Projects Recreating the jesse lopez coupe

With the little mags as our source of information we hung on every detail. Plugs of rubber or cork (?) were recommended to keep water out of the holes in the head light buckets.
I like your idea Rick.

 

Jer, I love it when a plan comes together. Your blending of the grille into the fenders and lower bumper valance is perfect. Will you use a little lead to finish the seams both on the grille and fenders. I was reading thru one of my Hot Rod magazines from 1950 and saw that 41 Ford accessory center grille section priced at $9.50. Also, I have done custom woodworking for years and I'm wondering how your going to work that little piece of panel molding on top of the drum into the project.

 

Hang on with the lead. Right now I'm thinking of using that mldg to poke out one of your eye's. Your causin' too much trouble. Then again, maybe not.

 

Who, me?

 

Great work.

 

***

 

Cool Beans Jer !!!!!!!

BB

 

Jer, just noticed the stock "chin" that fits under the stock grille. Looks like the bumper will hide it, so does it stay or does it go?

 

Thinking that "the guys" would have left it, it stays.

 

Love this build.

 

This is getting better and better!

 

After reading your PM this nearly made me misty......

Keep up the good work! Can't wait to see this finished.

 

Hey Jerry,that front end work looks great...

 

REST STOP-
This looked like a good place to pull over. There has been a major breakthrough with the color. A fellow hamber saw the struggle and came to the rescue with a solution to the problem. I'll explain more when we get there.
I talked to Jesse Monday night about the fine tuning part of this color. With Karl's question about the lower area below the gravel deflector in my mind, I asked Jesse about it. His reply was that they did keep it and added that if they hadn't the area would have been severely weakened by its absence. I thought this was very interesting as I had had those same feelings about it. It's almost as if I'm seeing the trampled grass as I try to stay in their path that they took. I am struck by Jesse's ability to remember stuff like this. Jesse doesn't remember every little detail but, he does remember most of this stuff and, of course is invaluable to this build.
I think this is important to know because Jesse walked away from all this (for good) over 50 years ago. He completely divorced himself from it. So much so, that when Jr invited him to come out to the 2011 GNRS to see his car, Jesse could hardly contain his distain for all of this stuff. He wanted me to know that the pics showing him smiling were really showing that he couldn't believe that all this stuff was still going on. What a joke.
So, Mr. Lopez is being invigorated and energized by all this focus on himself and his one and only dream car. All the emotions are still there.
What an experience. What a privilege.

 

Just shows that your instincts are correct and you are definitely the man for the job. If your rested enough get back to work. We are all waiting.

 

Good to hear that Mr. Lopez is slowly gaining interest once again, particularly since his dream car has been the inspirational drive behind this and other builds. Not to mention the fact that it's been an inspiration behind one of my art pieces. Nothing but great admiration and respect for him and his beautiful coupe.

 

Did I miss it earlier? I didn't realise Jesse was so far removed from the scene. What happened?

Sent from my DROID device using the TJJ mobile app

 

Life, other interests.

 

For the sake of tradition I put a little brass on it.

 

Jer, I too grew up with the little pages, although "grew up" might not be entirely accurate. Seems brazing was used a lot in the era when this car was originally built. Do you think that brazing was used more for areas that were considered cosmetic for lack of a better word, and welding more for strength, like sectioning and chopping. Also is less heat required for brazing so you don't have to waste time pulling your photos off the fenders?

 

I just got back from an Oklahoma parts run, whoopie.

The super critical areas were gas welded like the top, and the fenders. The gravel deflectors, headlight rings and stuff like that were brazed. George (Barris) had a rule in the shop regarding brazing/welding. No gaps, everything had to be welded/brazed solid. And no Karl, if I brazed all the grille/fender stuff the "photo's" would have gone poof(!).

 

OK, we gotta' get this hood done as we approach our first major canundrum (look it up).

 

canundrum ??? conundrum ... riddle with a pun ..play upon words go go go jer!

 

Jer, I'm not even going to ask how you plan on saving the pin stripping. Also, if my high school Spanish serves me correctly, conundrum means condominium. That's my story and I'm sticking with it!

 

I don't know about this spellin' stuff sometimes, as you already know. CONUNDRUM= A difficult problem.

 

Kustoms and grammer all wrapped up in one thread ! Nice ! Keep up the good work Jer !

 

this is a favorite thread to follow , love the build , great job

 

Gettin' there.

 

Hey Jer, you have the hood well under way and it looks good. You have me curious as to what the first major conundrum is that your facing. I would have thought doing the grille would have been a challenge but you handled it perfectly. Also, would you care to share what your Oklahoma parts search turned up. Sounded pretty excited there.

 

The parts procurement will be dealt with down the road. The conundrum is just around the bend.