Awesome Jer! It's about time someone did it and we know you'll do it right! 1947 Chrysler Andante green!
Thanks guys, after initially being exposed to the custom car culture, I looked at every magazine I could find (mid 50's). Over time I realized that the cars I liked the most were coming out of Barris Kustom. While doing Jr's car all those "feelings" came back as strong as ever. What a mind blow.
This is a second owner club coupe, 99K original miles on the odometer. The owner bought it in the late 50s. He put it in dry storage in 1968 when he got drafted. It never came out till this spring to be sold. George (the owner) had a friend put it on CL for him. I asked the friend about rust issues and he said the car was solid. I asked how he knew this and he replied by looking. I asked for couple of better pics of the trunk floor. For one reason or another that didnt get done. So, after learning my lesson on Jr's car (it looked great in the pics) I started to look for a HAMBER as close to the car as possible to look at the car. This is what I should have done with Jr's car. I actually found a HAMBER in the same town. I contacted him and he said he would be glad to look at the car. I offered to pay him for his time and his reply was that that wasn't needed. He said that the car was actually around the block from where he lived and he'd never seen the car there before. I told him what was the most important to me and he assured me that he understood. The next message from him was if you dont buy it, I will. Well cool, this is gonna work. I told George what was going to happen to his old car and he was real excited about it. I said I would contact him with the info he would need to follow this build online. George would have his wife do the internet thing for him when she got home from work everyday. I made arrangements to pay George and arrange to have the car shipped. The car is a 50s mild custom with dual exhaust and a stuck motor. When it arrives I'll immediately put some ATF in the cylinders and start the soaking process. This thing could be cherry. I can see it in my driveway now. I wonder if the radio works. Maybe this car is too nice to cut up. If so, then what do I do? Oh, all these potential positive problems.
Hey Jer !!! This is really going to be treat to follow here... My hats off to you on another great Kustom to replicate. The best of luck on the new(er old) Kustom build ! What did Jesse use the brass spigots for on the headers ? I remember my Dad saying something about using something like that in his exhaust back in 50's
The nicer the better for this project! Trust me, this car will be happy to be cut up once it starts to look like the Jesse Lopez car!
I see single appletons all the time at the flea market. I will keep my eyes open. They are usually pretty cheap. Sent from my Droid powered Samsung Galaxy S
I agree......I don't think that there is a car that is to nice to cut.I believe the cleaner the car is the easier and nicer the finish product will be.Just think of it like you were back at the time these cars were first built.They were not that old back then and they came out beautiful.You will get the same results today.
Thanks for the encouragement. The large mouth brass spigots would not restrict the exhaust system and be easy to open/shut. Thanks F6, they are 112 Appletons.
The big day arrives! The trailer pulls up, the big back door/ramp comes down and there she is. The car is backed out and I finally have an opportunity to look her over. My mouth drops open. There are holes that you can put your fingers through at both ¼s behind the doors. The L door. I open the L door and the rocker is gone. The R side trunk floor is toast. Its a cold glass of water in the face. I immediately go in and de-friend my HAMB inspector. Im sure when he sees this he knows the car has arrived at its destination.
I have to say that is in amazing condition for an east coast car, but I understand your desire for a rust free car. In your HAMBers defense I would have told you the same thing as he did because finding something that nice out here is near impossible.
I could understand this if jivin hadn't said he told the HAMBer exactly what he was looking for but this clearly wasn't it east coast car or not.
I'd have to agree with 58 Delpala- for a Pennsylvania car, it's about as solid as they come. That still doesn't excuse the fact that the HAMBer you had inspect the car failed to tell you about the rot in the rockers or the trunk, so I'd be pretty pissed too. I've been asked to inspect cars for friends of mine, and If I found any damage or rot like that I'd be sure to take pictures and make a brief list of the work I could see needed to be done. Hell, I've done that for cars I've sold too- sent a truck out to California and made sure the buyer knew exactly what he was getting, and I went so far as putting the truck up on the lift and taking pictures of all the rust in the body supports, rockers, and inner quarters. I'm pretty sure I made it out to be way worse than what it was, but he still bought it and was very happy with it.
Sorry it's not exactly what you were expecting, but looks like a fairly easy fix. Now you don't have to worry about cutting it up!
I appreciated your concern for possibly not wanting to cut a perfect car. I do believe some cars are too nice to customize. But now on the bright side as Sledge just said; no guilt! Hack away and good luck. Copying an existing car is always a challenge.
I posted while I was at work so i had to keep it short. Yes I would have documented all the rust and reported it to him, with the comment added that if he didnt buy it I would. It was unfair to missrepresent it to a fellow HAMBer
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