Hot Rods Working on the Vicky body, a build thread with pics

I like that a lot. Thanks for posting that. I have been trying to decide on color for my '26 Chevy roadster. It is far from body paint but the frame will come into play soon because how it fits in the back. So maybe the same as the body maybe black. My engine is a burgundy not quite maroon and I thought of doing it all burgundy but green has long been a thought. The wheels are already black but that could change. Anyway this pickup is inspiring. This is a nice green and the wheels work well with it.

 

Nice color on the engine parts. Mind sharing what it is? Looks pretty close on my monitor to the truck wheels. If you would be interested I could shoot a card and mail it to you when I get my paint.

 

Just plain old Rust-Oleum Burgundy. I'm not sure how it will holdup on the engine with heat I spilled fluids but in time it dries pretty hard and has worked for years on other parts. Tractor Supply sells some that is made for Tractors & employment use but not this color.

 

Hey, Koz;
Iffen you're asking about wheel color choice, I just really don't like red wheels, except maybe on red cars. I think I'd look at something like Vanilla Shake, Key-Lime-Juice(actually a pale yellow-ish color), or sorta green apple. A friend of mine who is good w/color-match/contrast(s) says that for contrast, go up or down 4 shades. Of course, I'm the guy who likes Stude Lemon/Lime combos, so... .
Marcus...

 

Color is close to math. It can be figured out on a color wheel pretty much as to what works with what. But as the father of two cool blond sons (red-green"i know that everyone does not see color the same. So what ever looks good to you is all that matters unless you want is what looks good to the judges that hand out trophies.

 

My choice of color actually is a really nostalgic thing for me. I had the privilege of growing up in my Dads shop and I remember how certain colors were popular through the late fifties/early sixties. Some colors just "click". I think this car would actually look best in a very soft, gloss black. Not Sikkens black but more like Bill Hirsh black lacquer with a lambs wool rub. I did a deuce coupe a few years back I shot in Hirsch black lacquer with a soft rub and it was absolutely perfect. You'd have sworn the paint was perfectly maintained for the last 40 years and not a fresh paint job. The owner shortly after delivery had the car resprayed in basecoat/clearcoat for more gloss and it looked plastic. Paint is just so fickle.

In reality, the early 1960's were a time when color was coming onto its own. Very few rods were black and most were shot in the latest factory hot colors. Caddy brought out Firemist, actually more a micro flake than a metallic, and those colors were wildly popular. Blacks and maroons were pretty much gone. Also popular were Corvette blues along with the rest of the GM color card. As was mentioned above colors are so personal.

I agree with nrgwizard that red wheels are ooh so overdone. The wheel color on green pickup is really a burgundy. The lipstick red wheels that are so popular are really a mid to late fifties item that would have been long gone by the early 60's era of this car. To be truthful, this car masses like a mid to late 50's west coast car that had been updated in '61 or so as it sets too low for a 61ish build.

I'm way overthinking this.......

 

In the early to late '60s the wheels on my '38 coupe were black, red, white, black (again) , & chrome. If it had ever gotten a paint job ( it was mostly still the original black) it would been GM Honduras Maroon. You can't overthink this stuff but you can overdo it.

 

Scored an older Offy intake with some donor carbs yesterday. The intake needs a little help but nothing a little Tig time won't cure. They were running it just on the center carb with some homemade block off plates. The fellow was kind enough to include some extra carbs with side inlets so I'm well set up to make them right. They'll run nice in addition to looking pretty nice. Getting the engine /trans ready to drop in. Still on the fence as to color but I need to decide soon so I can paint the engine.

 

Stripped this setup down. Pretty rough but most certainly usable. They were running on just the center carb with some homemade sheetmetal blockoff plates under two donor carb cores. Oddly enough they put extended throttle shafts on the two carbs with some decent arms? The dividers under the carbs were chopped out with as chisel and there were numerous extra holes drilled and tapped in the intake. Not sure what that was about. A bit of time in the blast cabinet cleaned it up nicely.

I epoxied some aluminum pieces into the primary runners to bring it back to a two plane design which runs way better on the street and welded everything else up. Had I known this setup was this butchered I would have just bought a new one but it turned out great and it is obviously an older one so it does have merit doing the added work. After the dividers were fixed I brought them back to as casted profiles with a little die grinder work. All in all, nice intake.

If I have some time later tonight I'm going to strip the carbs and spend a little time with the walnut shell to get them cleaned up and ready to build a proper set of good running 'trips.

 

Nice save!

 

I haven't died yet! I have the body inside the shop pounding out a million dents and welding up all the pinholes whenever I have a few minutes. I'll give it a squirt with whatever seems appropriate at the moment and set it on for the last time. The chassis is outside under a tarp with the engine in and all the drivetrain pretty much finished including the chassis wiring. Really glad I painted everything before it went out as it's holding up great over the last few months. I need to do my carbs and pop them on so I can fire this beastie up. I'm hoping for some warm weather. A lot of little stuff done between working on shop work but the summer is coming way too fast.

Just didn't want this thread, (or this project), to go cold. Things are definitely progressing.

 

I've got the body back on and bolted down with proper oak blocking strips and webbing underneath. Over the winter I finished out the underside and seam sealed everything along with prime and Eastwood ceramic chassis black. I then coated the underside with rubberized undercoating and added band sawn oak blocking to nest the body onto the frame. Still a bag of walnuts but I keep pounding out and welding up all the problem areas. Working on finishing out the dash today to get my electricals up so I can at least fire the engine,

I have a good bit of concern over the health of the cam with the valve springs in the heads on there. The heads are just so nice I hate to swap out the springs. I'm going to chance it and if I flat a lobe I'll just bite the bullet for a roller cam. At the moment I have a Weiand duel plane and 750 Holley on it just because I know it works well and I need to fire the fresh motor. When I have time I can go through the trips and make the swap. The Holleys run so well I may just leave it on.

