1937 Ford Cabriolet

Although I built this one several years ago I thought I would share it here as an OTB as to share my technique in sectioning the body. Al, I hope this is okay.
I had always liked the look of the 37 Ford, It's one of my favorite body styles. I wanted to give this a sleeker roadster look So sectioned 1/8" out of the center of the body. I taped the body with 1/8" masking tape and shot it with some primer so I would have my cut lines. I cut the body in half and then separated the top half into 2 pieces in order to stretch that section. Then I glued them back on the lower half and filled in the center sections with pieces from a donor body.

Since I wanted that 2 seater roadster look I decided to blend in a Tonnau cover from a 1962 T-bird kit. I filled in any gaps in the body with sheet styrene and sanded them down to blend them to the body.

What a nice fit on the T-Bird cover! The sectioning is just as perfect. Thanx for a fine step-by-step of your way with '30s bodies.

That is one cool cabrio !! But I must say, when I saw it with the body sectioned, it sure would look great as a tub.

Great fit with the body parts. I always wondered what good would come of that TBird piece I saved.

Never thought about that but since you mentioned it I went back and looked at it and, it would make a killer tub. there's a whole new industry!!

Once I had everything glued back together I spent a day or 2 on the bodywork. this is how it came out. I went with round tail lights and frenched them into the rear fender. I also made exits for the exhaust out the side in the front of the rear fender.

After sectioning the body i quickly learned that sectioning the body affected every other body panel on the car. Every piece had to be altered. I had to pancake the hood, lengthen it, modify and lengthen the side hood panels, and shorten the grill. I had to flatten the firewall after deciding to go with an injected 502 Chevy big block.



After shooting primer on the other parts and mocking up the body on the Pegasus Torque thrust wheels I planned to use it looked like this. I used silver solder to make the roll bar hoops and took these pics next to an unmolested coupe so you can see how much different the body looks.

Looking sweeeet !! Now go build a tub. lol

Low enuf to the ground to be wearing skis! Not my thing, though the body sectioning looks even better with front end trimmed. Thanx again!

Hotrodmax,
A VERY COOL looking37.. Your sectioning of the body makes this such a COOL RIDE..
GREAT WORK!!! Keep us posted as you proceed.
This is 1 build I am watching!

Rick

Thanks for all the nice comments.
Once I had the body primed I scribed the new door and trunk lines and found a set of Mercedes headlight buckets and lenses and modified the front fenders to accept them. It didn't take much they fit almost perfectly with no modification.
then it was time to turn my attention to the chassis. Since I wanted this one in the weeds I planned to make air bags for it to ride on. I modified the chassis rails as shown in the pic and made the airs bags from small rubber O rings, styrene discs and aluminum tubing.

I'm afraid I got a little carried away building and not documenting the engine builsd and the rets of the chassis build. My apologies for that.
Anyway this is how she turned out, I Modified a 2006 Jada Mustang seats, door panels, console dash, and steering wheel for a modern look. I shot the body chassis and engine  block True Blue Model Master lacquer I think it came out pretty nice considering it started out as a pile of junk parts. Questions and comments are always welcomed.  Enjoy!

Absolutely beautiful job. The body work is flawless. This is one you can rightfully be proud of. Thanks for walking us along with the construction.

Great bodywork, Max. Finished product is very cool. I like the way the dash mimics the tonneau cover with the matching depression in the center.

Thanks, and the whole dash depression thing, happy coincidence. LOL! I wish I could say I planned it that way, but I didn't.

That is an excellent piece of work there.

A beauty, Max !

What a splendid looking auto, not a fan of old cars generally but wow that looks great!

Agreed, I wasn't a fan of "classic" cars, always needing to create my own ones. Over time I understood the creation that a stock showroom car really was. We can choose body and interior colors and make a model one of our own choice and at the same time make it authentic to how it was. Congrats to all who follow that path or those who build on box stock to make mild customs!

Thanks guys!

Neat section job & the end result looks good.