Scott White, professor from University of PA, Computer Modeling School came to my shop this weekend to help me with a project I am starting later this year. We are removing the current body which was constructed several years ago and replacing it with a complete body to resemble the body built for Mr Esders of Paris on a Royale T41 chassis. The difficulty is going to be proportions since the T46 chassis is 138" wheelbase and the T41 wheelbase is 169". The T46 has 20" tires and the T41 has 26" tires which helps us with working out proportions. The Esders body has the fenders, front, rear and runningboards all welded together measuring 22' +or- and the T46 fenders will 18' +or-. Our biggest concern was the position of the hood, cowl, steering column, seats and pedals having to condense 30" of wheelbase to a smaller chassis. The complete length of the T41 chassis is 21' compared to the T46 of 17' and the T41 engine was 12.8 ltrs to the T46 which was 5.4 ltrs. The chassis for the T41 weighed 7000 lbs which shows how massive this car was. Scott had scanned a detailed model of the T41 body and we removed the old body to scan the T46 chassis. After scanning the body I wanted to make a quick cardboard body to see how things would fit. The following photos will show what we accomplished. Scott and I made many physical measurements and he is going to take all the information and come up with a computer model that will fit on the T46 chassis. The hood is going to be extended 12" past the current firewall and will measure 60". Once he has all that information completed, the other member of out trio, brother Will (Cronkrite) will help with his knowledge and expertise on the bucks. We will be making fenders bucks and a buck of the rear body from the B pillar back. 3 horseshoe bucks will be made for the cowl, A pillar and B pillar and I will loft from that to make the doors and other wood and to shape the metal. The body and fenders will be made in .062 3003 aluminum and the wood will be white ash. This body is not going to be an exact replica of the original but will be very similar to the original which is what the owner wants. The car is a dual cowl having a windshield for rumble seat and a split windshield that folds front for the main windshield. As the planning stages progress I will post more on this project.