I don't have a grill shell on at the moment as that jury is still out. Summer is coming way too fast. I need to keep my ass in gear. Some pics for your perusal.

 

Banged out some nifty tailight mounts to get the '60's era truck/trailer lights at the right spot. I'm not sure if I like the plate up top like this. Maybe should be in the center of the tailpanel with a cool old plate light above it. I don't want it to block the view of the rear so I don't think it should be under the spreader bar. I can't recess it in the rear panel as the tank sits just inside this panel.

What do you guys think. Not sure if it will grow on me.

 

I suppose if you want the frenched look, you could get(or make) a shape like the old bumper-mounted-licence-plate-holder(say late 40's->early 50's ply/chev/etc?), & weld, or bolt, it to the outside of the skin. ???
Marcus...

 

Spent a few hours last evening chopping the '36 grill 5 1/8" to a workable height. I had a lot of concern if this would have the look so I really dragged my feet on this one. I think it looks actually a tad better than the full height shell. I still have a lot to do but up close it actually enhances the lines of the low roadster. With the hood shortened to fit everything came into proportion nicely. I'm trying to tuck an hour of two each night into finishing this up so I'm making a bit of progress.

My next stunt is to finish the grill up and fit the hood along with fabbing a buck to form a peaked front to the hood like a '36. I'm also working on a hinge setup like an old Buick to open the hood sideways along with a proper latch.

Hard to tell from these pics but it looks really nice in person.

 

Looking good! Have you thought of using a 1936- 39 era headlight bucket cut in half for the front of the hood? You save on some hammer time. Bob

 

Great idea there. I'll make up the front in two pieces of 18 ga. as one of the things that is so easy for me is rolling panels. I have some AK scraps laying around that will shape so nicely. The hard part is going to be making the hinge system work. To keep the lines right I need to have a very low crown on the "nose" to clear the radiator cap underneath. This, and making and fitting the doors up is the fun stuff. Actually, all the stuff that I don't particularly like to do is done on this one. The last pain of a job is going to be covering the whole body with lightweight and sanding it into the shape of an old Ford.

 

Had a few hours last night to work on the grill while I had some great tunes on the shop system. I still need to make a few sections of grill bars to match but the rest is pretty decent. I was able to get it back into shape and symmetrical. They actually weren't that good from the factory but just getting it to look right was pretty satisfying. Next is some hood work. The lines from the side are just so "right on". Feeling much better about this stunt now.

 

That is a tough job! It is looking good.

 

cutting the hood to fit and making a buck to hammer a front nose. Too bad I don't have a '36 chrome nose..... Nah!

 

@Koz , is this the piece you'd like to have?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3753971500...YJBgNhvkQh4Oo+LuKDzPzZUw==|tkp:Bk9SR4C85ebkYw

 

It is but I realized after I ran my big mouth that they are made to take a chrome hinge strip up the center of the hood which won't work with my louver setup. I like the louvers as they are so I'm just going to roll a slight peak into the nose which will die into the hood at about 4" from the first louver.

Thanks for the tip! I'm kind of working this out as I go.

 

Last night I made up a quick and easy fan shroud of 18 ga. CR, added some tabs, epoxy primed and shot it with some rattle can. Looks OK and will get me through inspection. Pa. requires fans to be shrouded completely for titling inspections so I need a full shroud. I know they work better with the fan 1/2 exposed but that won't pass muster.

I finally have the shroud and radiator bolted in so I can make up the brackets tomorrow to mount the grill and get to work on the rest of the hood. Could have been a little neater but I'm on a short chain and time is precious.

 

Made up a "buck" with some 16 ga. and 3/16 rod to allow a bit of shot bag work to make two pieces that will get joined in the middle. No need to sacrifice a '36 hood for these parts. I need to shot bag this as I no longer have my English Wheel. As the neighborhood changes here my car hobby is no longer appreciated so I've been getting rid of my stuff. This will be the last car I build here. I finished up the work around the windshield and pulled the cowl and posts into place. It made a huge difference in the appearance of the body. I can't wait to get on the doors next week.

 

Neighbors & neighborhoods? Lucky to not have any. When I can't shoot or piss off the porch I'll move to the country again. Leave all my junk here & start over.

 

I wish I couldmove. My wife loves it here and it's just one Karen I need to sweat. I'm going to soundproof the garage and maybe they'll shut up. In the meantime I have a load of bodywork to do on this one.

 

There are all kinds of challenges you have to be creative and do the best you can.
Years ago a friend had two neighbors that constantly called the cops on him for working on his cars. He cunningly got them fighting each other so intensely that they forgot about him. I would not recommend doing what he did to cause the feud but it worked.

 

I just have the one neighbor who is a real Pain in the ass. The rest are cool. Just miserable old folks with nothing constructive to do. I try not to rock the boat but I always could just be miserable back but it's not my style so I just ignore them for the most part. More worried about getting this thing on the road.

 

The world has changed. I really like seeing this car being built outside. It reminds me of an unfinished Model A RPU that I would go out of my way to see when going to school that was in a backyard.

 

My shop is packed so it's outside or nothing. You wouldn't believe how many people stop by just for a look. Today after work I took about two hours and pounded out the nosecone. from some scraps of 18ga, A lot of hammer work to go yet but I like the look. When I'm finished welding it up I'll get on and shrink as needed and take as many divots out as I can. Kind of a bag of walnuts at the moment.

Tonight I'm bending up some 2 1/2" skirts for the sides of the hood like a stock '31. They will have the 3/4" bead like a stock hood.

Let me know what you think.