new interior : chopped '48 Dodge

[P-12 Tommy]

Knighthawk, Looks like you got a '66 Toronado in the garage. Nice chop job BTW.

Tom

[Greenbomb]

That's coming along great! The insides look really comfy, and a great job on the chop. I'd never have the guts to try that!

Flo

[windsor8]

Your headliner looks good, did you replace the wind lace also?

I too would like to do a chop someday.

[knighthawk]

the '67 Toronado is my winter driver, with about 3000 lbs on the front wheel drive, it'll just about go anywhere..... Yes I replaced the windlace, only I got some from 2 different suppliers, (long story here) and both where different so each side is differnt.

[knighthawk]

here's my version of the wood grain process....I'm pretty sure I got it from a 'search' here on the forum from one of the guys here, his goes into a lot more detail

[knighthawk]

[slicknapier]

Looks good. Pretty sweet to chop the top of a 4 door! How did you do your headlights? Did you just weld your original headlight rings on?

[thrashingcows]

Thanks for the pics and info on your Faux woodgrain.

So once you lay out the darker color I guess you just leave it and wait for it to dry up? Did you use a special paint?

[knighthawk]

the wood grain ; once I found the wood (brown) that I liked, I used regular black Acrylic Enamel , and just drag it across the brown, the nice thing about the terry cloth is after you start, all you need to do is lay more of cloth down to get more paint as you pull ot across the piece. Just don't forget to tap or drag of the excess just before you start. after you put the black on , you can smoothen out the lines a little with a brush. then after it dries you sand smooth if needed , and paint some clear over it all. BUT, be careful when you put the clear on, you have to put on several layers lightly misted on before a final wet coat,,,or it WILL kind of disolve or swell up everything and make mess, then you'll have to start all over !...........................the headlites.........the original chrome rings are just truned around and welded in , you just have make some adapter rings to fasten the black buckets to. nothing to it !

[knighthawk]

[knighthawk]

[knighthawk]

here ya go Fred ! check out the hub caps.... Buick and a Nash in the front, Plymouth in the rear ! Why ? that's all I could find at the time, besides, that just means that I got parts from a few MORE different cars !

[knighthawk]

Tim, yes I do ALL the work myself on the interior AND the whole car. Only thing I hired or had help with was an alignment, and some tires swapped around. even the tires I did most of them,....swapped different tires and / or rims about 4 times !

[Plymouthy Adams]

thats good Larry...its been awhile since we tlaked on the phone...that is what makes this hobby so much fun..doing all you can yourself..I need a better sewing machine and give it a try next time myself..keep at it..you almost there..

[Brad Lustig]

I've always been in the school of thought that chops NEVER look good on the P15-D24 cars. They have always looked off like a squashed bug, but man that is a great looking car! Perfectly proportioned.

[knighthawk]

thanks for compliments, I tryed to make a 'mild' chop, just enough to make it look 'right'. Like for example, the early pick ups all look a little too tall, where as a little chop really looks good. I don't mean to offend any you truck owners,,,, just my thoughts

[Young Ed]

Come up here and chop one for me. I'll allow you to prove your point

[knighthawk]

you know what really helps, BEFORE you decide where to cut (chop) it, take 2 photos of the car (side veiw) , cut one photo where the roof meets the body, , then just move the upper half down and over the other half till you see the look you want . Then compare that with the original....

[Frank Elder]

What are the recessed door handles off of, they look awesome.

[LuckyDevil]

Looks like a Neon door handle? Just a guess.

Your car looks awesome. did you do something to the hood? It looks like you wedged it or something?

[PatS....]

Nice job all around. I like the subtle little touches everywhere. What running gear do you have and what suspension and rear??? Looked like Pontiac Snowflakes on the other pics

Keep us posted on the progress!!!

[Young Ed]

Im going to guess full size mopar for the handles. LHS concorde intrepid etc

[knighthawk]

you're close om the door handles . the're from a '92 ( I think) LHS, the complete divetrain is from the donor car; '85 5th Ave, includes the 318, trany, and rear exle. The '85 Torsion bar suspemsion assy is up front, with the rear '48 springs mounted on the '85 axle, rear spring shackles raised 7''. The front end sheet metal has been flatten quite a bit, the hood is all original. the trunk has a filler piece in it to smoothen the lines up over the trunk to the roof.....'53 Pontiac bumper (front) up side down and narrowed a bout 7'', '49 Chev turn signals.... Ford explorer rad, Buick electric fan, '85 5th Ave. AC condenser, some other parts from from "85 donor car, is wiring harness, electric seats, electric doors and trunk locks, there's parts from about 16 different cars........

[knighthawk]

the motor is the '85 used to be the 'lean burn' computorized everything. threw out the copmutor, and following Tim's advice, added a '72 elctronic dist, and '69 carb.....runs great !

[Plymouthy Adams]

I have been following Larry on his build from just about from the get go..he has made remarkable progress along the way and seems to be able to steadly chip away at the things to do list..I really do not see how he ghets the shop time he does to work on his car..seems every time I start to do something in my shop..10 other things raise their ugly head and I'm off chasing windmills and fighting dragons..

today finds me up stair on the other side of the attic vauuming 100 years of dust and debris out of the overhead...this dust is talc powder fine...constant cleaning of the filter and exhasuting my unit through a hose to the outside...got only about 160 sq feet left to clean...

Edited February 15, 2010 by Tim Adams