Hello all, I'm almost reluctant to start a build thread. I work like crazy and have a 2 & 4 year old therefore trees gather moss more quickly than I make progress . All that aside, I picked up this rusted hulk of a '50 styleline coupe about a year ago. It's really rough and rusty. Common sense would dictate that I should walk away from this one. For some reason I am really excited by the challenge and hope to develop new skills along the way. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it right? This is how she looked when I got her. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I got her home and gutted the interior. The floor pans are a la Fred flinstone. I rolled it into the garage and have been building it in my mind and trying to envision the direction I want to go. I really appreciate early style kustoms and their simple elegance. I am going to do my best to keep this as traditional as possible. No bags, AC, gaudy mods etc. I am thinking a mild flowing chop, pancaked deck lid, nose and deck, shaved door handles, filled fuel filler door. I will keep the belt line trim, and am on the fence on whether or not to French the headlights. I'm undecided on grilles, bumpers and tail lights but that's a long way off. Mechanically, I have a '56 gmc 270 that will be built to be smooth an torquey and dressed up with a vintage McGurk intake, stromberg BXOVs etc. I have a rebuilt saginaw 4 speed kicking around as well as a a '57 chevy rear end with 3.08s or 3.55s that I can out in it. I need to do the math. Of course, the car will ride on WW bias plys. I will make concessions to a more modern braking system including a dual master cylinder and most likely disc brakes, but again that's way, way off. Ideas for paint are all over the place. I generally gravitate towards blue and black cars but it's hard to deny the beauty of maroons and candy reds. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I finally got a little time to start working on repairing the rust. This is the worst rust besides the floors. Pretty scary shit! this is a bad pic of the rust underneath the belt line trim at the quarter windows Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I started making a pattern to match the section to make a hammer form for a patch panel. I also made some corking tools to help coax the final shape as well as some oak slappers. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Here's the patch, it's not quite finished and the belt line is slightly larger than the original. I will try to fix it or do a new one, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. As you can see I need to stretch the metal in the center to make it straighter. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Yeah, I know what you mean. I pretty much hopped on the opportunity to pick this one up without a lot of prior knowledge. I'm really loving this cars now. They're like a blank canvas, there's so many different directions, styles and eras you can be inspired by and they're all pretty damn cool. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Looks like you have some work ahead of you but this wouldn't be any fun if it was easy. You look like you have a good idea of the route you are gonna go so keep up the good work and keep snapping pics on your progress. HOODS CC NorCal
McGurk equipped GMC...way cool! Looks like a one-piece windshield already in the car? Good parts, good plan. I hope it simply falls together for you.
Thanks for the kind words! I'm new to this. I just try to absorb as much if the good info here as possible. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I am really excited to watch this build! I love early 50 chevy coupes, I am really impressed by your attitude, and that looks like a great start to a patch panel! Good luck with your build.
WOW! Very cool, making the tools you need. Now that's initiative! Stay the course and keep the pics coming.
Finally had a chance to get back on it. I marked the areas to trim and folded down the window channel. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Fitting up the patch panel needs some tweeting and persuasion. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Tacking the sumbitch in. I had to stop here. I'm going to hit it again tomorrow. The plan is to get all welded and finished with the exception of the rear window corner. Once I chop it it's going to get cut out anyways. All in all I'm pretty pleased! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Most people don't start with the hardest parts first. If you can make that piece come out that nice, you won't have any trouble makin the other patch panels you'll need. Nice job man.
Thanks for all the positive comments guys. A corking tool is basically a somewhat blunt chisel dowel etc that is used to help push the metal into or around a form. In this case, I made some that help coerce the metal to go into the crevices of the hammer form. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Well, I got the patch welded in. I think my panel gaps were too tight. When welding, the patch sunk in slightly and there is a little bit of a "step" between the original metal and the patch. My original hope was to use as little body filler as possible. It looks like I'm going to have to use some filler to even this out. Hopefully by the end of this project I will be a decent welder lol. The panel is a bit lumpy also, a little bit like Roseanne Barr's ass. A skim coat should take care of it. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
After the patch was done, I gave it a light coat of primer and began to investigate the next area of repair which is the Belt line around the rear window. Oh the horror! I'm trying to figure out how to go about this one. The belt line at the quarter window was fairly simple as it was straight. The sail panel area changes both direction and angle. Anyone have any advice for this? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Also, anyone have advice how to get the window trim out without ruining it? That sucker is in there good! Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Cut the rubber gasket from inside the car and push the window out. The trim is attached to the rubber gasket, except at the corners. Not going to be easy, as it looks hard as a rock! Very nice metal work, BTW!
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