volvo p1800 to approximation of a ferrari 275gtb spyder : v12, 5spd, tube chassis

I have been plugging away at wiring the chassis, ecu, etc. but importantly I reached out to Wray Schelin (pro shaper workshop you may be familiar with his youtube) and I'm making a trip up to his shop very soon to learn the art of metal shaping.  In preparation for that I've been getting the wireform really nailed down starting with the rear deck lid and tops of the rear quarters.  I had to do this by studying a lot of reference photos and just applying a lot of guesswork.  

I will be wiring in the trunk shut lines in the coming days.

Up front the nose of the car had some hollow areas and a peak in the center, and it was a little low on the reverse just inside the headlight area.  it just wasn't right.  I decided to cut it out and make that portion a wireform too as well as adding the shut lines.

 I can't describe how tedious this process is to get the wire for the shut line edges perfect!  the "hood" is now easily removable which is great.  I also eliminated the hood bulge from the wireform as I think it will be easier to fabricate the hood in one skin and then modify/add it after. 

I have some neat gauges I had made by speedhut that I will share shortly too. 

Nice to see this taking shape! 

Every time you post new pics I feel that this just can't get any better.

And then you post again and prove me wrong. Every. Single. Time.

You just keep raising the bar. 

Looking forward to your graduation from the Ray Schelling school of metal magic. You are already starting at a post graduate level as far as I can tell. Are you actually taking one of his seminar/classes or doing a one-on-one consult specific to this project?

Pete

Thank you all!  Pete- I am taking the whole car up there for 15 work days for a "project driven" class.  He is no longer doing the group classes.  I am hoping to soak up as much knowledge as I can on the trip, make some really nice panels for the car, but the real goal is to be able to come home with the knowledge and confidence to be able to create any panel on the car myself.

In reply to 275nart :

That is going to be interesting. Looking forward to hearing and seeing the results.

Pete

In reply to 275nart :

It'll be nice to see it in metal, but there's a not-insignificant part of me that really wants to see the wire frames skinned aircraft-style

Your work is gorgeous.

I have wrapped up the rear wireform with the trunk edge and body edge

also a little work on the gauges and bezels.  I am probably going to tweak the design to remove the border around (which was supposed to be an attachment point for some chrome edging trim) and on the tach/speedo cluster I will move the gauges slightly closer together.  In the volvo there was a rectangular tall gauge between the tach and speedo and now there's nothing to occupy that space.  The dash frame will have to be modified slightly to move them closer together but I think it will be worth it. 

An update with a bunch of photos from my time spent in Mass.  I feel like I really learned a whole lot, made some great looking panels, and came home with a lot of tool Envy as well.  Wray was great and I really enjoyed spending time at proshaper learning his method.   

unloading

learing the flexible pattern system for shaping

loading up to head home





 

Wow.

Just... Wow...

Time DEFINITELY well spend at the workshop. I know I should stop being so surprised by the quality of fabrication in this thread, but you always seem to up the ante.

Gorgeous.

Also: More pictures. Please and thank you.

Yeah, what he said. 

WOW!!

I stumbled on to Wray's  YouTube video on the build. WOW, I cant believe how far it came in the short time you were working with Wray.

Pete

I subscribe to Wray's Youtube channel, and I was pretty sure that I recognized this car when the video came out.  Haven't watched it yet, will do so now.  You did some beautiful work there!  I know what you mean on the tool envy, did you use hand tools/English wheel, or does he have bigger stuff like a power hammer?

You probably already know about him, but I've been watching Mike Cornfield's Youtube channel and he's been hosting classes at his shop recently.  The work he does is amazing, but he also has some amazing power tools that most of us will never have.  

Once again, great work, looks like the car is taking major strides toward completion!

THIS IS AWESOME! I am super impressed with your work.

This car looks amazing!  Well done!  Keep it up!

Wow. This is amazing! Some people have serious skill! It would almost be a shame to cover that metalwork in paint - there's something about smooth finish metal that started as flat sheets that should be shouted. There's no opportunity for skim coat to hide imperfections - not that I see any and I find it gorgeous the way it is now.

Ditto. Beautiful work. 

Thank you fellas!  I was there a total of 19 days about 11-12hr days.  Wray gave great instruction and helped me on what to do when I got myself into trouble (which was several times).  But as he says metal is clay so there's almost always a fix for any goof ups.  All the panels were made by me Wray probably spent 20 minutes total touching any of those panels!  But that was the goal, to learn and do it all myself. 

