I have always wondered how the back glass, could be cut down. Maybe masked with duct tape & sandblasted. It can be done, but it's been kept a trade secret so far. Lovin the chop, good work!
I read up on tempered glass. It's cut, shaped, polished & then treated. No going back after that. I though wrong, once again!
Actually, it can be de-tempered, then cut, polished and re-tempered but it's the cost would run in the thousands, this car ain't gettin' that kind of money thrown at it.
Man Nadeem, you've been making a ton of progress! Fuck dude! The chop looks killer, SO glad you moved the back end up. It just looks so right! I havent checked this thread lately, I've been busy trying to get my Hudson straight enough to paint for the summer. Want to come out here and help? ha ha
Keith, I would love to, I've never been up your drizzly way, but I reckon hurricane season will be a doozy, might see you down here.
Oh, one more thing. I got to see Paul Cepeda's chopped 59 in person at Santa Maria this year and it absolutely floored me. A mildly chopped El Camino looks SOOOOOO good! I can't wait to see your rig in person. Perhaps this hurricane season? ha ha.
I got a 58 Impala roof scoop from Danny over at Southeast Chevy Parts. There was no sheet metal for the scoop so I had to make a surround from scratch
Looks pretty good, I'm gonna put a third brake light inside it. Now to fill in the sides, weld, grind, bash, fill, repeat.
Post tire tread shred on the Florida Turnpike at 2 am coming back from Revenge of the Tiki and the Hukilau in Ft. Lauderdale, I drove ten miles on the hard shoulder to get to the service plaza. I had driven over a big damn rock earlier in the evening and my alignment is fucked so it took incredible strength and concentration to keep her going straight. We got home at 4 am. A word to the wise, bring a jack and a spare when contemplating a 400 mile round trip.
Stock, uncut, 2/4 door hardtop/convertible windshield, look earlier in the thread, everything was fitted around the glass. I still have to do the doors, they're off the car right now. I'm missing driving her........
sorry about the woes with the tire... but damn that scoop looks awesome! I like the 3rd brake light hidden in there too. Way too many people texting and applying makeup out there. Maybe this will save you from meeting one of them on accident.
Being from Michigan, I have seen all kinds of Bondo Buggies and the techniques used. Some of these items used for "forms" were newspaper, duct tape, masking tape, aluminum tape, aluminum rivited, chicken wire, screen, fiberglass mat, cardboard soaked with resin, fiberglass bondo likr Tiger Hair which is bete than Bondo as it is somewhat waterproof. But Bondo should never be used over rust as it will come back to greet you next year!. What a pile of mess to remove! Fixing it now with new metal is so much easier than ever before. Red Ram
That's weird, I didn't know Bondo actually produced a line of vehicles. It's funny you learn something new every day!
What ever happened to those hacks after Boyd popped his clogs? I assume after the show they would bascially be unemployable by anyone who values actual skill... Hell, they were unemployable whle the show was still on the air... Obviously one or two of them knew WTF they were doing, that fabrication bloke with the Walrus tache being one....
That 'stache' is Al Simon, nice guy. I've been around him a couple times, he's a friend of a friend. I always try to learn what I can, from him. It made my day at El Mirage, this last May. He knew of my plans for a Lakebed Racer, and my ideas for my frame. I thought that was pretty cool, myself. The roof is very cool, Nads! Like it should of been, straight away from the factory!
Nads it was great meeting you and your family last weekend.Im sorry to hear about the flat on the way home. Keith
Yeah, I'm finishing the roof now, hopefully it'll be done this weekend. I got sidetracked because I bought a damn 2002 Harley Dyna FX, it was really cheap, had to do it, plus I need a bike with suspension and starts with a switch, I'm too old for that rigid kickstart nonsense. I'm gonna fit the doors and chop them before I paint the jambs, it'll be a pretty easy job. Oh yeah, I bought a 1965 Dodge 880 grille for it, this thing's gonna look super slick, it's convex, instead of concave like a 60 Mercury. It's a damn heavy casting. I gotta get busy but it's hotter than Hades right now.
It is looking great and I love what you have been doing to it. It is really great to see you repairing and fixing the old girl. My dad had an old '59 Impala when we were kids and I wish he had never junked it.... All it needed was a transmission (and rust repair, but it wasn't as bad as yours when you started). Keep us posted and good luck selling your house. (And sorry to hear how you came to have it). Great job on your chop top!
OK, hold on to yer hats. Roof, all smoothed. I had two different shades of primer, that's where the color difference comes from. I'll sink the back window tomorrow, got a gig tonight, can't work on it.
I mocked up the grille, it's a 1965 Dodge 880. I thought it was going to be wide enough to go to the ends of the fenders but it isn't, it's also a dead flat grille but the El Camino is veed. I'm going to make some sort of decorative molding for the center joint, but I don't know what to do with the ends, I could make a scoop type thing, maybe with a perforated metal insert or I could lengthen the original with grille with donor pieces from another grille, but these things aren't easy to find.
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