The Goldcar Story, cont.

[DozerII]

Really cool story on the car and the rebuild. [P[P

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

Finished roughing in the windshield and fitting the left front fender with a newly designed fender extension which we plan to mount the soon to be added engine side panels with louvers cut.

9/15/20
Replacing the sheet metal and mounting of the fenders. Decided on a little different design, mounting and look for the front fenders. The middle pic is of our custom made bracket to mount fender extensions and attach side engine panels. Pretty cool tool to bend this w/o notching for the bend. I’m liking the newer lines with the bead rolled in near the edge for a little more strength as well. New sheet metal for the rear fenders, in addition, coming soon, to widen the rear fenders to match the width of the tires.

Week of 9/21/20...
Cutting out and welding in patches to eliminate the need for excess body plastic. Also, replacing sheet metal along the driver side just behind the old removable panel along the bottom edge due to rust forming. Applying first coat of body plastic on newly replaced /patched sheet metal on driver side.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

After a quick review of the work involved, we decided to replace the entire panel on passenger side. Starting with the narrowest side cut by the seat all the way to the front. Everything painted black and the unpainted area of that panel will all be replaced.

10/2/2020

Off to get another sheet of metal to build the replacement panel. Replacing from low point of cockpit forward instead of trying to patch our old stick welding job. Made the decision to bolt all fenders on so a new look when completed. Expect to have fenders mounted in a couple weeks.

10/06/20
Completed the fabrication on the new running board braces and started making the new fender mount brackets. Yesterday was a lot of work for not much gain. We’re installing rivnuts in bottom of frame rail to better secure the sheet metal so it won’t be as susceptible to cracking the finish. Started the installation but ran into a problem at every turn. There just wasn’t enough room to install the nuts with the rear end in place. We didn’t want to disable it yet so moved to the side in front of rear wheel. We quickly discovered there wasn’t a wide enough piece of sheet metal to use the rivnuts. So dead in the water on finishing the body work until we resolve the problems. Solutions are to weld a strip extension to the existing bottom metal and attach further in with room for the new nut system. Just happen to remember Ron has an attachment on his port a power that will be able to install the rivnuts without removing the rear end. Just one of many challenges we face almost daily. In case I haven’t mentioned this, Ron is the perfect person to restore the Goldcar. His attention to detail and craftsmanship is a dream come true!

October 26, 2020

We finally made our way to the passenger side of the car. Below are some before, during and in progress pics. Also, began mounting the driver rear fender. I expect next week I’ll split the fender in half with a patch in the middle to cover the complete rear tire.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

More pics of the new runnng board fabrication.

 

[Old Iron]

I like the way you used the bar clamp. Just letting you know, I'm stealing that one.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

Ordered the fender welt gasket material yesterday. It will provide a nice clean seal between the body and the fender for a nice finished look.
Thursday (5th) I’ve been given the task of removing the dash. From here on in there’s no place to go but head for the finish line as this will render the car dead until finished!

11/9/20

Dash is back from the sand blasting shop.
Cleaned out the old wiring and modernizing the back side of the dash. When finished well have a new aluminum service door over the brake pedal mounting for easy access for future service since we have made the original access panel on driver side to access the original clutch and brake pedal.

We decided to install a new wiring harness with a fuse block. Originally, we direct wired everything and the only fuses were for the radio and a circuit breaker for the lights. Needless to say Ron was delighted with this decision to make it look like adults did the wiring instead of a 15 year old kid! Hahaha!

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

Working on building a surround around the speedometer bezel. Originally, we cut out enough material to get the bezel to slide in place. So the back was open if you looked very close. With Ron’s experience and guidance we built a surround to cover the back side giving it a “meant to be there” look. Welded up the idiot light holes and a couple of other holes in the dash I no longer needed.

The car has been at the upholstery shop the last 5 weeks…only 3 weeks behind schedule but who’s counting! So we decided to finish the dash. So a little peak into the final look. Refinished the trim rings that go in each end of the dash and also where I mount my stereo speakers. We plan to make new grills from stainless steel wire mesh.

 

[MercuryMac]

I sure like that red on the dash.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

While we’re on the dash, here is some of the work we did on the back side this past June. Earlier I showed pictures of the templates for the backside cover. The end caps are not quite finished but built. We plan to paint them same color as the car.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

Picked up some 1 1/4 stainless steel tubing to make new running boards this week and worked on placement and mounting of new steering column.

1/20/21
Finished widening and mounting the passenger rear fender.

Straightening, aligning in and redesigning the trunk lid in addition to the widening of the passenger side fender. This redesign of the deck lid changed in mid stream and Ron decided the metal was not cooperating so he replaced he entire section. In hindsight we should have done that to begin with. Not to mention, Ron got to put the new English Wheel to good use!

I’ll post some more pics soon. The finished product is what hot rod dreams are made of!

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

Here are more pics showing the outcome.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

1/11/21

Received new idea for side engine panels instead of lovers Ron came up with some money saving ideas and a way to add some bling to the engine panels. I chose the slot look as #1 choice, straight as #2 and circles #3. Waiting for next updates...however, after looking at some pics of older classics have revised my choice to moving the round to the first choice. Ron has some additional thoughts on some added improvements. Looking forward to the outcome.

