Technical What fiberglass car parts have you made?

'glass was an important building material in the last half of the HAMB rodding era. The two highest profile examples are 'glass drag racing body parts and Ed Roth customs. Have you used any 'glass on your ride?

Here are my two big examples.
Welded my '36 Willys front end together, made a 'glass mold off that and made a 'glass tilt hood.


Made the'glass body for my Ed Roth Mysterion reproduction.

 

You guys are WAY out of my league. The biggest thing I’ve ever made out of fiberglass is a cup holder for my roadster.

 

I'm itching just looking at the photos. Very impressive work.

 

I've made hoods and bumpers for drag cars over the years, I'm going to do one more hood for my Plymouth.

 

I have done quite a bit of glass work although mostly modifying or fixing stuff on race cars or vettes. I have built some one-off parts for a hot rod tractor at my workplace, but it is OT for here. I also worked at a place for a while that built aerobatic planes, so we built tooling for carbon fiber parts out of fiberglass. Strangely enough, I sort of like working with that itchy stuff.

 

Worked at B&N Fiberglass in the 60's and we made full fiberglass race car bodies down to simple hood scoops...

 

I made a front bumper for a buddy's '69 Camaro race car. That was like 45 years ago. I play hockey and made a few goalie masks.

 

For the Bonneville car I made a couple NACA scoops and the nose

 

I didn't have a good trunk lid for my T coupe or a good one to borrow to make a mold from. However, I had some fiberglass reinforced sheet left over from skinning my teardrop trailer and a bandsaw so I used that. Added a bunch of wood screws, more fiberglass matt, etc. and hope it works.

 

Slick!

 

Like Mark I built a fiberglass cover for my panhead powered trike that was covered with black vinyl to match the seat, I used chicken wire and heavy fiberglass matt to cover it, I then used a grinder to smooth it up, since I wasn't going to paint it then used foam and vinyl to finish it off.

I will try to find a few photo's later.

I also helped my friend Paul make a glass 29 Ford roadster body and we used the body I had to make the mold.

It turned out nice, we built rectangle steel frame but it really didn't look that good and then i suggested that we could make a mold off a pair '32 frame rails I had and we did that, no one could tell they were fiberglass and it really improved the looks from the side.

A few months Paul decided to make a hood, we used a city provided heavy plastic garbage can and used it for a mold, we sprayed it with chopped mat and when dry we removed the trash can, cut out one side of the new piece and did some extra trimming and it too looked great.

Since all this was done long before I owned a digital camera I will have to got through a pile of photo's to find the pictures. HRP

 

When I was about 16 years old. Very technical stuff. Rebuilt the rusted out rocker on our family's 12 passenger Econoline van... under the double wide doors on the passenger side.
Of course, first filled the boxed section with wadded-up newspaper. Then I mixed up a whole lot of tiger hair and piled it the full length of a 1 inch board that was as long as the rocker. Took the whole deal and pressed it against the damaged area. Before the tiger hair set up completely, I peeled off the board. Perfectly flat and straight. Sanding primer and paint and it lasted quite a while before chunks started falling out.

 

Amazing rod. It is truly a tribute to the Great One's legacy.

Of course I wouldn't have stooped to making a mold if I wasn't costrained by trying to replicate Ed's form as closely as possible.

 

After helping my Dad ‘glass our family ski boat in the ‘60s, I have always wanted to build a ‘glass body or at least a ‘glass front end but I never made anything that big. I did a lot of it restoring a Rayson Craft ski boat and redoing the wood deck on my other Flatbottom. I did build a ‘glass half-hood for my ‘27 T with a chopped ‘32 shell and I also built a ‘glass fan shroud. I struggled with a bad case of eczema a few years ago, so I’ve shied away from fiberglass work or anything else that might make me itch since then. I still love the smell of polyester resin though……

 

One small part I made was for my '36 Pontiac sedan. The factory had made formed cardboard covers for arm rests for the rear seat thaat covered the rear whrrl well. They were pretty dseteriorated but I was able to piece them together and put on a couple layers of resin and mat and get a great reoproduction.



