Louvers and Jaguar Sheet Metal

June 5th, 2010

louvers

A “new” piece of equipment arrived at the shop recently. Mark found a punch press for sale from a local shop. Having a machine capable of punching holes in sheet metal at “The Panel Shop” can offer limitless possibilities, and the first order of business is to set it up for making louvers. Mark and Steve have a hand operated press that made these louvers before, but having this machine makes it a much easier task.

The shape and the length of the louver is formed by a custom die and punch fabricated to fit this new machine.

louvers

An example of what “The Panel Shop” can do is this hood for an E-type lightweight Jaguar bonnet.

louvers

Speaking of Jaguar sheet metal, The Panel Shop also has rear boot lid and wing sections in aluminum for an E-type.

E-Typer Roadster Part I

June 3rd, 2010

E-type
A Flat Floor Series I Jaguar E-Type was delivered to the shop several weeks ago. From all external appearances, it looked like a nice car, but on closer inspection, there were some problems.
E-type
The floors were replaced by a previous shop, but were brazed in place, and not very well at that. Brazing is a process where metal is heated and joined by a filler rod made of a material with a lower melting temperature like brass. Think of soldering but instead of using lead/tin, brass is the filler material. The problem with this method is it fuses metal together with the filler material instead of melting the joining base material. Welding creates a much stronger bond, and when done right, makes for a more permanent repair. Since the E-type has a unitized body, the stronger welds will also preserve the structural integrity of the car. The Panel Shop is installing new floors by welding them in place, and removing the old work.
E-type
New cross members were also fabricated and welded in place to further restore strength in the floor of this car.

Rarities

January 9th, 2010

Cisitalia

We had two very rare cars side by side at the Panel Shop. This Cisitalia convertible is undergoing some major panel replacements. The tail section has been repaired, fabricated, and completed.

cisitalia

The rockers and front fenders are next. When this is completed, Steve will move onto the nose of the car where a lot collision damage will have to be addressed.

Bugatti

Its neighbor is a Bugattt, which at first glance may look slab sided, but has subtle curves that converge in towards the very recognizable Bugatti tail.

bugatti

The panels attach to the car very differently compared to the Cisitalia as these cars use a lot of wood to construct the inner structure.

1947 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith

November 28th, 2009

Rolls

A 1947 Rolls Royce Silver Wraith is in the shop for some major metal and wood work.

Silver Wraith

A lot of the ash frame members have rotted away, and previous repairs tried to patch some of the rot. The problem was the rotted wood required some of the aluminum panels to be removed to properly fix the wood support, and the previous repair didn’t want to go that far into the substructure.

Rolls

Cutting out this piece to expose the door’s support structure allows for a better repair and not a patch of wood that should really be replaced.

Silver Wraith

The Silver Wraith has a large running board that ties into the front fender section, and has already been roughly fabricated. This will be attached when the rocker section is repaired, and the front fender is hung.

Fenders

Repairs were also made to the front fenders, grafting aluminum to the original fender where there was corrosion.

Making trim Pieces

November 24th, 2009

trim pieces

An interesting and challenging project came to the Panel Shop. A company making Pre-War French Automobile inspired hot rods asked the Panel Shop to make a set of steel trim pieces for a pair of fiberglass fenders. Even though the complex shape they were making for this car could be made in Fiberglass, the trim pieces still needed to be in steel so they could be chromed.

trim piece

There was some pretty complex metal forming to make these pieces, but Mark was up to the challenge.

trim

Even though these fenders were made out of fiberglass they didn’t necessarily match side to side, so each trim piece had to made to match each fender. I can’t wait to see how they look when they get chromed!

Ferrari Doors

November 19th, 2009

Lusso Door

The Lusso doors were in pretty good shape, but because the door skins are aluminum and the door frame is steel, electrolytic corrosion tends to take place wherever there is moisture. Water tends to collect at the bottom of the doors and this where bubbling will occur on new paint job a few years down the road. Scaglietti or Pininfarina sometimes used primer, and often times used nothing between these surfaces, but after over 40 years, it’s time to address these surfaces.

The Panel Shop cut the bottom edge of the door out and fabricated a new piece of aluminum to weld into place.

Ferrari doors

The old piece is showing signs of corrosion which would have eventually rotted through. With new epoxy sealers on the steel and aluminum surfaces, the owner will have a paint job that will not bubble at the bottom of the doors.

Lusso Body Work

November 18th, 2009

rocker panel

There was a very twisted piece of sheet metal laying on the work bench. There was such a severe twist to the panel, it almost looked like a mistake…

lusso

…but when Mark fitted the rocker panel to a Ferrari Lusso, it soon became clear how it fit perfectly to the car.

rocker

With the panel fitted to the car, the twist and curve of the sheet metal it not as evident, but making this panel fit to the body, and recreating the correct profile takes a good eye and the right knowledge to make this panel right!

Chevron B16 Spyder

August 27th, 2009

Chevron

A 1970 Chevron B16 Spyder, or should I say, The ONLY B16 Chevron Spyder was at the shop getting some body panels repaired.

Chevron B16 Spyder

This one off race car was driven by Brian Redman in 1970, and we were honored to have it at the shop.

B16 Spyder

We repaired some damage to the side pods.

B16 Spyder

Here it is ready for paint.

Aston Martin DB5

August 5th, 2009

C Type

We had to fix some poor previous repairs done to the nose of this Aston Martin DB5

C Type

We have jigs to properly remake the correct profiles for DB5s, DBS’ and V8 cars.

C Type

Even with correct jigs to align the work, it still take a good eye to make these hand made cars look correct.

Jaguar Intake Plenum

December 4th, 2008

C Type

A “C Type” Jaguar was at the shop to correct a poorly fitting intake plenum.

intake

The alignment of the intake plenum never really lined up with the body as the bo