Don’t forget Rule #7…We reserve the right to change anything at any time.

We think we nailed the final look and design by adding side exhaust flex pipes instead of the drawing ideas. Final finish will be made from polished stainless steel flex pipe. Attached are pics of our mock up design. I’ll provide finished pics later as we move closer to final fitting and paint.

Decided to add roll bar. Starting mock up for New roll bar to be installed.

 

[Goldcar1967]

I sure like that red on the dash.

Thank you!

HOK
BRANDY WINE KANDY WITH ZENITH GOLD BASE.
WITH FOUR COATS OF KANDY
That will be the color of the car when completed. It looks even better in the sunlight.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

2/8/21
Ron working on the new trunk lid on the new English Wheel from Santa!
He’s awesome! The new deck lid is really looking great. The metal was so warped and distorted here was just no way to make it look good without a bucket of body plastic. So pleased that Ron decided it was better to replace the old sheet metal that was stick welded. It really does enhance the added refinements and look of the back end.

3/4/21

Another surprise....not! Found some bad rust in the trunk pan and along the bottom edge of the body. Our plan is to cut out the rust make new patch panels using the English Wheel to make the curves match. After closer review we decide to make completely new floor pans.

Floor pans complete. So much better than the rusted out panels we replaced. Painted black and the underneath side all undercoated.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar story cont.

3/8/21

Ron’s finishing up the welding and mounting the rear fender. Probably be next month before completely finished because we’re waiting on some new bead rollers we ordered to arrive. I removed the grill and radiator. I decided to go to an aluminum radiator. My original I let get into the fan again from not paying attention. This will allow us as good as or better cooling capabilities, give more space away from fan blades and transmission cooler lines are built in. Lowered the radiator support bars and started to mock up the engine side panels.

Final look completed and ready to move to cutting out sheet metal. Mounted left front fender and completed the attachment piece for mounting the inner fender.

Made new inner fender and piece between bumper to cover the frame with nice finished look. Ron has a friend, Steve who comes by almost every day after work. We spent well into an hour or more trying different designs and nothing really jumped out. I left for home and Steve said, what if you curl the edges?.......Ron took it from there and the rest is history!

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar Story cont.

3/22/21

Working on fabrication for new running board design. Frame work starting to come together. Card board Template made for running board. The yellow line will be the running board design with polished stainless steel tubing. Emma, The Shop Dog, came in to give her approval and get some additional loving!

Next step transfer cardboard template to plywood and cut final template before transferring to cut new sheet metal and order rubber matte for new surface and get stainless steel edge polished and ready to have it bent to the new shape. Built a home made jig to get the angles right for bending the stainless steel tubes for the Running boards...polished my stainless tubing getting ready to attach to the framework. What a difference a couple hours polishing each tube makes. Here’s a comparison of before I started the second tube after finishing the first with my polishing efforts.

We made our jig to bend our tubing and set up our mold from wooden blocks using some of the tubing for spacing. I wish now we would have taken pics but we had our hands full heating, bending and making sure our bends were accurate and fit the mold.

 

[bob w]

This has turned into a massive project. Really good write up by the way. Cool car.

 

[Goldcar1967]

This has turned into a massive project. Really good write up by the way. Cool car.

Yes, it has turned into far more than the original plan. Who says dreams don’t come true! Hahaha!

I originally came in for a paint job. Lol Ron had the vision of where it could go. It’s been an experience and a pleasure having this opportunity to work with Ron to refine our original car.

Thank you very much.

 

[Goldcar1967]

Goldcar Story cont.

One more template and design to make for upper engine cover. Once we’ve finished, the passenger side should go much faster since we can use our templates with a little tweaking to complete the passenger side. All of the design work will be complete...finally.

Engine top side panel cut out and template for running board ready for fabrication. Next design, template and fabricate top engine panel insert.

3/29/21

We’ve officially moved to the passenger side of the car. As we’ve mentioned previously things should start to move much faster. Ron has the bottom engine panel cut out and ready to mount.

Well par for the course...the bumper was made in three pieces. The right (passenger) side was cut ~2” shorter than the driver side. Don’t ask me why but it did. I have a feeling it was cut when my little brother wrecked it when I was in college. The center piece is still not exactly straight. I can’t remember what he hit but it was on the right front bumper section. The fender on that side is ever so slightly shorter as well we discovered. Who knows after 50+ years! We will work it out. Probably end up cutting the center section and welding the ends on to compensate for the short passenger end. More on this later…the search is on for a bumper. I’ll just call Amazon, I need a 1946, 47 or 48 Dodge rear bumper! Hahaha!
The front on the car was actually the rear. Just so happened the rear bumper fit better on the front and the front bumper fit better on the rear.

I won’t keep you waiting. I found a used set of complete bumpers! Thank the Lord! You’ll see why even more later when we dip into fixing the bumper mystery.

 

[Torchie]

Looks great!!!
Torchie