Well, the loose goal is to have my 54 in "real" paint by next spring/summer. It's gonna be a dark color, either black, very dark maroon or very dark blue. Regardless, this car will be shiney!! Here's the issue: on the 53-4 Chevys the front fenders and the doors kinda bulge out. Im sure most of you know what Im talking about, if not, go look down the side of one. On my car, the passenger side isn't terrible, but the drivers side is worse. Im worried that when the car is a shiny dark color that the side of my car will look like a rollercoaster. Does anyone have pics of These cars painted dark or just gloss black, specifically looking down the side? How bad does it look? Should I even worry about the the doors and front fenders doing they're bulge thing? Does this make sense? I could explain it better if I could use my hands..
Cole Fosters is dark. Mike Ness' is dark. If the bodywork is nice and straight, it shouldn't matter what color you paint it. Take your time, and do it right the first go 'round. Then post pics!
Yeah, basically.. I've seen coles car in person at his old shop.. The issue isn't so much body work oriented, and the car won't see the paint until the bodywork is perfect. It's more so that, the panels from the factory aren't straight, especially on the drivers side, And no amount of blocking fixes that. I guess I just want to see how bad reflections look on the side of the car, ya know? Maybe I'm just being a pussy and I shouldn't worry about it.
It sounds like you are talking about how each panel has its own crown, as you can see it in the picture above. Each panel is straight but once put in its place they dont flow the entire way dow the car right? I have never seen one without. I am going to try and shrink mine as much as possible but I am not anticipating getting rid of all of it. I have seen some cars that have had body filler in the areas that need to be built up and I like the way it looks, if you are ok with that sort of a process
Ronny, you are right on the money bro. You're better with describin' words than I am! I've been scheming up ways to get rid, or improve this issue. I don't want to dump a whole bunch of filler on the car.. I have a few ideas, but it would be super labor intensive. Not sure it would be worth it.
They aren't all bubbly on each panel. You just have to work really hard at getting the curves right. I and a really great body man spent a day on each panel making it line up. Start at the rear quarter and work it straight and then move to the door and onto the fender. The front fenders are a bitch but if you work at it they do get straight. Pull the inside fender lip and tap on the crown of the fender with a shrinking spoon. Don't make dents just work the metal and be patient. If you're going black it's worth it. Tim Hard to see here but the panels are straight thanks to John the guy to the right
Tim, thanks man. That's inspiring. Pretty much what I wanted to hear.. Do you have any more shots of the car? Does anyone else have any experience dealing with this? I guess I feel like Painting the car with out trying to deal with this issue would be half assing it..
I know what your taking about with the fenders, I picked up a set of NOS front fenders and sold my old pair because of the bulge. my doors are OK but my fenders had a strange bulge that looked factory. I have seen a lot of 53-54 fenders with the same bump and I thought its just easy'er to replace them. NOT MY CAR!
Yup, mine are pretty curvy/bulgy. I know what you mean. Talk to Cole, that guy thinks things through like a mad scientist. I am sure he has the fix for you. Keep us posted.
T-man, that's a great idea.. I'll try to get a hold of him. Hoppy, that first pic really shows what I'm trying to avoid once my car is shiny! But that shot from the front hides it a bit better I guess? Either way, it's worth a little more effort on my part to (hopefully) end up with a cleaner custom.. Thanks fellas.
well if Spicolle can fix with dads awsume set of TV tools you all can get these looking good I am doing a 53 and extended the grill end curve around the fenders and am kinda intimidated on how its gonna look After about a 20 year hiatus of not doing bondowork i am doing some stuff ocassionally and it seems like I have to do it about 4 times to get it to look decent, and i have never finished anything to color it and see how it will really look, but I AM VERY SCARED OF THE FINAL RESULT I guess its easier when you do this work every week and keep in practice and being of retirement age does not help with tons of sanding
i think it just ads to the character, but I know what you mean..and some of them have more of it than others, from what Ive noticed.
Yeah some aren't too bad from what I've seen. My passenger side is live withable, but my drivers side needs attention if I'm gonna hold my head high.
Yeah, it does. I saw the car a few years ago at his old place.. So if his has "the curves" then I guess I have some lee-way.. But my drivers side is a bit worse than his, so I guess I still have some work ahead of me. :-/ My theme for this car has been "if it was easy, eveyone would do it".. But do I have to be THAT cool?? Damn.
i noticed this bulge alot on coles car and ive only ever seen pics of it, never even in person. i always thought it was just exaggerated on his by the fact that he shaved the body line on the fender and isnt running side trim. now its the only thing i look at on the front fender.
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