Background story. I learned how to do the "Kustom" part of bodywork and paint back in 1979. I had already learned the regular stuff, but wanted to learn more, from "the best". After asking around, mostly from the older hot rodders, I found out that John Pazcik, in S & J Auto Styling was the man to work for. I dropped by and offered my services, part time, while going to Rutgers, even to work for free, if he would show me the ropes. John was impressed with my 57 Chevy convert, and let me work for him. I learned a lot during the 10+ years I worked for him, on and off, but John began to decline in quality of work, and indeed, quality of life. After moving from shop to shop, he finally gave up. Right before he went into a nursing home, he had been sweeping floors, doing odd chores for his high school buddy, Jim Monahan. Jim had a 48 Merc that he had another guy put on a Grand Prix frame, and get running for him. He let John do some bodywork on it for a few extra bucks. Eventually John talked him into letting him chop the top. Needless to say, it came out terrible. While John WAS one of the best, by this time, his mind had deteriorated greatly. Jimmy thought the car was almost ruined, and never did any more with it. A good friend, Vic, bougth it a couple years ago, and we decided to try to fix it up a bit. While it will never be a really nice car, we will correct the major faults. The roof is the main one. The rear window is the worst. It is mounted in at a bad angle, too far back on the car, and is sliced and diced like a beginner's attempt at the Frankenstein Monster! Vic found another rear window (sedan!) and we cut out the entire rear window and surround.
Another reason we decided to do a radical window-ectomy was John never learned to use a MIG. Nor did he gas weld. Brass, that was his method of joining sheet metal. While many cars have been built using it, even my own chopped 55 Olds, it really isn't the best choice. Plastic fillers do not 'like' brass, and can eventually pull away from it and bubble up. It also warps the sheet metal, but similar to a MIG weld, you can't readily hammer and dolly it without cracking. So, we eyed up the lay of the new rear windsheild, deciding to push it forward a bit over 5 inches. This gives it a better "C" pillar shape, and lets the roof have a definate break where it joins to the body. I particularly do not like where the roof looks like it is part of the trunk area, except on certain models. This is not one of them. So we would extend the catwalk 5 1/4" and move the window a bit higher up into the roof. Being a sedan window, it began to curve too soon into the C pillar, which we would have to correct. These shots show the new placement of the rear windsheild surround, and the better angle it takes on. So far we are using a MIG to do the tacking and welding. Carefull work leads to less distortion here!
It took a bit of forming to get the panels into the correct shape. We are dealing with mostly compound curves here. I have been working on my metalworking skills, as well as learning to use my new English Wheel. so I didn't want to have a lot of relief slices to make the new panels fit. First we make a new catwalk to hold the window where we wanted it. One piece for the straight section directly above the trunk, and 2 end pieces, where there was much more shape, and harder to form. We used a sandbag to get the shape, then wheeled it smooth. you could just as easily planish the area smooth. In a couple sections, we used "tuck shrinking" to get our shapes faster. Look this up on the metalshapers site for a more intelligent description than I could give. Next we formed the C pillars, the sides of the windsheild. This was the most critical shape we had to make. While we formed the filler pieces pretty well, the window surround still curved inward too fast, and to correct this, Vic and I used gas welding, and hammer and dolly to bring the shapes together. You could also use a TIG, but I find that gas leaves the metal hotter, longer so you have more time to work it. This technique, hammerwelding, worked very well for solving our problem. Finally, we got all the metalwork around the window finished. John had removed the rain gutter, so I started to weld in a pseudo-gutter out of 5/16" brake line. It doesn't work as well as a real one, but better than nothing. It also keeps the area around the quarter window "right". If you remove the gutter and just weld it smoot, there is a good chance the area will give you problems in the future. It is TOO strong, while the area around it, just sheet metal, can flax a lot. Eventually it will fail, even before that, it will be seen in the bodywork. That's it for now...we hafve to finish up the rain gutter, cut out the brass on the A and B pillars, and MIG them, and then do the plastic work. I might have to do some reinforcing in the interior of the roof as well, as ti was pretty butchered up as well. Credit for the metal work and welding also go to Vic (VICCUSTOMS) and Ron (the Wheel). Guys with LEAD in their blood! We ARE going to 'round' the rear lower corners of the quarter panel windows as well.
Man thats a lot of work, it looks like you got it though. I might be gettin a 41 coupe soon. I don't think i'll chop it or anything but I was thinking about cutting it completely off and going carson style.
Could you elaborate on this? I've never heard this happening (I ask from ignorance, not from challenging your knowledge). Are you saying that the weld is stronger than the regular sheet metal, and so it won't flex at the same rate as the rest of the roof? If you were to remove your gutter, what would be the right way to do it, to avoid this? Thanks Tucker
Mark, Where are the pictures of the filler pieces you and Vic made on Sunday to round the quarter windows? It looks a million times cleaner with those. I'm glad you guys decided to keep the quarter windows. I was bummed when the ones on Jim's Caddy got filled in. Filled quarter windows make the turret look too "heavy" in my opinion. Ed PS- You should post pictures of your Dodge so these folks can see another Pazcik car!
I have never heard of , useing brakeline for rain gutter. Do you have a close up pic? Could brakeline be used for peaking a hood? Chop looks great!!
Ed, the corner rounding pieces we just did on Sunday, these pics are older...just got them back from being developed (non-digital camera!)
Wow Mark! that Merc looks sooooo much better. That chop was tough to look at. I can't wait to see more pics and follow this some more
i thought you were gonna be fixin DirtyT's Chevy when i saw the title of the post. looks like a pretty ambitious project none the less. it also looks like it was more work to fix it than it would have been to do it in the first place. nicely done. good save.
Not relevant BUT on the weekend I was in a small mountain town hiking around in the woods looking for junk and I stumbled across an F1 pu cab that someone had botched the top on then hid it WAY out back...
chrisntx, no metalfinishing here, but I do enough hammer and dolly to keep the filler to a minimum, usually under 1/8". And truly, the car doesn't even deserve that! It is a really botched up custom, lots of brazed patch panels, overlapped joints everywhere...even the trim holes...braze a square of sheet metal, pound it in, and fill. That's the way the whole car was done, including the molded in fenders. Vic, the owner, is just going to use it as a driver, it DOES have a well done Grand Prix frame swap. Thanks choprods, coming from you, that's a compliment! (wish I could come out and help you with the HAMB auction chop!) kustombuilder..didn't get the chance to meet'cha at Autorama! The guy who owned the car had been trying to get me to fix the top for him for years, but couldn't get it into my schedule. When my friend bought it, I had to fix it for him, glad I wasn't doing it for a paying customer, I'd either lose my shirt, or he'd be REAL pissed at how much it cost to fix this mess!
The Jalopy Journal
