Hey guys, question. On the tailgate, there is a hole below license. Is that for a rubber bump stop for the license plate? If so, where do I find something like that for my 53 wagon Thanks
Silverado85....I'm not sure which hole you are referring to. Is it the one the rod comes through to adjust the taillight/license plate assembly for door up/door down? HRP.. My wife comes from a line of nursery folks in Sedan KS, and takes over my shop for a week or so before every Christmas, She and legions of her friends convert my shop to a Christmas wreath manufacturing plant. I don't stand a chance. I'll start posting again next week...
Chuck, Brenda is a florist so I know what you are talking about,my shop has turned into a temporary storage facility since we moved her shop a couple of months ago. HRP
Back at it. We're still working on the tubs in the back of the wagon. We got both sides totally installed today. Lotsa fitting, fussing and welding. Here's the right side in place. Now both sides are in, and that completes our interior floor. The blue tape on the tubs is where the interior side will sit. We now need a way to attach the interior panels to the tubs so the panel will have a series of attaching points. We folded some angles, and Steve put em on the stretcher to get a curve to match the tubs. Then they were spot welded in place. I've been working on the dash in the evenings, and I chose all white faced SW gauges. The old speedometer looked out of place with a black face so I printed a new white face on vinyl and attached it over the old one... Much better!
I've got pics in the camera... I'll try to post this evening. Thanks for asking. I'm never sure if anyone but HRP follows this thread... It helps us to keep moving if I post every week.
I'm watching also. I know you guys aren't doing yard work, so you can spend as much time in the shop as momma allows.
I'm watching, I just don't have much to contribute. You guys are WAY beyond me, I just enjoy learning as you go.
I'm like daddio. Not much to contribute. But I'll come on more often with some attaboys. Love what you are doing.
Here's the latest. With the wheel tubs in the floor is now complete, so Steve shot it with a good coat of primer. Its amazing how just a little thing like that can change a cars' appearance. It went from "lotsa patches" to a nice floor in one spraying.. There was one item of bodywork yet to be completed. We really tried to ignore it, seldom spoke of it, but in the back of our heads it haunted all of us. The rear side glass was originally a two piece slider. (like a patio door) That left a notch in the body where the windows slid past each other. We either had to go back to the sliders, or fill the gap. Fill the gap it was...Lotta work, no fun. so we added the long taper to the bodymetal Meanwhile Nick is just about finished forming the wood slats to the body contours. Here's a photo of the tailgate with the laminations glued and clamped. There's no nice way to put this. The hood hinges on all 52-3-4 Fords are fucked up from start to finish. ours of course are no exception. The springs were off, the arms bent beyond knowing what they originally looked like, and one actually ripped in half. Situation normal I guess. The only thing that some endure that we did not was rusted air ducts. (yeah, they're all one unit) After a day of diddiling with them , Heating, bending, welding, and re-assembly, I think they're gonna work. Finally, I found a rear seat. Its on its way up from California. If you recall a previous post I threw away the old one 13 years ago thinking I was going to make a "Street Rod" out of this. I paid dearly for the seat, but now I know how scarce they are. Like they say, An education is expensive!!
Thanks for the update. I know when I start cranking on a build, its hard to stop and take pictures. I appreciate you documenting the build and sharing it with us. My projects are currently OT but I like to keep up with the "real" hotrods.
I'm following this thread as well. Can't wait to see the wood laminated to the body. That picture of the tailgate to form the shape for the wood looks a lot like some of my skateboard presses I've built in the past.
Another one here observing from the front row. Your comment re the hood hinges brought back a very old memory of those on my '54 convert.; twas a bear to get the hood closed w/o the back edge "floating" above the fenders. Still one of those cars, however, I would like to have back today! Great metal work here; the pans and tubs came together nicely.
Lotsa little crap this week. We finally found a rear seat . With the wheel tubs in place we knew this'd be a tight fit. Here you can see the black mounting plate slammed up against the wheel well. In order to get everything to work we welded a pin into the plate on the seat that'll fit into the mounting plate as a swivel point. There's just no room for a bolt and nut here. Next is a photo of the wood that Nick formed to the curvature of our tailgate. It fits perfectly! In only one or two more weeks, ALL the wood will be formed, and we can begin joining the pieces and attaching them permanently to the body. I know that's the part everyone is looking forward to. We rebuilt the hinges, and with help from HRP's photo collection we got it figured out. I'm here to tell you that you CAN remove a hinge without removing the fender, but it might be EASIER to remove the fender. The hinge is permanently attached to the adjoining air duct. It's all one piece. Dana's patience was all that made it possible. He worked on that sumbitch for an hour and a half. An ugly job for sure. Here's a pic of the hood hinged in place. IT FITS! (more or less) A little finessing and some judicious grinding and it'll be a winner!
You guys have made a lot of progress this past week,I know from experience what a bear the hood hinges can be and the rear seat hinge worked out great. And yeah,you are correct,we are really looking forward to seeing the wood go in place. HRP
We wouldn't have gotten very far without your help and advice, Danny. We had the ipad out in the shop open to your build diary pictures all weekend for reference!
Thank you, using my build as a reference is without a doubt an honor but with you having so much talent between yourself,Steve,Dana and Nick this wagon will be the toast of the town! HRP
Been watching from the start, Just don't post much. Would realy like to see this car in the flesh when it's finished.
We needed to do some woodwork today to get the rear seat/cargo area ready so we can bring in Howie, our upholsterer. Thanks again to HRP we figured out what the back of the cargo area should look like. When we got our car all this was gone. There's a plywood cover that covers the spare tire well, and extends forward to the back of the rear seat. We used 3/4 inch marine grade plywood. The area over the spare tire well is hinged for access. Here's a photo of that area in place The rear seat folds down to allow the floor to continue forward to the front. The seat bottom folds up against the front seats, and the back folds down to extend the floor. The stock seat back was designed to fit around the original wheel wells. As you may recall, those no longer exist. so we have to modify the seat back to fit the new bigass fenderwells. The gentle gurve is now a right angle at the fenderwell so a new seatback was fabricated. Here you can see the right angle notch above the routed hinge recess Here's a photo of the old and new in one shot. Finally a picture of the seat back in the up position. and one in the down position. There's enough room in the back with the seat down for two people to actually sleep comfortably back here! Some of the trim pieces Nick is making really take a lot of bend. There's over 900 pounds of magnetic force holding this lamination to the car body There's only 3 more pieces to make, and then Nick will be DONE with the laminations and can move onto the fitment of all these pieces!
The Jalopy Journal
