1957 Sandblasted Coupe

[ukinusa]

Some background:
Found in the desert of Utah ...Stored for over 25 years since being sand blasted and probably destined to be an outlaw. The center tunnel has been cut out, the gear shift 'cowl' under the back 'seats' cut off as well as the Y cable cover by the fuse block is missing. Overall in really great shape - rust holes scattered everywhere but still a great potential restoration. Pictures as found ...









One thought, and for few months I was really tempted to do this, was to fix the damage that made it unsafe - eg: missing tunnel, rotted rockers ...and then just "clear coat" the car "as is"; I guess I still could but ....I guess I will join the shiny brigade

[JTR70]

Thanks for sharing your new build with us Steve! You are probably using Firefox as your browser. Switch to either IE8, Google Chrome, or Safari. That should fix it. Thanks again! Justin

[ukinusa]

you are right - working in IE it's all good.

Inside looks pretty fine too - apart from the butchered tunnel - well its so hardly butchered as its missing, and the gear linkage mount being removed. I have new tunnel from of the our vendors ... and I have fabricated a new mount...not pretty but unseen ...





The two speaker mounts have been cut off too...I would love to find some to replace them - Anyone ?

The cable cover by the fuse block was removed too - luckily Vic had an old one, I guess from a race car he created...(Thanks Vic)


The rear kick panel has had attention too - will have to get new a panel from a vendor but will probably just use the middle part as the sides are solid (anyone interested in off cuts when I get to that part ?

[ukinusa]

The car is now mounted on Hexagonal cage - I would prefer a round one but hey ...and I have started to dig in.. where to start. the passenger side just happened to "up" when I got in the garage so decided the right longitudinal was a good a place to start...




Strange vents chiseled into the door well for ventilation - weird ! (on both sides too)

[ukinusa]

duplicate

[ukinusa]

Nervous about doing this so thanks to Justin for words of wisdom ...


Bending the hinge support back - I REALLY hope it goes back to where it started !


Air saw makes nice thin cut - no plasma cutter needed this time.


Peeling back that front patch revealed all sorts of rot ...but all pretty much contained. The new cover will need to ordered soon before I go much further ...



Jumping a couple of days; the panel is off, rust abounds but 95% sound and just pitting so all in all pretty solid so I am lucky - I think !


Started with an air saw, switched to grinding wheel and then finally got the plasma cutter out - fast and dangerous in that you can do damage pretty dam quick eg: I nicked the heater pipe but an easy plug repair...



Front patch panel removed to real more horror..

The bottom of the tube supports were rotted so fabricated reinforcement /repairs. Not pretty again - relearning my welding skills.

The front tray and wheel well got tackled as well today - repaired the tray lip and spliced in a new lower section of the wheel well that attaches to the shelf...hope I got it right...

[ukinusa]

Front door inner shelf / wheel well - a lot of simple rot - so lots of insert repairs to rebuild strength and integrity ... welding getting better






Had to cut the wheel well panel up a bit more to get me room to weld the patch in, new lower "part panel" will cover this repair.

[neilb]

doing a good job steve! keep it up

where abouts are you from in the uk? i was born and bred in sheffield left in 2008 landed down under

[ukinusa]

Born Sussex to RAF family so moved around, but from 17 mainly Brighton area before moving to Phili. in 1997 with the company I worked for; now in Utah, sort of retired !

[ukinusa]

Sorry if some of the pictures have been out of sequence - been playing catch up. Now almost update.
So put the rocker panel back up after removing the front shelf. Have to fabricate that today.

[JTR70]

My Pleasure to help out anyway that I can Steve. It's got a bit of rust but by today's standards that's a really nice shell you've got there . If the last owner hadn't hacked up the tunnel area you really would have been sitting pretty. I'll bet they thought they were really slick the day they hacked in those louvers in the drain trays there. Keep up the great work, the tube bosses and lower perimeter flange areas look very well preserved.

[John Pierce]

Steve,

Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard. The car looks really clean and mostly intact. The pictures from Justin's Coupster will really help you out here.


John

[Drew.s]

Welcome on board Steve from another Brit.

This looks like a very sound project. Did it come with engine, gearbox, suspension etc?

Keep posting the pics.

Regards
Drew
United Kindom

[roy mawbey]

Yes Steve like Drew I also live in the UK just along from Bognor Regis. Interesting thread you have going. Like the sound of your cutting equipment. Like Justin you probably have all the right tools.

I feel quite a bit of embarrassment when I think of mine from 40 years ago, a hacksaw, tin snips, a special holder for a hacksaw blade open ended and oxy/acetelene gear.

Your heater ducting inside the longs survived well I reckon. Interesting thread to follow!!!

cheers

Roy

[ukinusa]

Humm having the tools and being able to use them (like Justin) are two quite different animals !! But I am learning - I just need to slow down and be more patient !