Chrysler 300EX Opera Sedan

[Peter Lombardo]

Thanks guys. Charlie, I have seen the 2011 Chrysler 300. It looks nice, but it is more of the same.

If you have seen the new Grand Cherokee, which I think looks really nice, it is basically this years body with a softening and smoothing effect to it. Nice,very nice, but it is the same design just smoothed out. Well, the same is true for the new 300.

Take the current 300 and soften it and round out some of the sharp edges and that is the look. Again, nice and "safe" but not exciting to me, certainly sale able, but not unique.

The American auto industry has been promising "future" cars but in my mind has yet to deliver on the promise.

When I was a kid (early 1950's) they said by the year 2000 we would have flying cars and cars that ran on computer that followed electronic tracks in the roads. I am still waiting.

[Romell R]

Thx Peter for the link and I cant wait o see your door Idea put into action keep up the good work and I look forward to your next installment.Romell

Edited July 4, 2010 by Aftashox

[Peter Lombardo]

In between molding the tops for the Dual Cowl Art Deco Roadster, I have been doing some work on the Chrysler Opera Sedan Concept. You can see the large double right side door has been cut out.

I cut it as one piece, but later it will get the window area cut out of it and the “glass” section infused into the side. Here is the left side with just the driver door cut out and that is the only opening on that side since the seat wraps around to where the rear door would be.

Here you can see the passenger side door as it will look in the open position.

Here is the bottom of the chassis with the additions to the sides and the wheel wells so that the current 300 chassis can fit under the wider Concept car.

Here the grill, headlights and the lower fog light / brake duct inlet are opened up

This is the rear view with the taillight openings set and the passenger door opening…

This is a view looking straight down so you can see how the doors and wheel wells set up on the car.

The car takes on a “fishy” kinda look when starring right up its nose. Of course the grill will be filled with an egg crate grill so it should look so vicious. The headlights and brake vents are modern looking and, I think, follow the body contour lines well.

And from the rear, there is a similar look to the taillights that the headlights display.

In the center there will be a recessed license plate holder and surround. One of my main goals on this design was to have a homogeneous look to the car. I wanted the front, sides and rear to look like they belong to the same car. I get crazy when I see a car that looks like 15 people each designed a part of the car without conferring with the other 14 designers.

Edited July 4, 2010 by Peter Lombardo

[ARTEMIS1759]

What about Frankenstude doors? They pop out from the body then pivot upwards on a round bar in the bottom corner.

Just what I was going to suggest. Also the GMC Terradyne had the track doors like the ones you are talking about:

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://files.conceptcarz.com/img/gmc/thumbnail_img_0_gmc-terradyne301_01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z450/GMC-Terradyne-Concept.aspx&usg=__x4s3r0HO4s_H46E8IwVFQQh4x-8=&h=90&w=120&sz=35&hl=en&start=10&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=vSnkpF5eOVM_gM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=88&prev=/images%3Fq%3DGMC%2Bterradyne%2Bdoors%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26tbs%3Disch:1

[Janne Herajärvi]

Peter you got very good imagination with your builds... Unigue ideas. They are not always cup of my tea, i like more Classic cars but those could be classics in future

[Peter Lombardo]

In between finishing up the dual cowl roadster molding and shipping, I got some more done on the Chrysler 300EX Opera Sedan.

Previously I had cut open the doors and now I started working on cutting out the windows, making the inside window trim to hold the acetate windows in place. I have cut out the front windshield from acetate.

I have the passenger side window cut away, but not yet the driver side. I have designed this car to have no outside visible “A†pillars. They will be under the windshield barely visible when the winds have the gloss black trim around the edges.

Remember, the passenger side door is a double door width door hinged to the roof in a gullwing fashion…ala the Subaru Concept wagon from a few years ago. The Driver door will have a modified Lambo style opening cantered to the outside. Here is the hinge set up from the inside.

here it is closed.

Here is the recessed license plate holder in the truck panel…I like how it looks.

I have not opened the driver window yet as there is a technical issue I must settle first. Because I do not want the “B†to show on the driver side (there is none on the passenger side) I need to have the window attach to the door and then to the top of the window.

Anyway, I have the sequence of the passenger side door trim being constructed. One of the really nice parts of making your own bodies is you can make excess bodies to cut up for donor parts without any fear. Here is the donor car cut up.

I cut apart the section of the passenger door window in order to make the inside window trim (the area the window is glued to and rests on).

Once it was in place it was grinded smooth and just inside of the outer windows.

[Peter Lombardo]

Next I designed the interior door panels on a piece of the foam material.

I did not go crazy here. I did not want to over-complicate the interior door panels. I went with a gentle twin arch on the passenger side and a single arch on the driver side. I used an ex-acto knife and a small Dremel bit to cut and grind the design into the foam.

Once done, it was sanded smooth and a vacuum form replica was made. I cut them apart and trimmed them up to fit on the inside of the door.

This is the driver door with the panel placed on the inside…pretty good fit considering I just “winged†the measurements.

And here is the passenger side.

