Projects 1934 LaSalle old school convertible coupe build thread

Ok, here is broken 34/35 grille pieces to show that the bars do come off, but they cannot be put into a different pattern as there are eyelets on the one-piece outer grille surround. Also, the fine thin steel ertical fins or whatever, are held in place by the crossbars. THE 36 is all one casting! Nothing is separate...except emblems.



Here is a fender mock up with running board and running board extension that bolts to front fender rear half.
All these pieces will be eliminated on the channeled 35 Conv. It is 1-3/4" tall, for the board thickness and extension.



here is/are the pics I would think is OK for a Photoshop? I'd like to eliminate the running board and extension, then "move up" the front fender alone, by 3" approx.? Also a skirt installed on rear?

Then we should see that the top of front fender is now closer to the long body side moulding strip, and that the top of rear fender with be lower from that strip. I am hoping the effect with skirts on, that it may make the car seem raked? I don't know the words to describe the "fooling of the eye", but I hope that strip and fender tops do something to the eye...but in a good way not an ugly way.




.

Ok, Joe G is already here, so I need to go... Thanks

 

No, I don't want to mess up the nice lines I see here in person, when walking around the back end. But thanks for bringing that up, right this exact moment, as James D would need to know what my plans are like you just mentioned...Thanks Mo'

 

Time for som inspiration , here is a car made from a -35 LaSalle 2door sedan , rear end is scratchbuilt . I saw this in Sweden in 2013 at a carshow after hearing about the build for years :
https://public.fotki.com/TinWolf/custom-cars-clubs/elmia-2013/p4010089.html#media
These guys are not aiming for traditional custom but coachbuilt style , still very impressive to see the craft
https://public.fotki.com/TinWolf/custom-cars-clubs/elmia-2013/p4010087.html
https://public.fotki.com/TinWolf/custom-cars-clubs/elmia-2013/p4010111.html
https://public.fotki.com/TinWolf/custom-cars-clubs/elmia-2013/p4010112.html#media


Wolf

 

Not only does James D. have super computer skills, but also excellent Custom sensibilities.
I look forward to both his renderings and suggestions.

 

the expression- "trumpe L'oeil"?

 

Damn....no time wasted.

 

Ted, who you BS'ing with that French stuff??....your last name sure as shit ain't French ...LMFAO..

Pete, not to give you the idea that I'm looking to date you,,,,but I learned how to keep getting rough stuff done by reading your builds and so many other hambers cool saves.

 

Wait... you wanna date Pete?.... ummm... ewwww...

 

Okay, i think i got this right....raised the front fenders around 3" (and added the filler panels back at the base, as it looked a bit "chopped off" without them and made them look raised in comparison to the rears). Yanked the running boards and lowered the back of the car so it matches the front (the front wheels were raised with the fenders, so i had to do the back to match). Added skirts and a top.

 

Awsome description that even I can follow after a grueling hot/humid day of work! I see the front fender fillers you added...and the very rear underside part is hidden a bit in the shadows under the car....but I can almost "see" that the tail end lowest rear tip "bottom"should end up being rounded a bit, not a sharp bottom "point"?? I will mock up both a sharp pointed bottom, as well as my idea of a rounded under part... SUPER!

Again, I do get your description perfectly! One very important tidbit I forgot to say>>> The new 1935 LaSalle chassis was said to be one inch LOWER ride height as compared to a 1934 LaSalle like the maroon car shown in this post! So, I bet I can get the same front end lowering you ended up with. The rear with leafs will be simple with just blocks!

The skirt type is EXACTLY what I wanted!...however, the Carson type cut of the roofline is not what was in my head. The 34 conv has a very "ugly" look to the stock top and framework. However, the 35 convertible has a VERY nice looking top shape that I do hope to be able to execute ..

Understatement beyond my words! It is STUNNING! I love it. Now I have the git-up-and-go, to try to do your plans some justice. I will keep trying till I get it right! I simply cannot believe that the "raised fender" flows so nice without ever needing to section the back body, or raise the rear fenderwells. This alone makes for such a simple easy build that will look so perfect! Thank you so much, James! Now I sit here waiting for my son to show up so he can see this He was giving me some pointers himself a few days ago, and it sure seems he has crossed over the line to knowing what the word "traditional custom" implies. he, he

Thanks again, Frank

 

P/S I really love the 3" lowered hoodline! Shezam!

 

James, this first pic is absolutely fantastic!!!

 

this is awesome! i would love to see it with the luggage rack on the back.

