Technical TECH WEEK: Drinkin' and drivin' made easy!

OK I've never posted a tech thread before, so bear with me here. Hopefully all my pictures will load correctly from an iPhone.

First off I know that cupholders are not traditional, but neither is unleaded gas!!! LoL! Anyway, if you drive your car a lot like I do, then you will realize the importance of a cup holder, especially the first time your Big Gulp collapses in between your legs and makes a huge sticky mess everywhere! LoL! This got me to thinking of a cool somewhat custom looking cup holder (that now everyone will have, Ha!). So I started looking around at the junk that I had laying around (in other words not have to spend much money!). I go to the parts car and get an idea!

So I have the parklight bucket off of a 58 Chevy (which will match my 58 Nomad perfectly!) and try to decide how I'm going to do this..... Got it idea'd out! I think that steel wool will clean this up sufficiently, or at least good enough for who it's for!


First I will need to level off the bottom since I don't like the way it looks uneven and all. Whack that off somewhat evenly with a chopsaw and then hit it with the grinder just to smooth it out.

 

traditional rodders use 6/12oz glass bottles...not Big Gulp plastic

 

Now I need to look through my junk pile and see what I can make a base out of. Hmmmm... I think that might work, a fluorescent light deflector. Now I need to flatten it out, standing on it first and then whacking it with a mallet should do the trick good enough to make it flat.



Now I need a pattern, cardboard should do the trick. I have noticed if you're trying to make cardboard curve easily, Roll it up pretty tightly first and it will contour fairly well. Also another thing, you can find the length of something curved pretty well with a old shoelace. I need to make marks to where the grooves in the housing will slide into the base.

 

Now to go to the car and set it where you want it, and start cutting away at your cardboard pattern to where it fits the contour of the floor well. Sorry no picture of that. But here is a picture of the cardboard template with the contour cut.

Now I lay it flat on your piece of metal and trace your marks over onto the metal and then cut to fit.


Now looking around the shop to find something that comes close to fitting the contour. Found an old crank that just might work. It does, again good enough for who it's for! Ha!

 

Now put it in its place inside the housing base, cut your slots to fit the housing properly. I lapped mine together and pop riveted it. Then I scuffed it up with a Scotch-Brite, smeared some Bondo on it, sanded it down fairly smooth and now it's ready for paint. Sorry no pictures here also. Looking through my cabinet I find some truck bed liner spray that will do the trick (The trick would be hiding my sloppy bodywork!). And you can grab your favorite color or whatever you have on hand and spray your topcoat on top of the truck bed liner. I had some green mixed up at O'Reillys to match my interior.


The bottom edge is kind of rough, so I cut A piece of vacuum line as trim for it. The base is done now.

Now to figure out what to do for the inside. I ran to Lowes and thought of a PVC pipe cap. A 3 inch cap fits almost perfectly! I sprayed the inside of it with the truck bed liner also, and use some clear silicone to hold it in place.

 

It's still missing something tho. I Look through the garage again and find A bullet center cap that might work. I make a little small bracket, drill a couple holes for a bolt and a pop rivet. Mix up a little JB Weld and stick it all together!! Add some pinstripes and it's Perfect!!!

 

If you don't like the way it fits your drinks, you can also buy these off of fleaBay. But I think mine fits really well.


Well there you have it! A non traditional item that I tried to make look traditional!

Drink up!! LoL!

 

Never glass in the shop, cans only

 

Sweet, thanks!

 

Best looking cup holder I have seen. Very cool, nice job!

 

Looks great Jimmy! That is definitely cooler and more functional than any other cupholder I have seen.

 

They look good to me! Pretty clever. Gary

 

Nice!

 

Nice dog.

 

1000 times better than those Wal-mart ones that hang on the door!

 

I like it!!

 

Great job!!! Lots of useful ideas there beyond the cup holder itself. I know what I'll be making.....

 

It looks great, and matches the car. Well Done Sir!

 

Thats pretty cool. I had that issue with my 57 Ford wagon. Spilt more than one drink cruising around. Very nice job man!!!

 

Kool tech idea for the guys that drive them..........

 

Well done.

 

Great, Now there wont be any 58 turn signal buckets.
Yours is real nice. Thats a great idea.

 

Well done very Kool

 

Thanks guys, I know that it may not be completely "trad", but it makes long drives halfway across the country MUCH more pleasant!!

Since I had most of the stuff laying around already, the only thing that I actually had to buy was the 2 PVC caps, for a couple bucks. I've thought of different things that I could make cup holders out of since, but that is what I had on hand, as well as the 58 Chevy parts were pretty fitting too!

 

Good job

 

Love it... I also thought inserts/bottom portion of your lens cover would be great with the many varieties of magnetic Koozies used as inserts...if magnet is really strong, ya don't have carpet, or a big fat washer could be put into carpet for a removable/cleanable cupholder... I like it!!!

 

I really like the magnet idea. However it might "collect" junk in it over time.

 

Thanks Speedy!

 

I've been thinking of something similar. Holding a can of pop between your legs works great until you move wrong, crush the can and over flow all over yourself.

 

I know! When you're driving a lot like we do, cupholders that actually work are invaluable! An added bonus is one that doesn't look like it came out of a new Kia!! LoL!