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This '39 Willys coupe body arrived in this
condition. |
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| Years
of abuse has taken it's toll
on this old body. |
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Both doors were in equally bad condition. |
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| Most of the internal components will be
salvageable. The hinge mounting bracket and upper reinforcement will be
re-used. I will be making new door shells as well as skins for this build,
as cost prohibits reconditioning of panels requiring this much work. |
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Notice the bullet holes in the decklid. |
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| Original Willys decklids are very scarce.
Although this inner structure is in poor condition, it will be straightened
and used for a pattern to make a replacement part. the hinge mounting
area may be salvageable for re-use. It will, of course, receive a new
skin as well. |
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The roof panel is also very thin, with pinholes
present in several locations around the perimeter. It also had large dents
covering the entire surface area. I removed the dents and used this
roof as a template for making a buck. |
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| In this shot, you can see that the roof
has bullet holes present as well. The rear window area will likely be
re-used. |
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Building the buck takes some careful planning.
A bit of forethought goes a long way here, as it has to be designed as
a modular unit. |
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| Here are the buck components. The buck
is assembled inside the original panel. It's then dis-assembled, removed
and welded on the opposite side for added strength. |
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All the components are then placed
back into the original part and bondo is used to cover the 1/4" rods
and to make contact with the original panel.
The buck is now ready for use.
The new panels will be
placed on this buck
to check for final fit.
It will also act as an
assembly jig, as the separate
panels will be clamped
securely to the buck for
tack welding.
And lastly, the buck is
used as a hammerform for
performing flanging operations around window and door openings.
To see more of this process click here. |
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| I decided early on that this project would
require a complete re-body. The entire outer skin was just too far gone
to economically repair. The inner structure, for the most part,
is sound and will be re-used. The cowl will require some attention, but
plans are to modify is slightly anyway. The rear inner fenders will need
work as well, but they are repairable. The floor was also beyond economical
repair, so it will be replaced as well. This leaves us with very little
to work with, so I will certainly have to rely on those old coachbuilding
practices to bring this one back to life. |
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