48 Buick update / Thanks Janne

Just before the holidays the Buick was at this point . 2" chop, 2"section. Thats when things started to get a little out of hand. I had some ideas of what I wanted for a finshed project but was just not sure of how the things would look when completed. So I called that young fella in Northern Europe for some help in putting together some drawings . What a talent and great guy. He had the patience of a saint , working with me has been known to be difficult from time to time. At least thats what the wife says.
After looking at a couple of threads llater in the week I realized that a couple of people asked to be kept up to date with the Buick. Well Janne sent these Thursday . Currently welding the rear sheetmetal back together .
Thanks to Janne for a job well done.
Stay tuned

 

those cars are so bitchin, my soon to be brother in law has one sittin at his work and i keep flaking to go and take a look at it. they look soo sleek with the l lid lowered a lil. yours is alittle more motivation to kick my but in gear to go check it out. i love this one, keep those pics comin!!

 

Gonna be a beautiful car; Janne has done a very nice job for you. I have to say, though, I really like it in the earlier construction photos -- not lowered very much, open rear wheels, extra lights at the ends of the grille.

 

Have possession of an extra grille . Was thinking of having a couple of changeable options ( with or without skirts or headlamps). This can be easily done if planned for during the initial work. Getting the body lines to flow together was getting a little difficult without a drawing. Were not going to be able to lower it much more than in the photos as the rear tires are only about 3" away from the top of the rear inner wheelhousings. There are so many subtle changes that needed to be made for everything to look correct. The quarters have been dropped about 2 1/2" at the rear , Sectioned horizontaly from the rear of the w/o, and lengthened 4". The front fenders have been basically remade from the rear of the w/o. Still looking for a 53/54 Nash dashboard.

 

bitchin' work Janne.

 

That Sedanette looks good!

 

Hey Larry,

Thanks for posting pictures of your project. I'm in love with the design and
from the rear is pure Gravey over all!! Keep us posted with your progress and I cannot wait to see it kruizing down the street.

The concept drawing is way too kool........

Happy Trails,

Mick

 

Thanks Larry!, and all others for kind words! It was quite a big job!

Here is the side profile (quick sketch):

 

We need to get those sketches to your website!? I couldn´t find any pics of your Buick.

 

Anyone got a football? Its time to punt.
Janne had the easy part of this project. Putting it into metal is quite an undertaking. You would never think that this much work would go into a project like this since it really doesnt look much different from the stock model.
I need a little info from those that have built similar 40/48 GM Fastbacks. When chopping one of these cars one issue to contend with is the bow of the door and quarter near the belt line of the side glass and the fitting of the top of the windows to the roof . The drawings of the Buick show the use of window frames around the glass in the tradition of the "Hirohita Merc" and the "Matranga Merc". I have a couple of questions to resolve in order to start the process of modifying the side glass and body.
The body has a substantial bow from the A to C pillars. The roof also has a similar bow at the upper window edge . The problem is that 1. lower bow radius is greater than the upper , which in turn tilts the top of the glass in at about a 10 to 15 degree angle, 2. the front and rear side glass are not in a straight line to each other and also meet at a significant angle. Whats the best way to overcome this? Curved glass ? Thought about vertically cutting the door in the rear inner jamb and the inner front lock pillar , and modify the inner door frame at belt line to straighten out the line of the windows and the angle to the roof.
Did a HAMB search and found several threads on side glass mods but nothing that applies to these cars. Been searching Riks site for photos but mostly pics of the finished car.

As far as the window frames ,I know that they will need to be custom made and fit to the glass once the body issue is resolved. Are there any articles published about making these? I'm particularly interested in the the frameing material (brass, steel or stainless ), lconstruction of the frame and the installation of the glass.

Just about finished with the rear body and bumper . Just need to reskin the deck lid and finish welding the trunk jamb. The windows are next . Will try to post some pics later today.

