An earlier version

1) An earlier version of the incomplete nose section. This might be the second version. I cut it up and changed the design at least 3 times. After looking at it for a few days I would cut it up and start over, much to my wife's chagrin. That's why it looks a little lumpy here and there. Initially the panels would come out of the English-wheel, the green machine in the back-ground, all smooth but when I started changing things I would get impatient and start beating panels into submission. The metal is all nice and smooth now after a lot of slapper & dolly and file work. The tape lines show where I was about to cut the middle out and change the design again.

2) Front view of the same experimental nose design. Apparently, and unfortunately, I didn't take many photos while building the body because I don't seem to have too many.

3) Rear sub-frame from the Quattroporte, which carries the differential, rear brakes and rear suspension in one package . Jaguar enthusiasts will see a resemblance to the E-Type IRS sub-frame, which I assume it was copied from. The chalk lines indicate where I was about to cut off the ends of the sub-frame. I rigidly mounted the sub-frame to the back of the new chassis, so I didn't need the ends of the sub-frame with the flexible mounts (mostly hidden from view here) and decided to eliminate them and save a little weight.

4) The posi-lock Salisbury differential with inboard brakes as removed from the Quattroporte rear sub-frame. It's basically the same diff used in several Jaguar models for many years and loved by many hot rod builders. The brakes are larger than what came on the jags and the ring & pinion gears are Gleason type. It's got a 3.54 ratio. I haven't sat down to figure out my theoretic top speed with the Tremec over-drive transmission coupled to it. We'll see what happens and if it needs to be changed I'll address that later. Making a rough guess though, It should go at least 150 MPH for now (about 250 KPH). That's good enough for a street hot rod.

Chassis construction

1-3) Chassis construction nearing completion. I guess I never took any pictures of the early stages of the chassis growing on the assembly jig because I don't seem to have any.

4) Completed chassis, with drive-train, suspension and wheels installed, parked in front of the plywood station buck. At this point I was ready to start Forming the aluminum body (the two guys in the photo are my first and second sons).

Photos of the mold

5) Three urethane foam plugs, which were cast in the plaster mold, sitting next to the ERCO sheet metal-shrinker (one of the machines used to form the aluminum body panels).

6) Two of the 1/4 scale urethane plugs were precision sawed into one inch slices, like loaves of bread. The front plug in the photo was cut laterally and the back plug was sawed in a longitudinal direction. Each urethane foam section was numbered and traced on paper and then each paper profile was increased 4X to make full scale profiles on 3/4" (19mm) plywood. The plywood profiles were sawed out and fit together "egg crate" style, like a Ferrari grille, to make the station buck. This is an old fashioned way of doing it but still quite effective. Sheet aluminum panels were shaped, away from the buck, with hammers and machines, until they fit the buck and were then welded together to form the body. Many people think the aluminum is hammered over the buck but the buck is only used for fitting and stitching pieces together, just like a tailor.

More photos of the original clay model

1-3) Other views of the original 1/4 scale half-model against a mirror. The surface of the model was made with a thin layer of modeling clay, from an art supply, covering a skeleton which was made by gluing Styrofoam blocks together and shaping them with a "cheese grater". The outlines for the body came from 1/4 scale drawings of the chassis and body. The wooden wheels/tires were made on the lathe. The windshield, roll bars and exhaust pipe were fabricated from bits of sheet-metal, rod and tubing, just to get an idea of how the whole package might look. The full scale tube-chassis can be seen in the back-ground.

4) The plaster mold, which was cast in sections, inside of a plywood box, so it could come apart without serious damage to the clay model.

Chassis during body removal in preparation for media blasting and painting and disposing of the donor car after parting out.

More older photos

1st picture: Rear quarter view with rough body. Oval openings in rear are for tail lights.

2nd picture: Fitting the aluminum radiator. It's covered with cardboard here to protect the fins. The Proportionated front brakes are visible here. I've since replaced those rotors with larger Wilwoods on Wilwood aluminum hats and replaced the cast iron Girling calipers with aluminum Brembos.

3rd picture: Bare interior. The steering wheel is an old temporary.

4th picture: Right front wheel with newer brake parts peeking through. At upper right is the beginnings of a mold for a Lexan headlight cover.

more history of the project

1st picture: Original quarter scale clay model of the body. Its actually a half model against a mirror. The design was changed several times since then but the basic shape was there.

2nd picture: A plaster mold was made from the clay model and several polyurethane plugs were cast from that mold. This photo shows one of the plugs being trimmed on the milling machine.

3rd picture: Plywood station buck (full scale) made using dimensions from the plugs which were increased X 4.

4th picture: Front quarter view of aluminum body mounted on chassis. The body still needed a lot of metal finishing work and the car still has the bigger roll bars here. The entire nose tilts forward for engine access. The windshield is from a 55 Ford but cut down. A Lexan replacement is in the plans.

Some history of this project

1st picture: The nearly complete chassis hanging sideways to finish tack-welding the floor panels in place. The center of the chassis has removable aluminum panels so that the bottom of the car is completely flat and fairly smooth. The wheels, 19" in front and 18" in back, were custom made by HRE.



2nd picture: Test fitting the engine and trans. The chassis still had the earlier roll bars here. After a while I didn't like them any more and cut them off to install smaller, more discreet roll bars.


3rd picture: Complete but unpainted chassis with drive-train, suspension, etc, fitted.

4th picture: Chassis in rotisserie just after priming it.