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| The concept is to build a "buck" in the shape I want the final body to be, then take molds from it. Finally a new body will be taken from the molds. This way I can make the buck using a variety of methods and materials, without worrying about the quality. The only important thing is the finish of the buck, not how its made. So far I have used GRP, gel coat, aluminum strips, chicken wire, copper pipe, insulation foam (in cans) and dozens of gallons of good and bad body filler! I bought a GRP replica of a 1937 Ford Cabriolet from Chris Boyle at 34 Corner (Rodline International the last time I paid attention) to use as a basis, then started cutting it up to get the shape I wanted. Read a summary of what's been done to the body here The Front.
click on any picture to see full size... To start with I cut the front of the fenders off, then moved them forward and down. I held them in place with aluminum strips which also helped to keep the curves correct. I also laid out the rough shape I wanted for the grill with some aluminum sheet. You can see below how much lower the new front end would be. The aim was to be 3 inches off the ground all round.
The side view below shows how I kept the curve of the top of the fender. You can also see the marked line where I would cut out the new fender opening. I used the bottom wheel nut as the center and a ran a piece of string with a pen tied to it. You can see that it would still be impossible to turn the wheel with the opening so low, but I flared it later.
I then laid over this "frame" lots of thing aluminum strips. These were very simple to bend and twist to the correct shape - very necessary when dealing with such complex compound curves. Generous amounts of bright red gelcoat was painted on the underside of these strips, then glass fiber on that. Remember that this is just a temporary buck - none of this will be on the car when finished!
Above I have already filled the gap between the fender sections, moved the headlight surround forward and started on filling the grill opening in.
Here we are with one side almost complete (or so I thought). Hopefully you'll agree that it all flows together quite nicely. Then I saw a new E-class Mercedes which had revolutionary oval quad headlights, and I couldn't resist it. I had to cut out the almost finished headlights, and do some serious hacking about to get the new lights in. See a page devoted to how this happened here.
The still-rough results of the "new lights episode" are shown below. I had attached a bar across the front of the car so I could make sure it was all symmetrical.
Following Paul's massive 6 week effort, you can see below how the front benefited from many hours filling and sanding and filling and sanding and...you get the idea.
The Rear
Compare the rear before (above), and the rear after (below). Look the same don't they? It's like the lights were a perfect fit. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case! I had to cut 3/4 of the way around the trunk surround, and raise the bottom 6 inches. I then added 6 inches of foam and filler to the bottom of the rear fenders to match the curve of the lights and meet the trunk surround. As always, a mold will be taken of the rear, and a new perfect piece grafted on.
Note the copper pipe in the picture above - used to form the shape of the new roof... The Roof
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