Palle Johansen 1940 Mercury Sedan Custom
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The trunk is now set into the new final position, a little bit more upright compare to earlier photos. The rear window has been cut out, and chopped for better proportions. Then clamped in place to see the flow.
Chopping the rear window. This get the rear window size better in proportions with the chopped side windows and windshield.
Climbing inside to figure out the perfect height for the rear window.
The metal band shows what the new roof shape will need to be. This is not going to be easy…. Lots of shaping ahead. The rear window will come down a bit more later. It is sitting a bit to high in this photo.
Creating the outside shape of the door frame was “easy”, but now the inner frames have to be tackled. The whole rear corner was removed.
Templates were cut, metal shaped and tacked to bend wire.
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Adding the “Factory Stock” fold on the edge of the door.
Starting to look really good. The inside still needs to be reshaped, but the overall shape is there and looking good.
Next step was to create the new door opening. Palle tacked some raisers onto the door frames that help guide the steel bar that will be used to create the new opening.
The stock door openings and section around the drip rail was completely removed. All this will be hand made to fit the new door opening and new position of the B-pillar.
The lower rear corner of the rear quarter window has now been removed and tacked to the rest of the window frame. The window template was used to mark the board that will be used to help guide how the frame needs to be shaped. As the photo shows, most of the original frame could be used after being shortened. A few cuts had to be made to help shape it, and now the lower rear corner will have to be hand shaped.
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Very nice and the finished product has to make the owner happy. I think the ‘c’ pillar area looks too large and a little out of place. I would have tried to incorporate the drip rail or a faux drip rail to try to break that area up. I would also try moving it around, not just try the stock position. Good luck.
Very nice and the finished product has to make the owner happy. I think the ‘c’ pillar area looks too large and a little out of place. I would have tried to incorporate the drip rail or a faux drip rail to try to break that area up. I would also try moving it around, not just try the stock position. Good luck.
Not to start WW3 but removal of the driprail is part of traditional golden era modifications of “shaving the body” and I cant see the reason for keeping it on any custom that is build within the traditional custom recipe . Sedans have a large C-pillar , that’s just a part of the geometry of a sedan roof . I have had issues with different custom modifications over the years and I figured its like art or music , those things that is not easy to understand or like right away can grow into a something of great beauty that last a lot longer , if you don’t like chopped sedans built in the traditional way maybe this thread is not for you .
Sedans and Sedanettes are quite hard to make flow during a top chop , to go the extra mile and think thru the modifications and take time in making the shape in the filler panels is essential in any custom build and specially for these large roof designs . Im just in the nosebleed sections of the rafters and applaud the custom work Palle and Rik are doing here and look forward to a new traditional golden era custom car !
Wolf
Not to start a 3 rd world war but not all early Kustoms had the driprail removed. Some looked great and some didn’t. Some were removed because it was easier to shave them than to properly reconstruct them. Without further debate I also applaud Palle and Rik for their efforts in creating this Kustom . I am anxious to see the final results.
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The 34 Cadillac V16 aerodynamic pioneered the shaved Driprail idea . Like its name says…. the aeronautical fuselage influence was a new direction to automotive styling which only a couple of years prior was a direct throwback to the horse drawn cart.
Love what you guys are doing.</p>Looking forward to every update on this thread! It should be required reading for anyone wanting to chop a top!
Not happy with the rear quarter window shape being build up from so many pieces, and always in for something new…. Palle used an kitchen table top piece of wood to cut the right shape rear quarter window opening and shaped the edged with the same radius as the mercury window frames.
He then clamped in a fresh piece of sheet metal in place and sandwiched it in between another piece of wood.
Heat and hammering and a lot of patience brought the metal into the right shape. The new one piece opening still needs to be fine tuned, especially around the lower rear corner.
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Great inspiration! Unless you have done it you don’t appreciate the amount of thought and calculation that goes into a build like this. So many factors come in to play and all need careful consideration. Sometimes you have to get it wrong… to get it right.
Well done on the quarter window.
Some times it just better to start from scratch.
Going to be another beautiful custom.
Torchie
1941 Cadillac front and rear bumpers arrived.
Front bumper needs to be narrowed, and reshaped a bit to follow the Mercury contours. The rear is still waiting for the second front to arrive so that the ribbed, for pleasure, center section can be joined with the more curved front end pieces.
Enjoy the beauty of Customizing
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