others taking on tasks here and there. I can't remember everyones names...sorry. Lots of picture takers and guys there to learn the process. I don't know what the glue was, but there was plenty of it!

I'd do a HAMBchop again - in a heartbeat.

Charlie

 

Viva La HAMB!!!!!

 

Denise asked for critiques from the greybeards . Seeing as my beard is grey I will give it a go . Being a part of this chop was a learning experience for all involved. The key to success in any project like this is planning. Measure once cut twice or was that supposed to be measure twice cut once??? When you are gathering resources from many sources like we did for this chop it is hard to plan for every need. The tools needed will depend on the car being chopped and the level of experience of the particapants. Not everyone has or can use things like an English wheel. Something else to consider is the scope of the project and time element. We had a short time to work this chopped to try to get it done and ready to leave the shop on Monday. Luckly the shot owner was great in allowing a little extra time to finish. If you are doing your own car at your own shop it takes some of the pressure off to get gone so fast.

As Charlie said a stationary band saw would have been nice. A couple sets of shears would have been good. With so many areas being worked on at the same time and everyone having to share many of the tools I think we should have set up a table to place them on so as to spend less time searching for what we needed. I always find it harder to work out of someone elses toolbox because I cannot just reach in to get what I need with-out searching. On the first day we could have used some board for templete making. We were able to scrounge some from the donut boxes and Marc brought bristol board on Sunday.

With the range of talents we had the work went suprisingly smoothly With out trying it seems that a newbie paired up with a more experienced person and everyone worked great together. With the size of the crowd it would have been easy for things to get out of hand. Those that were working got at it and those who were there to learn kept to a proper distance to see but not hinder. Lots of questions were asked and I hope were answered.

I would join another HAMB chop in a second if availableand the car owner was as gracious as Marc!

Tim

p.s. I was not able to take as many pictures of the step by step as I would have liked so if those who were shooting pics are willing I would love to get copies of the ones you took. PM me and I can send $ to cover the cost of burning a cd and postage....

 

Thanks again Marc..........Furious Phil and myself had a fab time .......we were glad to contribute in our small way, plus the bonous of watching the crew do battle with that roof line was like watching "poetry in motion!!".......or was that Denise!

Can't wait to see that Fleetline show off it's new haircut at Autorama!!!!

 

PM me your snail mail addy and I'll burn and send you a CD of all my photos

 

ill email the rest of the photos to you tonight...

 

That makes me want to chop my fleet...after I actually get it on the road.

I might have a buyer for the Camaro body...which leaves me the turbocharged smallblock and 4 speed for the Fleet...Muahahaha

Anyone know how I can get in touch with Al who was at the chop? He had a 400 Mopar for sale from his old Charger that I am interested in for the valiant I am getting back for the third time.

 

Anyone?

 

I don't know "Al" or have any clue who your referring to, sorry

 

Short hair, gl***es, came with his brother?

 

They drove in driving a 31 Ford pickup that he had owned for about 30 years..............nah never saw the guy!

 

Thats him. Cool guy...

He didn't have a HAMB name on his little ID sticker...so I have no idea how to get in touch with him.

A car that keeps coming back to me, just came back again. So this time I am going to keep it and drop in a bigblock and make it look all stock.