That brings to mind a great tip. Duct tape, aside from preserving civilization as we know it, makes super 'glass forms. I streched 3 layers of tape for a sort of smooth surface over the steel tubing skeleton of my Mysterion interior, then put 3 layers of resin and mat over that. When the 'glass cured, the tape stripped easily from the back of the part.

 

I would love to have one of you guys that are better at it than me to build me a front clip for my 57 Chieftan I will be building as a Gasser!

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

If you lived in north Texas, I would be interested!!

 

Hmmm... Since I am a transporter & will be transporting a customers car to 75 miles south of you (Palmer, Tx) in April, it is not that far fetched!

I'll send you a P.M.

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/

 

I had the cowl and doors to a Model A roadster but not the back half so me and my grandpa made it out of glass.

 

I made a glovebox once, patching up the remains of the original cardboard one to make a plaster mold. It turned out ok, but definitely not one of my better projects!

 

wow

 

I've told this a few times prior.
This is pretty bush league compared to what some of you guys have built.
I was 16 in 1970 and had a 57 BelAir, my second car in high school, as typical I had bigger dreams than what was in my wallet.
I bought a "Grump Lump" hood scoop at my local speed shop and had an older friend with a little fiberglass experience help me pop another one off of it by taping it up and laying up the glass on it, bought a spare original steel hood and cut the opening and glassed the scoop on, the flame job was a joint effort between Krylon and myself.
Not bad for a 16 year old I think, oh yeah, I returned the scoop for a full refund.

 

Very impressive work here guys, I have made small stuff years ago, a front spoiler for a friends V8 pinto, and rear fender flares for my 69 nova. Nothing to compare with some of the work posted here.

 

Just remembered another fun 'glass project I did a while ago. I king-cabbed a '53 Chevy pickup and needed a headliner.
I made a 'glas panel on the top of the finished cab that had been painted with single stage acrylic and waxed with mold release. Also sprayed on a coat of PVA to insure it would come off!





3 layers of mat and resin yields a little less than 3/16".


I built a support grid of 3/4" steel tubing to support the extended top and to attach the headliner.


Obviously the resulting panel is way too big to fit inside the cab. I cut it into 4 pieces.


peeling off the PVA was awesome! I buy electronic stuff just to peel off the protective film.


I screwed the 4 panel sections into the top making it easy to mark how much to remove to make it fit.


This is the finished liner. I eventually split it front to back so it would fit easier and made a center panel to cover the joint and add more interest. All was upholstered.


Here is the center panel being laid up. It is only 2 layers of mat.


Here are the parts being upholstered and the final installation.

 

The shroud the windshield attaches too and the driver surround on my LSR roadster. Was flat when I bought the car in 1981. The inner rear fender wells too.

 

Been in boat manufacturing forever, so fiberglass is daily thing. Although I’m a management type, so I rarely itch, but my office smells like styrene.

But I tend to lean towards glass since my welding skills are mediocre. Built a hood mold for a friends OT Maverick when we were kids. And have done stuff like bumpers and trim parts for friends. I’d love to build a Deuce three window, but it would have to be a glass body - as some of the body mods in my mind would be way beyond my skills in metal, and way beyond my checkbook to pay a pro.

 

I made the glass nose for my shoebox back in '76 the same way Mark did, mold release, glass lay up with wood re enforcing. Was a bitch to make the wheel opening run-offs to get the radius lip for the final mold. Was so hard for me to make the mold I took it to a boat manufacturer and had them lay it up; chopper guns are great and 2 hrs of a Saturday morning. Made a plug [Body filler and screen] and a mold [body filler and wood] to make the Fiberglass rear rolled [layed up] pan which bolts in.. Fan shroud and engine cover [Styrofoam/duct tape] molds layed up over and spatter painted to smoothen cloth texture ..And a few other ducts and tanks and covers; few things for other people but by then I was Glassed out.

 

We made several parts on my son's '38 Dodge the sides for the lower grill, pieces to eliminate the original headlight mount and lower hood panels. The process consisted of shaping pieces from foam, making plaster molds and laying the parts. We chose to go that route as we did not have a good way to make the tapered body reveal along the bottom of the lower hood side. It turned out well.