Bride of Young Frankenstein - 1957 Buick Super

[drewskiren]

I've squeezed in a little more time between college visits and out of town weddings. Poor old Biz has been filling out college applications and writing college essays for weeks. She's hoping to get back out here soon.

Pics for today are of the Jaguar rear bumpstops that we almost forgot to install. I ended up having to cut open a spot on the bottom of a filler plate to make room for them. It is working out very nicely. While I'm down here I've been cleaning up some welds and plan on fully burning everything in.

[Nut Case]

Drew amazing, amazing, amazing. Just finished Frankie, followed you here, finished this one. Outa sight. FYI you have opened my eyes to "air bags" my next spot to peruse is the suspension forum. I'm just gathering data, for my 57 GMC 100 shorty, to have C-4 suspension both front and rear. I have 4 "Shockwaves" still in the box they came in, your issues with ride and confluted bags has me on the research war path. Any insight on Shockwaves? Thanks in advance NC

[drewskiren]

I don't know how shockwaves ride, but the more air volume a bag has, the better chance it will have for a smoother ride. Judging from the size of shockwaves, and the shock running through the middle taking up more volume that could be for actual bag air...... I'd say it doesn't look good unless you mount them on a long lever.

[cheyennesr]

have you had any time to work on the bride ?

[drewskiren]

BOOOOOOO - - no I haven't.

December should show some progress though

[drewskiren]

After a long hiatus, we are back on the bride and moving from the Super over to the Roadmaster. We began tearing down the green Roadmaster today. We will be using the Super frame that has the Jag suspension already grafted in and using the main shell of the Roadmaster body (and its vin and body tag).
We'll be picking and choosing the best parts available from all three 57's we have. The best doors are from the Super. Floors and main shell are best on the green Roadie. (Floors are actually perfect!)

Got a quick jump on it and had the frame out within a few hours. We will put the green frame under the white car for now until we have stripped the white Super clean and then send it on to someone else for scavenging anything else off of it.

[FL71C10]

Looks good. I'm sure that feels good.

[oldman3]

Nice work Drew...Jim

[1985-GMC]

Very cool! I bet your wife can't wait

[drewskiren]

And for my next trick, I present the amazing floating car. (learned this from watching Harry Potter movies)

[notsolo]

Flying Car, I'm not surprised after the Quadrasteer reveal!

[Dieselwrencher]

That is a very nice body shell you have right there! Nice flying car too.

[drewskiren]

Hit it pretty much all day. Stuck the green frame under the white car and then put my hybrid frame under the green body. Bizzer was a champ all day with whatever I assigned!

[1985-GMC]

Nice! Is that the heater core in between the cowl and fender? I'd hate to have to change that out while the car is put together!

[drewskiren]

Yes! outside, but hidden behind the fender. We've come a long way from 1957.

I'll be grafting in a modern unit from something more current.

[drewskiren]

I wanted a really sturdy base with the car in the air 2 feet, so I went residential construction.

Biz goofin on the the camera.

[FL71C10]

I don't see any hurricane straps on there!

[1985-GMC]

Originally Posted by drewskiren

Yes! outside, but hidden behind the fender. We've come a long way from 1957.

I'll be grafting in a modern unit from something more current.

Haha I wouldn't expect anything less!

[drewskiren]

Tearing in pretty deep now and we found a nickel from 1944.

And a clue as to a birthday on the back of a door panel. Clearly an early 1957.

Deeper we dig, the more rust we find- for all the floor issues the white car has, it's starting to look like it may actually be better otherwise. It's funny how they both have issues, but none in common. That does work in our favor at least in that combining the 2 will render a clean car.

[drewskiren]

Coming apart nicely now, I still can't decide which is the easier car to fix.

Wait, tell me again why there is a Jag rearend under your Buick???

You can see here in these last 2 pics how very little my new rear frame rails will get into my trunk. All U need to do is trim the flange some and curve the trunk floor upwards about 1 inch. I'll only cut the side weld loose and a hammer and dolly will get it to where I can re-weld it back in it's new spot.

[High Desert]

Originally Posted by drewskiren

Coming apart nicely now, I still can't decide which is the easier car to fix.

Wait, tell me again why there is a Jag rearend under your Buick???

You can see here in these last 2 pics how very little my new rear frame rails will get into my trunk. All U need to do is trim the flange some and curve the trunk floor upwards about 1 inch. I'll only cut the side weld loose and a hammer and dolly will get it to where I can re-weld it back in it's new spot.

Wow! That is going to be so slick. A great fit. I love the way it is looking right now all torn apart with the quarter view and tailfins.

[Low Elco]

Lookin' good! CAn't wait to see the next installment.

[drewskiren]

No pics today, but I got my sandblast cabinet today and can't wait to start blastin parts!

I'm assuming I'll need primer in my hand and ready when they come out all shiny - I'll need to stock up before I make too much progress.

[drewskiren]

I know I said no pics, but I couldn't do y'all that way.....

New larger piping system required for the blast cabinet, so I just redid the whole thing.

1st item blasted, this will be the perfect thing for Biz to work on!

Floors of white Super are the worst of it the rest of the Super is much less rusty. I may find that swapping the floors will be quicker since no body work is involved afterwards.

[1985-GMC]

Nice! I've been wanting to buy a blasting cabinet. I always have small stuff that I want to sandblast but it makes a huge mess, gets in your clothes, hair etc.. so I never feel like messing with it. That'll be very handy