Projects My 1948 Pontiac Build (A little bit custom and a whole lot faster)

Really cool build!

I have to go ahead and agree with the others that are voting for keeping the trim. The thing that REALLY sets Pontiac apart from all the other makes of this era was the trim. The car can be done smooth without losing the trim and the STANCE you have planned will really make it.

At least leave the waterfalls on the hood and deck lid. Just my $.02, but I'm a Poncho owner as well and we are lucky to have them... trim and all. There's not that many on the road.

 

I have the same 'B' bodied 46 Olds. Keeping all the OEM chrome and trim and painting in it OEM 2 tone colours. Upholstering it with OEM trim and redoing the woodgraining on dash and garnish molds. Going with a 6x2 crossram SBC with T700 and OEM column shift and on bags to get it down low. An Olds engine would be nicer however they're not readilly available downunder, all we got were basic poverty pack models that were phased out in favour of locally made GM. Mopar and Ford products.
This is a local Pontiac sedanette getting around that was left as found apart from fitting a 350/350 combo, airbags and a new metallic red vinyl interior.

 

As of this morning


Stripped out some more


Rear seat bottom


Rear seat back


Front window moldings


Hub caps and arm rests


Found this piece of glass on the rear tray


Driver door is in bad shape


Looks like some moisture made its way into the back seat






Before I was worried about modifying good metal in order to accomidate a notch and bags but since it is junk anyways I won't feel bad about it

 

Wow man, it amazes me that the Pontiac is in that good of shape! I got my Buick in Manchester back in October and she almost road ready. Still working out a few kinks, but this weekend might be it lol.
Chuck

 

I am glad you think it is in good shape because after last night I was disappointed to see how bad the rear seat frame looked and how bad the rust is back there. I just need to get it all apart and blasted and I will feel much better

 

Maybe a rotisserie is in order. I got a set of very complete / comprehensive plans for building one. I got them from Frozen Merc here on HAMB. He e-mailed the CAD plans to me no charge.

 

I am thinking I will need to build a body dolly or rotisserie in order to blast this thing. I stilled have not talked to my blaster to see what he would want.

 

Floors are easy to replace. Is the frame nice and solid? You can do it!
Chuck

 

The frame is looking good. It might have a small soft spot under the front driver floor pan but I think that is it.

 

No worries Bro! I'm am posative that car is going to be BAD ASS!!!!

 

Here's my body being sand blasted. Make sure you select someone that knows what they are doing as inexperience will ruin the panels by putting too much heat in an area. My blaster moved around and didn't concentrate the heat which avoided distorting the panels. Soda blasting is a different story and only needs to be neutralised afterwards.
Once body was blasted I ran a heavy scothbrite disc over it to remove any traces of any ingrained surface rust before etch priming the entire body and all hang on panels. Once done, you can see exactly what needs to be done and where the problem areas are. I have enough steel left over to make a chassis jig to do front and rear suspension.
This is the rotisserie I made, I can PM some specs if required. All you do is use the hydraulic rams to get the body / chassis to working height, saves crawling around underneath. I used a welder friend to get quality penetration welds and heavy gauge RHS. Theoretically I can easily lift a complete assembled car. I just need an engineer friend to calculate it's limitations. Do it once, do it right.

 

cool find the outer body looks decent + the trim

when it comes to sand blasting remember now you see it now you don't


a lot of that seat area will be gone
the floor forward looks like it will make
take some measurements in the seat area
easier to figure or make paper patterns

photos help a lot when making new parts
you have an idea what was there

 

Wow, what a cool car- don't see many of those that's for sure! Can't wait for more progress pics.

Even your basketball net looks period correct!

 

Thanks for the sandblasting suggestions. I use a guy near me who mostly does automotive and is very good. He did the cab on our 54 project. If I went even more custom does anyone have ideas for a custom grill?

 

Not a bad start at all. Soome years back I bougoht my 48 and was able to drive it home...straight 8 with the hydro...first year for the automatic.
I wanted to keep all the trim on mine as that sets it apart from the other GM fastbacks in 48 and I just like it. I kept the straight 8 while building a dual quad 389 for it....never got the engine installed and it ended up in Diryt 2's 38 ford coupe...
I drove the shit outta mine and aside from replacing a U-joint at the Leadsleds in Springfield, Ill, it never caused me any grief..
I used 4 inch blocks in the back, cut coils in the front with short tires on sandblasted chrome reversed wheels. If you keep the rear axle, do yourself a favor and use a 55-56 Pontiac 3.23 ratio thrid member in the original 48 housing with original 48 axle shafts....makes it almost freeway driveable with the straight 8 and no problem with a modern V/8..

 

Rocky, I like your 48 a lot. Nice ride

 

Thanks for the info Rocky! I like the stance on your 48. Do you still have it? How was the ride quality with those modifications?

 

Did a little work yesterday.

The rear wheels were locked up which was making it hard to roll this thing around. I took off the drums and solved the problem.





Then I moved on to the engine bay and took some more stuff out






I also took some time to set up my latest garage toy

 

heres mine bagged in the front for now

 

Nice pic Shitbox2, to bad it is in front of a RAC, I worked at that shithole for 8 years here in CT.... But Damn you car in front makes it look so much better!
Chuck

 

Just my opinion, but removing hood or deck trim on these cars is a major step backward. You don't like that cool stuff, buy a Chevy. Your car, what ever. Good luck with the build of one of my fave cars ever. ~sololobo~

 

I am leaning more and more towards keeping them

 

Last night I got the new welder up and running after buying a tank and building an extension cord.

 

My friend Aaron came over for another Wednesday night car session. Here are the results

Front seat is out


There was a heater under the driver seat that I didn't even know about. Pretty cool


Here is the front drivers side floor rust


Chief on the steering wheel


Drivers view is still bad


Door panels off with Aaron hiding


Started taking off the trim


A couple of the trim screws did not want to go


Radiator out was well as some of the supports


The pile in the attic is growing


And now that the rear wheels are free we moved it inside. I am sure the neighbors appreciate that move


Looking like it belongs


Almost looks like it is smiling

 

The work continues!

Hood trim is gone


Chrome collection


Looks bad but I think it will still be fine


I cleaned one up a bit just to see how bad it was


Rear bumper off, rear apron off, trunk stripe gone, taillights off and the trunk is actually not attached and just sitting there


Glove box off, the rest of the interior window trim is off, and the dash is next to go


Molding gone


Rear seat support is out


These fender pieces are not as easy to get off as I thought

 

I need some advice on bumpers

I love the look of the 1 piece bumper on the back of Glen's old buick


Does anyone know what car that is from? Glen has not answered my PMs about it.

Should I leave my bumper 3 piece and just loose the spears on the ends? Should I cut and butt weld my bumpers to make them both 1 piece?
Does anyone know some 1 piece bumpers that might fit?

 

man oh man....i've always had a soft spot for 48's

 

It still amazes me that your car is in such solid shape being a Northeast "rustbelt" car! Looks as though you are making quick work of the teardown.
Chuck

 

I can't wait to start getting pieces out to people. Once I have parts at chrome, powder and blast I will start to get crazy excited.

 

I have seen a lot of 48 fleetlines with 1 piece bumpers like this



Any idea where they are getting them?