my dream custom

[mike sutton]

thanks guys, there aren’t a lot of people locally that i can talk customs with so this site helps feed the fire. thanks again for the kind words.

[mike sutton]

with the quarters now roughed in i had some rust repair and fitting issues below the taillights.
the original packard design was 2 pieces butted together with a stainless trim pinched in between them which trapped moisture and rusted the whole area.

[mike sutton]

so i decided to make each side a single seamless piece.
i was able to make the outsides longer and fill in the gaps at the ends of the new lower quarter patch panels, and go lower to fill in behind the new bumper.
with one side made it’s looking way better already.

[mike sutton]

to make sure both sides turned out the same i made a quick template from a piece of plywood with a couple of reference marks. ( i use what i have)
then flip it over to the other side and start matching.
started on the inside and worked my way around to the outside.

[mike sutton]

i don’t have any pictures but i also filled in the holes below the taillights that were originally for back up lights and the little bit of original seams that was left. next i have to make a whole new rear splash pan so the bumper had to go back on to be drilled for the tailpipes to run thru.

[Dave (a.k.a. rodncustomdreams)]

Very nice Mike! Very, very nice! I can almost hear the burble of the pipes as you cruise your kemp ’round town..

Dave

Jus' creepin' along..

[Kenneth Kristiansson]

Have been watching this quietly: I have to say this will be a realy nice kustom with some good ideas and good craftsmanship. Rear end will look awsome.

[1952B3b23]

Looks great man, very nice work!

"The devils in the details"

[Larry Pointer]

Craftsmanship! And inspiration, with those little tricks of fabrication. Keep ’em coming!

[mike sutton]

to finish up the rear of the car i had to make a new splash pan. since i lengthened the quarters and narrowed a different bumper, i had to start from scratch. i started by making a posterboard pattern of the new shape of the back of the body. (i left the other side of the pattern long)
then using an idea from mark wojick, who is a member on here, i made a wooden hammer form from some 1″ thick pieces of wood that were cut to shape and the lower one rounded on the edge with a router. clamped them to a work bench with an 18 gauge metal blank sandwiched in between.

[mike sutton]

hammered the exposed blank down tight to the hammer form the full length.
after hammering the whole piece, it is removed from the hammer form.
and it is clamped in place for a trial fit. the outside edge is still long and will be fit to the bumper after it is fit to the body.
next step was to get under the car and trace the shape of the bumper to the underside of the splash pan. then take the pan back off, cut to shape and put back on.

[mike sutton]

i used a tipping wheel in my bead roller to put a slight bend along the outside edge to slope down under the bumper.
unfortunately, i needed to have the bumper mounted to fit the pan but i couldn’t get the pan back on in one piece with the bumper on so i had to cut off the ends and reattach them later.

[Torchie]

Nice job on the filler panel.
I made the rockers and lower box extensions for my custom the same way. Made a wooden buck first.
Looking great.
Torchie

[Larry Pointer]

Diabolically ingenious! CCC just keeps getting better. The forum threads are beyond measure. So many great ideas and solutions, so little time.

[mike sutton]

thanks guys. i was really surprised at how easy it was to make the hammer form. since i only have basic tools this worked great and i was thrilled with how it came out. i really love the look of smooth flowing seamless customs and with everything welded up it’s starting to show. the real test will be to see it in paint.

[Author]

Posts