Never really seen much information on the construction of fadeaways. Read about the Jimmy Summers preformed panels and that Barris in the day used stock Caddy and Buick pieces, but nothing of any detail to start from scratch. Initial thoughts was to construct a skeleton from 1/4 rod and skin this in sheet. Which although this would of worked, I was afraid with my basic forming and welding skills it could of ended up looking like a patchwork quilt. Next idea was to build wooden formers on the side of the car, which I would then transport to a metal shop for skinning. Soon changed my mind, not a straight line anywhere and realizing a left and right of each section would be needed. Again would of worked, but a lot of graft for a one off as the bucks would be redundant after use. After a lot of head scratching, plan three was the one I went with. The idea was to use the front section cut from the original fender extension, make up end pieces using my favorite the hammer form and then create the new panel using these fixed points as the buck. I elected to extend the door to the bottom of the sill, two reasons for this - one I felt this would increase the height of the sides giving the illusion of the windows being lower. The other reason with the increased width of the door, this would have given me a huge step when the door was open almost like a running board. After making some rust repairs to the door bottoms which were squared off leaving a 1/2 inch lip to the outside to plug weld on the extension. I used a piece of timber for a straight line from the front to rear fender. I cut a strip of 18g sheet formed a 1/2 inch return pointing outwards and used the timber to temporaily hold it in position for welding. I cut about 8 inches from the original door extension and refixed this piece to the door. Now the fun part, I used tape and patterns made of wood, playing around until it looked right - especially from a distance. The wooden patterns I ended up with were copied and turned into the bucks to hammer form the end pieces. End pieces tacked on to check gaps etc. Note masking tape still present so we don't wander off our decided line. Same thing, different angle. The trimed original extension now needed to be extended to the bottom of the door, taking care to shape the end to continue the lines as the original. The front fenders need to be on whilst these pieces are being tacked into position. End and bottom pieces now plug welded to door. Inside view of bottom piece that disappear into the front fender when door is opened. Bottom of front fender had to trimed with snips to allow clearance for the new extended door bottoms. New shaped piece welded on fender. And fender refitted. The plan coming together now, door hung, fender fitted, looking good! Note the drainage holes on bottom of door skin. The doors were taken off and over to a friends workshop. The new panels were rolled out to size and now ready to be tacked on. Said in a sentence like that it doen't seem like a lot of work, but believe me a lot of hours and fettling went into those panels. These little cleco fasteners are a great help when a panel has to be offered up a great many times to be trimmed and fettled. Now tacked on and ready for finish welding. I cut a couple of holes in the rear quarter to allow access after the final piece of fadeaway is welded on. The final piece before welding. A little hammer and dolly work was needed at the bottom of rear fender to remove the little indent that lines up with the sill. I just love that shape, looking good after all the welding. Remember the rules to avoid distortion, and take your time with the grinding and very little filler will be needed. Nearly there now, just got to do it all again on the other side. All done now. That's how I got my fadeaways using basic hand tools and a little inginuity. One of those modifications that could get overlooked by someone not familiar with the model, but I suppose that's a compliment of sorts.
Wow! The fadeaway's look great! Nice work for sure! What are the plans for the rest of the car? Early style custom? Fadeaways on a 4x4. who would have thought that would look good?
Great tech. I hadn't seen any techs or how-to's on fadeaway fenders. Now I do. Bookmarking this one for future reference.
Great job! I'm working on skirts for my wife's 47 Pontiac at the moment and I've got a 48 Buick in my shop right now for some electrical work. It's really interesting to note the differences in the body styles(both fastbacks). The buick with the factory fadeaways looks really really good with the factory bubble skirts because the skirts continue the line of the fenders, while the Pontiac Looks really good with flush mount skirts because I've got the factory "ribs" running through the skirts. I think you've got it good with the fadeaways and the slanted B pillar! I also like the way you extended the door, clean and clever! I apologize for the poor photo quality of my pics.
Thanks for all the thumbs up. Hudsoncustom I like the photo shop, when I get the Caddy engine fitted that will bring it down a bit. Wild Turkey, For before and after shots check out my build thread "Torpedo Attack."
this was one of those great tech threads that makes for a good read , and the end results look great on the car ,
A great service to us all. A well illustrated, well-explained step-by-step to guide the amateur into the big leagues.
I never had the balls to try something like that. Seeing how you did it, I'd give it a try now. Isn't that what tech week is all about? SUPER POST!
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