Projects Recreating the jesse lopez coupe

The MOTHER of all unexpected setbacks is just around the bend.

 

One of the first things my grand kids learn to say- "uh oh"

 

Jer, just a bump in the road ! Looking good !

 

uh oh, im flinching now

 

The MOTHER of all unexpected setbacks is just around the bend.
It should appear and easier fix = the body is off.

 

If you need to replace the spring hanger shackle bolts ,there is a special tool to remove them .

 

The frame rails on this car were WAAY out of shape. It looked like floor jacks were shoved under the car without seeing where they were and pumped to the sky. I think this was a "used car lot special" that was rear ended and given a quicky paint job with some striping and hub caps and put on the front line. Look closely at post #575 and you'll see what the R side looked like.

 

The left side rear X-member is twisted as it appears in the picture.

 

I remember seeing old cars ''dog tracking'' it's called it's a sad, scary ,looking thing.

 

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=video+of+dogtracking+cars&mid=51075213826BA151228551075213826BA1512285&view=detail&FORM=VIRE1 also watch the 2nd video explanation of dog tracking.

 

Truthfully I haven't seen any thing that can't be remedied so far. PITA yes,but not unusual for a car of this age. Worse case is you get a hold of some one with a frame machine to tweak it back into shape.
My concern is the"Mother of all setbacks" that you are refering too.Hoping that it is car related and not a personal setback.
Torchie.

 

The damage to the rails was floor jack related not collision related.

 

Floor jack damage is most likely better than a collision
As long as the frame hasn't been diamond shaped it should track well.
You may be able to take some of the twist out of that x-member rail by putting a length pipe thru the holes from the outside of the rail and with some help pulling the top of the pipe towards the center of the frame..
When ever I do things like this my wife just shakes her head at me. I always tell that fixes like this need two things. 1. The proper motivation. 2. The right leverage.
Torchie.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QoKxWTuUPE portable

 

Speaking of rear ender's. Iv'e discovered that there isn't a deck lid out there thats more solid than mine. So I'm going to have another go at it.

 

OH ! you got some help!

 

Dan dropped the "dent dog" off from the big shop (Classic Chevrolet) that he works at.

 

"Back in the day" we used the old drill a hole, insert the sheetmetal screw on the end of the pull hammer into the hole, then give it a couple really good pulls with the weight on the shaft. Usually wound up distoting the dent even worse not to mention having to fill the holes at the end, just a light skim coat like Torchies photo in post #599. Ah the good old day's!

 

Loving every aspect of the build, thanks for the documentation....

 

I wish I could report that the transition from the T's, A's and Duece roadsters to smooth customs was a dramatic cathartic moment in that surreal SoCal neighborhood but, Jesse say's that It just happened. There weren't any new cars because of WWII. So the pent up demand to have a stand out ride meant that you upgraded the one you had. You saw a lot of nosed and decked jobs. Sunken license plates were popular. So somewhere along the way there started to be some breakout cars and, I'm sure the crew at Bell H.S. took notice. Barris Kustom isn't going to be a hobby shop for much longer. We know that Jesse was far from the first of his group to get his custom (I was poor) so, he had a lot of time to think about how he would do his dream car. This is the summer that he graduated (I think '48) that he began on his cherry '41 club coupe. He knew how he wanted the front with the then new '48 Cadillac grille. All of the mods that we see on the completed car were in his mind when he started with Sam on that car. This of course includes that chopped top that we are now going to talk about.

This brings us to the Compton ave. Barris Kustom and Sam Barris. Jesse's relationship with Sam overshadowed his relationship with George. Jesse say's "George never touched my car."

The famous picture of the top of his car being held up in the air after being cut actually, isn't his car. It's a '41 Merc that belonged to a guy whose name Jesse told me but I've forgotten. Jesse told me that he did run into that guy on the troop ship that they were on as they sailed off to war in Korea.

