it's a way cool conversion even "Dutch " said so! Henry Ford once said "there are those who think they can, and those who think they can't, and they're both right!" If you can conceive it, you can build it! I think this guy could learn a few things (so can I, like repairing an entire floor with a wire brush, wow!) but I give him credit for doing it. seem like it was a biggie just driving a U-haul
Well, this isn't the first time that someone got in over their head in a project, but he pulled it out and drove it and enjoyed it. Interesting that the designer of the car saw it and made compliments to the young builder. Maybe he saw things he didn't like, but complimented the effort. I saw a modern rod at the Moonshine run that was so badly built that it was disgusting, but the young guy thought he was the coolest guy there because his car was 1" off the ground. The frame was made of 2" by 2" tubing with a big overhead in it. Springs held on with muffler clamps. The beat goes on.
There's a guy that loves his car. What a great story. I wish I had his doggedness. And, while his methods and taste on the top might be questionable, his "car guyness" certainly isn't.
Awwww come on, he may be a car guy but if you really love your car, you'll do it right or have someone do it right for you. Think about how much work it was to lay all that bondo and crap! He could've at least patched it with metal. Cool car, though, hopefully someone will fix it right some day
All of this just reminds me of the quote about opinions. You know, like assholes and everyone having one. Since everyone here, at age 16 built a self-designed custom with nothing but a tree stump and a claw hammers and then went out and won the Riddler I can see the justification for the criticism. Oh well, maybe this poor chump will crawl back in his hole and quite bothering everyone. Frank
The biggest problem I have is the fact that he is using words like designed and engineered to discribe crumpling up a piece of metal a riviting it over a hole. If it is meant to be tongue in check then I guess it's ok but that's not the way I take it.
Those who have stolen road signs for floorboards should cast no verbal stones. If the above statement isnt about you, it doesn't isn't about you so ignore it. Corvettes are made entirely out of "bondo" held together with "angelhair" patches. He's not going to drive this thing enough to make any difference if it was "Done right" or not, so what difference does it make? I remember in the 70's when the new cars started coming out with plastic fender wells and buyers complained that that wasnt "right" either. Now it's the norm, and they are the only part left after three winters of salted Mid West roads too. Haynes repair manuals usta show how-to's of patching a rusted out headlight area of a Porsche fender with rabbit hutch hardware cloth and bondo. It's not exactly an unknown backyard "art". Didn't it say it had "innertube" rubber over the fender well holes before, for the past 30 years? This is an improvement, even if it's not "the correct way" Maybe to make it "right" he needs to shoot some bullet holes in it and paint the wheels red...
There is a difference between opening a can of bondo to use a skim coat on dollied metal and opening a can to dump it on a car.
Since I'm building a Kaiser I know a few Kaiser guys, and let me tell you there is someting about Kaiser guys that makes them hacks. Seems like none of them can weld. They all use fiberglass, rivets, tin from home depot, and bondo for thier repairs. Then they rattle can over the rusty frame and have the body painted at Earl Scheib and call it a frame off resto. One guy built one on an old Caprice frame and used a 2x4 with bailing wire for the front crossmember. What gets me the most is that I took my car out to their car show a couple weeks ago and the only thing they had to say was 'Where's the hood?" and "You need some Kaiser hubcaps!" So frustrating. Here's a pic of my car amongst the stockers. Sorry, I just needed to vent a little and this post seems like the place to do it.
I'm absolutely loving the '84 Coupe DeVille door panel treatment. I wonder if I could chop a set of them down for my roadster.
A handful of years ago, I went to a "custom" car show and at this show - was a car (apparently a somewhat recent build) which unfortunately had been rear-ended the night before the show, but they brought the car anyway and parked it right up front and center with a big fancy sign naming the builder of the car (who was present). I won't mention a name other than to say he is a well known builder who has been around for ever and ever... (no, not Barris). The crash damage had laid-bare for all to see that the whole back of the car had been sculpted out of bondo - really, really thick bondo. Not bondo that had been placed in order to fine-tune rough metal work, but bondo used in the absence of any metal work at all - it was "customized" with bondo. I mean THICK dammit THICK - like maybe a foot! I remember thinking...if I was the builder...I would tell the owner of the car "hey man, I'll fix that for free if you will just hurry up and hide it far away from here before anyone else sees my work!"
Say what you will about his skills but the guys website has some really interesting pages dedicated to old cars (check out the Divco page!) THIS GUY IS A TRUE GEARHEAD! Gotta love him just for that. Plus, seeing how he does things kinda' made me smile. Backyard engineering at it finest!? I can barely get off my ass to work on my heaps. I love his enthusiasm. -stick
Yeah, Yeah his enthusiam is great but at least put some effort into not having it look like a cobbled up piece o shit. Even after the tons of Bondo it looks terrible. Why go to all that trouble to end up with that. The rubber he rivited on as a teen probably looked better that this effort. It is a great story and he clearly loves cars but then why do that to them?
