Here's my approach as taught to me by my dad, as he was taught "back in the day". First off, pick your victim. This case it's a '54 Mercury. I'm sinking 2 antennas in this one. I prefer most of them on the back fender, but anywhere where there's a curve will work just fine. I also like to do 2 antennas in most cases as well. Now, get some pipe. Exhaust pipe works great. This is 2" pipe i believe. Anything bigger is just, well, too big, and smaller than around 1 1/2" is too small...usually. Ok, time to start. Take your pipe and check where you'd like your anteannas to go. Remember, don't put them on the top of a fender, that's too easy and looks a little off (to me). Offset them a little for that compound curved custom look! 1:I don't have photos of this step, but the first step is to hold the pipe VERTICALLY. Don't hold the pipe so it lies flat against your panel. You'll usually have just the back edge of the pipe touching the fender. keep it as stationary as possible. An extra set of hands helps. Mark both of your antenna holes this way. You'll see when in a minute.... 2: Now, find the center of each soon-to-be-hole you just marked on the fender. Take a center punch and give it a tap. Start a pilot hole there with a small drill bit. You can see where i didn't like the first holes, not enough angle. Take out your trusty drill with a 2" hole saw (or whatever your pipe size is) and carfully and steadily drill your hole. KEEP THE BIT VERTICLE as well. You'll wind up with some egg shaped holes. That's good, that's what your after: 3. Take your pipe and push it up through the bottom of the hole and hold it there vertically. Take your marker and trace the hole you just cut around the pipe (as in the photo above) and you'll end up with this: This is a good time to clean up the surrounding metal and your edges because you'll be welding the pipes in soon. and NO i didn't intend for this photo to look like a...uh...you know TIP: when you cut your pipe, it's hard to make the compound curves on one cut. Cut it close and use an angle grinder or the like to get it to shape. Put it back in the hole, and if anywhere sticks up too high, shade it in with a marker and grind that area down. once it looks pefect you can move on 4. To hold the antenna in place i take 2" washers and weld them to the bottom of the pipe. You can see it in photo 1. I also drill a small hole or 2 to let water drain out. If you're worried about water, you can weld a nipple (stop giggling) and run a piece of hose out and down through the trunk. OK. Once you're happy with the placement and you've welded your pipe in, the painstaking process of grinding commences. Don't grind too much, as per usual,or you'll get the metal too thin. here's welded and ground and started on filler: I usually,ok, always end up less than perfect, so some filler is added to bring everything up to snuff. you're eventually left with this. I used lead on these. Bond-o works fine, i just like to make things difficult: The antennas i use are those cheap 5 dollar a pop universal jobs you get at the Auto Zone or what have you. they're too long, so i shortened them in this case...that's a tech for later i suppose. The bottoms of them have two "feet" and the top has a rubber grommet and a stainless kind of acorn nut that slips over the antenna and screws to the base locking everything in place. Sorry for the lack of photos, i'll ad more of the antennas in place tomorrow but i thought i'd ad this now before i forget... Thanks for letting me share it. -ace
Thank you, good stuff. I'm going to be doing this on my '52 chevy. I thought I'd just put it in the original spot on the front fender. What do you think? Also, do you use the antenna's? Like just one or both or..................?
One is good, I have one in the back passenger side conrner of my 48's cab although I originally had one in the right front fender. Nice tech thread by the way. I usually used a 2 inch freeze plug and drilled the holes in it.
also according to eddie pauls technique, this was a good random idea to me, You can hook up a lazor pointer to shoot the exact outline on the curved body panel. Also use a level through as many of the steps as you can for accuracy. I plan on this technique when I do some major frenching on the very curvey rear fenders of my '50 chevy.
Good idea on the laser level. i just used my eyeballs and that speedsquare you see in one of the pictures. a degree finder works too. Any small degree your antenna is off can be corrected because the antennas are designed to be able to tilt and swivel. You losen the nut, tilt it, then tighten down again. How many antennas and where you sink them is completely personal preference, BBYBMR. I personally like 2 antennas because it tends to stand out more, and i just like the look of 2 antennas poking out. It depends on the car too i suppose. The '54 merc these are in also have '56 packard tail lights ,55 pontiac trim, etc. so it's more of a full on custom. Some mild customs look great with just one sunken antenna in the original spot, makes it little more subtle. All depends on your taste. I'm not using the antennas. by all means you could use them though. If we decide to make the radio functional i'll hook up an antenna. Thanks guys! -ace
Very nice. I use a pc. of threaded rod and two big washers in the bucket to help get them straight. This is a photo of turn signal buckets on my Merc. but same thought.
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