Kendall Frederick said:

I subscribe to Wray's Youtube channel, and I was pretty sure that I recognized this car when the video came out.  Haven't watched it yet, will do so now.  You did some beautiful work there!  I know what you mean on the tool envy, did you use hand tools/English wheel, or does he have bigger stuff like a power hammer?

You probably already know about him, but I've been watching Mike Cornfield's Youtube channel and he's been hosting classes at his shop recently.  The work he does is amazing, but he also has some amazing power tools that most of us will never have.  

Once again, great work, looks like the car is taking major strides toward completion!

Thank you.  He has a power hammer but says there was no reason to use it really.  The hand hammer then wheel method is faster and easier to read as you're going along, plus it's a lot quieter and you don't vibrate your hands to jello.  A power hammer also leaves a hammered finish on the panels instead of nice smooth chromed up look like the wheel.

 Shrinking can be done on a stump (there's probably only 2 more panels on the car that will need shrinking) the rest of the shaping can be done on a sand bag with a mallet and then wheeled up.  I would like to get a better wheel and a budget upright planishing hammer to dress the welds but my bead roller/tipping wheel and kick shrinker/stretcher will work just fine for all the rest of the work.  I do need to make some hand tooling as I go and buy some more small hand dollies etc. 

edwardh80 said:

Wow. This is amazing! Some people have serious skill! It would almost be a shame to cover that metalwork in paint - there's something about smooth finish metal that started as flat sheets that should be shouted. There's no opportunity for skim coat to hide imperfections - not that I see any and I find it gorgeous the way it is now.

Thanks!  There are definitely some things that show up after welding, lots of fine work to do to get it in the 99% if I decide to fully polish it.  Even on those finished pieces I see stuff when I look at it for a couple seconds.

 I don't mind the look with the welds cleaned up and planished and sanded, it's kind of cool to see where it was all put together.  I don't plan to paint it either way.  I have a way to skin the cowl area and windshield frame as well so that can all be aluminum.    

this quote is from a far different subject, but within this context it still works.

"Words escape me as i try to speak."

so, what happens to the wireform when the body is complete?

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

this quote is from a far different subject, but within this context it still works.

"Words escape me as i try to speak."

so, what happens to the wireform when the body is complete?

 

Good question and I'm not really sure on that!  I've done some chopping up in the process to fit some of the panels better so the pieces may not be that great looking at the end. 

In reply to 275nart :

It's stunning and you clearly have a gift.  Thank you for sharing this with us.

275nart said:

Thank you fellas!  I was there a total of 19 days about 11-12hr days.  Wray gave great instruction and helped me on what to do when I got myself into trouble (which was several times).  But as he says metal is clay so there's almost always a fix for any goof ups.  All the panels were made by me Wray probably spent 20 minutes total touching any of those panels!  But that was the goal, to learn and do it all myself. 

Kendall Frederick said:

I subscribe to Wray's Youtube channel, and I was pretty sure that I recognized this car when the video came out.  Haven't watched it yet, will do so now.  You did some beautiful work there!  I know what you mean on the tool envy, did you use hand tools/English wheel, or does he have bigger stuff like a power hammer?

You probably already know about him, but I've been watching Mike Cornfield's Youtube channel and he's been hosting classes at his shop recently.  The work he does is amazing, but he also has some amazing power tools that most of us will never have.  

Once again, great work, looks like the car is taking major strides toward completion!

Thank you.  He has a power hammer but says there was no reason to use it really.  The hand hammer then wheel method is faster and easier to read as you're going along, plus it's a lot quieter and you don't vibrate your hands to jello.  A power hammer also leaves a hammered finish on the panels instead of nice smooth chromed up look like the wheel.

 Shrinking can be done on a stump (there's probably only 2 more panels on the car that will need shrinking) the rest of the shaping can be done on a sand bag with a mallet and then wheeled up.  I would like to get a better wheel and a budget upright planishing hammer to dress the welds but my bead roller/tipping wheel and kick shrinker/stretcher will work just fine for all the rest of the work.  I do need to make some hand tooling as I go and buy some more small hand dollies etc. 

I'm super impressed, and of course I have more questions.  :-)  Did you buy T0 (dead soft) aluminum sheet, and if so where?  Or did you anneal your panels yourself?  I have tried a method I've seen from Ron Covell where you coat the panel with soot using an acetylene flame, then heat it until the soot burns off, with mixed results.  Flat panels worked great; when I tried it with mandrel bent tubing, not so great.  

When I've tried forming sheet that was not annealed first, it wore me out.