I was talking to some dude at the Pileup about my truck and showed him pictures of my new one. He made the comment about how I must have a lot of time in the new one. I just kind of looked at him and said "well, no, not really. So far I have about 8 hours in it and that is including the tear apart time on the olds." He didn't believe me. Let me say again that I am definitely no body man and this is only my second attempt at bodywork. I just can't figure out what people are afraid of. It's only metal! I actually haven't worked on it since Thurday night but here is what I have done. It think where I left off last was where I transferred the Model A body line to the Oldsmobile body line. (Ryan if you are reading this, this is where that project photobook update thingy would come in handy!) I had a gap between the Olds quarter and the model A cowl that was about 12 inches wide that needed filling. There was a little bit of a contour change so I needed a curved piece of metal to fill the gap. Here is the opening all cleaned up around the edges with a 3 inch roloc Disc for welding.
I grabbed my back door. And cut off a chunk of it to fill the hole. I left it a little big so I could "sneak up" on it like my main man Jesse James does. I think I have to quit calling this the back door buddy now because my plans have kind of changed and this is the only part of all those back doors I am going to use.
Now the Curve of the A panel diidn't quite meet the curve of the Olds panel so I had to manupulate it on my fancy patella roller to get it to fit (that's my knee by the way). I cleaned up all the edges of the patch and tacked it in place. on the top, I worked it with a dolly a bit to get the flow down from the Olds door top to the Model a door skin.
this whole process took me a total of 20 minutes. I did the other side last Wednesday night and didn't bring my camera home, but it took a little longer since I had to figure out what I was doing. I worked in the garage a total of 2 hours that night but I also got the rear center cection below the trunk cut and welded together. I may narrow it an inch more, I haven't decided yet. I wasn't allowed to stay out there that long on Thurday night because I had to go inside to tear off a piece because I was going to be leaving for the weekend. That gentlemen is an important tech tip, keep your old lady happy! Especially if you are leaving for an entire weekend. Here is the overall view.
All right, that is all for now. I may try to get the lower skins put on this week. My buddy Lance Romance bought a plasma cutter over the weekend and I am pretty excited to use it. Another tech tip, why buy when you can borrow? Speaking of which, yngrodder, did you get that english wheel back yet?
Aaron, This project is really cool, I'm so glad to see that there are others out there that are not afraid to "Get-out-of-the-box" and be creative. Keep us posted. Glenn
You sir, just amaze me. You make it look so easy and your most important tech tip to the guys was right on the money.
Very impressive work! I wish I could of met ya at the Pile Up. A very good friend of mine (he built the chopped '55 chevy w/ the 3 piece Olds rear glass) were checking out the Spacetruck, I was telling him about it and of your new project, he was really impressed. Can't wait for more updates. Joel
Wow! That looks a lot better than the last time I saw it. Did you ever figure out why the passenger side took so much more work?
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] I grabbed my back door. And cut off a chunk of it to fill the hole. [/ QUOTE ] Ouch!! [/ QUOTE ] I've been looking for an (affordable) Lt Rear door for a '28-29 for over three years, it's all I need to make a 4 door top cut off "phaeton".... Your rod's looking really great though!!!!
Dr J you should have spoke up. Those were really nice with the wood still in them and everything! I have 2 others that aren't as nice that I also took the wood out of and chopped the top off when I thought I was going to use them. I figured that they weren't worth too much. My buddy's grandpa carried them to swap meets for years with a $20 a piece price tag and couldn't get rid of them. I am taking street rod building lessons from high pitched Justin at Scott's rod shop. I'm just going to cut up nice stuff until I get something goofy stuck together out of all of it. I will paint it rat rod black then Bondo the piss out of it when no one is looking, then paint it red! Andrew, I think the reason the other side took so long is because Henry Ford was saying "what the fuck are you doing to my car" from the grave. It was his way of trying to stop me. He obviously saw that a drunken hillbilly is a force to be reckoned with, and let me loose on the other side without any hinderances.
The Jalopy Journal
