Mindover , Those cars are automotive art on wheels it doesn't matter where we are in the world the common ground of pride in workmanship is truly appreciated. Rob.
Thanks Joshua (Streetworks) Like I said before that is praise indeed from guys like you!. Thanks again. David
David - Maybe this is getting ahead of where you are or maybe not? Will you continue to use the wood 'former' for just behind the seats and the 'floor' of the tail section and cockpit, or switch to something else at the finish of the job? If you do keep the wood is that the way they were constructed originally? Or, because the customer already had it constructed and it would mean more billing time to change it are you keeping it? Keep the thread and pictures rolling! Really feel like I am getting a lot of useful information out of it. Jay
To make the chassis covers I first made some hammer forms. The ally was formed over these. The chassis has several cross tubes and where these protrude though the chassis they are welded and the result is a lump so I had to find some way of covering them and I decided to make a feature of them.
Jay, Many early car bodies were constructed entirely from wood, later most were ash with aluminium skin. Many cars with ash frames had quite a bit of ply in them for floors, rear bulkheads etc so this type of construction is not out of keeping. It is a 'special' after all. As I said at the beginning of this thread there are many ways to construct a 'special', often there would be no frame at all, just some ally ribs. I used this method on this car because the customer wanted to keep the cost down and have a big say in the final shape. I did the Riley I showed in an earlier photo (the one I said was featured in The automobile magazine) the same way but I covered the bulkhead with ally. All the ply is marine ply so it is weather resistant. David
I needed to form a flange on the hole in the chassis cover but I did not have a flanging tool so I made this (below) from plywood. It was made to go in my flypress. I don't have time to upload any more photos now and I am teaching at the college tomorrow so it will be a couple of days before I can post more. David
At the front I decided to put in a dome to cover the lunp in the chassis where the cross tube exits the side of the chassis. The hammerforms were used to create the covers for the rear of the chassis, there is only so much metal that you can throw on a curved flange like this even with a hammerform so I welded extra ally to the flange. Once dressed out the panel looks like this...
I made a pair of chassis covers for the rear of the body. These were riveted to the rear body. The petrol filler neck had to pass through one side... This is what I came up with.
Amazing workmanship. Please can you show more of each part of the work where possible. I understand that for much of it you cannot photograph yourself doing it, but if it is possible to show intermediate steps it would be great. For instance, the tail came together in very few pictures. If more were possible, that would be great!
Hi Hasty, yes sorry about not having many photos of the tail section being made, I did say in the thread that I did not have many photos of the tail end being formed. I do have photos of other cars I have made and I may do another thread or add some of those photos to this one. I can't really teach how to wheel a section like the top of the tail in a thread like this. It takes about 5 hours or so to wheel a large section of that type, going over every inch of it many times. The principle is as simple as you wheel more in the areas that need more shape and less in others but in practice the metal in one area is effected by wheeling in another so it is a case of wheeling one area seeing what happens and then working out where to wheel next. It is much more intuitive to form sections by hand and I always teach people these principles first on smaller panels so they can learn how the metal forms. There are many processes involved in 'metalshaping', each process is fairly simple but takes practice to master. Its best to start on small projects and achieve a good result before moving on to larger parts. That is how I learned. David
David - The holes you are working so well around and incorporating into the side cover design are from pipe welded through the frame you said. Well, are they welded through the frame in addition to original cross-members for more strength, are in place of original cross-members, or are they the original cross-members?? Very nice way to incorporate an unsightly part into the overall design for seamless beauty. Jay
Hi Jay, The chassis is totally original the cross tubes are as it came from the factory, as I said this is a pretty ugly chassis. Not all Riley chassis look like this though. David
Not that i'm surprised David excellent as usual.... In my kind of view 'specials' are the european hot rods of the past. Mario
Holy Moly. How'd I not see this thread? And you wondered if it was HAMB friendly? Stunning work. Brian
Amazing work. Thanks for the time posting the progress pictures and telling us about the build. Rolling Art is what I would call it.....
The bonnet (hood) was next on the agenda. The centre hinge is a bought in item. The bonnet sides attach to this with a flange. Curving the bonnet to suit the body is a simple process. I use a set of rolls to form the curves but I use them in such a way that I don't get stop lines. I have done this with just a tube to form over.
This is the inside of the bonnet showing the working out for the side hinges. These are hidden hinges that are formed from the sheet metal of the panels. Once marked out the hinge was cut into the panel
I made a landing flange for the bonnet to fit to... I had to make a hinge mounting bracket, with no bulkhead (firewall) I came up with this. Which I made from stainless steel.
Exactly! Absolutely awesome craftsmanship, and a partial insight into what inspired the style of our early hot rods.
Thanks you for posting this great post. I have been planning a hand built body for a Miller race car reproduction I am building. The chassie is almost complete and I am ready to start building the firewall, cowl braces, and tail bucks. I will be purchasing your DVD for tips! Please post build ups of any tail section builds you may have.
Thanks Matt No problem Hasty Levis classics- A Miller reproduction sounds good. I hope you post the build thread! David
Actually I made a mistake earlier, my memory is getting bad, the center hinge is the original Riley hinge as shown below- This (below) shows the rear center hinge mount in place.
The Jalopy Journal
