2007 Ford Interceptor

[Peter Lombardo]

I have finished the doors hinges and have the doors interior panels in place. The doors still require a little tweaking to get the window frames lined up properly, but they are close. I glued spacing blocks to the inside of the doors so that the interior panels would rest the correct distance away from the outer skin.

Once they set up, I mixed up a small batch of two part body putty and carefully applied it to the gap between the interior panel and the outer door. They were set aside to cure. I only do two doors at a time because there is a small window of opportunity after the putty is applied that you can easily trim the excess putty. The putty has a period of maybe three minutes after it sets up where it is easy to cut with an exacto knife. I take advantage of this period to run a knife blade around the outside edge of the interior panel to remove the excess putty, and no matter how careful you are, there is always extra putty to remove. Once cut to the basic shape, I sand the edge smooth. Any small air hole pockets are willed with model putty and sanded flush with the surface.

You can see the brass rod hinges that I hand form for each application. The front doors pivot inside the fender and the rear doors swing out side of the outer edge of the doors. I use the same hinge, I just reverse the installation so that the front door pivots in, and the rear door pivots out. The hinges are made from .032 brass rod and they slide into 1/16 X .014 Aluminum tubes. This system works great for me because the doors can slide into place and I can make sure everything fits properly.

I am beginning to work on the front and the hood. The front fascia will be permanently mounted t the piece you see just under the hood, then the hood will hinge from the front piece.

In the last update, I mentioned the wheels from the Honda Civic SI. The other day I was looking at the snap fit Thunderbird and realized that they have 7 spoke wheels, so right now they are the leading candidate for the base of the Interceptors wheel centers.

[Trans Am Erik]

GEEZ, all that bodywork AND opening doors!!! WOW, I am impressed! Good work on those hinges, I know they aren't easy to get just right.

[SoCalCarCulture]

FYI here's a pic of the 1:1 with the doors open...

...and the wheels...

...and more pics of the 1:1 here.