Gluhead

This is one of my oldest surviving (and not sold off, lol) builds. I think it's from '93 or '94. Several moves later, and it was looking REAL haggard. I lost the grill splitter and the new grills I'd made for it, the foil looked like the dog had played with it for a while, and it was just super dirty after all these years. I've had it on the "rebuild me" shelf for a couple years now, and I finally pulled it down for a weekend rebuild. I think this shot is from around 2002 or so. It's the earliest I have of it. It was already starting to unfinish itself. And here is it last Friday night...washed up, and the foil all stripped off. And today, it's back together. I'd left a few bits unfoiled the first time...this time around, everything but the 2+2 scripts. I didn't know any better to shave them when I originally built it, the 2+2 being a Catalina and this clearly being a Bonneville. The paint is not perfect, but it is too nice to re-do just for that. I went through all sorts of wheel and tire combos looking for what cried out "Use me!" and ironically enough, it ended up being the factory rolling stock that yelled the loudest. Blackwalls didn't feel right, though, so I painted in the whitewalls. Oh, and this is the first model I hogged out the molded in headlights on. Not a great job, but at least all the lenses were still in there. Sure feels good to bring this one back to life again, and to have it come out better than ever. Enjoy and thanks for lookin'. Glu

Tasty.

You'll have to lose your seatbelt material more often.

That IS a hard one to get together. Nice job.

Nice!

Nice job on the dash, and glad to see the foil trick worked out well for ya. Funny what the simplest stuff can do, eh?

Love it.

Well, it survived for 2 weeks in Workbench. I guess it'll have to be happy down here in Trucks where only us hardcores dare to venture. She's back in paint. Looks a little darker in the pics than it actually is in the flesh. It's Tamiya Intermediate Blue (Aircraft color), and is a shade or two more sky-toned. But now I have a quandary. I can't decide if I want the aprons black or body color. Opinions welcome. I just like this shot.

That's Rad.

Beautiful!

I've fallen, and I can't get up! Come on...you know you thought it, too.

Nice lil' rebuild.

Thanks, guys. Brad - It'll be tough to maintain the floor once it's all together, so I think I'm just going to give it a finish coat of satin clear. I'll have to play around with some scraps to see for sure. I'll be using the same wood and stain for the side rails, but the bed will be a lighter toned straight grain stock for a little contrast. My brother smokes cigars and passed along some cedar wraps that come around some of them...paper is almost thicker than this stuff...so there's definitely a lot of wood happening in this one. Only appropriate, though, since in 1:1 the cab would be mostly wood aside from the cowl and material topping off the roof. I've actually tried to add a little "grain" pattern in the sides and back to express this, but I'll be surprised if it shows once the finish is all done. Dennis - I haven't left it black, that was just the replacement primer coat and I figured I'd post a pic of it like that just for kicks. It does need color to get the right feel, and it is. This time it's blue. Hood is painted, need to reshoot the cowl and cab. Tons of masking again. Haha.

Yepper, I'd see if one of the guys on here would be willing to print a couple seat covers out for ya. I'd offer, but I don't have a working printer these days. But I'd bet someone would do it, especially if you sent them the decal film for their printer. Oh, and cool project. Glad you switched to pics.

There's something to be said for tackling a junkbox build. It's kind of like bringing a beat down rustbucket back to life. Good luck with it, and welcome to the board.

Thanks guys. Mark - I may need something like that for future projects, so thanks for pointing it out. This one will be a worker for sure, but relatively "new." My little backstory for it in my head has it existing in around 1935, so only a handful of years in service. I wasn't feelin' the red, so I stripped it all off and started over. It'll get some new color tonight, but I figured I'd oblige Henry in his grave with an obligatory "any color as long as it's black" shot.

Thanks, guys. I appreciate it. I'm really enjoying this build a lot. Mark, I can completely relate to that. I feel like I build at a snails pace most of the time. It's just every now and then that I can get a good productive run going. I'm just glad I get those days and am able to make some noticeable progress. And hey, you can take a little credit for this build - it was your own C Cab project that made me get off my butt and do this one! Now I've got at least 3 other C Cab projects that need out of my head. Geez, thanks! A little work on the floor tonight. I need to trim the lower footboard back a little bit so the floor will butt up to the cowl as it should, and scribe some plank lines into it. Then I'll have to sort out the exact locations for the pedals, levers, and steering column and make some holes.

Welcome aboard. I'll be watching...I love T's especially coupes.

Thanks, Randy. Yeah, Glenn...that thing is slick as snot, ain't it? One thing that I can't get over is how low the driver sits. These are big for cyclecars, but that makes it look a lot larger than it is. I got in a rush and painted when I shouldn't have. It was really humid today. I knew better, but then again I usually do and keep going anyway. Gun started spitting on me during the last once-over. Not that big of a deal because I planned to use a brush for the final coat as a nod to how it would have been done in the 30's, but it'd have been nice to not need another round of sanding. Ah well. Fenders and aprons up next, while the barn red dries enough to mess with.

That one the Mike posted has some cool elements. Maybe that could serve as inspiration. Or draw from the Duesy?

Nice! I'll be watching this one, Casey. One of the projects on my to-do list is my Dads old (and then my old) '76 Dodge. It went the opposite way, though, being a long wheelbase and also with the extended rear. My Dad owned a body shop all through my childhood, and it came to us wearing pee yellow house paint put on with a roller and neon blue 2 inch fur over the whole inside. lmao. When he got done with it, it was one of the first conversion vans in our neck of the woods...it's a must-do!

Hey Mike, looking great. Nice change on the taillights. One tip I picked up along the way was to back handmade taillights with the foil found inside a pack of cigarettes...the stuff with the embossed pattern like Winstons or Marlboro use have a real good look. It adds a nice level of dimension, kind of like the diffusing pattern cast into factory 1:1 lamps. If you haven't stuck 'em in for good yet, give it a look!

Picking away...almost paint time.

Slick.