1935 Ford Project -2Dr Sedan to 3W Coupe

Looking great, I agree just having that decklid in a rough position gives good perspective of the whole goal.

Sheldon
 
..41 Bowtie, Sheldon....hey, thanks for the compliments -I passed them on already...

The setup for fabbing the rear deck continues with a really important decision -the depth of the tail pan. After a bunch of imaginings, it was decided that if we drew a line from the front of the rear fenderwell (at the lower quarter), through the centre of the rear axle, and extend to the rear pan -that was where it should be cut off. The rear of the pan that is cut off will be raised and rejoined to the upper area and will require many relief cuts, magic, and metal voodoo to look coherent with the rest of the rear deck and quarter panel relief lines.....

The tailpan before surgery. On a full fendered car it looks great and coherent in design. On a fenderless, salt-styled car it looks like a droopy ass.....



Cutting the sheet metal and raising it as a mockup and looking for the sweet spot.... . The quarter panel raised reveal should somewhat mimic the curve of the trunk lid corner, we think...



...the cuts also exposed the rear floor area and the back of the gas tank....



....the money shot -all the underwear beneath the saggy ass tail pan....crossmember, ugly corner brackets, centre support for the former slant-back sheet metal. Lots of cleanup to do for a sexy rearend and a flash of gas tank.... . Another important milestone reached and several pieces should fall into place for the rear deck...

 
Based on how quick this heap has been progressing, I imagine it's done by now. Are you getting your cold weather cruising in David? :D
 
....hahaha, I wish....there has been a lot of action in his shop, but not on my car. The big question that is looming is the winter. Once the big snows come in his area (near a ski resort on Oddball Mountain), it's nearly impossible to move cars in and out of the shop. What's in, is in for a few months over the winter (he plans these projects).
I think the '35 will be kicked out in December (at what stage, I don't know). I would be more than happy if all the heavy work gets done -body, frame, engine, trans, rear-end, floors all mounted, so I can peck away at it during the winter....gonna be tight sharing space with the Lincoln. My part will be stripping and painting the frame, taking the body to bare metal, engine work, brakes.....at least that's what I'm anticipating....
 
Mr. Brown, you know that I love these blank slate type builds. What pleases the eye outweighs any other consideration...... except perhaps budget. I know that you are a student of past and present customs and that you are eating, sleeping, breathing the transformation of a neglected old hulk into your vision. I hope you can appreciate what I'm about to say. To my eye there's a hiccup in the side window profile. Two to three inches up the B pillar portion of the window opening (and the door gap), there's a straight line where things should start angling forward. '36 3w's and '40 Willys coupes share a "sweet spot" in this area. It's probably close to a day's work per side to correct so I understand why it might be left. And in all honesty, it will fade from view after paint

Aside from that, I love your build and look forward to updates. I'll go back to my corner and shut up now.
 
....well Mr Tinn, you are dead nuts on with that observation. Quite frankly, it has bothered me for weeks and I think it will be addressed sooner or later. The re-contouring or re-profiling of the window areas is, believe it or not, more complex than the rear deck construction. The original upper door frames were cut into a zillion pieces, reassembled, taken apart, modified, reassembled many times to get to this stage. It was immensely frustrating for me and for Stony, the fabricator. We both wanted a 'salt car' racy-looking door window but needed a break and so we left it for a while.
The same situation happened with the outside rear edge of the door. There was a 'bump' in the descending line of the door frame and, believe it or not, the line was perfect after we removed about 1/8th of an inch of an rogue arc that interrupted the flow.
You are so right when you say '.....it's all about the eye....'.
Thanks for your observations....no need to go back into the corner or shut up.....
 
....rolling right along (although at a slower pace), here is are a few shots of the lower pan metal work where it has been bobbed. Once the lower surround is completed and square, it will dictate how the rest of the trunk area comes together.
The one critical judgement to make is to guarantee that the rear wheel is centred in the bobbed wheel well. The rearward flair of the wheel well is gone and new steel is shaped to follow the contour of the tire until it reaches the lower pan area. Everything is lightly tacked together until all adjustments are made and the area is 'frozen' in place......









