i did this job about 5-6 years ago .dug the photo book out and thought id share it with ya .i spent about a year doing heavy jobs like this. took a break from paint and bodywork and just did steel work .this was one of my favorites.. here is what i started with donor car . then the 4 door .the customer bought this at a yard sale .it was pretty good shape it was a army car at one time had the army tag on the dash still and olive paint under that red ..
customer claimed that 57s had ared primer on them to look original ? this is what he wanted on it . did they ever finsh it ? i dont know.. last i saw it it was red and it ran ..
Wow! Do you and Jim Sibley have the same mother or related some how? You 2 seem to bring cars back from the dead that have been neglected beyond hope.
MORE PICS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( if you have them anyway...i just re read you didn't know what happened to it) I love seeing these types of posts! Very inspirational, and it's always great to see something brought back from the dead. Plus i really dig 57's. Thanks for sharing. Tony
I did a very similar thing using a '69 Buick Skylark convertible donor to build my '72 GTO Judge clone. Starting with a solid base car and a rough convertible is a lot easier than trying to put a ton of replacement pieces into a rough convertible. Looks like you had a Pontiac door on there, too. I know where there is a '55 Dodge convertible and I've considered buying it to do this with my '55 Dodge, but it's a big job that requires a lot of time and space.
I tell people this can be done, all the time, I've sold a number of cars people bought just for this sort of conversion. Some people just can't grasp the concept of blowing a car apart even to the point of taking welds apart and starting over from the ground up. It's not even that it's really that difficult to do once you set your mind to it, but it is a hell of a lot of work and requires a good shop space to build in. Would be easy to get burned out on a project of this magnatude.
pontiac parts are a bit diffrent from the chevy. people think they will interchange but there a small things that are diffrent like the trim around the window and some moldings on the int and stuff..lots of measuring, lots of measuring the doors were off a 56 conv .i reskined them with chevy skins all the parts i bought was from cars and its very good stuff the 1/4s are worth the money ..
Fantastic work! Proves it can be done with talent, planning, donor car and extra sheet metal. Fair warning, however how great this one turned out thanks to your handywork, there's about three-four "more door" fanatics on here that will be pissed you "ruined" that 4-door. Of course we know the reasons for the conversion, desirability being #1. Your work is a true inspiration!
Wow, I thought I had worked on some "rough" ones. Very impressive work, I would also like to see pictures of your other conversions.
I'm love me some more doors but that one was sacrificed for a good cause. You did a hell of a job on that thing.
ha ha well i guess they will be real pissed when they see the nice 56 more door i got from nebraska ..i parted it out cut the body off it and used the floor in my 57 advatar pic ..ill have to dig out those pics ..thanks guys .
WOW nice work.You do love a challenge!Most car builders would run the other way if you asked them to build that thing. Good job!
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