Thread: Project '49 Shoebox.

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Im sure you guys have already thought about it, but you can use those doors. just a litttle more cutting, but you guys have the skills.

What amazes me is the fit you guys got without tilting the lower posts inward. It looks really good; I'm looking forward to watching the door post installation.

I keep saying I'm going to build a custom some day just so I can put '56 Packard Clipper taillights in something. It's only my opinion, of course, but those are the most beautiful taillights ever designed on any car anywhere. The first pair I ever saw were in a black '55 Chevy in Franklin, Indiana. That was in 1957 or '58; I was about 9 or 10 years old at the time and I have never lost my infatuation with them...

Thanks guys.

Brad, he isn't quite sure yet what he is going to do for the back side windows. He may modify a set of tudor windows or build his own framework and have it chromed, which is the way he is leaning right now. He is going to pretty much remove most of the sail panels so the side window sweeps back further.

Hotroddaddy, actually John that was the original plan to just modify the front doors by adding 6 inches to them, but after he thought about it he figured it would be easier to just start with tudor doors and not have to go through all that fabrication work and welding. He has one coming and thinks he found one in Oklahoma that is rustfree too. They will save a lot of rust repair work too.

Jim, I love those Packard lights too. I even like them when they extend the fenders way back and tuck a continental kit in between. I bet those lights bring a big buck right now, all of that old custom stuff has been rediscovered.

Funny you should mention about tilting the lower windshield posts inward, that is something we actually did tonight. Dan didn't like the way the top and bottom came to a peak in the inside lip, and it was bothering him. I told him the rubber seal around the windshield would more than cover it, but it was eating at him, so tonight we put a slit in each lower portion and bent both posts in an 1/8 of an inch per side at the top. Now the two posts kind of make a smoother transition. We still have to trim the gap between the top and lower posts to get it tighter there, but now the rear portion of the top lays down pretty tight against the body because we removed some metal back there that was obstructing it.

We are going to go to the shop every night and spend a few hours just tweaking and finessing the top until we get good gaps all around, then we can start tack welding it in place. Every time we work on it things start to fit better and better. It looks like we are seeing some daylight.

These pictures won't look much different from the last ones I posted as the changes are subtle, but they did allow the top to relax a bit more.

Don

Don i see some great work coming here and a great class. I have studied the chop work at the other site learning technics and where and why they cut in certain places . Great sheet metal work comes of this and this one i will be glued to as Dan transforms it .

Keep up the good work, and reassure Dan he will finish both projects before me!
Don sorry for this momentary hijack, but not knowing the clipper tail light I googled it and came up with these for sale on the HAMB from 2005
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=120932
also on ebay for 150. Cool lights.
Highjack officially over!

It just keeps getting better! I thought the fit looked good already, but Dan is such a perfectionist... I am really enjoying this thread already.

That was a good price on those Packard taillights back then. One year a guy at the Turkey run had two pair of complete units for sale; he had a used pair for $500 and a NOS pair for $1500! Fortunately, the lenses are being reproduced now and I have seen them for $100 a pair. That '55 Chevy I saw 40 years ago had just the lenses with the fenders sculpted to fit them...

I didn't realize the lenses were being reproduced, that is good because I have seen some at swap meets that were so bad you wonder how anyone could ever use them.

It's kind of funny when you think about it that a car not built by one of the big three turned out a taillight that became a must have item for customizers. I remember people swapping Packard engines into cars, and also the transmissions from certain years being used because of their strength. I knew some people who owned Packards,and they were really pretty good cars so it seems odd that they went out of business.

Don

In case anyone is interested, here's a link to one of the sites that carries the '56 Packard lenses:
http://thehotrodgirl.stores.yahoo.net/56patale.html

Studebaker-Packard made some really great cars; I've always wondered what drove them out of business. My dad always said it was the unfavorable tax structure of Indiana, but I doubt that was the sole cause. I do know that the 352 Packard engine was a real runner. The 1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk came with a 352 Packard engine and they were WICKED! There's a guy in Orlando (Nads on the HAMB) who has a '34 Ford coupe with a Packard engine.

That site, Hot Rod Girl, has some pretty neat stuff. Thanks for posting it. It looks like the '54 Chevy grille is high quality and true to the original design. I always liked them in a custom.

Dan has found a place that has repopped '49-'50 Ford bullet grilles complete, and he is thinking of going with one of those. We used to swap those out and either use a '51 upper grille bar and hood or a '50 Merc upper grille section, to which we would insert some other grille bar. But some guys today still want to retain the stock Ford grille, and that is what he is leaning toward.

Don

My first car was a '51 two door. Sigh, think about that a lot. Paid $200 bucks, or rather, my Dad did. Great shape. That was in '59. Drove it to work one day shortly after getting it. Quitting time I walked home like I always did. Almost home, I remembered I had wheels. Oh Joy. Haahaaa. Lot of memries there. Looking good guys. Perley

You were WAAAAAAY too young for alzheimers at that age. Funny story.

Just last night I was trying to find the TV remote. Picked up the cat and everything off the sofa looking for it. It was in my left hand the whole time. The home isn't too far off in my future.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

You were WAAAAAAY too young for alzheimers at that age. Funny story.

Just last night I was trying to find the TV remote. Picked up the cat and everything off the sofa looking for it. It was in my left hand the whole time. The home isn't too far off in my future.

Don

Look at it this way Don....... At least you weren't punching the cat and waiting for the channel to change!!!!!!

They say loss of "Electronics" is the first thing to go!
Car is looking wild Don, that is going to be a bad shoe. FYI a bud in our car club found 6 of those, 2 4dr (1-49,1-50), 4 2 dr's (2 of each) All for sale, been under aluminum carports for years. Cool cars, I would love to have one to do along with ya.

Come on Brick, let's build 'em side by side! You know you need another project. Dan and I have come to the conclusion that this build is so much fun because normally we start with marks on the garage floor and build the entire car from scratch. This one is an old car that is already there, we just have to make it better. That, and it is nice to build a custom as opposed to a hot rod for a change. I think that girl on Livin' the Low Life swung us over.

Tomorrow we have the whole day to work on it and hope to have the front posts completely welded up and be moving on to the rear portion. Last night he and I went to the shop for a few hours and spent more time making the front posts fit tighter. We decided that the top needed another 3/4 inch taken off the front posts to get a better profile, so we cut that much more off. Then we probably had the top off 10 times more ..........grind a little and see how it fits, and then grind some more.

It is pretty much there now, so tomorrow we are going to make some little backing plates to slip into the bottom part of the post, then when we weld up the gap we can get a hot weld with no burnthrough. These pictures are of what we got done last night, no super fantastic progress, but progress none-the-less. Dan found a second door in Oklahoma, and it should be in via Greyhound Bus sometime this week.

Don

I know your right Don, and I even brought the idea up to momma, I don't think she is againest. She hasn't said but she will as soon as she stops throwing things and ranting about my other 3 "Projects" not getting any attention and other things going back into the 60's I think she'll come around. How they can store that much information is beyond me, I can't remember where I took her to dinner last friday!