americanretrodave

As I mentioned earlier, I have two C1‘s that I‘m doing, this ‘59 and a ‘62 I‘ve had forever. I was thinking of doing the ‘62 original but I’m having so much fun with this ‘59 in planning and building it my way, that I’ve decided to do the ‘62 the same way. This decision left me one custom chassis short with two original California chassis’ for sale.

At any rate, I'm having a new chassis built that will incorporate C6 suspension with the exception of a Viper rear end. Thus allowing me to still mount the trans to the bell housing. This new chassis, will require me to mod the original fuel tank compartment since the rear side rails will encroach the sides of it. Since I’m deep into the mods on this ‘59 I’m probably going to use the new chassis on it and save the Street Shop Chassis for the ‘62. I could build a smaller fuel tank to fit between the chassis and try to keep the tank in the original fuel tank compartment or, what I’m now thinking of doing, building and mounting the tank in the spare tire compartment. Doing this would allow me to clean up the driver side by omitting the fuel tank door and give me some additional space behind the seats. I’m also thinking of building a couple of compartments in the original fuel tank area, between the frame rails (which will soon be there) to house the battery and some additional storage with a lid for access. I’m not a fan of where Chevy Engineers placed the battery on the C1’s. I thought about having the fill for the tank which will soon be in the spare tire well behind the license plate, but that might not be enough drop to fill it properly, if so, I may have to work out something to fill it up inside the trunk.

Any ideas out there on the above would be appreciated.

americanretrodave

Pictorial update:

Getting the front end back in place, it was nice to see;



After taking it down to the extent this one was, I found all kinds of hair-line cracks around the trunk and hood openings, here we're fixing the ones around the trunk;



Since the '59 is at my fiberglass man's shop, I started on the '62, here are some pictures of some parts I got back from bead blasting;











I had thought the hood was original, amazing what you can find out about your car when you start bead blasting;

wmf62

the pop rivets pretty well tell the tale...
Bill

americanretrodave

Yes they do, I hadn't really paid much attention to any of the parts and didn't notice the rivets. I've had this car for quite a few years, just sitting in the shop, basically, in the same condition it was when I brought her in. Starting to take her apart and having the fiberglass bead blasted are really the first things I've done to her.

mickatbp

A-R-D,
By beadblasting... do you mean soda .... what blast media are you using?
Mick

americanretrodave

Hi Mick,

I won't let soda near any of my cars. I did that with a dune buggy and I had nothing but problems, for me, never again. CAPS here in Fresno blasted it for me, they did an excellent job, they call it bead blasting but the residue left in the doors looked like super fine, almost powder like, red sand. Both doors, the hood, the trunk lid, and the boot cover behind the seats cost me $410.00. I'm pleased.

Dave

mickatbp

Dave, would be good if you could ask CAPS what they used, sounds like fine garnet (might be garnet tailings - already used once), also be good to know what pressure they used so that the blasting media didn't tear the **** out of the glass and resin. I'm at the first stages of looking at how to get the paint off mine with out problems later when I go to paint it.... I know chemical stripper once wicked into even a single strand of glass = headache after headache. I always thought soda was the best option as it left a nice neutral finish that just neede a wash to get rid of the dust ... why don't you like soda? Hmmm might start a new thread on this!!

Stewart Allison

You have photos of the seems being done. Why did they need doing and what glue is that dribbling down the panels ?
I love your energy are you retired or do you attack your hobbies after hours you seem to have a lot of time tied up in these cars. I like yourself have way to many projects on the go and have now decided to take off Wednesday to do them. So far it's been fantastic and I have already pulled the donk out of the Mustang and have it ready for engine bay tidy up. How do you juggle family and hobbies. I find it difficult ! Stewy

americanretrodave

I had CAPS 'soda blast' a dune buggy I was building, I washed the heck out of it afterwords, I mean I really washed it. Then it baked in the hot 100 plus degrees Central CA Summer for weeks while I worked on it. I then laid on the paint and clear coat, it came out perfect, I was really pleased;







Then weeks later, after I had it all back together, it seemed that everytime I left it in the sun, little bubbles would pop up and then drop back down, leaving little craters;





I had to strip it down and redo everything I had done including repainting it. I went the bodyshop 101 and all the pros told me that it was the soda and using soda on old fiberglass is not a good thing to do, they said you'll never get the soda out. Even to this day, I've seen a couple of little bubbles return on the buggy but fortunately they were not in an area that bothered me. That being said, everytime I leave it out in the sun, when I return, to this day, I look it over for more bubbles.

That is why I say I'll never use soda again.

I'll call CAPS in the morning and find out exactly what they used, but they had instructions in big red print not to use soda, they told me what they used, but I need to get it correct.

americanretrodave

My fiberglass guy is great, he has done 14 C1’s and they were all perfect in my eyes. I can paint and do most repairs, but I’m not in his league nor do I try to be. He is extremely meticulous in everything he does, I’ve often thought he would have been a great airplane mechanic because he checks, rechecks and checks again on everything he does. That being said, he grinds down all the original seams until you can almost see through them, he then uses fiberglass to really tie the body together. What you’re seeing there is new fiberglass including the mat, a testimony to how much he ground out to have it as flush as they are. The fiberglass around the hood and trunk openings are repairing hairline cracks that showed up after the body was totally stripped (I would have never known they were there until it was stripped). Once he has everything in place and all modifications done, he’ll sand everything to get it as strait and perfect as he can. He wants all the chrome work done so he can fit everything, he says that re-chroming does change the parts a little and he wants it all to be perfect, that includes doors, hood, and lids, all have to fit perfectly. At that point, he’ll add a gel-coat, something they didn’t come with. Once the gel-coat is done, he’ll really start blocking it and making sure it’s the way I want it. At this point, I have to decide if I let him take it through and paint it or if I’ll take over and do that.