 

I 2nd the motion; very sexy lines!
This build certainly is not for the faint of heart, but it looks like you are well under way figuring all the "angles",
Frank. Best of luck!
Subscribed as well......

 

Yes me too, but the luggage rack swing away brackets are made to clamp to the tubular shock absorbing 34 Only LaSalles.

Ted, look at the Swedish 35 LaSalle posted earlier today, to see those 1935s use typical type bumber braces, not the same as 34 by any stretch.


Ok, my Son did see and really loves the James D plan. He was sitting in front of my very recently purchased small size HP laptop...I walked away about 6 feet from the screen, and the car looks jet black then! Very cool contrasts on the backround colors as well. If you have a laptop, try it..

oh, and a new quicky job just came in during the last hour, a 72 C-50 flatbed dump a good friend uses on his "wifes hobby farm". It needed only one of 3 total 4x8 sheets of steel on the 8x12 bed replaced. He is always getting bitched out when one farm thing needs money spent on it, so he already cut away all the old steel to save labor costs, then he got a lot of "surplus" sheets of 1/8 and 3/16 plate steel. I will weld his plates in for free/ or really... in exchange for the leftovers, so there are the plates I will install in the 35 door area! I will do pics when I do that mod, a mod that gets the floor room better, instead of worse on a channeling job ...and his wife will now need to find something else to complain about, LOL .... Wimen..

 

Well you hooked me on this one, From James D's rendition it looks like one you would see some big time 30's Movie star rolling down the boulevard in with a hot blond at his side. Classy job there with the photoshop.

 

I am starting to make some sort of plan as to what will start to happen as soon as I finish the Mercedes, and get the 35 chassis in my main work bay. I had planned on doing the motor swap first, but my old friend Kenny was supposed to call me this week to set up the purchase of the good used Olds inline at an old Yard in Massachusetts. ...and no word yet.

So, I will switch plans and start the channeling first, leaving the seized and cracked original "LaSalle" inline 8 in place for now, The 34 LaSalle redesign came from the worst sales year for US cars during the depression which was in 1933. LaSalle designers/accountants ended up scrapping the $$$ Cadillac V8 flathead in favor of the Olds inline flathead 8 that Olds came out with in 1932. So, the 34-36 LaSalles actually were Olds engine design, but LaSalle tweaked it a tiny bit for HP, and recast the cylinder head and used the large block lettered LASALLE name on the head for new car buyers to see.


Ok, the body framing: I just grabbed some pics from a resto thread on AACA website. It is a 32 Olds 6 convertible coupe being rewooded by a talented guy over there. I will use these pics to try to tell what my 35 will have for steel framework instead of the original "bulky wood".



^^^ see the flat wood sills that run from firewall back to the start of the rear axle kick up? My car will have a have a heavy gauge steel angle iron piece instead, The longest tail of the angle iron hangs down from the top of framerail.

Then in that pic you can see what that builder calls the rear "kick ups". The kick up bolts right down through those flat wood sills, then the kick up beam goes up over the rear axle and back to the tail end of body.

My 35 will have kick ups made from thick wall square tubing rather than wood.



^^^ these last two pics show the B pillar attached to the sills. There is that steel brace, as well as the pillar is screwed into the outside of the sill. On my suicide door LaSalle body, the door hinges are hung on the B pillar, so it needs to be very strong and solid. I will use some type of steel tubing, modified, to make these B pillars.

I will end up rebuilding/reframing the body without any need of temporary bracing at all! I do that ALL the time on every steel replacement I have ever done, going back to the late 1970s. I simply cannot get inside the damn car to fit and weld anything if the temporary bracing is a tangled spiderweb in both door ways! Watch how it goes once I finally can get started

 

Love this build, this is going to be a stunner!

 

Alrighty, I busted tail on the smacked Mercedes today and maybe have one hour more workbay weld/task left in the morning...then drive that dang thing out.... so I can finally put the 35 Chassis in there for a FULL month,( before the 37 Cord arrives in mid August.)

I did get to the scrap place by 8:30 this morning as the C50 owner said "some machine shop machines" came in,,, he first said CNC, then changed it to Bridgeport, then changed to Cincinnati ???

There are TWO of these, and one huge box shaped CNC station that ran both. This thing is unbelievably HUGE,,, 8-1/2 feet tall at minimum. Weight looks like "insane". So big and so heavy, the two partners said "we are NOT moving it to another town for a buyer!" ...and one partner said: "We are going to break them up for scrap...maybe today, as I want my money back out of them"

Table is SIX feet wide!! and the table can be moved extremely far away from the unit base.

