1947 Chevrolet Fleetline Floorpan Replacement - Rod & Custom Magazine

1947 Chevrolet Fleetline Floorpan Replacement - Floored Out

The domino effect-or being snowballed-is something nobody wants to experience with a car ... that is, unless it's positively natured of course. When it comes to rusty metal, however, if there are any signs of cancer, best to catch it "all" and treat accordingly. In other words, get it before it continues consuming your car's sheetmetal, especially from beneath a fresh paintjob.

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Just because a car needs a rocker (or both) replaced doesn't necessarily mean it's going to need new floors, too. Well, not always, but that was the case with this particular '47 Chevy Fleetline-as it turned out, the rockers were the "least" of the problems when it came to dealing with rusted-out sheetmetal. Structurally speaking, I honestly have no clue how the car held such nice gaps (with doors that opened and closed like butter, no less) with the lower body support system-floors-as unsupportive as they were.

As the brethren Jobe and Cain at Jimenez Brothers Customs were fashioning up a new raised rear floor configuration to allow sufficient clearance for the ShockWave four-link rearend, it started becoming more and more apparent that the hand-fabbed rear section would likely turn out to be the easiest of the sheetmetal work. The closer things got toward the front of the car, we realized that we'd have to replace the entire floorboards-right and left, front and rear! Good thing "they" were already in the mood for metalwork because if it had been entirely up to me, I might have started looking for another body!

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Suffice it to say, this '47 will undoubtedly have one of the stoutest flooring foundations around when all's said and done-and we're just about done with the metalwork ... time to start thinking about playing around with House of Kolor's all new VOC-compliant Shimrin II line here before long!