I'll second that Kaiser guys are cheap. Sold a decent solid rolling '48 for scrap value a couple years ago, and had guys offering $400 for 2 complete '54's with tons of spare and NOS parts that my friend wanted $2500 for the pair, complete supercharged motors, etc. The attitude I got was I should be greatful a Kasier club guy wanted it and I should really be paying him to take them away. So I don't cry when I see one hacked up or crushed, but I do try to save the expensive bumper guards. And guys have been bondoing the crap out of cars for a long time, I bought a truck from a guy in high school and he had a customized '72 or so Dodge Charger, by then old work. It had a wing on the deck lid and he admitted it was all bondo over a couple 2x4s to build it up faster. You could see cracks in the paint in places where other filler work had been done. Another good one, a used car lot still has a '73 T-bird on it, car has been there for 15 years - this lot is some kind of tax dodge, the guy is never there. The rear wheel arches are redone in filler with a couple of those flexible tack-on strips, and you can see all of it through the nice paint. Makes me wonder why they even bothered, they could have slapped on another half-inch of bondo and hid all that. The best one is probably my '50 Chevy, which has riveted in tin, bondo, lead, a replacement quarter off a 4-door screwed on one side in two big pieces, part of a sign in the floors.. I didn't care, I bought it to have fun with - If you like this guy's idea and would like to see one done "right" then make one up yourself. It's not hard to find a cheap Kaiser.
He's a regular McGyver. He can make anything out of aluminum foil and bondo. That shot of him "shaping" the copper with a sledge hammer is a classic! Aluminum rivets holding copper to steel is a "galvanic corrosion" nightmare, but if he lives in a dry climate like Nevada, who knows, it might survive another 20 years. I gotta hand it to the guy though for doing it himself. That's what it's all about -- having fun building it yourself. He's obviously proud of his work, and it's his car, so that's cool for him. He'll be out cruising his unique convertible and having fun and that's what really matters.
It just occurred to me that he CUT the tops of the wheelwells out...then REPLACED them with crappy material and HAMMERED them into submission. ....hmmmm....this fella could have eliminated one step I think. I mean, just leave the wheelwells alone and hammer them into submission. Done. I don't give a crap about his enthusiasm. The guy who bondoed my truck to hell with aluminum tape and 10 gallons of bondo had some enthusiasm too. Now I gotta re-do all that shit. If you're going to do it, do it so you don't have to RE DO it.
It's great that he is trying to save such a unique car,and doing it himself,but it's a shame that he wouldn't get some one to show him how to do the patchwork correctly. I cringe at the sight of that MUCH bondo. I just can't see not doing it right,or finding out HOW to do it right. Hammering a piece of metal to straighten it out is one thing,but WTF! Two sledge-hammers and a gallon of bondo!SERIOUSLY!!!
Oh hell, I've got more bondo in my '55. For me and my buddy being 15 and not knowing ANYTHING about autobody except Bondo + sandpaper = nice car, it's held up very very well over the past 11 years. Sure it's not perfect, but we were pleased with it and it was done within our means.
I use to say you can fix anything with duct tape....correction...you can fix anything with aluminum foil and bondo.....great story, the guy clearly had fun... and now, I feel a lot better about my work..
The KFOCI people are an odd lot. They accept Henry J gassers but that's it. I own a 2-owner (including me) 48 Frazer, gonna customize it eventually. The KF club people got 9 ways of ticked off at me after I told them my plans. Threats and "how dare you??!!" and blacklisted with the parts guys, how sad is that? Hell they got stupid when a newer club member put a 324 Rocket in a 54 Kaiser, and the factory had plans on doing that! However, at the time I was talking to them, a club officer had a 52 Kaiser with a SBC in it, and they were cool with that. ?????? I told em if they wanted the Fraz restored, then they either A) need to buy it and restore it themselves, or B) send me the money to do it. So far, the "Restore the Fraz" fund has recieved $0.
Ok, every body gets an opinion here is mine...... lets all stop sucking his dick already for doing it "his way" or "by himself"that car is as fucked up as a soup sandwich!!Guys like this get no credit for being motivated enough to ruin a car that could have been cool!check out his plastic hubcaps on his other"restored beauty.when he dies and someone else gets that car that shitbox could get somebody killed if his mechanic skills are on level with his metalwork!If the transmission leaks fuck it pack it full of bondo,radiator problems bondo the shit out of it.bare wires bondo will do the trick and dont forget sanding!and if the motor starts knocking there is so much bondo in this car you will never here it! instead of celebrating independence day he should have been celebrating the year bondo was invented,then he could have proudly drove that one ugly bastard pulling the other as a bondo parade float!!
His teeneage exuberance is no excuse for his present shoddy workmanship. Those of you who defend him, if he made a pie with dogshit in it would you say it's delicious only because it was homemade?
I'll chime in too I guess.... Yeah he's happy and all that crap, but if you don't know how to do something right, pick up a book and teach yourself or get someone else to do it. Being a car enthusiast or "gearhead" to me means understanding and respecting cars and not bastardizing them like this. The real gearhead is the guy who buys this car and spends the time to do it right. Like Chris Rock said...."You can drive your car with your feet, but that doesn't mean it's a good fuckin idea". Hopefully he realized he needs a new tool in his arsenal for bondo...a snow shovel and a trowel.
The Jalopy Journal