Jesse says that he never took the car off the frame. He cut the rear X member out with a torch. I'm glad I don't have to try to do that.
photo Barris Kustom Techniques

 

I was wondering how you were going to lower the rear end. Now I will get to see for myself.
The transition from rods to customs that you and Mr Lopez speak of makes perfect sense. These things happen in sometimes small increments that at the time weren't thought of as a big deal. It just seems that people looking back want to see or hear about that watershed moment when some thing that they are interested in appears as if out of thin air. The truth is that things like this are usually more organic in nature.
Still loving this thread. keep it up.
Torchie.

 

Usually you have the top was chopped X in the front and X in the back. Not so with Jesse, he can't tell you how much the back was chopped. The only thing he knows is that he wanted an 8" w/s and that Carson top shape


They cut the top off going through that b/glass opening as shown in the last post. They removed the B pillars and put them aside. Bumper jacks were used to spread the A pillars. After the w/s was where Jesse wanted it, it was tacked in place. The top was allowed to settle until Jesse saw that Carson top shape. The top overlapped the sides of the ¼'s and was tacked in place. The B pillars were cut to fit and tacked in place.

Jesse says that getting everything to work together was a sonofabitch. A big struggle was how to do the ¼ glass openings. Jesse went from blanking them out altogether to putting blunt ends in the rear of the openings. Like the Mustang's.
Back then you could go to the hardware store and get really thick chicken wire. Jesse used that to mock up the back of the roof area. He would put masking paper over the wire, tape it down and primer the area so he could step back and look at it. This was done more than once and Sam was looseing his patience and wanted to move on.

Jesse says that they fought and fought that top until as Jesse says it after a while we realized all we needed to do was give it what it was telling us it wanted.

We hammer and dollied the crease out of the lower panel below the b/glass and tipped it forward. I used pieces of hacksaw blades with masking tape wrapped around the ends to cut slices in the two panels. The lower top area and the upper rear body panel area. These two areas came together and the excess (overlap) was removed. The pie shapes that were open were filled with metal pieces and everything was welded up solid. The b/glass opening was smaller because the two halves overlapped as the two panels came together.

Today of course we are all real careful to brace everything up to make sure everything didn't move during this process. This was Jesse's only driver. He says on one occasion he drove home for lunch from the shop (Barris) with the top off the car. He sat on a box to be able to drive.

 

Great Post. Lots of younger guys talk about "back in the day" but this tells it like it really was. I am sure that Sam lost patience as they couldn't afford to spend alot of time back then chopping a top. Move them in and move them out.
Plus Mr Lopez driving the car home for lunch with the top gone and a box to sit on! Priceless.
Keep the post's coming.
Torchie.

 

I hope it's not as difficult as it sounds . Carson top does have an unmistakable shape. There is a build of a 50 Shoebox= (carsontop) forgot his name. He drove the car from FLA. to the 2012 GNRS . I'll post a pick an more info here .

 

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=458747 Builder's name is Yaril . Seeing the posts/pictures may aid your quest.

 

Jer doesn´t want to build a Carson top, only to create that flowing shape in the chopped top. Check the first page.

 

James D ,I know that ,he wants to create a roof line as a carson top as Jesse did . Read the post where Jer tells the details of what the builders went through to create a roof line that looked like a Carson top. post # 623 Once the top is off a template can be made to follow, possibly from a 41 Ford with a Carson top. I liked the part where Jesse use chicken wire. I wonder how many young Model A guys know the As roof was started with chicken wire.
Nascar has a 3D metal jig template use to check each car at every inspection. Drivers have stopped long ago ,celebrating victory ,standing atop their car, for fear it will change the shape of the car and disqualify it and lead to huge fine and suspensions.

 

Remember Jesse cutting up the '41 Ford picture. He moved those shapes around until he was satisfied that what he wanted was there. Carson top? It's Jesse's interpretation of a Carson top.

Big drop.
photo Rik Hoving

 

Some fantastic history here Jerry, this is an entertaining ride!