Mark Wojcik 1956 Olds Nomad
- This topic has 30 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 3 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Sorry for keeping up with the build. Even with being forced to retire, I’m so busy! Working on a couple things, including my house, like a 41 Willys, Les PoPo, and Ted Prada’s 50 Chevy (involved in a fender bender)
Quickly, the roof is pretty much done, just have to weld and finish a few pinholes in the corners, by the drip rails. The rusted window channels are mostly done, bit of welding and grinding left. Tailgate area fabricated, new tailgate skin, and lower pan. Addressing old rust and collision repairs on the quarter panels now. Reshaping well well openings so the new skirts fitĀ (Pete used 56 Chevy patch panels on the front quarters.)
Sorry for not keeping up with the build. Even with being forced to retire, I’m so busy! Working on a couple things, including my house, like a 41 Willys, Les PoPo, and Ted Prada’s 50 Chevy (involved in a fender bender)
Quickly, the roof is pretty much done, just have to weld and finish a few pinholes in the corners, by the drip rails. The rusted window channels are mostly done, bit of welding and grinding left. Tailgate area fabricated, new tailgate skin, and lower pan. Addressing old rust and collision repairs on the quarter panels now. Reshaping well well openings so the new skirts fitĀ (Pete used 56 Chevy patch panels on the front quarters.)
Much more work was done in the last few months. Subframed the car. Parts were hard to find, and expensive to rebuild the Olds stuff, and I wanted, at least, modern disc brakes, and steering.
Since I had to do so much hammer and dolly work on the quarters, I cut out almost all of the inner metal to access it. Fixed rusted wheel wells, moved the pinch welds that attached the inner panels to the bottom of the quarter windows, since the old hardtop ones were not in the right location. Made new inners with my bead roller. Access panel to get to side trim fasteners.
Kind of custom work here: Changing the ’88’ tail lights to ’98’ tails, in keeping with the “top of the line” trim package that Nomad and Safaris had. Still trying to locate “98” side trim, if anyone has any parts. I have to control myself and keep reminding me, NOT a custom..more of a ‘concept car’!
Finished the Willys, and Ted’s 50, so I could spend more time on my Olds-Mad. Lots of filler work and primer done. had to cut out and replace old brazed in patches. John P. had just overlapped all the things he did at that point, and brazed them, tapped in with a hammer and filler. Not very nice. The overlapped patches had trapped water and dirt and there were rust holes in the newer metal. I had to hog out the trim holes to remove all traces of brass, and TIGed in new metal.
‘ve been a bit negligent in posting here! Body got to the point where it was mostly roughed out. Even trial fit some “98” trim I was able to find. Needed some inspiration to keep on going! Immediately after, I pulled the body off frame.Ā Mounted the frame to the frame table, and cut off the front 76 Impala section. Turns out it was a bit too wide. Somehow, in the distant past, when I had gotten the frame, I thought I measured it out and concluded it was a perfect match for my 55 Olds. Well, I was wrong, should have remeasured!
So I narrowed the frame, and reinstalled it. With the help of the I beams on the table, it was a much more precise install. I also straightened the lower part of the rails, and boxed them. Pete had run the car pretty low and must have hit a lot of speed bumps.
Next, mount on the rotisserie, sandblast the welds and the 56 Olds part of the frame. More grinding and sanding, then 2 coats of Master Series silver, 2 coats of black. It’s an MCU similar to POR-15, but I like it more. Very tough stuff!
While the chassis is curing, and I’m waiting for some parts needed to assemble it, I decided to do something with the 2 Lincolns I got when a friend moved to Nevada. 4 Dorr sedan, in very good condition, and a truly rotten 2 door hardtop. Plans are to use the doors, and roof off the hardtop, to covert the 4 door. Mild chop, simple mods to the body, and put it up for sale, at different points of the build.
Les PoPo…. the owner took the frame to rebuild it. But it’s been over a year, since he did. I can’t do any more of my job until we get it back, and put the body back on.
All you guys progressing with your projects has made me jealous! But I haven’t been idle, by any means!
The Lincoln is back in the house garage. I roughed out the chop, cut the front windshield, sunk the rear one, and primered it. Also put the flush mounted “Billy buttons” in the doors. No interest from anyone buying it, though.
Les PoPo is still in the indecisive stage. I fixed the really bad stuff on the undercarriage, including some terrible body mounts. Now waiting for the choice of paint for underneath, and if Mike wants to detail the underside. There’s a ton of old welds, and rough hammered sheet metal under there, and the debate goes on whether to remove the rough work of the old masters, or finesse it, and make is look “modern” nice.
The Olds chassis is pretty much done. Built a crazy “Quad” exhasut system, with headers, in stainless for the car. Hope it sounds good! Still have to rip apart the engine and clean it up. Patched up some bad stuff on the floors, and mounts, and began building the cargo area.
Thanks for sharing, Mark.Ā Good to see the Covid pandemic had at least one bright side”Ā you’re making great progress!Ā That Olds concept Nomad is really inspiring. Don’t weaken, we’re cheering you on.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.