Inspired by Ed Roth, Plowboy and Racerdad

Here is a picture I drew up quick. On the front end I put all 4 headlights side by side with the grill underneath. I also did the 59 Impala rap around back glass. It's kind of a Drag look. I guess it's in my nature.

 

MotionNova, I will keep your grille/headlight arrangement in mind as I do some level of mockup. Moving the grille to underneath the four headlights is an interesting idea.
Thank you for your artistic contribution, it's not exactly what I see but it may spark a design for somebody else's build!
It's always good to see other people's thoughts on a given project.

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Dan....? DAN!

 

Yeah, yeah ... I've had to take a few days off. I aggravated an old injury that does not allow me to go 'do stuff' and take it easy. So, things are calming down but it's slow going ...

Yes, it has been a long couple of weeks since I last updated! You don't know how frustrating it is to know what the next step needs to be and be unable to take it! Ha

Now I'm 'more behinder' than ever! Got to play catchup, get the motorcycle finished up and sold, start another set of Desoto grille teeth etc. It never ends and the bills just keep coming in ...!
I need to win the Lotto! Ha

While I've been 'off', I've started speculating on the next build after the Cutlass is done. I've enlisted the help of the members of the 'Jockey Journal'. Sorry, I'd put it up here but it's a Trike/sidecar hybrid, using a lot of automotive parts but definitely missing one wheel! Ha
Anyway that has kept my mind busy, while I've had to convalesce.

Not much point to continue to worry the Cutlass project when so much depends on how the next few cuts/pieces effect the overall look of the piece.

Thanks for your continued interest, I'll get back out there in the next few days ...

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Gee, Dan, if you're doing stuff like that, this ol' hot rodder/biker might just have to join the Jockey Journal as well just to follow your sickel build. Considering I've owned trikes in the past and still pilot a 'chair when I want to ride on more than two wheels, your concept sounds pretty damned cool.

In the meantime, I'll be keen to see what you do with the Cutlass project once you're feeling able. Take care.

 

Hey '64 Wildcat! You're invited to join the 'Jockey Journal', along with any other Hamb'rs that have an interest in an unusual 3-wheeled build! It should be fun ...!

I did make it out to the shop for a while this afternoon for a quick look see. Yup, it's still there! Ha I did take another look at the 6" that 'James D' so artfully removed behind the doors, to shorten the backpanel (depth-wise). That still needs to be done in real life and then the turtledeck moved into position/shortened a bit. The firewall removal will really show a drastic change since that will allow the cowl area to be narrowed from 50" to 44".
Right now, the body is just sittin' on the frame with the help of a couple of blocks etc. I can't even roll the car out of the shop to make any working room! Gotta get that situation rectified ...

The Super-beetle donor has yet to be available for pickup, looks like next week sometime. Al has volunteered to bring the MGB donor and then I'll go with him and we'll pickup the Super-beetle on the same day! It'll be like Christmas!
Having the two donor vehicles here to do some real measuring on will help me to narrow down my choices. I'm still thinking the Super-beetle is going to be 'the one' to use for the windshield area. I need the lack of depth of the VW is going to be the shape needed to make this work. Too much depth of dash is going to place the insturment panel too far forward when compared to where the seats are located. It's still going to be kind of a long shifter arm to bring the handle within reach.
The transmission, (T86) is going to receive a shift tower from a T90 to eliinate the columb-shift. Yeah, I've heard that the T86 is kind of a weak tranny, I've bought all of the small parts to do a complete rebuild on it before I use it much and I'll replace the bearings and bring everything in it back to stock spec's before getting too carried away driving it. I'm hoping that since the entire car will be 5-700#'s lighter than it was originally and I'm not intending to drive it aggressively All the time it may be OK until I can find a better replacement? I do have a 4-speed from one of the late '70's Monza V8's, I've considered making an adapter plate for that since it's much stronger and an extra gear! We'll see what works ...

