Stickylifter's Chop Progress Part II

stickylifter
How is the progress? Any more pics? It is looking great.

Justin

 

the chop looks awesome. cant wait to see it in person. is it going in the ba*****t(autorama).

 

Hi All,

Mercman here, checking in with another update. Last night me & Sticky got a full 3 coats of high build primer on his sled. Here are some pics-

Next, more sanding- but we're getting there. Total man hours into the after-chop body work ~36 hours. This includes a couple of non-related items we took care of.

 

I'll answer for Marc: yes, it's going to Autorama to be part of the Poorboy's display this year.

 

Hey MercMan...............are you putting your Merc in along side Marc's 51 at Autorama? Nice work so far!!

 

Well, I'd like to...but if you saw it, you'd understand why I won't. I have a TON of work to do, and I doubt I could get it all done (and even driveable) by Feb. Even "roughed out". Thanks to Marc, I have a renewed desire to get going on it again...and I found a new person to help out Maybe ready to drive by Billetproof?

 

Looks great, good job guys.

 

Been there bro............but it's kool how someone else's energy and good vibe's can renew the desire for your own ride. Finished or not you still own a 51 Merc........that alone makes you a very lucky kat!!!
Hope to see your Merc at Billetproof 06.........good luck with the rest of the build!!!

 

Dammm...you guys are kicking some ***. Nice work, and fast too.

Two thumbs up from the old guy!!!

Charlie

 

Ok now i need to get going on mine you guys have p***ed up my progress now damnit!


Looking good!!! ill try to stop by next time you guys are out there if you ****ers would call me

 

Tomorrow night is the plan...around 6:30- 7 ish to start. We finished up around 10:20 last night...

 

sweet ill try to swing by then

 

Man the "Heap" is looking GREAT! Glad to see your not wasting any time getting it done. Perhpas I'll stop by this weekend. I call first.

 

I think the spare energy from the chop got me to go home and do something or other to my VW. I don't remember what it was, but I'm sure it was awesome. But no matter how much work I do it just keeps on being a VW.

 

We were out there for 4 more hours...blocking the primer...where were you?!

 

Damn I just caught the pics from the 14th...

Lookin' real good....REAL good!

Olson

 

This looked to be an awesome project! Just finished reading through both threads. awesome job guys!!

 

should see it now. i stopped bu there yesterday to check out the progress. they were doing the final blocking of the high build primer and getting ready to shoot it in dp90. its so bad *** looking! post some more pics guys!

 

I still cant believe how much progess was made on this car in such short time. Totally rad!! Cant wait for photos

 

We've made even MORE progress to date...we finish sanded the chop areas (and a couple other areas) for a 2nd time, and decided to buzz down the other remaning (so far untouched) body panels and shoot the whole car at once in some DP-90 black sealer to protect it. Apparently the old guy Marc bought the car from thought he could make it look better (more sell-able) by DOUSING it with that wax-**** that is the car color (black)...what was that infomercial...Color-Wax? Anyways, we had to SCRUB that **** off the other panels with a rag and Lacquer thinner to get them prepped. It's like he took black wax and melted it over the hood, the doors, the decklid, etc. A painter's nightmare of sorts...he covered up some damn nice patina!

There will be a couple of "scars" left on the body for Marc to tackle himself, but I'm confident now that he knows how to repair them "right" and as time allows, he'll have the car cherry.

My goal was to squirt a final coat of DP-90 on it this past weekend, but unfortunately, we ran into issues Saturday with the paint stores being closed for the holiday. Damn them! Don't they realize the "other guys" are working on our rides during the holidays?!

Hopefully, we'll get this thing shot in one uniform color by the end of this week. I know Marc is stoked and can't wait to see it in all one color...

In the meantime, (see below) I found an e-Bay listing (thanks to 62 Wagon) that shows what can happen when this chop goes poorly. If you want to see for yourself go here: eBay item number 8025490501

 

That's a great chop it just needs some filler

 

Here, for comparison, is Sticklifter's chop: You can see from the above post how you can't chop this one like a Merc by cutting around the back gl***...

 

I HOPE you're speaking of the eBay listing!

 

AMAZING things can happen in a relativly short time when you focus. Great job guys. "The Heap" will be the talk of the town this summer.

 

That guy did the black shoe polish treatment on the steering wheel and the dashboard as well! Every time I drove in the rain, the rain would come through the bullet hole in the windshield and get the dash and steering wheel wet and my hands and my pants would get black dye smeared all over them.

