Thread: 34 Ford Three Window Build

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Bolted together the mold and frame for the 34 Ford Three Window. Expect to start laying the glass soon.

Bolting together the molds and cleaning them in prep for the glass.

Last couple of shots

Do you know if he bought the molds from someone?

Some of it, some of the molds he built

Waxed the mold todayShooting the Gelcoat later.

Shot the gelcoat tonight.

Couple more

Originally Posted by 34_40

Do you know if he bought the molds from someone?

Originally Posted by wrp

Some of it, some of the molds he built

What happened to all of your pictures? From what I've learned, the quality of a glass body depends first on the accuracy of the molds, but almost more important is the talent of the person applying the gelcoat to prevent pinholes and then laying the cloth, dealing with entrained air, and getting a consistent thickness. If your guy built some of his molds it would be interesting to know what he used for his "master", or where they originated if he didn't build them.

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Originally Posted by 34_40

Do you know if he bought the molds from someone?

I may have been misleading as I posted this. The entire effort is a combined teamwork project involving dozens of guys. I am basically the step and fetch it for them. The shop had previously only done a few fiberglass vehicles my FFR 33 included. They have also done one other FFR. However, the family that runs the shop has been building hot rods for decades. Over the past few years several masters were derived from modified parts of steel bodied builds. The dimensions of the molds is modified from the original Ford castings based on their work with the steel bodied cars including engine side panels, deck lids, inner liners and especially fenders. We molded our own fenders for my FFR after learning the FFR designed and supplied fenders did not have the dimensions we wanted. We actually created masters that allow us to adjust the width and circumference of the bicycle front fenders. There have been many occasions where a part was missing from a steel bodied build and it had to be fabricated from composites. Not every case started with a master mold to build from. In some cases the design and fabrication guy had to develop his own master from a combination of materials ranging from drywall, to wood, to parts of steel structures. I have now been over the molds pretty thoroughly. They are structurally sound and there are no weak spots or blemishes that detract from them. The guys at the shop have restructured, reinforced and improved the mold steel frames to help manipulate the mold through the process of prep and laying the glass. Quality of the end product will rely largely on the hand laying of the glass and proper processing as we progress. The 32 was the first trial run and perhaps in the worst condition of the molds. The casting came out very workable. We are expecting much better results with the 34. These guys were just gracious enough to allow me to witness and work with them on these builds as it is sort of a bucket list for me to see one of these through from start to finish. We are also getting the stamped frame rails from American Stamping in Olive Branch MS. I do not know enough about metal stamping to really produce a reliable critique of the frame rails but would have to say they are great people to work with, promptly produce and deliver the products, and we have enjoyed building the 32 roadster frame using their stamped blanks. I know the purchased molds were from someone in the North Texas area but am not privy to the business negotiations that resulted in their acquisition.

So we have the 34 coupe molded, it is curing now

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Very cool! I had the opportunity to help make some speedster 32 body shells when I was in college. We produced 2 and the fellows sold the molds after we got their bodies done. The guy that helped make the body the molds were based off of past away last year. Sad deal but it was a cool experience.

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Thanks, that is how I got into this. I am getting a little past my physical ability to do something like this by myself. I really appreciated the guys at the shop letting me have access and getting involved.

When I was in high school a friend / classmate named Al had a 68 Firebird and wanted to make a tilt nose for it. He talked some guy into letting us "borrow" his car so we could pull a mold from it. Al had crashed his car and needed the front end so...

The only thing we knew about doing this was what one of the guys had read in Hot Rod or Popular Hot Rodding... Long story shortened, it came out quite well. We were all impressed with ourselves! LOL... We didn't hurt the borrowed car ( most important) and the resulting tilt nose worked just fine when we were done. I think this was one of the reasons I formed a dislike for body work tho.. LOL