how to make "jimmy jones" style needlenose bubble skirts from scrap

leather??

 

The "Darrin Dip" door line really looks great! You know, you could keep the body line more "pure", not cut the doors out, and use a simple step in the quarter panel, as in "La Rocket". It looks low enough. Your car looks an awful lot like that one, without copying, which is quite an accomplishment.

 

i'd love to keep the sides completely smooth, but it would be a bit high to step over, , , i think the half door will look cool and work better

jim

 

awsome dude

your a friken mad man..wish you were my neighbor

 

Something small but - I think - important. There needs to be one continuous curve coming off the top of the fender, making up the Darrin dip and the front of the fender skirt. Anything else looks broken to me.

I tried to show what i mean here. The angle of the red curve can vary, but it needs to be one curve.

 

i see what you mean,,,that's easy enough to remedy, ,,,thanks man,,

 

Wow those are wicked. Didja see the gennie set for sale in here? There's no welds on them.

 

Jim, I've been keeping up on your build, thru-out all your threads...and I have to say I thot you'd lost it completely when you were about to cut down the fins, but now that I see them, it adds to the proportions immensely...

One thing I find amazing is that you are going to use skirts...many of the other posts about kustoms I see on the HAMB all say "get rid of those ugly skirts." Just goes to show you the age of most of the newbies around here...they have no respect for the past. As you know, I built skirts for my '55 Caddy too...and IMHO, the skirts are the finishing touch your car (and mine) needs and I'm certainly glad you don't live by other's "rules" when building your own car ...

Wish I lived closer to you so I could stop by and check your progress in person...

R-

 

Absolutely incredible! It's looking great man, just wish NJ wasn't so damn far so I could come check it out!

 

Here is a pair of originals, actually the first set with a belly....Jimmy had made them straight across the bottom and I wanted a lowered look to help cover the tire...He called them "bubble with a belly"...enjoy....



I cant find the rest of my 54 Ford pictures, when I do i`ll place them on the board

 

yeah man...saw those,,even they were reasonable for what they were, i thought i'd take a stab at making my own,,

 

thanks very much roger,,,love your caddy build too!

 

Agreed. Nice lines.

 

lol,,,,how cool,,,thanks for posting that,,

 

Expanding on what JamesD said. It might be visually pleasing to have one curve flow from the fender, follow the top of the door and then flow with the leading edge and the bottom of the skirt.

Something like this. Just a thought.

 

that was my thinking as well when i picked that swoopy piece of chrome for the front of the skirt

 

Interesting - I hadn´t thought of that, but looks like a good idea.
Just wanted to get away from having two different and unconnected curves on the door and the skirt. It was killing it.

 

On the other hand, if you're going to do the concave panel 'ala early 'Vette, the piece of Chev trim gets off to the perfect start for that, and the top of the door doesn't have to match. Just think'n out loud...

 

exactly,,,wait till you see what im gonna use to pull off the concave panel,,,,it couldnt work more perfect with the chevy trim,,,

 

LOL, I'm so excited, I can hardly wait!! Is it some big old early 50's GM hood you've cut apart and turned inside out? The only thing more fun than setting out in my shop looking at my project is setting in here with a little Baily's and looking at yours!

 

In the 80's when bubbles were making a comeback,a 1/4" rod was
welded to the body that outlined the skirt then flared in.
This made it look more part of the body.
TwoChops

 

i LOVE that idea, , , ,

 

Oh yes it does!!

 

ok, i think i figured out a solution with the side trim,,it was angled too much in the previous mock-ups, throwing off the door line and the profile itself,,,here's what i came up with,,,,,one long straight piece of crome the entire length of the car, the door is now straight across on the bottom, and the line works so much better with the car,,,below the trim will be concave ala 50s vette, , , first pic is before, second pic is after..

 

Thats exactly the fit Jones used....Its one of the last original sets in existance but for the ones I have.....Jones was probably a 'Blacksmith' as he used hot coals to shape the edges....The material came from station wagon roofs as some of them were really long and fit behind/under the bumper..not in front of it...and on this set he curvered them around the fender inpression at the front as I removed all that chrome or stainless allowing the continous flow of the line at the top to go back to the frenched tail lights as one continuous line...The black paint unfortunately hides that in pictures unless you specifically look for it......by the way, the lens are 56 Olds hidden inside.......and these are really the extra deep "Belly with a Bubble" Jones skirts

 

Those skirts look sharp! Keep it up.

 

I have an original set for sale on the hamb. Fits 49-51 Merc. Anyone interested?

 

Yay!!

 

, , , pics didnt load be back later,,,,,,,,,,,,,