Yes definitely. But please do not mention Ole Mess in the same sentence as StarkVegas... Who knows maybe I'll be chopping the top next time your down haha. Rob, yes we have moved in... I've been trying to get a friend lined up to help me move the frame to the house so I can do the notches and finish the rear suspension before I put the body back on... Hopefully by this weekend I'll have it at the new house and be back to work on it. Also yes I've definitely been riding the distraction, and I'm going to build a new frame for it soon as well...
Glad you decided to keep the car. I just bought one today, it is a 51 fleetline. Told my wife it is my Fathers Day present.
Just happened to check out you thread, been a member for many years but i have been in the garage and not on the computer as much. Now that dam box takes up some garage time. Here is my 52 i have been building off and on for way too many years. 5 1/2" chop 4 1/2" section
David looks like your fleetline is in pretty good shape! Glad you were able to go ahead and pick one up... Now I'm gonna have to put some serious work in on mine so you don't pass me up haha Hoodlum, your car looks pretty cool. Looks wild with the chop and section!
It is in pretty good shape. Had a little rust in the floors the PO pop riveted some metal in, so that will have to come out and be redone. A little rust in the trunk but not too bad. There are a few pinholes in the right side rocker as well, but nothing too major. I will want to chop this one, just looking for some direction on chopping the top and keeping the flow and proportions correct. If you have any links to some build photos of a Fleetline chop I would appreciate it. My wife is kinda happy that now I will have an old project car that is big enough for the family to enjoy. She finally rode in my truck a few weeks ago and said "no more".
Sounds like it's a lot better than mine! All I can say is search Bass for the "chevy fastback" build. He did it in several installments, but one of those updates has a lot of good info on what he did to keep proportions right. I thought you were a state fan? So when are you coming back down? I'm going to plan my chop around your visit haha
I had seen Bass' thread before and intend to look it up again. I found several others, including a rod and custom article online for chopping a fleetline, but it seems most of these cut the metal around the trunk lid and lay the whole back area down. I think I like how Bass did it better where he sectioned the trunk lid. This way I don't have to totally reshape the rear fenders.
Yeah I don't like the look when the whole back area is cut out and lowered. I like how Bass did that one and I've got some other ideas for mine, but I'll have to actually try it to see how it goes...
Well a friend of mine is coming up saturday to help me move the fleetline to the new house, so I'll get to start working on it again very soon! Until then, I've been building a new frame for my gs with extra parts...
How did you pull the body off the frame? Did you jack it under the body and roll the frame out from under it?
Subscribed...here is my 50 next to my buddies stock 51, I was hoping to see more car build rather than bike in this thread as I went through the pages!
I used an engine hoist and jack to lift the body off, took the wheels off the frame and rolled it back out from under the body on the drums. Today when we put it back on we had two engine hoists so we lifted the body way up and basically parallel parked the frame under it and set it down. Much more car to come I promise. It was easier to work on bikes while moving to the new house. Your car looks great! How much did you take out of the top? And I'm guessing you sunk the trunk instead of pie cutting it?
Yeah! Now push those bikes aside and get to work! Ha Ha. Looking forward to seeing some progress on the Fleetline again. I moved mine from storage over to the car lot and unloaded it off the trailer yesterday. Gotta get a few cars fixed and up for sale before it comes inside.
I really don't know when I'm headin' back down there. As long as you have reheated left over pizza count me in!!
Thanks! Reheated left over pizza... check! I stared at it some more? But seriously I have to build some kind of sawhorse/beam contraption so I can roll it out lift the body off and set it on the beams and then roll the frame back in and do work on the rear suspension. I've about decided I need to go ahead and do air suspension. It's just not going to be driveable out here on our crappy country roads if I don't. I want the car pretty low, and I would have to drive insanely slow on these tar/gravel roads because of how bad some sections are rutted, pothole riddled, and super sketch repaired.
Haha yeah I could probably deal with the potholes, but the big trucks wear ruts into the road pushing up the area between the tire tracks making for horrible high spots. Like high spots that would reach up and grab oil pans ha
I am going to four link the rear of mine and bag it. The front I am going to step the control arms and cut the coils to get it down. The front may eventually get bagged, but trying to keep costs down. I would love to bag front and rear with one of Gambino's full front and rear ultralow setups. I just can't spend $3,000 on suspension. Need to keep costs down. Trying to get the whole car on the road for around $3,000.
I'm still back and forth on bags or static drop. I would really like to do it period correct so I will probably just not go quite as low. Doesn't look like I got much done, but I worked from the minute I got home til now... Man the space sure has gotten tight all of a sudden...
Moved some stuff around in the garage to make more space and then I mocked up the notches. Then I made a paper template from them and figured out just how they needed to be trimmed. And mocked up again Slow and steady. Maybe I'll get them welded in this weekend?
Just sub frame the car that way you got modern suspension. And bagging it is simple later. Sub frames are cheaper than rebuilding all that old front suspension,Drop spindles etc.
Bag it. You are already there and you will be much happier in and out of drive ways,speed bumps and the ride is like night and day if you are gonna drive the car lotts.
With that truck arm suspension, a good set of coil springs will provide a smooth ride out back. Bags can easily come later as a direct replacement of the coil springs if you decide to go that route.
The Jalopy Journal
