my radical 60 build

[jonzcustomshop]

Those of you that have seen my posts know that I tend to like things a little radical.
this is a 1961 chev 3/4 ton cab that I was able to save from the crusher-45+ of his brothers died on 01/05/08-RIP
I was inspired by the pink freak <--in my avatar-, they used a 61 chrysler front clip, and it almost looked like it was built for the truck from the factory.
I didn't want to do an outright copy though, and while surfing the net I saw a 61 plymouth SW push car, and decided that had the right lines to graft on and looked neat.The crusher yard just happened to have 1-only one-, so I was able to get the front sheet metal as well.
As you can see in the interior and passenger side shot some mice had taken up residence in the cowl vent- they wrecked havoc on those parts rusting them clean through.
I hadnt even noticed the rust in the roof until I was inside undoing the ebrake... so I rushed back through the yard, and found a spare BBW roof on a cab that I had previously rejected due to floor rust and a telephone pole mark in the rocker.
So here start the pics:
when I brought it home 12/23/07-

WELL ISN'T THIS CRAZY- this machine wont up load my photos, I will try again later, and in the meantime check out the pic in my profile.........

[jonzcustomshop]

OK here we go....
I guess I have to resize all my pics, so here is the first batch:

[jonzcustomshop]

second batch of how it was 12 /23 /07

[jonzcustomshop]

here is the easy part: the measuring.
I let the 61 plymouth front clip dictate what I needed to cut.
There was a 6.5 inch difference in the door edges.
so that ment a 6.5 inch section(kind of scary, I didn't think it would need to be that much)
the peak in the plymouth fender did not line up with the peak in the cowl, so to get that to line up I had to take a 1 3/4 section out of the body line.
that left a 4 3/4 section to come off the bottom.
I was hoping to get away with cutting it all off the bottom, but no such luck.

[jonzcustomshop]

I then measured the door.
you have to get a little crazy with the cuts in the jamb to keep all the stuff in the right spots.
I like to get at least one door cut before the body, so you can use it for reference points on where to cut the body, and fit it to the body as it is going back together.

the last shot shows a foreshadowing of the rust problem I was going to encounter with this "good" door after I cut it apart...

[jonzcustomshop]

here is cutting the door:
This is my second sectioned vehicle, after doing the first one I learned that it is way easier to split the skin off the door than chase a weld down the middle of a door skin,although with this section I still have a weld down th middle of the door! At least it's not two!
after I split the skin I took 4 inches off the bottom, that leaves me a little metal to fold over the skin of the door for the 4 3/4 section of this part.

[TimE]

Wow! That is some intense measuring/cutting/splicing going on there. Looks like it will make a sinister looking car..I mean truck, once you get it together. Keep the cool progress pics comin'.

[jonzcustomshop]

here is the line out of the cuts for the cab:
once again in the rear door jamb, I am cutting around what I don't want moved.
On the corner you can see where the two different sections come out.
On the bottom cut I found the flattest part of the cab side, and then used the peak of that as the center of my 4 3/4 inch cut , so that the two pieces would line up when they came back together.
I chose one cut down the center of the back of the cab to cut down on the welding and chance of warpage.

the front was alot easier, every thing was straight and covered by sheetmetal, so I just took 6.5 out of the center of the door pillar.
You can also see where I will cut straight down the edge of the door pillar, and across the toe panel.
All I will have to do with the firewall is trim the bottom off, and fold it up to meet the floor.

[jonzcustomshop]

here is folding the fire wall back, and fixing some rust issues.
I almost didn't put a drain in the new cowl vent by accident-that would have been a flood on the first rain!!

[jonzcustomshop]

here is fixing the rust in the rockers of what i thought was a "rust free" cab... Oh well.
and then on to fitting the door.
I bolted on and latched the top part, and then the bottom,.
I ended up trimming about 1/8 of an inch off of my cut to get the door gap lined up, then I welded them together.

[jonzcustomshop]

Here it is all tacked together and mocked up.
Now I have about 50 yards of welding to do 1 inch at a time!


the last pic is my photo chop idea for the rear end.
I have a couple 60 GMC hoods that I can cut up to make the tail light housing, and the bumper will be a 59 chevy.

[ChiefRocka]

Hey JonzCustoms.....cool name, BTW.....

Dude, that s#it is gonna be SICK !!! I like it !!!

I've always wanted to do a chop and channel, but I guess I haven't found a good candidate....I have a '56 Oval sitting in my garage I could use (suppose to save it for little John...he's only 7 now) Don't want to touch the Chief...it's in decent shape.

Anyway....You talking a Impala bumper, right ??

