I got a PM from Chuck,and yeah he is trying to get it all figured out,I'm having withdrawals..can't wait to see what these guys do next! HRP
I am struggling with the new format and a busier than I ever thought I'd be schedule. I'll try to post a new update later today. (if I can find my camera out in the shop somewhere !) Sorry for the problems.
Chuck,photo posting is incredibly simple to do now,,check out this tutorial Ryan posted. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/how-to-post-images-on-a-thread.922350/ As for finding your camera,I am afraid your on your own my friend! HRP
OK , here's the latest. We struggled with the front fenders, and there was just no way to get everything lined up perfectly. We decided that we'd just add some weld to the door openings to get the gaps where we wanted them Here's the weld on the door opening.It looks like crap, but with a bit of grinding and finessing it'll look as it should. The engine compartment is starting to look OK. The 289 looks right at home, and the additional sheetmetal work hides the M2 A arms. The rounded hood corners require rounded body corners to fit the curve. Here's an upper corner somewhat smoothed out, and a lower one just after welding. The front spreader is also welded here to make for a smooth bodyline. Next week we should have the grille opening ironed out.
The front grille area has been a real bugger. We zeroed in on it today to get everything in place and welded up. Here's a pic of the two upper grille braces, one on top and one below. As shown previously we already had made the grille opening taller to accommodate for this additional lower brace. The gaps either side of the opening must now be closed in. Steve fashioned a pattern, and we welded in the filler pieces on either side. You can see all the welding that was necessary for the upper brace, rounded corner and lower filler. Here it is after Dana smoothed it out a bit. The area between the headlight , grille opening and hood opening now has a nice flow to it. A bit of bondo and some work will make this look great! Finally a picture of the new front as far as we got today.. There's a lot of work here.. Chopped top, Frenched headlights, rounded hood corners, blanked hood, Vertically raised grille opening, and new lower trim that never even existed before. Still, we think its kind of a subtle change.... Nothing that looks radical... Hope y'all like it!
I can see where you guys have done a ton of work but the end result is it's understated and doesn't distract,,everything blends as if it was made that way. HRP
We are kind of, I was gone for Fathers day so Chuck and Steve worked on the trailer. Last week more work on the trailer as they sort of have a deadline on that, and this week Steve is on vacation, so Chuck decided to get caught up on yard work and other chores. Never fear we will soon return to the wagon.
We were back at it today. Steve was on vacation, but Dana and I decided to smooth out some of our metalwork from previous weeks. Here's a pic of the area where the windshield pillar, front fender and our rounded corner came together. Dana took on this while I worked on the door gaps. Here's a photo of the door gap after I welded it in to a consistant width After sanding, filling and priming, here's the new look of the upper hood. And here's the new door gap--- Much better. Here is a shot of the front as it exists today Still a lot of work to do, but we're closing in on beginning the woodwork.
Just found this, thought only the down under dudes spent time with rusty things. it will take me a while to read through this thread, I will enjoy every minute, your work looks great and I am keen to see the end product... Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
You guys are real good. I intend to visit nowhere Montana just to meet you guys. Through out the years of looking at what you have accomplished, I'm impressed!
Today was a day of note for us. The body is entirely roughed out. We rolled the wagon out of the shop into the light of day. Its always cool to be able to stand back from your work and see if everything looks as you envisioned. You just cant do that inside. We worked on glazing and blocking for about 3 1/2 hours and then rolled her out for photos. There's a lot more days of blocking and finishing, but we are getting pretty close to doing the "woodie" woodwork. To say we're excited is an understatement. The chop looks great to us as do the 2" dropped spindles. The rear skirt blend looks killer, and the dropped front pan and frenched headlights are a nice touch. I'm thinking we'll need to use 2 inch lowering blocks in the rear. We're lovin it! BTW....Try to imagine that those huge 15 inch snow tires on red and white primer rims being replaced with 14 inchers and some nice tires and wheels
Looking great Chaz. They are such fun woodie wagons. Will you have the woodwork close to stock configuration and color? Great thread. Thanks. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The 2 door Ranchwagon never did have woodie trim. Only the 4 door wagons got that treatment. When we do the trim it will be close to what was on the 4 door wagon, but because of the blended skirt rear fenders the woodwork will be different in that area. Note also that the Ford and Mercury wood trim during these years were different from each other. Color is still up in the air. I'm leaning toward a heavy metallic orange.
Thanks Chaz: The education helped and is appreciated. Just my opinion but I always think woodies look better in soft flat colors. Whatever you choose it will be handsome. T Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I was beginning to think you had been abducted by little green men and had become unwilling designer of UFW's...Unidentified Flying Woodies! Seriously,I am happy to see all the progress and definitely excited about you guys making sawdust! HRP
An old friend of mine stopped by a few weeks ago and caught us working on the Ranchwagon. Now we do a lot of woodwork here at Strange Days,and we think we are pretty good at it, but my friend Nick is in a different class altogether. http://www.nickboyntonfurniture.com/ Nick said he'd like to help when we started the woodie woodwork, and wow , it was a blast to bring him on board! We spent the whole day discussing how to approach the job and laying out masking tape on the wagon till we had everything figured out. I know it doesn't look like much, but the blue masking will eventually turn into ash strips, and the inner area will be highly finished mahogany. Hope you like the layout. It really enhances the horizontal line of the car and we're excited to begin laminating next week.
Chuck,you and your team have done a amazing job with the wagon and I can't wait to see the wood start going in place. FWIW,I think the new layout flows better with the body lines than the first one so many months ago. HRP
Hey Danny, Thanks for posting those old and new pictures together. You can really see the difference the slight chop has made to the car. Its fun to look back...
Hadn't checked in for awhile but its good to see the ongoing progress. Btw, what wheels and tires do you have in mind for the car?
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