December Newsletter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! 

In this months edition:

1948 Oldsmobile Aero Coupe

Bob’s 1930 Chevy Coupe

Destined for Pebble Beach

Our British Challenge

We have a new addition, a 1958 Buick Convertible

The value of true metal work

Print a copy of this newsletter for a valuable coupon at the end. 

December 2009

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! All of us here at Vancouver Hotrod Shop want to wish all of you a safe, happy, and prosperous holiday and New Year. This past year has been a real mix of blessings and trials. Mother Nature gave us a much needed extended summer season which I know we all enjoyed to the fullest extent. Wall Street and the Banking industry threw us a very large challenge that many of us are still trying to recover from. The good new is that this is the United States of America and we have a history of beating challenges! So we give thanks for all our blessings and look forward to an even better 2010.

1948 Oldsmobile Sedanette. This project is slowly making progress. We have been rather busy this past month with some customer projects on short time lines. The body is ready top be removed and the 455 engine is being reworked. Soon we will begin to process the frame and suspension and look forward to getting busy on the body modifications, but that’s all I will say about that for now.

Bob’s 1930 Chevy Coupe. Coming down to the wire now. We have just a few things left to do before we roll this wonderful automobile out of our shop. The floors are in, the suspension is complete, the body is finished except for some small fine-tuning here and there. Next step is to install the steering column, pedals, and dash. Lance is very attached to this car and I’m sure he will be very sad to see it leave. But I’m sure he will be proud at the same time.

Destined for Pebble Beach. The 38 Buick is back from paint and in the final stages of re-assembly. The interior has had Dynamat installed and the chrome trim is being installed. We just got the wheels back from painting and the car is looking great. It’s always nice to see a vintage vehicle come back to life and exhibit the true beauty and workmanship of the era. There are many aspects of design that no longer apply to modern cars which really set these classic cars apart.

Our British Challenge. The 74 triumph TR6 is moving right along. The body has been removed from the frame and sand blasted. Jon is in the process of repairing any rust areas and rebuilding the floor pans. Overall the body was in better shape than we anticipated after the sand blasting. The frame has been striped down and pressure washed. We did discover that the frame had been damaged and poorly repaired some time in the past so we are going to utilize a new frame. This will better support the V8 we plan on installing as well as providing better suspension and driveability.

We have a new addition, a 1958 Buick Convertible. This car came to us as a work in progress. The owner has done a good deal of work on the car and is having us do the final fine-tuning and accessory fitting and installation. We will be working to get the car finalized and ready for paint. Should be a very impressive end result. The car has beautiful lines and will be a wonderful daily driver. It sometimes amazes me that cars like this that were created over 50 years ago are now being reborn to once again bring smiles to its owners,  and ready to log another happy collection of road miles. There are some great new cars out these days, but you have to wonder how many will last 50 years or more?

The value of true metal work.

All of us are familiar with plastic filler such as Bondo, and some of us are familiar with lead. Both of these are fillers used to smooth out surface imperfections. We here at Vancouver Hotrod Shop use lead on a regular basis to fill body seams and joints, but not to repair surface imperfections. This is where true metal work come into play. If you repair or fabricate the sheet metal properly, surface filler is generally not required. Over the years we have removed chunks of Bondo as large as 30 inches by 16 inches and over an inch thick. This is not a solution, it's a disaster waiting to happen. We have removed soda cans used as patches, body features completely sculpted from plastic filler, and newspaper as filler. While plastic fillers have a place in the industry, too many builders and shops rely on them to create smooth surfaces. We strongly believe in shaping the metal to create a smooth surface. The skills and experience we bring to bear with tools such as the English wheel, stretchers, shrinkers, roll presses, brakes, and many hand tools allow us to create or re-create panels that are smooth. As a matter of fact, you will not find any plastic filler in our shop. We simply do not need it. In all honesty, I must confess that our painters will use filler products prior to paint to create the surfaces they need for high quality paint jobs. However they only require what is called a “skim coat” which is extremely thin and only covers a small portion of the body once it has been block sanded smooth. If you have ever had the unfortunate experience of losing a section of body filler you know the value of true metal work.

Jeff