Although our compadres over at Hot Rod tend to focus primarily on vehicles produced in the ’60s or later, there are some staffers over there who understand the whole street rodding thing. One of them is Associate Publisher Ed Zinke. Ed’s been into hot rods for most of his life and currently runs a ’40 Chevy sedan that he built almost entirely on his own while simultaneously raising a family. The car represented a strong effort and has provided many reliable miles of enjoyment for the Zinkes, but its style was decidedly ’80s-based, probably because that’s when the project began.
However, now that Ed gets to surround himself with all things automotive for a living, including attending company events like Americruise and Power Tour, he’s decided the ol’ ’40 is in dire need of some updating. Most of the details of this renovation will be covered in Hot Rod , but those guys seemed mainly interested in the mechanical stuff—so we latched onto the mild body modifications being carried out at Starbucks Customs in Riverside, California, in anticipation of the new paint scheme.
Once Ed decided he was going to have the car painted, he immediately knew the driprails had to go. They’d been jutting out from the roofline since the car left the factory and annoying Ed with their awkward positioning since he finished building it the first time. Removing the driprails seemed to be a daunting proposition, but in reality, it wasn’t a big deal. However, once they were off, it became obvious that the lines of the upper door corner didn’t jive with those of the rear side glass very well. To restore harmony to the ’40’s flanks, it was suggested that the door corner be rounded off for a softer appearance.
Justin Jones and the crew at Starbucks tackled both jobs and allowed us to follow along. Take a look at the procedure as outlined in these photos and captions.
