Body / Glass: Question for you bodymen types

[Mike Van Veghten]

Have a 54 wagon (two actually, as some may know)....

Which task would be the easiest to accomplish -
1. Modifying the nose on the wagon/sedan hood to mimic the shape of the C/K hood (lower nose) ?
or
2. Modify the C/K hood to fit the wagon body ?

Also, still looking for a 59/60 (maybe other years) Lark wagon top, in the SoCal area.

Mike

[63t-cab]

Never did anything quite like that,but I would say go with (1.)

[SN-60]

To: Mike Van Veghten,-----Wow!,---Had to think about this for awhile. I don't think that it would be feasible to re-work a C/K hood to fit a sedan body. You'd be cutting it to ribbons.
And to lower the sedan nose (stock hood in place) by altering the sheetmetal, and not the suspension? Your giving SN-60 a headache here!

[52hawk]

I'd say #2,but-couldn't you install the c/k hood right on to the car if it had the c/k radiator support on it? Is the wagon hood longer? wider? I think I'd start with the c/k hood ,whatever the difference is. I can't imagine 'lowering'the nose of the wagon hood,without some major cutting and shaping. Get us a pic of the car with the c/k hood set in place.

[41 Frank]

There is a good article on how to "pancake" a hood Mike in the current (February) issue of Rod and Custom magazine. Not for the faint of heart that's for sure!

[Mike Van Veghten]

On the C/K body, the "peak" on the front of the hood is very suttle, smooths from the very front to the horizontal part of the hood very smoothly.

The wagon/sedan has the "peak" looking like a BIG bird beak.
There is very simillar interior clearance's in both body styles as far as the radiator is concerned...lots-a room in the wagon.

I'm thinking..it would take a C/K hoods nose, and pie cut both the wagon's hood (remove most of the beak area !) and some of the C/K hood (nose area) so they nest together...and weld, and cut and weld and cut and weld, and weld....

I think trying to flatten the wagon's beak itself...would be a real nightmare.

Just hoping someone "may" have tried this in the past..and had some "lessons learned" comments, (other than I hate that comment..."lessons learned"..!)

Mike

[Pat Dilling]

Since you are in SoCal, A thought like this might be worth a trip out to the desert to seek advice from one of the masters of Kustom, Gene Winfield. I understand that he is quite willing to discuss custom work and even teaches a class that our own Bob Andrews attended a couple years ago.

http://genewinfield.org/

[Noxnabaker]

Now this is interesting, I wanna get a 53-54 hood (& front) on my 55 sedan, & since there's loads of coupe's saved compared with sedan's, I've also been thinking about get or borrow a coupe hood to see how much change it would need to fit.
& then the grille-halves are higher also...
But that would take me quite some time to get to, about 7-8 month until I'm in the neighborhood where I know I can get to one.
So this thread is VERY interesting to me!

[oltrknut]

I would have to go out and measure but I think there is about a 5 or 6inch difference in fender length from coupe to sedan, that adds a bunch more work to that job. Best net is to pancake the hood and modify the pitch or slope of the nose. Would be cool when complete.

[52-fan]

Several years ago, there was a car in one of my magazines (probably Rod&Custom) where this was done. I always thought it would be neat to take a 56 Stude wagon and add a Hawk front end and trim it like a 56 Golden Hawk. Too big a project for me.

[t walgamuth]

The firewall might be the same or similar between the coupe and wagon but the coupe has the engine sitting 4" further back on the frame, it follows then that the fenders and hood are 4" longer as well. I think the factory did a pretty good job with the wagon and sedan hoodes and grill making them look a lot like the coupes. I would be surprised if you can improve on it. Now if you want to stretch the frame 4" toward the front in the wagon/sedan it might all bolt on.

[Son O Lark]

Are you wanting to stay with a metal hood?

[Mike Van Veghten]

Son O -

No, not a requirement.
I've also thought about the fiberglas concept. Just leave the nose as it is and reform from there back.
But..since the actual grill is also at a different angle (C/K to wagon/sedan), that's where I stopped thinking about the fiberglas hood. The edges..if you will...need to be wagon/sedan, it's just the nose or peak of the hood I'd like to change.

t wal -
Well, all I can say, is it's my car now, and I'd rather have the lower nose of the hood. The length of things isn't really of any concern, I'm just looking to alter about 2-1/2 square feet of hood shape, not the whole thing, of either design hood. Changing one or the other, combining the two...what ever turns out to be the best looking in the end.

Thanks all for the thoughts so far.....

Mike

[t walgamuth]

Sorry if I sounded negative. I think it is a very interesting idea.

Son O -

No, not a requirement.
I've also thought about the fiberglas concept. Just leave the nose as it is and reform from there back.
But..since the actual grill is also at a different angle (C/K to wagon/sedan), that's where I stopped thinking about the fiberglas hood. The edges..if you will...need to be wagon/sedan, it's just the nose or peak of the hood I'd like to change.

t wal -
Well, all I can say, is it's my car now, and I'd rather have the lower nose of the hood. The length of things isn't really of any concern, I'm just looking to alter about 2-1/2 square feet of hood shape, not the whole thing, of either design hood. Changing one or the other, combining the two...what ever turns out to be the best looking in the end.

Thanks all for the thoughts so far.....

Mike

[Noxnabaker]

If the hoods are just as wide then it would be the slope on the front part that needs bending & maby it's "only" to cut the outer/under edges in loads of places & bend it down & weld? & then, as the coupe's hood is longer anyway, you try to fit the rear edge of the hood a bit more forward...
OR: take the skin of the coupe's hood & fasten it on the sedan's "frame" that only you decide how much you're gonna leave.
Or?...
I would!