I am very lucky to have Kevin helping me out on this... he definately knows his **** and has taught me a fair amount about body work. Enough to know that I never want to do any more! Anyway, the Heap is turning out nicely, and I think it'll turn a couple heads. I have a top secret tail light treatment that I'm developing in my underground R&D facility... something that has NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE on a '50 Chevy, or maybe ever.

Oooooh! Now you have to come to autorama and see what it is!

 

Aww, bodywork isn't THAT bad, is it? Have I been duped into something I shouldn't have by thinking bodywork was "the way"? Hmmm. And for the record, Marc is a helluva guy. I don't offer up my garage to just anybody
He learns fast, jumps right in to the work at hand, and is eager to learn. He is the one responsible for the smoothing out of that trunk/quarter area. I piddled around with the detail stuff like the doors and windshield posts. He's become a "sculptor" of sorts with Duraglas and filler. I make him do all the crummy stuff. We don't (or at least he doesn't) stand around much in the garage looking at the car. That's my task...I just bark orders.

At any rate, I get almost as excited as Marc seeing the car in my garage. You open the door, flick on the lights, and there before you is one cool looking car. Haven't had that in a while 'round here...maybe that's why I wanted to "help" him with this one If you haven't noticed- his Avitar is actually his own rendering of himself looking at his car. He salivates when he sees his own car, like Pavlov's (sp) dog.

The sad thing is that he will eventually start it up and drive it back to his house when it's 'done'. Then I have to push my "heap" back in my garage and question my sanity ALL OVER again...

Mercman

 

Hey Mercman,

You guys kicked some serious **** on gettin that chebby chopped!
I've seen "pros" here in SoCal, **** around with a chop like that and
still not have it in primer in a months' time!
Ya gonna be able to get that same team ta help out on the "Mercoln"?

 

I would like to clairfy, I had little to do with the actual chop. That was a "HAMBchop" affair, done by talented guys, wise beyond their years over a 2 day period about 2 months ago. I was mearly an observer at that point, offering suggestions here and there. When Marc brought the car over to my place, my goal was to help him get that rough chop smoothed out, squirt some sealer on it, and hopefully teach him something about bodywork. I didn't realize I'd create an anti-bodywork goldchainer

It helps to have some motivation to keep a project rolling along. Working a 10 hour day, usually the last thing I want to do is head out to the garage (which explains MY project), but for some reason, I don't mind being held to a schedule of sorts, knowing I'll put in another 4 hours afterwork on a Tuesday, on someone else's car. That's all I can say. Marc is full of enthusiasm, and I'm not, so he keeps me going...plus I have been inspired (through this) to get to work on my car. maybe I should plan my work on my car the same way...

As for the Lincury...yeah, it's still sitting in the same shape it was in about a year ago, I did finish up the rear body mounts, which I never got around to adding to my website- which reminds me...

At any rate, my new goal is to have it up and driveable by billetproof. I got a new helper now since Marc owes me one.

 

yeah. more than one, I'd say

 

Here is another update on Marc's (HAMB) Chop:

Last night (1/12/06) Marc came over, we did some last minute prep work, masked off some stuff, swept up SOME of the piles of bondo dust, and by god: we squirted some COLOR on his "Heap" (if you consider matte black a color).

Being the budget-minded, yet perfectionist that he is- Marc opted to spring for a gallon of Dupli-color black enamel, the appropriate reducer, and a quart of PPG flattening agent. Mixed 4-1-1 it came out with a nice low-sheen (thanks for the tip 62 Wagon), that should prove to be more durable than exposed DP-90, at least until Marc can get around to finishing up the bodywork and shooting it in something more "shiney".

After all this, it basically looks the way it did before the chop, minus a too-high roof and mis-matched degrees of flatness. For those that never saw it, Marc's car had (has) a certain at***ude, battlescars and what-not. We opted to leave some of them, so that Marc can have some homework for the summer.

Lessons learned:

1) Don't try to cover up patina with some wax that is the color of the car. EDIT:[ this was done by the car's previous owner, not Marc, he knows better]. It just pisses off the painter down the line. After a very thorough laccquer thinner rub-down, a sanding, and several cleanings with wax & grease remover, the hood spawned the dreaded fish-eye despite our best efforts. It would have looked cooler if left alone, un-waxed, weathered, and un-painted.

2) Trying to get a dust-free paint job in the dead of a Michigan winter in a bondo-dust-laiden garage is almost pointless, unless you are a perfectionist.

3) Never underestimate a car owner's dedication to the power of "functional ecoutrements."

4) "Live and Let Die" was actually first used in a James Bond film as the soundtrack. Guns and Roses butchered the hell out of it years later. (The movie was made 2 years before I was born, so sorry if I seem slow on this point.)

Here are some pics for the thirsty: