The Panel Shop Blog

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.

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

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

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.

New cross members were also fabricated and welded in place to further restore strength in the floor of this car.

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.

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

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!

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.

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.

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

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

We repaired some damage to the side pods.

Here it is ready for paint.

Mark had an interesting project for a Porsche 356 C Coupe. The owner wanted to replace the original steel panels with aluminum.

The compound curves of the Porsche are copied to the sheets of aluminum with an English Wheel.

The original door frame was fixed and cleaned up. The original steel skin was pretty rotted, but the frame provided enough of a guide for the new aluminum skin.

When Mark is done with the aluminum skin, it will be crimped in place onto the door frame, but first a coat of epoxy paint on the frame will protect the two metals from electrolytic corrosion.

Here are a couple detail shots of how the twin grille openings will be made on this C coupe.

Mark was working on a special bodied Maserati that was missing its drip rail above the side windows.

He fabricated the drip rail with brass flat stock, carefully following the contour of the steel drip rail below. Bending the trim piece into the tight u-shape and then stretching and shrinking the piece to fit the rail was a little tricky, but Mark managed to make it follow the rail exactly. This piece can now be chrome plated.

A quick project Mark worked on was a shade for this Rolls Royce.

This piece was formed to fit over the windshield and covered with matching vinyl to match the rest of the roof.

Speaking of Rolls Royce panels, Mark and Steve at The Panel Shop are making fender pieces for Rolls Royces.

They use these Fiberglass bucks to guide them in making steel patch panels that fit perfectly.

If you’re interested in learning more about anything you see here, feel free to send us an email.