1936 Packard

Do you have close up shots of your body mounts?

Went to Pick n Pull today and cut the roof skin out of an 85 Cadillac. I wanted one from a 90's Lincoln but the only one there had a sunroof. The Caddy scalp has a nice curve to though and is a decent alternate choice.

What did they charge for the roof panel?

Well now the caddy has a sunroof

Undercover Customs said:

Do you have close up shots of your body mounts?

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The front mounts are the originals, I made a short pedestal to mount them. Mid and rear mounts are tabs cut from 2x2 tube welded to the sides of the frame. I cut a hole in the 1x2 floor subframe and welded the cutout circle into the bottom to double the thickness so the mount bolts don't pull through. I'll use some snap plugs to cover the holes under the carpet. I'm a believer in solidly mounting the body to the frame to tie the whole structure together, if it was rubber mounted there would be problems with the front sheetmetal and running boards moving around.

Flipper_1938 said:

What did they charge for the roof panel?

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$15.00 Canadian, so that's like $1.00 US....

Good eye zz, Nice fit.

bob w said:

Good eye zz, Nice fit.

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For sure!!

Thanks for the pics of your body mounts. I kinda figured that's how you did it but hadn't seen a post describing it.

That roof skin is a great match on the curvature!

Man that's a good fit... You have the eye for sure

good stuff

Keep it up [P

Thanks guys.
Got the major pieces of the floor cut, rolled, beaded and tacked in. Needed a slight bubble in the tunnel to clear the shifter arm, also a step in the rear floor to clear the upper control arms - they were still a bit close so I had to hammer a couple small lumps in the floor to give them clearance too. Ran out of welding gas so it's all just tacked in 'till I get a refill.

Beautiful![cl You make it look so dam easy when I know its not.[S

Great work ZZ, you do always make it look so easy.

I may have missed this in a different post but why do you need the 85 Caddy roof? Is the packard roof shot? Just wondering.

-Chris

Glad to see you back, it's a shame I only get two welds done in 3 months and you pop in new floors like its nothing

Great job!

1952B3b23 said:

Great work ZZ, you do always make it look so easy.

I may have missed this in a different post but why do you need the 85 Caddy roof? Is the packard roof shot? Just wondering.

-Chris

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The Packard didn't have a roof... It was an insert, I believe.

05snopro440 said:

The Packard didn't have a roof... It was an insert, I believe.

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Correctomundo - typical of many cars until the late 30's when manufacturing processes and the development of larger stamping presses allowed them to make the roof from one piece.
This car had the usual fabric insert with a wood frame, wire and burlap underlay. One of the last visual reminders the automobiles' descendance from buggies and stagecoaches....

zzrodder said:

Correctomundo - typical of many cars until the late 30's when manufacturing processes and the development of larger stamping presses allowed them to make the roof from one piece.
This car had the usual fabric insert with a wood frame, wire and burlap underlay. One of the last visual reminders the automobiles' descendance from buggies and stagecoaches....

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Thanks for clearing that up. Learn something new everyday.

-Chris

Interesting note about the roof. I had wondered the same thing, as the shape was very close to original, I wondered what the heck are we doing here??

Nice match up.

I have a Buddy (I think only miles from you) who is rebuilding a 38 Packard. He's going original on it, but has a 37 parts car, complete. I showed him your pics to see if a rat rod might be in his future. He said he wants a roadster, instead of a sedan - like that would stop a rat rodder...

jclars said:

Interesting note about the roof. I had wondered the same thing, as the shape was very close to original, I wondered what the heck are we doing here??

Nice match up.

I have a Buddy (I think only miles from you) who is rebuilding a 38 Packard. He's going original on it, but has a 37 parts car, complete. I showed him your pics to see if a rat rod might be in his future. He said he wants a roadster, instead of a sedan - like that would stop a rat rodder...

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Anything from the mid-thirties and older is likely to have had a factory roof insert. I guess that knowledge isn't as common as I thought it was

From what I've read, nobody had a large enough press to stamp out a roof panel in one piece until I think 1936, hence the cloth insert in cars built before then.