The years haven't been kind to the Deuce, particularly out back where it's obvious many different hands have tended to it in past decades.
Our latest stop at the Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop in Greenfield Center, New York, gave us the opportunity to check out what was going on with our five-window coupe project. Having already completed a hell-bent chop, and cowl and doorskin replacement, it was time to wrap up the sheetmetal updates in high style as the crew took on the coupe's rear quarter and subrail.
When it came time to address the rear quarter, Keith Cornell felt the more shapely rear panel Ford used on the '32 roadster would add just enough balance to the five-window's body to relate to the other changes that had already been engineered into the car. That said, he placed a call to Brookville Roadster for a pair of the company's stamped-steel rear quarter-panels to take on the job. Upon closer inspection to the substructure area of the car, it was determined a portion of the rear subrail assembly would need to be replaced, so the Brookville order was bumped to include this assembly, as well.
When the parts from Brookville landed, Keith began the reconstruction for the rear of the body by first making some initial trim cuts to the new panel to meet the current five-window body specs. This allowed him to lay the new steel directly onto the existing panel and get an idea of what it would take for the job to get started.
Once the rear quarter was stripped down, the ravages were obvious and proved that struggling with patch panels would be like shoveling sand against the tide.
Keith said the initial fitting of the new panel to the body is imperative prior to the original steel being removed. A good rule to follow here is to measure twice, cut once. When Keith determined where the subrail would need to be cut, he first rough-cut the subrail and then proceeded on the outside of the quarter using a plasma cutter to ensure a nice, clean incision just above the wheelhouse reveal line.
After following with a cutoff wheel for any remaining areas not accessible by the plasma cutter, all that was left once the cutting was done was to unbolt the body panel from the subrail and chassis. At this time, the new panel would find its way onto the body numerous times while a proper fit was dialed in, thanks to plenty of time spent trimming and finessing the new steel to perfection to ready it for final welding.
After determining what balance of the original quarter needed to be removed, Keith hit that area of the body with green machinist dye and then clamped the new panel in place to lay his scribe lines down to act as a guideline. All that was left to the side of the Deuce was wide open space after the showers of sparks and echo of cutting steel stopped. Keith then followed up working the area with a flat file to deburr the freshly cut steel in preparation of what would soon follow.
Tune in next month when the Deuce finally gets its new Brookville subrail and roadster rear quarter-panel welded into place.
