1949 Cadillac Roadster Build

[Phil Minton]

Well deserved recognition Jack for an enjoyable and informative build. Keep up the good work and congratulations.

[RockHillWill]

Congrats on the MSOM award Jack. It is clear that this was well thought out and executed with much detail, and finished nicely. Nice work!

[BobD]

Well deserved and should be a mandatory read for us wantabees. Have been through the complete thread at least twice, thanks for the extra effort you have put forth by creating this thread!
Bob

[Jack 1957]

Starting with station #6 I need to get the shape for the inboard stations. I can't trace directly from the original since the new fender will be different.
The original fin is fatter than the new one will be so I use a different process. First I traced the upper part of the outboard station to a piece of 1/4 plywood. The station will also have a return, or a concave radius where it merges into the rear deck I measured this with a hi tech adjustable radius gage. I pulled off about 15 feet of tape to get the right size and away we go.






Clamp the two pieces together and transfer the radius to the lower part of the template. Smooth it all out with various sanders till the shape is good.

[Jack 1957]

Next, put the two pieces together and trace the shape to a piece of MDF.






I'm using mounting flanges on this side of the buck because the stations on the other side prevent screwing the inboard stations on. I thought about staggering the stations but chose not to.




I used the same process on #5 and #4.




I got three of them done today. It's starting to look useful.

[Jack 1957]

I don't think I'll need the level line on the template anymore so I trimmed it and left the contoured part there. It will help me get the shape of the inner edge smooth. I got some more work done on the rear of the inboard side. There's a lot going on in this small area. I'll need as much information as possible to get the sheet metal right.
The bumper will sweep around the lower part and it also gets taller at the end caps. The shape of the bumper will resemble the original but will be much smoother and less bulky.
It's been slow going back here because I didn't pre-design this area. I needed to see it and experiment with it. I think I've got it down now. With some things my design phase overlaps the construction phase. I never had much trouble visualizing the big stuff but with the details, I need to work it out on the fly.

[123pugsy]

Thanks for the excellent tutorials. The quarter buck is looking real good.
Looking forward to see the metal laid down on top of it.

Congrats on MSOM. Well deserved.

[onya]

Hello Jack,

That's shaping up to be a buck and a half mate.

[Jack 1957]

Looks like I have what I need in the rear area. If I need more help while I'm doing the sheet metal work, I can always add it then.






Next, the front needs some attention.If you look across the top of the buck you can see the edge template curving toward the center of the buck and touching it just beyond the #1 station. That is where the edge starts crossing the center line of the fender from the inboard side to the outboard side. The edge of the fender from this point to the front will be outboard of the center line. I need to plot out the shape and make a frame for the edge.
I wrote down the dimensions when I was getting all the information from the original fender so it shouldn't be too difficult.
I originally was going to cut the buck in front and make this area a separate piece that followed the edge but decided against it. Although that would have allowed me to set the buck up against the car to check the shape, it would have involved hand forming a wood panel in a curve to match the mounting area on the body (not in my skill set) and made it difficult to measure the stations. I would have had to eyeball it and accuracy is too important to start guessing at this point. I'll just have to trust my measurements.

[Newstalgia1]

Congrats on MSOTM Jack! Well deserved!!

The Caddy is coming along nicely. Thanks for sharing all the photos of your bucks also...They are a work of art as well!

Greg