Thanks for hangin' in ..., I hate sittin' around ...!

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Dan,
PM sent.

 

Hi guys, finally got back out to the shop for a couple of hours! Nothing earth shattering to post. Just trying to make the car reflect the changes that James D photoshopped for us. I've shortened up the 6" in the backpanel. The width changed from 51" to 50". I got some material cut to support the front of the body while I cut out the firewall/dash and narrow the results by 6". When I have those changes to the body done and it can once again roll out of the shop, I'll do a mockup of the front sheetmetal, then we can get a better look at whats been created. I'll post pictures when I get there which will probably be after next weekend.

That's all for now, sorry for the delay in posting ...

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

WOW looks amazing.....I'll be watching this...

M

 

Got the dash cut out! Also changed the crossbracing, now the body tapers from 50" at the back to 44" in the front (at the windshield post)! What a pain in the ass! Trying to hang onto all of those pieces while still being installed on the chassis Aaaaggghhh!
Anyway, got that done. Even bolted the front fenders in place, you should see it! ha! LOL
I'll post pictures after I get the rest of the front sheetmetal to a mockup stage. Like I said, probably after the weekend.

I started removing the inner-structure from the hood. Triple layers of sheetmetal and lots of spot-welds! What fun! The hood is 53" wide from front to back. After I get done the 'new' hood will be 37" wide in the back and 28" wide in the front! Quite a change. I may have to add to the back of the hood and change the hood hinge locations further back toward the firewall. The reason for this modification is with the Super-beetle windshield being so much shallower in depth I've gained 6" in engine compartment depth, which allows me to move the firewall back that same 6". That makes the hood at least 6" too short.

Narrowing a hood or deck lid is a lot easier if you remove all of the innerstructure before cutting anything down. If I do decide to add 6" or more in length I won't add the new metal to the back of the hood. I'll probably add the new metal just behind the original nose of the hood. The back of the hood is a high stress area, hood hinges are there. You don't want to give a hood any reason to flex in this area, so sectioning in new metal is out. The forward area of the hood, just behind the nose is a lot safer if you do choose to add to the hoods length. When you are done your goal should be to have the new narrower/longer hood weigh the same as the stock hood. That way the stock hinges/springs will still be able to do their job.
With this hood, I'll be taking out 25" in width at the front of the hood and 16" at the back of the hood. I intend to work off of the centerline of the hood and take the metal out half the distance per side which will leave the center width intact. I'll then reinstall the innerstructure after it's been narrowed to match. I will use the narrowed innerstructure before it's installed to make sure the hood hinges lineup and pivot smoothly. I'll also use the new structure to check the hood-latch and radiator core-support after both of those have been narrowed. This hood has a single latch with twin spring-loaded hood alignment pins, so lots of cuttin' to do to get everything to match.

BTW the body's taper from back of the cockpit to the front of the fenders is one continous line! I'd hoped for that, but was resigned to having a different taper from the fenders forward. That has proven to be un-nessessary!

Oh, and the look?
It's KILLER! Ha!!!

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Look forward, as always, to seeing the pics...

 

Oh yes! Lets see some pictures as soon as you have them.

 

About the pic's, yes James D I'm sure you are waiting to see how close your photoshopped pictures reflect reality! Let me just say you were very close in concept/understanding where I wanted to go, so far. The view you provided from the back 3/4's is shockingly accurate!

I did have to move the entire body forward on the chassis by a few more inches. That move will allow more of the bodylines to show as the wide cockpit makes the turn at the back corners. That view wasn't the motivating factor, where the front fenders ended was. I wanted the the fenders to stop just behind the front axle, allowing the axle to move up during articulation without coming too close to the fenders/grille area. It looks like that will work out just as planned.

