GO NADS!!!! (I've been wanting to say that forever ) Didn't know you were gonna do much other than the chop. The grille's fantastic. Good choice!
Just for giggles, here's a pic of my pal, JT, riding my bike down the magnificent driveway whilst being chased by his dumb dog, Smoky.
Nads, how about pulling the grill apart until the headlight buckets are out where they need to be in the fenders..... then maybe a chrome bumperette or bullet from a early grill or bumper to fill the center? A Desoto grill tooth? Just offering up a thought.
Yeah, I thought about that, but I think a bullet just won't work, there are no other bullet shapes on the car, I could mock up it up easily enough though. I suppose I could get a bullet bumper guard to pull it all together, they are re-popped but spendy. The grille is 6 inches too narrow. I'm thinking I could do the ends to mimic the cat eyes in the hood, I'm keeping those because I really like 'em. If anyone has a 65 Dodge grille for sale lemme know.
Just thinkin' outside the box here - could you leave the grill approx. in position as mocked up and pull in the front of the fenders to meet the headlights? Starting at the front of where the side trim ends, it would angle in fairly sharply to meet the headlight bucket. You could round it some to match the other lines on the car. Might look terrible, don't know.
Yeah, 3" would probably look bad. Some extra Dodge grill is the way to go if you can find it - pieces off a broken one would work. But thinking outside the box again - either crescent-moon shaped turn signals outboard of the outer headlights, or split the grill into 4, 6 or 8 sections and add some complimentary-but-different pieces in between the Dodge grill pieces. That would make up 6 inches and give you most of the same look. Some simple bent stainless could work with the Dodge grill pieces, maybe? Just trying to help - I agree that more Dodge grill is best, if you can find it.
OK. What about widening between the headlight buckets? Pull the grill out to the fenders and split the buckets, then pull the grill back together in the center. You could put blacked out mesh between the buckets.
Only awesome if you are visiting, if you live there and have to pay the bills, property taxes and maintenance then it's a nightmare. Hopefully we've got a buyer and we can move into a sane house where we can actually call each others names and be heard. But thanks, it is awesome and for a family of 15-20 people it would be perfect.
Im sorry to report that some of this bondo abuse has been perprtrated by my own family. D: my dad once fixed a quater panel in a 64 dodge with a pop rivet gun, chicken wire, galvanaised steel sheeting and BONDO. luckly it was totaled by a freind before anyone else would have to deal with that mess. lol
Just checked back, progress is good, I miss pictures of the old Casa de Nads, the new carport is a tad bigger!
Nads, my thought was.... you'd want to use a strip of stainless or similar to tie the grill together in the center. Inch, inch and a half wide? It'd keep the width at the headlight buckets manageable.
I dig the scoop idea on the ends...mimic the roof scoop. Then a simple peaked stainless trim piece in the middle would be ideal.
I look forward to the, 'sinking the back glass' episodes. Never seen that before! Great progress, Nads!
This is cool Nads... It's refreshing to see a "Full Custom" that doesn't go off the deep end. A lot of work, but it all works together. Nice.
Sweet work, I always thought this was a picture thread. Not a build thread. huh... I missed out for some time.
OMG, this parcel shelf, what a mess, all of it was cut out. JT came by to help, that glass is huge and hard to manipulate by one person.
The stiffening channels had to be cut down to let the glass slide up and in from below. I haven't fabricated a glass support channel for the bottom it will likely have to be removable. The other way of doing it would be to get the glass permanently in and do the finish bodywork and paint around it, not the best option. We were done by about 8.30 pm, just too tired to do much more, it's hot as hell. The glass is very close to fitting, just some minor tweaking here and there, it's a bitch of a job, and figuring out how to seal it at the bottom and make it look good will be a task.
On a side note, I drove six miles to work this morning with the channel for the parcel shelf sitting on the roof, my buddy Chopper made, it never fell off, amazing! A guy pulled up to me and said, "You have a loose pipe on your roof, you might get a ticket."
Before After I'll take detail shots as we progress, this should help out anyone dealing with tempered glass.
Chops lookin good Nads and i dig the roof scoop...that dodge grill looks just right in there...i'll be on the lookout for 1 for you if you need some extra pieces to finsih it up...
More than once, I've followed a pickup for miles down the freeway, with a beer can riding happily on the rear bumper. You are doing a fabulous job, treat yourself to one of those big box fans, makes a difference(although it can blow away your shielding gas when welding).
I bought a small window AC unit for my garage. Not that it get as hot here, but just the humidity it pulls out of the air really makes the garage more comfortable.
Fully, 100% stolen from WOODPECKER, I filled the original gas door and put the filler behind the left taillight. Here's the hole closed up.