Home made coupe bodies

Would love to see pics of people's home made coupe bodies I mean scratch built coupes of roadsters been looking for a body for a while to no avail so y not build one? So come on fellow hambers give me some ideas

 

Here's a few threads to get you started, try a search there are others on here.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=493553&highlight=scratch+built+32

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=545694&highlight=scratch+built+32

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=567598&highlight=scratch+built+32

there are also plenty of coupes around build out of sedans or even pickup cabs, getting the proportions right is the key.

 

Neat stuff really wanna see how people are making quarters

 

This seems WAY beyond my ability level...I'd be horrified to even try it! Not to say it cant be done, because it has and there are many people with this skill level. I'm like 6 hours away, Billy, if you want to take measurements or make a million templates of my coupe, you're more than welcome to make the trip. But I cant even imagine the hours involved here.

 

Ace I appreciate it but I've already made templates off my buddys 30 a coupe

 

Here is a free on-line book about scratch building. http://www.hotrodders.com/scratch-built/Cover Chapters 8 & 9 will probably be of the most interest. Lots of tips on how quarters and other difficult curves can be fabricated at a low cost. Time consuming...yes. But it can be done with limited experience and normal shop tools.

 

google "walt austin's aluminum willys coupe" for more info than the few l posted.

it is a totally hand built all aluminum 1941 willys.


http://calrods.com/forum/showthread.php?126-All-Aluminum-1941-Williy-s

http://www.rodauthority.com/news/video-walt-austins-aluminum-willys-is-sheer-engineering-genius/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1Ih_DBNs1I


Later

 

Taging this for later. I have thought about a scratch built car and would love to try it to just have fun.

 

A lot of good info in that link cboy, and skull that willys is bad ass

 

OK so this is not a completely scratch built car but I did make every visible part of this except the yellow part of the door and the roof above the rear window.

You said you wanted to see how people are building quarters. I made this on a wheeling machine, I used a hand cranked swaging machine (bead Roller) to make the swages (beads). There is a joint just above the swage (bead) on the quarter. The wheelhouse is made from two pieces and welded in place.

Any help?



I made the wings (fenders) for the rear and the rear valance and boot (trunk).






David

 

Man you do amazing work! That is beautiful, what would u carge to make model a coupe qtrs?

 

Thank you! I would like to do it but we have two probems. I am in the UK and although I have worked on a couple of model A's I don't have a pattern.

David

 

Oh yeah that would be two problems lol

 

A mutt will be fine with me as long as its a coupe with 5 windows lol

 

David's '34 is ultimate.

A friend in San Jose called me over a few years back...(make that a LOTTA years back!) Said he had a Hupmobile body, but thought the old gent that sold it to him had gone senile...and was mixed up.
I went over, sure enough, the '34 Three window was a '34...But wait...There was something funny. Dash and something else, (want to say firewall and maybe gas tank cover?)
Anybody here know the difference? (Ford was rumored to have made bodies for Hupp that year?)

 

Look for a firewall tag, W-417 or W-517, Hupp bought the bodies from Murray under agreement w/ Ford. Firewall and lower body same as Ford. Dash is a little different, doors are from a Cabrio, but w/ three hinges instead of two. No upper window frame on door, window glass seals to roof top like a '50's hardtop. A lot of details just a bit different from Ford, heavier chassis, parallel leaf springs, flat 6, different fenders and hood.

Later, Kinky6

 

Unless your highly skilled already ,take the time to develop your skills first. Do some research, buy or build some basic metal working tools. Then dive in.

 

If all you want is a Model-A coupe, just go buy one. They're everywhere and cheap. 32-34s are 4 times the price at least. That's why people replicate them. Model-As are everywhere and everytime a Granddad checks out another one comes up for sale.

 

Old Patty Pryor from Jersey whittled out a model A coupe

 

Well not to be ugly but I'm not lucky enough to have 2500-3500$ to dump on a body Im 24 years old and make 12$ an hour as a mechanic at a local shop, not trying to sound rude but if that is so "cheap" to you why dont you just buy one and donate it to the cause? Thought not...

 

The metal and tools will probably cost you more....and if you look hard, you can find enough of a coupe, or enough pieces of a coupe to put one together for far less than $2500. I bought a 30 coupe body for $100, and was given a 30 tudor body for a half day of hard labor and some scrap metal. Don't just shop on the HAMB or ebay, hit up the coffee shops and garages where the older fella's hang out, ask everybody you see hauling scrap or old car parts, and put the word out that you are looking to everybody you know....

 

Ive seen some of the home built roadster bodies, rough is all I can say. Id rater spend the effort on boody work on an origional than fixing someones attempt at making a body. If there is any way you can buy an origional, do it.

 

I have been talking to everyone I can and I'm still trying, gonna hit a couple places today that people have told be might be worth checking I follow up on every lead I get and so far I have come up with two frames and two cowl panels and the Tudor body I had that got stolen lol but I'm not giving up

 

Then do some moonlighting. At $10 an hour you'll have a nice model-A coupe body paid for before you could knock one out yourself.
And if you did have the skills to fabricate a good steel coupe body from scratch, you'd be earning over $50/hour and it'd still be cheaper to buy an original!!

 

Patience is a virtue. It's always been a dream of mine to build an old school hot rod (out of either a deuce, or a, sedan or coupe, I wasn't to picky). But just recently I'd been thinking of other wacky projects on and off (I really want to build a two-stroke V6 or V8 powered car). Then one day I popped open craigslist and boom 1931 Model A coupe. After a down payment and a not-super-cheap-but-as-good-as-it-gets-price of $4500, I have a '31 Coupe. And some time to save back up! Had to dip into the savings account... Anyhow, it's possible! Oh and I'm 20, and also making $12 an hour haha Although, college isn't happening right now, so the savings account was pretty well stocked. Also, WTF? Someone stole your tudor? That's a major bummer, I guess it must be pretty impossible to get that back?

 

Yeah no body has seen or heard anything about it

 

Would love to see some pics o Ur coupe though

 

Keep hunting and saving. i bought a whole 31 tudor in project form off of craigslist for $1250. Then i got a complete but slightly burned 29 tudor street rod for $2500. Must have chased down 40+ leads before finding stuff i could afford but it is out there.

 

This is excellent work Man! I have a passion for sheet metal my self and hope I can continue to this level.

I dont have a complete body that I built but made a lot of pannels, tunels and quarters and such for the ford in my build thread. Building something from scratch like this is radical and a dream of mine.

What do you use for shrinking, pulmax or similar?