Projects Recreating the jesse lopez coupe

Thanks Jim, and BIG D, thanks for checkin' in.
Guys, I just got word about 3 hours ago, from my brother (Joe) in the Seattle area, that his son, my nephew (Ryan), took his life today. I'm going to need a little while to absorb all this, I covet your prayers. Thank you in advance.

 

Remember that we have a compassionate God.

 

So sorry Jer, your family is in our prayers.

 

Oh my, so sorry. Praying for the Daman family. Take all the time in the world.

 

So sorry to hear this Jerry. Will be praying for your brother's family

 

So sorry to hear that...


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So sorry for your loss. You’ll be in my prayers.


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Sorry that your family is going through this tragedy.


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My prayers are with your family..

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Bone crushing agony sorrow and grief, slowly give way to the grace, mercy and assurance of Gods sovereignty and promises, they provide an opening to the washing of His word as we consider the enormity of these events. Now we have time, which will eventfully bring healing as we consider all these things.

Those of you that know my story know that I’m not a stranger to this kind of event. It’s not easy to lose a child, and mine was much younger, but that helped me be there to the degree that I could for my brother, and I’m thankful for that.

You guys…THE BEST, I know that there are many more than those who responded on here and I’m blessed to be able to count you as my friends. Thank you very much for your prayers and care about all this, at this time in my life.

 

Well we pick up the pieces and move forward. The car was at Dan’s shop for almost two years. Being there for that long , it became a fixture of sorts, “there it is again“, it was always there. If you weren’t there every day, or every week you did notice that things were being done on it.

The vendors would comment on it eventually. Some thought it was a “merc”. The guys that really knew what it was, were the “new hires”, and amongst that group, the young guys, especially the Mexicans, they knew exactly what it was (but, not the Jesse Lopez connection.)

With this interesting development I must confess that I’ve always been drawn to the “chicano” community. It started in junior high school when I was first exposed to them, and I don’t know why.

What are the things that draw that group to custom cars? I’ve always known them to be hard working people with strong families, just what this country has always needed.

It was interesting to see David (banditomerc) give us a look at the Bell California area today. If someone could explain this to me I would be grateful.

 

First, I am very sorry for your nephew's passing...there are really no good words...I grew up in Southern California and, like you, was drawn to the Chicano community. East Los Angeles was familiar territory and there were lots of great hot rods and customs there...some of my Anglo friends were afraid to go there, but I found the Chicanos there to be great people, with strong families, as you said. There was something very "Chicano" in the way they did customs, especially the Ayala brothers, and the Chicanos who worked for the Barris brothers. That low long smooth look that you have so wonderfully reproduced in your custom was the hallmark of the cars that so many Chicanos built and drove....

 

Thanks for the reply ardun, and the kind words. That's right, there were some Mexican guy's that worked at Barris back in the day. They worked on some iconic cars, I think the Aztec was one, for whatever the reason they didn't get much mention/ink. Can any body help us with those names and cars?

 

Well, I went through my Barris Kustom techniques of the 50's volumes 1-4 and couldn't find what I was looking for. I thought I had seen references to the chicano guys that were there but, no luck, too bad.
Just to clarify a bit, I asked Jesse what was the correct term to use regarding his ethnic group waaay back, and he said Chicano's. I googled it and it's used to identify Mexican people that are born in USA.

 

Dan blocked the car with 180 grit dry paper, it was then recoated with more high build primer, and blocked again with 800 grit wet on the long block. I didn't go to see the car for some months as you can imagine, out of sight out of mind?, almost. Of course this means no pics. Dan did take some for the spraying out part and they are coming up.

 

Hey Jerry, we must move along as we go thru lifes trials,we must persevere for those still in the struggle of life.
Yes Jer,having grown up in East Los Angeles during the 60s-70s it was an education in chicano car culture on steroids. My parents ,both Mexican nationals,father served in korea,both went on to own their businesses thru hard work,instilled in their kids. The term "Chicano" is awareness of our culture,and not to forget from who we originated from,our forefathers and their struggles.
But ELA had it all,as far as car culture. The surrounding cities in the county had an abundance of custom lowrider and what "we" call BOMBS. They were usually chevy of the late '30s-early '50s.,low and slow..NOT gang bangers,just people enjoying the culture that happened to include cars as an expression of who we are..


