Chop Finished... Rake Mocked...

The chop is completed. Here are some detail shots of the rear... very smooth.

Chris from SFSS and I mocked up the stance of the car and it's really exciting to see. More than just moving the front and rear of the frame up and down we had to consider the tire diameter and suspension that'll be used. The goal is to give the car a traditional but aggressive feel. One thing I enjoy about late 40's to mid 50's hod rods is how raw they are. Details of these same types of cars change as the 50's progress. Motivation for this car comes from those styling changes. So where the car is ending up stylistically is late 50's early 60's.

4th Stance... love the rake.

This is a 30" radius circle, my tire will be a little larger in diameter than this. A 16 x 7.50 Firestone is about 31.3". However, the gap from the top of the tire to the top of the wheel well will be similar to the cardboard circle.

3rd stance.

Second Stance.

1st Stance.

There's more soon to come. Engine and transmission details are on the way!

The Ruler... Salt Flats Speed Shop

Here are some shots from Salt Flats Speed Shop. The coupe is back under the knife. I've got a great feeling about the progress so far. Chris, from SFSS, is quite an impressive metal man.

As I now understand, chopping the car this way allows for less distortion by keeping the welds near the belt line.

Here's the inside, unfinished.

I was a little skeptical of using after market sheet metal parts, but this lower panel from Mac's fits pretty good.

Here's the relief cuts that'll make the pieces go where they're intended.

I've got an original 1932 tank and a lot of times original pieces don't fit perfectly in an after market frame. I've heard about guys having to grind some of the frame rail to get them to fit properly. That's not the case with the Ionia frame... the tank dropped right in and the only thing keeping it from lining up was the steel tubing coming out of the pickup, a pretty simple fix.

Once the chop is all welded, then it's on to filling the roof.

Inspiration at The Roadster Show

The L.A. Roadster Show ruled.

I could've snapped a thousand pictures but the truth was I was having too much fun to stop a moment and take pics. Here are a few of the pics I did take.

I finally got to meet the guys from Ionia Hot Rod Shop.

Here's their booth (and my frame).

An amazing 35 Roadster. They're pretty high on my wish list. This one was super-clean

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Love the Casny Coupe...

The only thing missing on Father's Day was my dad. I'd love to get him to fly out with me next year. If you'd like to see more of the show, this man took TONS of pics.

Teaser...

It's been a little while since an update.  It's a shame, I know.  Life, however, is always life-ing and the Coupe hasn't had any attention.  

I spoke with Matt from Ionia Hot Rod Shop today and we talked hot rods for a few minutes.  In the conversation he slipped in how incredible the frame looks since they hand polished it and have been treating it with Gibbs.  I can only imagine what it looks like.  Seriously, that's all I can do until Linh and I head out to the L.A. Roadster's show on Father's Day weekend where I'll be able to snap some pics of it before it comes home.  It'll be in Ionia's booth on display --- that alone excites me!  I've never owned anything that's been displayable but these guys rule and I'm sure it'll be amazing.  I cannot wait to see it.  

More, more, MORE!

...from Ionia Hot Rods!

They flipped the frame and fabbed up the front wishbone mounts.  This will pull the mounts more toward the center.  One reason I wanted the "bones" this way is for a cleaner look.  Many times people mount the bones to the frame at the leading edge of the reveal.  While it's traditional and it works, I've never been a huge fan of the look.  Plus, pulling the ends of the bones in may improve the suspension characteristics but that's a whole different conversation. I'm a sucker for details too.  The rivets really make a rather simple modification look like it was done by the factory,

I'm excited to get the frame here and get the body on.  However, that moment is being postponed.  Originally it had been planned to be here around mid-May but Matt and I spoke and the frame is going to the L.A. Roadster show with the fellas and is going to sit in their booth.  I think that's pretty cool.  They're going to hand polish the frame and I'm sure it'll look stellar.  Like always, I'll keep the blog updated.

Update Pics from Ionia

Matt from Ionia Hot Rod Shop came through with more pictures.  These guys rule.  I'm not going to mess up this post with words.  Just enjoy their art.