Projects new member. watch me section my Desoto.

thanks dude! Feel free to come help me work on it lol

 

You're a bit of a drive... and I hear its awful hot down there this time of year. Otherwise it sounds like fun

 

Just buy a really rusty car and fix it. After you've cut the bottom foot off the car and replaced it all, cutting the top off isn't as intimidating. Never easy though.

 

I've done my share of rust repair. Just having the balls, and the fun of customizing the living crap out of something like RyTang. And if it turns out to be a failure in the end, it was just an ugly 4door Desoto to start with. Not near as intimidating as cutting into a Merc or shoebox Ford

 

Very Kool project, you got my attention. Please keep us posted.

 

You're off to a great start. I too will be following your build. Welcome and good luck...

 

Great build and love the quick progress and updates. Re big tail lamps and fins remember the old saying: Sometimes less is more.

 

The speed of your progress is what's amazing to me. Are you finding time for tattoos too?

Impressed by how straight you're able to keep it while hauling ass the way you do. Good job.

Someday, I want to move the windshield and firewall of a 57 Buick 4 door back the length of the front door windows to make a sports sedan and sit in the back seat. Been watching for a price I like on a pretty clean 4 door car with good chrome.
Not intending to hijack your thread, but here is pretty much what I have in mind.
From this,


To this

 

Oh ya, I tattoo by appointment only, so I make my own schedule.
That's definitely a different idea you have there! That's gonna be an insane amount of work... But I say go for it!! I hope you find one soon! If you do, please keep me posted!

 

Rytang, your project looks like a lot more work to me than my idea does. Other than the hood and the deck lid, you have to cut and fit and straighten every panel inside and out, including all the framing for wheel wells and door jams. That is huge.

While not trying to minimize the reality of how much work my idea would be to complete, it doesn't appear to me to be on the same scale as yours. On mine, nothing would change from just behind the original front edge of the rear doors all the way to the back and the front fenders and inners would remain the same except the back of the fenders would have some of the front door skin grafted on. I'd need a donor hood to give up it's last 20 inches or so to be attached to the original. The biggest part of the job it looks to me would be the doors. The front half of the inner door structure would have to be separated from the skin and spliced to the back half of the rear door structure, then re-attached to the skin in it's new location to keep the raised molding line in the proper place. The roof gets shorter, but it appears that the height and width don't change and the entire firewall, cowl, windshield and front door hinge pillars all moves back in one chunk along with the front part of the floor. Of course, I don't have the car in front of me to measure and figure all the little details, but I've studied a lot of pictures of these cars in various stages of disassembly and it really does look like a smaller job to me than sectioning. The car is already pretty low and wide and sleek compared to most of the other 50's cars, so chopping or sectioning is really not necessary in my opinion.

My hat is off to you and anyone else that would do a complete section job and yours looks great.

 

The main reason I decided to section my car was because everyone told me not to, said I wouldn't be able to do it. So I started. I'm a huge believer in making your car the way you want it. I know I'm probably the only person in the world that even wants a 54 sectioned convertible Desoto, and that's fine. It's mine. So find you your 57 and start cutting and making your dream come true! Thank you for the kind words.

 

Gets my vote, pardner- nice work.
Don't you love it when people say "That'll never work!"????
Incentive to go for glory!

 

Haha! My whole car is built with shit that won't work.

 

*notice the bottom door hinges on my storage room... That's how low it is.
I think I'm gonna take a break from the section... Maybe french a couple antennas, or start working on the taillights. Anyone know where i can get the 60s style plastic tipped antennas? Or have a set of Lee Lenses laying around for 56 Bel Air taillights??

 

Those are my favorite parts to build cars from!

 

I'm curious about what you are going to use for the drivetrain, engine, etc.?

 

When I read this I thought of the short 4-drs from the 50s and 60s that looked like crap but your picture with the long front fenders looks Great!

 

It has a 350/350

 

Talk to this guy. He does amazing work, and is also reproducing the crazy antenna that were on a version of the Hirohata Merc. https://www.facebook.com/TraditionalDashKnobs

 

I follow Atomic Toppers, but I think those are a little too much. I like the classic look of the ones that were on old vws. With just a small color plastic piece on top.

 

Ford (overseas) produced a car in he seventies, I think, called "Capri". They had a flush fit antenna. It did have a Ford script on it however. I have a NOS one stashed for some day. Tim

 

UPDATE Had a small area of rust above the stock body skirt/panel that I need to fix before I could weld them on. I also took apart, fixed and cleaned the 56 taillights. Also started trimming the sheet metal and got them sand blasted. I'm hoping to make these work in my now very small quarter panels. Thoughts?

 

I fear the taillights may (or may not) take over and look cartoonishly large - they are wide and tall. But I like their look. How low can you mount them?

 

I'm thinking angled, over the bumper. They aren't even close to the same shape or size of the desoto... But I'm sure I can make new shapes. I really want them to work. I want to make them look different than anyone else using 56 bel air tails...

 

But I also want to make some sort of fins with them as well...

 

Studebaker hawks through out the years have a nice selection of fins and tail lights.

 

That would be a really cool project if you could pull it off...would be a perfect home for a V12!

 

This is kinda what I had in mind. Thoughts? Suggestions? I've never done a taillight swap before...

 

Here's a quick phone edit.
I like the idea.