Once in place I will putty in the edges and fill any gaps for a smooth clean look.

I plan vacuum forming the dash, console, rear package tray and even the seats…especially the rear “L†shaped Opera couch. I plan on doing the two front seats too. They will be highly contoured and the passenger seat will swivel so that they can converse with the rear passengers….not your fathers Chrysler, but more like your Grandfathers Buick.

I am kicking around the idea of making the nose tilt up to have access to the engine. There is just not a lot of the engine showing under the hood. Because this is a true “cab-forward†design…leading edge of the windshield is over the centerline of the front wheels, the back half of the engine cover is under the dashboard area. This has been done in the real world before, I just would not want to be the technician at the dealership that has to change the plugs on one of these babies! My son like the idea of the nose tilting up….actually, it might look pretty cool…besides the hood is really small, so it may look a whole lot better tilting….I’m leaning toward tilting (that doesn’t sound right)…anyway…we’ll see.

I did not photograph the engine block but is done. I took a little designers license and took a discreet 3mm slice out of the center of it to lower it a little better fit under the hood…..if I didn’t tell you, you would never have known…it’s subtle but effective.

As of today, I am planning a two tone paint scheme for this car…the bottom, just below the bottom of the windows and down under the nose will be light metallic blue with the top section and around the nose grill a dark Patriot blue metallic and a very thin…ever so thin….gold vinyl pinstripe separating the two colors. I am also thinking a medium dark blue interior with the seats flocked in blue to have that crushed velour look rather than leather. I think velour will look richer on the “Opera Sedanâ€â€¦.you know, Opera Houses have cushy velour seating, not cold hard impersonal leather.

[Dr. Cranky]

I am speechless. WOW!

[Harry P.]

Peter, you take model building from a hobby to an art. I'm very impressed.

[Peter Lombardo]

Peter, you take model building from a hobby to an art. I'm very impressed.

Harry, you just made my millennium...thanks, I really appreciate it, especially coming from another accomplished artist.

[slant6]

The grille area look a little like a Bugatti! I like it.

[Romell R]

Great cant wait for the next installment!

[pharr7226]

Brilliant!!!

[Custom Mike]

I'm speechless Peter, this is just unreal workmanship man. I'm patiently waiting for my next fix.......

[made007]

that concept look like a predator mask

[Scalper]

WOW. You have some great talent.

[Peter Lombardo]

I began putting the doors together and I thought I would post a little ‘how to†on how I now do this. Whether it is a kit or this home made car the process is basically the same.

Once the door is cut out and the hinge is fabricated and installed I usually cut out the interior panel. When that is cut out and lined up on the outer skin, I gauge, usually by eye, the distance the interior door panel needs to be away from the outer door skin….you know the thickness of the door. Once I eyeball that, I cut a short piece of square plastic stock or several pieces of plastic stock layered on to of each other to approximate the necessary distance for the door thickness.

On this door, you can see the dark plastic stock glued in between the inner and outer door.

Once set, I run a brush loaded with TEN-X glue

along the top joint between the window opening area and the top of the interior panel…this is set aside to dry. Once dry and secure (check to be sure the joint is tight) it is time to fabricate the interior door jams. This is where my process has evolved from the way I used to do it.

Back in my “dark ages†I would struggle with a thin strip of styrene that I cut to fit the space between the inner and outer door skins. This was very time consuming and tedious at best. I would try and use one piece of plastic to make the joint as strong as possible. I used to use the TEN-X glue to help soften the plastic strip so I could bend it around the corners. I really hated this but I thought this is how I had to do it. Some times I would use multiple pieces cut and glued together to get the right fit.

Then one day it hit me, why not use Bondo to fill the joint?

One of the great things about Bondo is that it sets up quickly and has about a 5 or 7 minute window right after the putty sets up

where it is firm and in place but just soft enough that you can run a knife blade along the edge and cut a nice smooth sharp cut to form the outer surface of the door jam.

You can see that it cuts nice and easy. Sometimes you will uncover a small air hole, but that is easy to fill later.

Just keep working the skin until the proper edge is achieved. You may need to secure the joint where the putty meets the door, but that is easy to fill in with super glue.

Once it is dry you can sand the surface smooth and if necessary, add some additional putty to fill in small areas that you may have missed. This method is so much easier than the cut and glue plastic filler method.

When this is done, hardened, sanded and painted, no one will know it was putty. You can even glue on the door catch unit to the back of the door and it will look complete.

[GOTH KUSTOMS]

man this is just tooooo kewl, for me to fallow, so I will stand far back and watch, very impressive

[rustybill1960]

Yes indeed Pete

I agree wholeheartedly with the guys here!

Your modeling skills are very impressive!

I really like how you worked the door hinges out! WOW!

And then with the door panels!!

Where did you score the vaccuform?

I would love to have one of those baby's!

Very impressive build that You have going!

I like your design work and I will be watching it!

Thank You for sharing

Later

Russ

[Guest JamesDE]

Man... This is freakin sweet!! Nice idea and your fab work is top notch....

[Tony T]

Thanks for the tutorial on doors. Great idea.