Custom 1957 Chevy Aero

[crazyjim]

That's gonna be a wild build, Don. Keep going, man.

[Deathgoblin]

I like it!! Looks like what would've happened if Chevy had kept making Fleetline Aerosedans.

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Thanks guys.......I'll be opening up the rear hatch and side doors but I want to get all this plastic surgery squared up and permanently fixed before I do much more cutting & wind up with a whole lap full of pieces.

I think when I'm done ( just for giggles) I'll post some pics and ask the viewers how many mods they can spot.

Brings to mind the comments I hear like "if it doesn't show, why bother?"

I've always felt that the best customs were the ones where everything looked like it belonged there........in other words, it wouldn't trouble me at all if a viewer didn't realize the car had been sectioned as long as when they viewed it they walked away thinking it was a cool looking 57.

[hotrod59f100]

Wow u have some skills I could only dream about.

[Custom Mike]

Don, this is going to be one of the coolest '57's out there! I was wanting to see the fastback (Because I have no doubt you would have nailed it!), but this roofline should look just as cool. The section job is absolutely beautiful work, now you're gonna have me go out and but a wood-burning set!

[GrandpaMcGurk]

I changed the title of this thread to make it easier to find....for those that are following it.

Wow u have some skills I could only dream about.

Thanks Shane.....but I have no more skills than you do....maybe just a little more practice, or should I say made more mistakes. Sometimes I'll screw something up several times before I get it right. LOL

Edited February 2, 2012 by GrandpaMcGurk

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Don, this is going to be one of the coolest '57's out there! I was wanting to see the fastback (Because I have no doubt you would have nailed it!), but this roofline should look just as cool. The section job is absolutely beautiful work, now you're gonna have me go out and but a wood-burning set!

Thank you sir.

The more I looked at the first top I had mocked....the more it looked like I'd cut the top off a GTO or Charger or something and stuck it on.

Anyway, I wanted it to look like a earlier full custom, you know, the days of Roth, Barris, Starbird etc.

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Here's a few more pics and a brief explaination of how I'm doing it.

I had to cut the Jag top in half again to remove more material "measure twice & cut once" never seems to work out for me.

I also cut some sections away that weren't conforming to the overall shape I am after.

I then shaped and welded in some filler pieces from the inside



[GrandpaMcGurk]

I shot some white primer on it to get a better overall look see.....it's kinda hard to visualize with that contrast between the red and white plastic.

I've got some plastic scraps dissolving in solvent, when it softens to the point where I can spread it like a thick paste I'll use it to fill the low spots and seams in the outer shell to keep it as bondo free as possible.

From this view it almost looks stock.

Still have a lot of shaping to do back here...lots of compound curves.

[Lownslow]

im totaly digging the fastback 57 idea

[Captainugly]

This is gonna be cool as hell when it's all done. Can't wait!

[Gluhead]

Thumbs up, bud! Good to see you're still wrecking perfectly good plastic.

[Casey]

It'll be interesting to see how this progresses. I like the wedge sectioning you've done, but I fear the stock greenhouse is going to look too tall now, especially with the added bulge of the Jaguar roof.

Then again as long as it doesn't look like Chezoom, it should look great.

Nice technique on the plastic welding, too.

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Thumbs up, bud! Good to see you're still wrecking perfectly good plastic.

Yeah Glu...I don't know how else to act. If I can't bend, twist, melt and torture the plastic there is no joy in it for me.

When I open the box to a new model the first thing I do is throw away the instructions......close the box and put it in the holding tank until it starts talking to me. Yes, I've been known to carry on some rather lengthy conversations with model cars...my wife finds it rather disturbing.

[GrandpaMcGurk]

It'll be interesting to see how this progresses. I like the wedge sectioning you've done, but I fear the stock greenhouse is going to look too tall now, especially with the added bulge of the Jaguar roof.

Then again as long as it doesn't look like Chezoom, it should look great.

Nice technique on the plastic welding, too.

Thanks Casey,

my thinking is the same as yours......the green house (because of the sectioning) looks a bit tall in the saddle at the moment. I will be dropping the lid, probably a bit more in the front than the rear to follow through with the tapered sectioning....in other words a slightly nose down attitude.

I can't chop it until the top is back in one piece as I'll have to stretch it some and add a section, it would be very difficult to do if it were in pieces.

No worries.........if it looks like Boyd's Chezoom when I'm done....it'll get tossed in the parts box and cannibalized as it won't work for me!

[GrandpaMcGurk]

I started using some of the dissolved plastic filler, keep in mind (if you try this) that the filler is hot and can soften the surrounding plastic causing sags, low spots and all manner of strange things. I clamp everything in position (you can never have enough clamps) as it will take a few days for the plastic to completely gas out and harden before sanding. Yes, I have bonded clamps to a model before...LOL.

While I'm waiting I'll start modifying the front inner fender wells, firewall etc. to make up for the sectioning..... they won't fit in the new profile OB.

[David G.]

The new roofline reminds me more of a car from the mid 1940's than the late 1950's.

A very interesting fusion.

David G.

[GrandpaMcGurk]

Yeah, David from one angle it'll look 40ish from another it might remind someone of a Batmobile and so on.......that's what I liked most about the full & radical customs of the 60s & 70's.......there were no rules, builders were able to let their imaginations run wild.

As you can see in the photos the hatch sits quite a bit lower than the top of Chevy trunk lid did. I didn't want to run the hump all the way down to the bumper....that really would have looked (at least to me) 40ish, so I stopped it part way down. I've added an inner skin to give myself something stable to build on. Now I can contour the seams and get the overall look flowing.

[Beavis]

reminds me of amc marlin