NewOldWood

Not too bad a job, I've done several repairs of that same joint and been able to do the work without removing the quarter panel. I don't know if the glue joint in the left side is original or not, it could very well be the result of a previous repair. That's what you need to do though, remove a wedge shaped piece to get rid of all the rot and filler and replace it with new wood. With some careful grain and color matching and a little bit of luck you could even get it to blend in pretty well.

First post says runs but in need of full restoration. How long since it ran? How extensive of a restoration, rust, damage, etc...?

Sapele is what I've used on cars for this guy in the past and he seems to like it, so that's probably what this car will get.

Spent all of May and then some finishing the boat, but it's gone so I'm back to the car. Both quarter panels are done which means the roof is now in a fixed and permanent position. Next is to start filling in the holes. I'll probably start with the front doors and work my way back.

I've dealt with three upholsterers in the last three years, two of them well known and very expensive and one lesser known local shop. I wouldn't go back to any of them. In two cases I had to redo some of the work my self and the third required repair work by the paint guy. Well known chrome shop, discussed on the phone chroming some items and polishing some stainless parts. Hand delivered in two seperate piles and discussed again. They chromed everything. Another chrome shop ruined two pieces of custom made brass trim that I had to figure out how to reproduce. These are just recent examples, but it's not just a recent problem. In the future I have decided that I will not be dealing with any third parties. No painters, upholsterers, chrome shops, restorers of sub assemblies of any kind. I don't need the work and I dont want the headaches.

Salt is tough on everything. A modern wood boat from a maintenance standpoint is not much different than a fiberglass boat. This boat has a watertight bottom, can be stored on a trailer, and is finished in an automotive clear coat, which will hold up just as well as the finish on your new car.

Already there! Was built to be used, it'll never see a boat show.

Attaching a bracket directly to the wood is your only option without a gutter. I would have built a bracket that attached under the upholstery with a tab of some sort to attach a roof rack too that came out just under the molding, probably out of stainless. Could attach something to the exposed wood, and might be able to make something reasonably inconspicuous. I wouldn't go through the upholstery, but I guess you could if you wanted to. Is it just the lighting or angle? Something odd appears to be going on under the upholstery. Is the roof framing still original?

Hectic might have been an understatement. I learned new skills that I shouldn't have had to.......but, it's done and it's gone!

According to my info Ionia built almost all 48 Chevys, the few that were built by Cantrell were special order. Cantrell bodies had a lower door rib and the spare tire was under the rear floor instead of on the tailgate so did not have a split rear bumper.

This was gone a little longer than I thought it might be, but it's back. Lots to do. Spring is in the air, owners are anxious, and life gets hectic.....

Drivers side quarter panel frame is done, still have the panel and inside trim but those are for later. Passenger side will be the same routine except that the original piece is missing the back section so will have to wing it there.

Just renewed my subscription. Money well spent!

Appears as though street racing is at least 100 years old. And aparantly fun for the whole family.

This site is much more oriented towards restoration than modification, you are going to get more people trying to talk you out of it than you are people trying to help you with it. I say it's your car and do what you want with it, but a place like the HAMB would be much more receptive to your project than this will be. Also, the wood body on your car is really not relevant to the kind of mechanical modification you want to make. Good luck!

A left instead of a right...etc,etc. There must be an infinite number of ways to screw up because I'm still finding new ones! There is a thread on here from a while ago about veneering a T&C trunk panel, that's the car.

What they should do is remove enough material from the mating surface of the cap to make the bore slightly undersize, then bore it back to original spec.

Working my way around the fender and along the roof line. There are five pieces of wood that are finger jointed together to get around the fender and three along the roof line. None of the pieces have anything straight or square about them, lots of compound curves and angles. Getting the shape of a piece correct is just the first step, the finger joint then has to be cut at the right orientation such that it lines up with the adjoining pieces. Shaping these parts is time consuming, and the more time you get into making a piece the more costly a mistake becomes. There's no fixing an incorrectly cut finger joint, you throw the piece out and start over. Something that I like to do that was not done at the factory is to use a single board to make continuous parts such as these. I like to match grain and color as closely as I can, as opposed to randomely selected wood. This of course goes out the window if I cut a piece wrong and have to start over. Sometimes slower really is faster.

This is a Ross box used in a 1937 Gar Wood boat. It has the adjustable mounting like you mention, but no casting number on it, at least not in the same place. The guy that restored the steering wheel that was used with this box said that it was from a 1936 Hudson, or at least the wheel was.

How many working mechanics today know what a dwell meter is?

How well do the body parts line up now?

I would say your biggest hurdle is going to be the roof header. If you can successfully copy that it will be all down hill from there. Do you have a way to cut finger joints? You're going to need that for the header and the roof side rail repairs, and possibly elsewhere. I have a duplicating machine that I use for the more complex parts, like the header. These parts can be copied by hand but it is much more difficult, not what I would call an entry level project. I'm not trying to discourage you, in fact I generally try to encourage people to do their own work. I honestly believe that the reason most people think they can't do this kind of work is that they have never tried. A certain amount of natural aptitude is going to be required, but if you've got that along with a strong enough desire to see the project through.....who knows. Keep in ming that at one time Heiden, Nichols, Kline, and myself knew nothing about building wood cars. We all figured it out, it obviously can be done. I would also be happy to answer any questions you might have along the way. Just look my ad up and give me a call any time.

And if the part gets noticed at all it probably never gets a second look. People tend to be awe struck by simple things while the truly difficult work tends to get burried deep enough in the car as to go unnoticed.