While Tom is working on the fiberglass of the ‘59, I thought I would get the ‘62 stripped down to see what I had and get the motors, transmissions and chassis’ ready. I have a LS2 and a T56 ready for the ‘59 and an LS1 and another T56 ready for the ‘62.

To answer your questions; I’m not retired, I farm, (poultry, citrus, stone fruit and grapes) and I own and manage a company that produces vintage pedal cars (you might have seen them in stores) as well as a vintage Coca-Cola products (quality products - machines, coolers, clocks), I also produce downsized 15" steering wheels for 55-60 Chevys and 55-65 Fords, keeping the original look but with a more manageable size. My only daughter is a Junior at UCI and she has grown up never knowing what I would be doing next, so she's used to it. My wife and I are blessed, she’s a great kid.

I know what you mean about never having enough time, that Wed plan sounds great, post some pictures of your Mustang, I would like to see it. Finding time is always a problem, but then again, staying busy keeps you young.

Dave

Stewart Allison

Pedal cars ah ! What is it about pedal cars that us Memorabilia people love. They are really cool stuff. Coca cola is another great collection to have. I just bought a repo Coke Cooler to take to car shows in the C1 they go together like peas in a pod. What pumps have you got Dave. I'm looking at a couple at the moment. I can really only fit one in the shed but would love a gravity fed in each corner.

americanretrodave

You can see what I make at www.american-retro.com, you may have bought one of my picnic coolers, I make the Coca-Cola Cooler, they also work great for a battery holder. I have a bunch of gas pumps, several visibles (gravity feed), a few clock faces, a few Wayne 60's, and the usual stuff. I'm making a one-side chess set out of some of them, using two visibles (a 10 gallon and a 5 gallon) for the King and Queen, two clock faces for the castles, two Wayne 60's for the Bishops, and two Bennetts for the horses. They're all the same colors, etc. I'm going to line them up on one side of the shop. I just picked up another old trailer today, (I have 12 of them), this one is a 1937 Pierce-Arrow, they only made 450 of them. Old campers are a lot of fun.

Dave

91DRM

Dave, doesn't look like you have much time for tv but did you see the bumper car they made driveable on American Restoration? How about some info on your speedster, is it 'glass also?

americanretrodave

I watch American Restoration but I must have missed that one, I’ll look for it.

I’ve had more fun with that Speedster than almost any of my cars. A friend of mine has a business making new chassis’ for VW Dune Buggy’s, they are really impressive. At any rate, he had this little guy under a car port for years and try as I could, he wouldn’t sell it. It’s an early Intermeccanica 356 Speedster with one of his custom chassis’ under it. Finally after two years, he called me up one day, in fact the day after I purchased my C6 and said he was getting divorced and if I wanted the little guy it was mine. I bought it on the spot. It’s not the best speedster in the world, in fact sitting exposed under that car port forever gave it way too much undeserved patina, it truly looks like it just came out of a barn and that’s the way I’ve kept it for the most part. I did redo the interior, (I had my limits), and I added duel carbs and put disc brakes on all the corners, it’s a fast little guy;





Passing where James Dean had his fatal accident;

Stewart Allison

Dave is this one yours. I live in Australia and it's come a long way if it's one of yours ! Stewy

91DRM

americanretrodave

Hi Stewy,

No that one came out about 11 months after I introduced mine, exactly the same size but they have 'ICE COLD' embossed, which never was on the picnic coolers (this size) and it's in the wrong location, it should have 'IN BOTTLES' right below the logo (if you are trying to keep it looking original). Mine are embossed very deep, those are shallow, and mine are also embossed with the Coca-Cola Company below. The color is different too. Those tried to come into the U.S. but Coke stopped them, I understand they are still being sold in the eastern (to us) Pacific rim countries.

Here is the one I make;



And this is the Coca-Cola machine I make, for the machine, "ICE COLD" is in the proper location;

Stewart Allison

Dave I was looking at buying an original one but after seeing the finish of them I was disapointed because I actually wanted to use it. So I saw yours on the Internet and was about to put an order in when I saw one advertised on eBay around the corner from my house. I thought it must of been one of yours I ended up getting it for very little money and it works real well has a good seal on top and looks authentic to me any way. I will probably buy an original one soon just for decoration in the shed. I nearly bought one in my home town on the net but the guy wasn't playing by e bay rules. When I won it he tells me it didn't reach reserve but it had no reserve on it. Then I saw it for auction at Shannons who is a auto auction and insurance group. It was a original still in box original 50's cooler unused. I think it sold for $400 which I wasn't going to give this tool any of my money for that cheat after lying on eBay. When I have less projects on the go I'm going to have a go at a gravity pump.

americanretrodave

Hi Stewy,

No problem, I understand completely, you got one that serves your purpose and as stated, at a good price. I hope my comments didn't bother you. I’m proud of what I make and have strong opinions. I also made these coolers for Chevy, including a Corvette one.

Dave

Stewart Allison

What do you mean Corvette ones ? your comments never hit a nerve don't forget I have been married for 20 plus years you think anyone on this forum is going to make me cringe ? No way I get abused everyday from me other half ! I have skin that a Mundial knife wouldn't cut through LOL. I'm interested in that Corvette cooler you said you made. Have you a photo I could dribble over I need some new fodder material. Stewy