Way cool, bro

[slepysal]

very very cool. Man that is going tolook crazy ! So what are you going to call her ?

[Frizzle Fry]

I like that front clip on there. Great work on the section.

[Dinos63]

My New Hero, Jon Wow Bad A$$

[jchav62]

That's some heavy stuff! Cool...

[1Bad62Pro/Street]

Now that's pretty cool. You do not see that much now days. Chopping, Channeling, Sectioning. For some guys it's, "Say what?"

CHOPPING:
To chop a roof the pillars and windows are cut down, lowering the overall roofline. "Chopping the top" goes back to the early days of hot rodding in an attempt to reduce the frontal profile of a car and increase its speed potential. Some racers on the dry lakes chopped the tops of their cars so severely that the windows were only a few inches tall. These were sometimes referred to as "mail slot" windows. This sort of bodywork is also popular on custom cars, kustoms, and leadsleds. Roof chopping also quickly became very popular with drag racers for much the same reasons as it did for lakes racers. The first roof chopper is considered to be Sam Barris who chopped and customised his brand new 1949 Mercury. Barris also pioneered a more advanced form, where the B-pillar is removed turning it into a pillarless hardtop in the process.

CHANNELING:
To Channel a car the body is also lowered over the frame by removing the floor & refastening it higher inside the body, causing the body to rest closer to the ground without altering the suspension. The overall effect is to give the car body a more massive appearance. Each automobile would have its own engineering challenges as far as modifying the various components of the chassis. Local laws may prevent making the modifications too extreme, and safety would dictate some restraint. Channeling is also popular amongst hot rod, leadsled and minitruck enthusiasts, though the latter refer to it as a "body drop".

SECTIONING:
A related process to channeling a car (and one that has almost the same aim) is Sectioning. Sectioning is the act of removing a horizontal section from the body of a car, lowering the top half onto the bottom half and welding the result back together. The purpose is to reduce the overall height of the bodywork of the car. Likle a roof chop, it also has the advantage of reducing a car's frontal area and reducing wind resistance. This sort of bodywork is popular on minitrucks, custom cars, custom trucks, kustoms, and leadsleds.
This is what OLD SCHOOL means!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This what's cool!!!!!!!!!
This was the thing in the 1950's and early 60's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[protrash64]

..........Kick a$$!!!!!!!!!!!!! that some wicked stuff, dude! Im sure lilred66 is furiuosly stabbing needles into a pic of your avitar!!!

[hewlett2002000]

so what is it an el calymouth?

[72BlckButy]

This is going to be one sick and twisted ride!!!

[ryan913]

Boy that is a lot of custom work. Looking good!

[283 Man]

sweet!!!!!!!!!!

[greg64]

Cool metalwork Jon! My hat is off to you guys; I'm more adept at mechanical and electrical.

Keep sending us pictures of the progress!

[jonzcustomshop]

Thanks for the compliments guys!
chiefroca,yes a 59 impala bumper off my 4 door, and that one is getting a 59 buick bumper.
62 pro street- this truck will probably get a chop (2 inch) too. That second to last truck you pictured is the rod& custom dream truck, I got a ride in that when I was 12, and it was an early inspiration to me!
protrash: probably the only reason I might be off the hook with lilred66, is because this is a 60 not a 456!
hewlett: no I hadn't thought of a name .. but El calymouth is funny!!

Update: I found a decent long fleet box for $75, as a bonus it is white too!
I have also procured a donor for the frame and motor.
It is a 85 chevy wagon.
The guy just put a goodwrench 350 in it , and it has a 2004r tranny,
I plan on using the frame, suspension, radiator, motor and tranny, gas tank, and wiring harness out of that car.
The wheelbase is 115 , and to get the vehicle in proportion I will stretch it to 119, that will let me cut down my long bed to 7 feet.
So this week I have alot of stripping (car!) ahead of me, and hopefully soon I can get the cab and front clip mocked up on the frame.

[jonzcustomshop]

Well progress has been a little slow these last 2 months.
I have been busy with my 65 DD, and I have been scrounging parts.
the rh door I had was junk, so I found a better one to use, and I have that cut and tacked up.
I also got the wheels and tires squared away, which is important to get done first on a build like this.
What I will do is install these on the wagon doner car before I strip it.
then I will take frame and suspension clearance from the ground.
That way when I go to chanel the truck cab over the bare frame, I will know the clearence difference of the vehicle fully loaded ,glass sheetmetal ect..
I want to get this as low as I can without losing all the clearance-our local roads aren't the greatest-.
the wheels are Fenton Gyro Racing wheels, and the tires are 205 70's for the rear, and 195 65's for the front.