With a deadline looming there’s literally no time to waste with the Taylor’d Customs ’33 Dodge project and significant progress has been made since the last update two weeks ago.
In the introductory post many details were left vague because many of decisions are being made as the metal is shaped, but the general idea for the car has always been a fairly minimalist end product.
That said Blair has never had any intentions of leaving it ‘ratty’ which means the car is going to see the inside of a paint booth.
Despite its 83 years of age the car is in pretty good shape but, in addition to smoothing out the evidence of the roof chop there are a few areas of the car that need to be completely reconstructed thanks to mother nature and the fingerprints of time.
Looking at the photo above, and working back from the March 11th deadline, it’s not hard to figure out that the car needs to get over the body shop as soon as possible if it is going to see the inside of the International Center floor in a properly finished state.
During my last trip to the shop there was a big push to get the body off the frame so that final preparations could be made for it to go to Smallwood Custom Paint.
Blair’s dad was tasked with figuring out exactly how the pedals were going to mount in the relatively narrow driver’s side foot well and since given enough time with a marker and cardboard he seems to be able to figure out anything the pedal box took shape very quickly.
John Weatherbie was busy helping cut a few things off the body that didn’t fit with Blair’s final vision for the car. Here he carefully removes the grill mounts from the firewall (which is in remarkable condition hence the care) so they can be replaced with something a little more becoming later down the road.
Blair himself has of course been extremely busy since part one spending nearly every waking hour outside of work at the shop behind a welding mask.
The floor, which was little more than the beginnings of a transmission tunnel at last check, has really come along with roughly 90% of it complete at the time these pictures were taken.
Building the floor has been done largely using ‘by seat of your pants engineering’ because though Blair did rebuild a lot of the floor of the Montbomb this is his first floor he’s done entirely from scratch.
Through the processes he’s become pretty in tune with how 16 gauge metal contours which means each panel becomes a bit easier to shape than the one before it.
In addition to the floor covers for the four link have been fabricated along with most of a rear deck and a cozy spot for rear seats because lets face it what’s a four door without rear seating.
For rigidity and style sake bead rolls have been pressed into most of the panels which really helps give the entire bare metal floor a more finished look that will still be present once the floor is covered in a lick of paint.
The rear deck is one of the final pieces that need to be completed before the car goes to paint but since the remaining piece is fairly straight forward Blair spent most of his time buttoning up the firewall.
With the shop full of people he was keen to get help taking the body off the frame rather than fighting with it alone later along side and engine hoist and some jacks.
With lots of work to be done I didn’t hesitate to put down the camera and help out, and in a bit of a role reversal Blair managed to capture John and I yielding power tools.
Here I smooth out the firewall after the grill tab removal while John trims the four link cover out of the inner fender.
With things more or less finished we each grabbed a corner and lifted the body off the frame and carried it to the waiting dolly.
As of this past Saturday the body now in the hands of the Ryan Gibson and the chassis will be the focus of attention, aimed to be completed, plumbed, and painted before the motor comes back from rebuild and roughly the same time the body comes back.
Once again lots to be done, but the progress thus far has been steady and things are looking good. Stay tuned for part three!