Racks of special Collet chucks to fit the machines...sold by the pound he said. Also a small special grinder that an AACA machinist thinks is a machine that dresses the collet cutting bits! That one is by the pound also and they assume $500 for that grinder machine.





I did grab three sizes of square tubing for my B pillars, and some other odds ends...for 16 bucks. I also scouted out their indoor "new steel" rack. They have sheet metal in 4x10 and 4x8, several HD ones good for the 1935 "LaSflooring...as well as 20 foot lengths of a good choice of 1.5"x 1.5" square tubing for my kick-up beams. I'll need to bring my truck back, maybe next week early.

 

great build, really well considered tweaks to the lines to get a beautiful car.
Makes me week to see quality machine tooling get weighed in for scrap but what can you do, they are massive!

 

Love the original bumpers,any plans to recreate those? This is going to be Good!

 

I am sure that you are speaking of the "Bi-Plane" bumpers on the 1934 Maroon car. That is a One=Year=Only bumper for both LaSalle and Cadillac. In 1935, both cars went back to a conventional, and much stronger, flat single face bumper. Look at the Swedish boat tail in the pics, to see the sturdy1935 bumper style.

I need to keep this build simple and cheap, so I am using a pair of unknown, once NOS, flat blade bumpers that I show in my mock up of the 35 front view. Those bumpers are marked on backsides in grease marker, a 5 digit same part number. These were on the Estates 1934 Silver LaSalle coupe....probably installed in the early-mid 1960s when that car was last used. The Estate had 13 rechromed "single" 1934 Bi-Plane "wings", that I found in the residence cellar!! I did put 4 original bumper wings back on that silver car, and will re-use the flat ones on my 1935. They are not really wide enough, or beefy looking enough, but I am sticking with simple for the moment I can always find better ones after the car is done/or "on the road".

By the way, I did miss a call from the widow of the Estate today, and I think she was returning an "old" phone message, that somehow she thought was a new message from today. I did get back in touch with her late today...and it slipped out : "I really miss talking with you in person", She said the same ! Such a great person she is, after experiencing 4 years of her talking all sorts of life's journeys and such.

 

I started collecting 1934 LaSalle convertible pics a few months ago, because I will eventually finish my pure stock 34 at some point. Thought you all would think these are very cool 34s, most all taken back in the day.

^^^ I just bought this original 8x10 photograph taken in 1956 at a Maine Vintage car show, held by that "MOAL" club listed on it's windshield card. It stands for "Maine Obsolete Auto League", which is still around today it seems. Just think, that 34 LaSalle was only 21 years old then, and that show was 61 years ago!


More of the Frank Kurtis Boat-tail, in both versions/colors:

 

Great pics, I still love those bumpers! Must be some low buck to recreate them, just a thought.

 

Ok, That was sais yesterday....but, I am sick of seeing my 35 outide in all this shit weather lately, so The Mercedes got "voted off the island at 4:30 AM coffee time today. Nope, Not gonna finish the welds, I can back that pig up next to the work bay some other freakin day

Looked at weather radar...DANG...tons of green showing in western CT and a huge mess coming in from centeral NY... not enough time I figured...

But! HA HA, I came back in my home to wash my hands and make another coffee at 8:05 AM...DONE!


First thing early this morn, was go grab the LF tire/wheel off my 34 Conv, to replace this one below, on the RF of the 35. I need two tires that hold air for this slam bang move!


Joe G tried to put air in this one at the barn find day. I heard it blow, yelled "you OK?" he said "no problem" He was working in the barn darkness and never saw where it blew, and still does not know, as we never looked at this tire later or since that day.

Then the next thing was to move the Mercedes outside, and out of the way, but first I needed to back up the 72 C50 that my friend parked there in the way two days ago. The Chevy started right up and ran sweet....but the jackass Mercedes was stone dead! Where the 'ell is the stupid hood realease?? I knew there is a safety latch thingy that pops out of the grille later, but I cannot find the friggin handle....up the dam house to look on the net! Yep, other people can't find theirs either.. Good goin you A-hole designers. LOL

Get the hood open, charging the battery at 50 amps while getting the crawler going, dragging the '35 away from building to swap that tire... got that done, and now the battery charger is wicked hot...but the Big Pig actually started up finally.

Now I actually remembered to leave that POS MB running when I moved it away far enough,,,,but now the heavy damp air is filled with the stink of catalytic converter... wow, such a nice car, ..

