So before I get into showing you guys my personal build I thought I'd give you an idea of the stuff I have been doing with my career. I'm pretty sure I have oil for blood as I just can't get enough of this. I really wish I could put down my ideas on paper like Jeff can. Oh boy howdy is that some incredable work, but I am lucky in that the big guy upstairs gave me the ability to put my visions into steel and chrome.
This was a personal project back in the late 90's. 454 turbo 400, and pretty much all new steel from the door handles down.
This is a 1938 MG TA. One of only 4 in Canada to the best of my knowledge. It came in for a nice body and paint job and ended up need a completely new hand fabricated body. I've included a few build pics starting with the old body and the wood buck I built to form up the new body on. If you guys are interested I can put up a full build thread on this car. let me know.
This was a particularly daunting task. This car is an early 80's Shrike P15 race car. Basically a Formula Ford with a full body. The owner wanted a new body made that was capable of the fenders removed in the pits. It was originally a one piece body that some one had modified into a two piece. I used the original body to make the buck for pulling a mold from. We then turned it into a six piece body but could also still be laid up as a two piece body.
Here we have a Factory Five Cobra kit car. This car had one of the nicest chassies I've ever seen, jewelry to me, but the fiberglass body was a devils nightmare. The owner wanted a nice fitting straight body.........he got it 300 hours later.
Cat, that is a huge understatement right there. When we where doing the layups every day was a whole new ball game. You never knew how the tooling resin was going to react. I ended up switching to good old polyester and all was good.
As the others said, "very nice work", on a good variety of vehicles! Thanks for taking the time to post pictures of your past work, looks like you have lots more in progress!
As the others said, "very nice work", on a good variety of vehicles! Thanks for taking the time to post pictures of your past work, looks like you have lots more in progress!
Thanks guys,
Model A Guy, actually those picks are aready two years old and all but my truck are finished and gone. However we do have a shop full of all new cool stuff. Right now we are working on:
67 427 Tri Power 4 gear Vette roadster
70 340 4 gear Cuda
55 Chev 210
56 Chev PU
66 Coronete
and still my truck waiting for some long overdue attention.
I remember seeing the GTO near completion and the convertable 'Stang 2 years ago when we stumbled into your shop at the last breakfast crawl. I also remember seeing a sinister looking Camaro - no shots of the finished piece?
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"If I could get back all the money I've ever spent on cars...I'd spend it ALL on cars !!!
Thanks Fordy. Sorry that Camaro wasn't one of my builds, we just did some mods on the hood, and unfortunately I never did take any pics. It was built by Weber Chassie the guys across the lane from me. I'm pretty sure he has some pics on his web site. The car is called Darkness.
Beautiful work, that Cuda is stunning. Not to knock the owner or Lowdown...lost me on the power plant. I cant stand the exhaust note of a 10. Screaming 8's or buzzin half-dozens...but not 10's
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Tom Laughlin "Billy Jack" RIP - a true Hollywood hero
Beautiful work, that Cuda is stunning. Not to knock the owner or Lowdown...lost me on the power plant. I cant stand the exhaust note of a 10. Screaming 8's or buzzin half-dozens...but not 10's
I fully agree with you on that v10 Gearhead. It has stupid power but has a very winny sound that just does not match the car. I also found it to be a uncomfortable car to drive. The engine invades the fire wall by 10 inchs causing the excellerator pedal to be to close to the driver.
Talent, Vision and Work ethic are an unusual combination. You show a high degree of all. Quick question regarding MG and Formula Ford race car. What happened to the original bodies after work done or were they saved !!! Also did the work affect the value or historical significance of the vehicles.
My two friends and bodyman (Dave McLean and Scotty..( R.I.P.) were my go to guys when quality work was needed. What you show in your pictures renews faith that others also share in our passion and hobby. Thanks for sharing. Boots
I remember seeing the Darkness Camaro years ago. It was my first look at a real high dollar Pro Touring car and man what a car it is. At first I didn't like the paint but it soon grew on me. It was one mean and nasty 69.
Talent, Vision and Work ethic are an unusual combination. You show a high degree of all. Quick question regarding MG and Formula Ford race car. What happened to the original bodies after work done or were they saved !!! Also did the work affect the value or historical significance of the vehicles. My two friends and bodyman (Dave McLean and Scotty..( R.I.P.) were my go to guys when quality work was needed. What you show in your pictures renews faith that others also share in our passion and hobby. Thanks for sharing. Boots
Thank you so much for your kind words Boots, I really do love the work that I do. I like to treat every project as if it were my own, and in many respects they are I think. I found a mime on Facebook a while ago that I think says it all. I will attach it here.
As for the race car and the MG, I still have the original body from the MG, but there isn't much left of it. It had been heavily molested over the years and it's wood frame is pretty bad off. Basically just enough left to take measurements from. Yes the new body does affect the value to some degree, but even so it would take and expert on these cars to notice any differences. The owner was not concerned about this though. He just wanted a nice tight car to drive, and I can tell you that right hand drive is a hoot.
The original P15 body was sacrificed as the buck for pulling the molds for the new body. It was actually in pretty ruff shape from it'a life of racing and needed a lot of work just to be good enough to pull molds from.
I'm very sorry to hear about your friend Scotty. I didn't know him but it's always sad to see another high quality tradesman lost.