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Thanks David for your remarks about So Cal culture and how powerful it was/is. I have on occasion thought about what would have happened to me if I had lived there during my formative years. The difference between seeing the cars in the little mags compared to going over to Barris’s shop and seeing them there. A huge difference in impacting a young impressionable car guy.

I mentioned awhile back that I didn’t know why I was attracted to the Chicano culture back then. An old memory has bubbled up out of the deep recesses of the past. Judy Ramirez was cute, and sat behind me in Jr High, and she had a badass older brother (Garfield) that was in the Hi school across the street. That probably was the start of it.

 

This is a look at where Dan spends some significant time. It allows him to observe the paint dept to his right, metal dept to his left and the uni-body benches are in front of him. He goes over and checks the final measurement on whatever part of the structure has been repaired. The front structure is the most critical because the driveability depends on everything being within tolerances, I think there is a 3 millimeter variance that they have to stay within. All the techs stations are computerized and they input the progress/status on each job. This results in minimal management staff.

All a world away from auto body repair of the late last century. By the mid eighties I started to become increasingly alarmed regarding knowing where I (we) were at with the drivability of these uni-body vehicles. This resulted in buying a continental drive on bench, which was American made. This was important because it used steel that was made (and available), in this country. That meant that I could have a local heavy duty fab shop make another one for me, that gave me two. I bought the (fixture) measuring system that told me whether or not I had the repaired structure within the correct variables.

After moving into my new facility I bought a big Chief drive on bench with their computerized measuring, which was state of the art at that time.




 

A galaxy away from the Compton shop spray area.

 

The right stuff, that knew it was the right stuff, sitting in the cabinet, just waiting until "the fullness of time" to come.

 

Here's a better shot that I should have included with the other.

 

Son Dan approaches this auto body thing with a lot more science than I ever did. I’m sure that this becomes ingrained in you as you apply all the progress that the auto body industry has achieved. I’m amazed at what they get paid for these days. I know that the response to the insurance meddling that I had to put up with is dealt with by the manufacture’s “procedure’s” that are mandated to keep the factory warranty intact. Being the biggest Chevrolet dealer in the world probably helps.

He brings that same mindset to the paint application and polishing part as well. Their downdraft booths put out a finish that hardly needs anything but the slightest polish to make it look “factory”. However, if we’re talking about a custom “show car” finish, that starts where the “factory” stops.

So here’s a peek at where we start.

 

Dan says that he didn’t really start on the “cut” part of the polish job until after he was completely satisfied that all the “gas” was dissipated from the urethane. With him trying to fit it in somewhere in his schedule it was almost a year before he started on it. He used a hard block (shown), with 15K paper and water. The adhesive paper is slightly bigger than the (small) block, and hangs over the edge about a 16th of an inch. He will trim that paper so that it will be inside, away from that edge (seen in pic) so that on a curved surface it doesn’t cut into an area that he would have to deal with later. He wanted to use the most aggressive paper first, to get to the lowest part of the orange peel.

This pic is when he started on the car in the detail bay. I did tell him that at this point in the description, I would tell you that I’m shaking my head.

 

I think I need to condense this part of the “redo” down rather than draaag it out any more. I did take the hood home because I wasn’t happy with the peak down the center. Dan moved the car several times through this part of the process, and you’ll see that it the pics. He did do a “walk around” video when he was finished, that I can’t post for some reason.

 

I was relaxing in the evening in early summer when there was a knock at my door. It was Dan, we greeted him and he told us that he had brought the car and trailer home, and it was in the back yard and he was headed home. "You mean its done?" I asked, yup, I gotta go, he said as he headed out the door.

The next morning I went out and opened the left side door, and he was right, there it was. I think a couple of days past until I went out, hooked up the trailer to my truck and maneuvered it into position to disgorge it's contents into the shop.

 

I unloaded the car out of the trailer, into the shop. I need to swap out with Jr's car on the bench. The ability to be able to do as much work either standing or sitting is important.

 

Wow, just read the last couple of months, what a journey! Our faith really changes how we deal with challenges & heart break, still hurts - just differently!
The car is looking great so excited to see it coming along!

 

That color though!

 

I've been off the site for a bit...some of the Hispanic guys who worked for Barris included Bill Ortega, who became Bill DeCarr, built the Aztec '55 Chevy, and Johnny Zaro, who had several Barris customs, and of course Jesse.