This area between the undercut pan and the frame will be used for the gas tank and it will be visible just like in the very old days. Here the driver's side rear gets the same treatment for the wheel well and a little more welding and filling is done.



Backing away gives a better idea of the rear pan work. The middle will be filled soon as soon as the exotic/high tech trunk lid support is no longer needed.



In case people are wondering about ride height and wheels in the centre of the wheel well...fear not. For up and down adjustments, the rear frame crossmember (above/behind the rear axle) will be modified for the transverse spring location (i.e. up/down, backward/forward, as required. We have some other top secret mods to cope with other driveline problems that might jump up and bite us in the ass.....
 
Wow Linc!!! I just spent an hour going through your build thread, what an amazing eye you have. I could never picture that in my minds eye in a million years! I really admire you guys that can see things that aren't there (yet). I'll be watching as your build progresses, keep up the good work. Very inspirational!.........BD
 
...big dic. Dude, so nice to hear from you again and I hope life's challenges are receding somewhat. Last I heard, you were reducing your stable of some really cool stuff, I think.
Shoot me an em -bee gee bee dee elle eye enn cee at gee male dot Komm (decoded), if you like......
 
bgbdlinc said:
...big dic. Dude, so nice to hear from you again and I hope life's challenges are receding somewhat. Last I heard, you were reducing your stable of some really cool stuff, I think.
Shoot me an em -bee gee bee dee elle eye enn cee at gee male dot Komm (decoded), if you like......
Click to expand...

A gee male account is better than a hot male account... :D ;)

How's the hotrod coming!?
 
Yep, still alive and kicking! Yes I downsized the herd a little, sold my 68' GTX and my 69 442, got more than they were worth for both of them and still have another project GTX and 7 or 8 others waiting until I get more time LOL Been slowly working away at the 34'dodge coupe,but I digress and am highjacking your thread, So i'll stop. will send you an em ai l $#% ^ etc or whatever you said LOL
 
...this post looks like an instant replay but it's actually a refinement of the curved body reveal behind the cabin where it meets the rear deck. Less than a metre in length and more trouble than it is worth, it was a trying exercise to achieve the right precision. And unless it was laser perfect, it was really noticeable for it's lack of symmetry. Essentially, it's an arc made out of something like a flattened tube for the reveal. It has to wrap around the roof precisely at the same time, which became a nightmare to make by hand. Enter technology -the dimensions were designed in CAD, the file was sent to a shop, and the damn thing was popped out in no time, as perfect as it could be in all dimensions.....





Now that the piece is properly in place, the package tray and associated body supports can be reinstalled, and some of the temporary inner support framework can be removed.
 
....parcel tray installed adding some structural integrity to the rear cabin and eventually to the quarter panels, as well....

 
....thanks Gary, you are so right....

Now that the back of the cabin is coherent with the new body reveal/line, the search for the sweet spot for the trunk lid is next. It is illusive because the trunk is effectively floating in 3D space and requires a ton of minute adjustments before your eyes start bleeding and you start imagining things out of whack when they are not....






The next two pix are where the sweet spot lives although from this distance you could be forgiven for not noticing a change of a few millimetres. And you can see how critical the arc of the body line had to be....



 
Good progress Dave, thanks for the updates. Hard case my old man had a 37 ute once which had been made from a coupe, it looked factory to, but that was in the 50's, so it is good to see guys still doing some nice sheet metal work.
 
Just got the latest issue of old autos and the mystery car looks kinda like this project! Anybody else see the resemblance! Fine job so far and quite a display of workmanship. Wish I had the talent !
 
.....I've been exposed!!!!!! It's all true and it's all over after 15 years. These 'swan song' Mystery Motors pics have recently shown my '46 Lincoln, my (former) '29 Model A roadster (sold and gone down the road) and the current passion, the '35 Sedan undergoing a sex change operation. It's just a way of signing off....good eye timmins57
Here's one of my favs:

 
....thanks Jeff...I'm just the concept guy, Stony is the real 'God of Metal' and a hero. I am humbled every time I go there.....
 
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