I am waiting to post pic's until I get the Super-beetle here, at least for measurements! ha, I need to see if the windshield width that I've decided on really does work before I modify any more parts.
That said, I will continue to remove the rest of the innerstructure from both the hood and the deck lid. When I do have my answers I can move rather quickly to modify and install the missing panels, (specifically the hood and decklid).

If when I'm done with those two panels, (disassembly-wise) I still don't have a VW donor on the property, I may start looking at the existing roof structure and see if there's any hope for it? If any of it's usable it would probably just be the perimeter, I'd have to wheel out a new roof-skin.
For the back-glass panel I have saved the same area from a '40 Ford truck cab that was rolled. The front part of the roof took the damage the back-glass area is largely OK. That may be what I use?

I guess that's all I have for now. Thanks for checking back! I am focused on getting this together as quickly as I can, while still trying to make some income. That can be kind of delicate!

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

I have an appointment this AM, so can't take the time to post pictures right now, but I wanted to share that both the MGB and the Superbeetle are finally here! I may have pictures later today, but will definately have some posted after this weekend!

Al made a very relevant suggestion concerning the really long hood that will be needed and the possibility of using a portion of the nose end of the existing hood as a stationary, (non-moveable/permamnent) body piece, like a '60's Corvette. Removing the nose from the hood and mounting it as a body-panel to cover the radiator core support would help in a couple of areas:

1) it would lighted the load for the hood springs
2) it would also shorten the hood, which was starting to look a little weird in my mind, as a single piece.
3) Body shape-wise with the hood up/open, having a header panel between the front fenders adds continuity to the design.

This car won't be viewed just as it's being driven. There will be enough interest that it will be posed/exposed with hood and door open for stationary viewing. To me, some cars just don't look good with their doors/hoods open. Close them up and they look great! Open them and they loose something ...
I'd like this one to look like there was a plan to show off the engine compartment as well as the interior. No, I don't plan on spending mega-bucks on a bunch of bolt-on doodads, but I would like the exposed areas to show some level of decent planning and clean execution. More like a very clean industrial/military setting where the details show.

I've also been thinking about the roof quite a bit.

With the super-beetle and the MGB here I'll have time to really do some looking/planning concerning the the transition from the windshield posts onto the roof. This is an area that it is critical that it not looked pieced together. I have some concerns about the covers for the seams. The stock Cutlass aluminum moldings are just plain the wrong shape after narrowing the car as much as I have. The Super-beetle uses a big gobby gasket to capture the windshield and that doesn't go with the rest of the Cutlass.
While the windshield frame from the MGB is a pretty decent looking piece by itself, it really dosen't 'Go' with the Cutlass either. The original Cutlass windshield posts had the right shape but were clocked wrong after the radical narrowing job. I may end-up making my own windshield posts using elements of these various donors. Why then did I acquire the donors if I was just going to make my own pieces?! I needed the glass! I also wanted to see what design elements I could use to form my own posts and still have them look right and seal the windshield.

The glass from the Super-beetle is damaged, but still holds it's shape. What I needed is the shape of the compound curves, but not nessessarily the perimeter. The sides are probably pretty close, (I'll know more this afternoon when I really have time to check angles etc). The top and bottom edges of the glass can be reshaped to suit my needs. This is what I was after. I'm not a fan of Lexan windshields, unless there aren't affordable alternatives. I much prefer glass and will adjust a design if it will allow me to use a modified glass and still look like it should.

It looks like it will be an interesting weekend with alot of speculating going on, maybe a little work too!?

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Always look forward to your descriptive updates! YOU have made this one of my favorite threads on this forum. Keep up the great job.

 

Hi guys, I've decided to quit tormenting you and post the pictures I have. Right now I don't have pic's of the MGB/bug. I'll get those later. For now, I'll show you what's happened to the Cutlass to bring it closer to the photo-shopped version.

First we have the 6" removed behind the rear doorpost. That only left the top surface of the backpanel, but it is now the way the photo-shopped picture shows it.