Now, hook a chain inside the bucket where I put a center hook a few months ago, That hook lets you pull up equally on both ends of a car frame, then lift the ass way up, and you can get incredible dexterity to move a car in such tight quarters..








I did this move by myself and it went SO fast... and just by tickling each track brake, you can guide the front end precisely where it needs to be, with zero damage to anything.





.Move Miss Piggy back close to the workbay for welding when I dam well feel like doing it... ...then go make a freaking COFFE... Rock On!.



"Old Age"...no such thing around here with Joe G and I. "we have no age...we are just here".. Once you think of your age as just a record of how many years of life's experience you have, and not get brainwashed into thinking a certain "number" means something....then shit gets fun, and gets better each and every day. Not kidding at ALL on that statement. Live for the day, each and every day, and not wasting brain cells planning for your death. Rock On!!.. (oh, but AFTER my coffee break) LMFAO

 

vintage tin should ALWAYS get garage space over everyday "door slammers".
fyi: i have access to a very large collection of used MB parts if you need any.

 

Now Ted my friend, you are starting to push my buttons with that MB nonsence. I AM DONE with later models for good. I already made that announcement before this MB was accepted by me as the last one. The only reason I took this job is because of one precise thing: This car was totaled. It was hit shaply slightly off to one side by a tree or light pole. The car rolled out of the owners steep driveway for some reason, and that is how it was hit.

MB is full of "crumple zones" designed to crush in a series to slow the inertia, which saves lives or injuries. I simply did not have the equipment to stretch the "corrugation'' ripples in FRONT of the lay down spare tire well. I told him I cannot fix it unless he gets it pulled. He tried, but only one shop near Hartford, would touch it, but they wanted the 'whole job' and priced it at "4500, but could go 6K". He then found a friend who is in his late 50s with "big ones". The friend asked "how many used rear bumpers and brackets do you have?" LOL...this guy ran a chain to one side at a time, chained to a BIG tree, and had the owner floor it (F-n nuts!...I am shocked the big V8 did not eject out the front)

They broke two sets of spare bumper stuff but did one heck of a perfect pull, and those corrugated lines were freakin GONE! So, to reward their efforts of trying to fix stuff for themselves in the future (because I won't do late models anymore) I said I would do the clipping. Heck I even clipped the FRONT of this MB 8 years ago! Cut the uniframe rails right at the front of engine. What a s---job, but I got it right.

Now, the real reason I am pissy about the MB, is actually something the owner said to me just a few days after finally getting my dream car home, still sitting in my lot. He asked what it was, then said "You could fix that up and sell it, then buy a nice new car". I was f'ng stunned, kicked in the stones...here I was so happy to finally rescue that 34, and actually get it home, and he lays the whole asinine brainwashed thoughts of the USA consumer, that a NEW car is somehow better than this??? WTF. I dam well told him point blank quite sternly: "Those three words (nice new car) simply does not exist in MY vocabulary!!" He GOT the point real quick!


anyways, If Pete would have shown up, maybe I'd get something done today ...


The motor might be out by supper if the trans spline is not frozen..

I did do some chalk marks prior, to see what will hit the firewall after the 3" channel. Not much really, just near the manifold.


I decided the motor needs to come out so I can channel the cowl without removing the cowl. Why? because I want to keep the original wiring at this point, so I can keep the chassis yard drivable, as well as keeping the wires intact so I can copy/remake new ones later.


I will head back to shop now, need to unhook clutch cross bar, and kinda hope I can leave one mount brace in place. If not that will only add 15 minutes to remove.

I'm going with a young guy with his stock 47 Dodge pickup to a farm equipment type show tomorrow morning. It is called the Zagray show in/on Colchester/Hebron town line on RT 85...if you go to those things. Kenny should be there unless he has to bring his wife for more Doctors work. He will then tell me why we did not get to Mass to get the later Olds inline, and if we can plan on next week.

 

funny i totally get it. i bought a used 2013 jimmy last august, i am on my second tank of fuel...........i just prefer the 1939 gmc..............

 

Took the Wife to the chiropractor today and was thinking that a 59 El Camino front bumper (x4) might work plus the bullets, of course. Whatever you do should be just as cool, Carp

 

This certainly looks good, but some is lost to the shadows.

(Please pardon me. I know this has been addressed before.)
My concern is that if the rear fenders are not raised, they will either A): extend below the body line,
OR B): need to be trimmed at the bottom edge. Neither is optimal.

Is it possible to see another rendition, with the rear fenders raised the amount of the channel?
Many great customs were handled in this way.