Thanks

 

Take a look at a Bug convertible, any year. These have a curved beltline with a kink at the B pillar and also the slim chrome window frames that you are after. Pretty sure you could modify some, or at least get some ideas.
Love your car BTW. Keep the pictures coming please.

 

Hope these help explain the text in the previous post

 

Any help from these hamber Kartsa taken pics?:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Kartsa/Chevy/

 

Thanks Janne. These are helpful but there are many unanswered questions. The 49/52 GM cars had a straight belt line profile that made this modification not as difficult as the 40/48 cars.
Were the windows in Kartsa's chevy going to be operative? What size channel was used? What type material was the channel made from?
The bow on the lower door belt line on the 48 is almost 2 1/4" . I'm wondering if this post should be restarted under a different title ?

 

I have an aluminum extrusion that accepts Mustang or GM roof rail rubber,and if go with tempered glass you can do away with the frames. you still have to build the vertical devider. doing a joint between the two side glass. bent quarter glass is possible but doesn't flow well. I ran into this on a painted chopped hardtopped 41 merc. the owner gave up and went with plastic quarters and hasn't talked me since.
I think if you don't want to make less of a sweep you might try to move the top section forward

I love that machine that Kartsa has it in my favorites.

 

I understand your problem, but don't have a solution. It never occurred to me that the bow in the body side would make the alignment of the joint a problem, but I can see that a Hirohata-type curved joint would have the top point of the quarter window sticking out at the intersection of the windows.

On the other hand, the tilt that Janne has drawn is no more than that of the original B pillar. Is there any clue to the alignment to be found in the geometry of the stock pieces? Or are they just misaligned, with the sheet metal of the pillar hiding the mismatch?

Or is there anything to be learned from the Harold Olsen Chev, which was a hardtopped '47ish fastback? Sorry, don't have pictures handy.

 

I should have known that Rikster would have this covered -- thanks, Rik! Here's the Harold Olsen car, which is more often photographed with the windows down. It doesn't look like it's watertight, but it looks pretty good. I'm not sure how the intersection of the two windows works, but it looks OK.

 

A further observation, after looking at the Olsen pictures. Unlike Janne's sketches, which use the Hirohata style of channel-outlined windows, Olsen used a continuous piece of bright trim to outline the top edge of the hardtopped front/rear window opening. In fact, that's one of the things that looks so good on this car when the windows are down. The quarter glass has bright trim along its front edge -- only -- and the door glass is frameless.

This wouldn't have quite the same look as the Barris/Metranga/Hirohata method, but it may skirt the awkwardness that you are concerned with.

While I'm talking about the Harold Olsen car, I'd like to add that I think it deserves huge praise. I can't think of another chopped/hardtopped/fadeaway/fastback custom -- ever -- and he really got all those elements right. I hope the current owner goes back to a solid color, instead of those dumb ghost flames!

 

looking at the first photo, with the stocker sitting behind looks like the back of the quarter glass was moved out to help align the two. also by moving the roof forward to line the A pillars would move the top point forward and going with frame less Tempered glass helps also.
like I said I have ten foot extrusions that polish nice and holds GM or Ford roof rail rubbers
Jim

 

Beautimous!

Very cool.

 

How is it going Larry?

 

Been a little behind schedule on the Buick. I've got this other project that is in the final stages of completion and is due at the upholstery shop next week. Will post some pics later today.

 

Cool!

 

Not the same body style, & probably no help either... Art Jones -48 Fleetline from Car Craft -59.

 

Heres some current pics of the Buick . Should be back working on it later in the week. Need to fab the taillites to finish up the rear end.
Also posted a couple of pics of the other love interest.

 

I love the old Buick seadanettes, that's why I have a fifty, and love every inch of it. Nothing looks that big and bad especially from behind, ( did I say that! ). Rags

 

What happend to this Buick? Is it finished or ??

 

What he said.

 

I think Larry has been working this Datsun a lot lately:
http://picasaweb.google.com/wgmauto/WgmautoGregScar#

 

I see.

They are kind of cool to those small Datsuns. Would prefer one with a V8 tough.