The view from the back kind of gives you some sense of dimension/scale and proportion. (That 6" change really needed to come out).


Looking from the front, with the dash/firewall removed and the front fenders bolted in place, now you can see the nice smooth transition from the back to the front.


Getting a lower shot, you begin to see how long the front end is now becoming. This shot leaves out the depth of the dash, the curvature of the windshield and the vented filler panel behind the hood. It appears to all be hood length! (it won't be).


The 3/4 view shows the lines look good, and I like the proportation/ride height.

 

When you know you have to section a hood or decklid, Don't just go to cutting! Take the time to remove the innerstructure before doing any modifications. Then before cutting the skin come up with a plan that will answer all of the needs for the new space. Take a break, have a soda or whatever, just don't leap into this part of the job. Once you cut, it's too late to change your mind without creating a lot of extra work.


These hood shots show the factory spotwelds being removed, to date I haven't finished removing all of the innerstructure from the hood.


The next three pic's are the core support and the grille, these areas are tricky to narrow and retain the much needed structural integrity that the original design had. I also strive for my new narrowed pieces look 'factory'. I don't want them to look modified. So I try to reuse factory shapes in the panel, just relocate them.

 

FUCK! The pic's are filtered here at work!!! Can't see anything....Have to wait til I get home.

 

These are the last pic's for now.


I had to get the car outside and gain some real perspective!


I think it's begining to look like I'd envisioned it would.


You need to use some imagination to see the lakes-style pipes exiting the original wheelwell openings.


The final shot is to give it a bit of distance ...


I hope you like what you see as much as I do. The next few cuts will again change things fairly drastically, so stay tuned!

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Thanks for putting us out of our misery. Look forward to the next posting.

 

As I looked through these pictures, after posting them. One of the things that the camera didn't capture is the radically tapering body! For some reason that 'detail' is completely invisible. Let me assure you in real life that is one of the aspects that really draws your attention to this car.
The width of the body at the back of he doors is about 58". The width at the front of the fenders is only about 38" that's a lot of taper! Too bad it doesn't show up in the pictures ...

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Hey - I couldn´t resist! I really think it needs some kind of hood scoop though. Tunnel ram and a surfer scoop maybe? Or something moulded onto the hood? Just something that says "Show car" loud and clear.

 

Needs taller tires on back.

 

Looking good, we got a roller........nice build.

 

Hahaha, James you kill me! However, there's no room for the Camaro lower valance! In fact there is no room for a valance at all.

I'd envisioned dual headlights on each side of a cutdown stock grille. My first concept was some kind of canted headlights, but there doesn't appear to be enough room for that either. My revised thinking is to stick with the stock configuration of headlights/grille and no lower valance at all. The way the stock grille rolls under, it leads the eye to believe that there is some kind of valance, eventhough there is no room for one.
Last month 'Royal Shifter' had the intake for twin two's the cast finned aircleaners and the matching valve covers all Edlebrock! He offered them for a really good price but I just didn't have the cash ...! That would have looked really cool coming out of the hood!

The tire size difference is kind of like the body taper, the camera doesn't pick that up either. The back tires are 30"+ tall the front tires are 26"- short.

Dan Stevens
dba, Steelsmith

 

Dan thanks for the kind words a few pages back, it was an honor to dabble in your shop though it was a little difficult to stay focus when this ^^^ is staring at me the entire time. Let me tell ya fellow hambers, it is even cooler in real life. Btw Dan, you ARE KILLING these guys with the written post and then a few DAYS later some pics!!!! hope to see you soon and again thanks.

 

Slicks and Radirs in back, spindle mount cycle wheels and tires up front.

 

and I struggle with a little rewiring job. sheesh. Dan...and some of you other guys on the HAMB.... you are completely amazing.

 

I think maybe a Scott injector hat would complement the body lines perfectly...

 

Dan, how about putting the headlights in "pods" under the fender wings? Kinda like this, but floating free of the fender...?