Have'nt posted for a while. This is how I mounted the body back to the frame while working alone.Took about 5 min.

Got the rear fenders, side aprons, running boards, and gas tank installed. Working on figuring out the wheel offset/backspacing now so I can get them ordered.

Nice work!! Just from the looks of it, you might have to go with a special off set if you want the rear tires to sit with-in the rear fenders - lots of off set to the inside. Beautiful cowl ship logo! Hard to find!

Making some progress on my 33. Mounted my tail lights. They are Mad Dad brand LED Harley Davidson tail lights. Pretty bright for the size of them. I also have my rear hubs and rotors at a machine shop getting them re-drilled to 5x4.50 They were 5x 108mm and I they don't make very many wheels that size. I had bought wheel adapters, but that set them out too far.

Got my front fenders and headlights mounted today. It's starting to look like something finally. Ran into another hitch today. I had bought a stainless hood center hinge strip over 20 years ago. Went to put the hood back together today and the strip is stamped out wrong. It won't let the 2 top hood pieces hinge up. I'll have to try and find someplace that makes the correct fitting piece.

Funny you should mention this...I was just looking at one for my car.

http://www.srpmstreetrods.com/srpm/mopar...3cd504d5-p.html

I just ordered one from them thru ebay. if you wait a few days until it gets to me, I will let you know how well it fits.

Those taillights look pretty cool. My only concern is the angle they appear to be mounted at. Are they going to be easy to see from behind, for the person following you at a safe distance, or will they not be able to see them until they get up too close? Gene

i really like that color combination ! that should look outstanding in the sunlight !

That is not an issue. They are designed to work at an angle as in the angle of extended bags and rear fender on a custom bagger Harley. They are easily seen from behind.

That is good to know. The way most people drive these days, I'd hate to give them any excuse to wreck our stuff, and that's a really sharp car to give some moron a shot at. Gene

I got my new center hood hinge from SRPM. It is stamped correctly and is a perfect fit. Hood went together very nice.

The body is finally all together. Next I have to make some bumper brackets to tuck the stock front bumper in close to the body and send my stock front bumper to Tri-City for chrome. I'll have to make my rear bumper.

I haven't been on here for a while. slowly making progress on my 33. Installing my Painless wire harness ,hooking up the lights and so stuff. Wife didn't like the looks of the stock bumper so I made some out of thick wall 1 3/4" tubing. Sent them to the chrome shop and just got them back this week. I also made some brackets to fit a Harley Davidson front light bar to the front bumper. Had all the brackets chromed. Everything looks good. The small round lights are my LED front turn signals and also running lights.

Thanks for this thread.

My lease is up in 2019 on my Jetta (don't ask...) and I will need to replace this car.
My daughter who is an "old souL', likes the look of the pre-war cars and being I already had my roadrunner convertible, she wanted something that would fit her personality. Her 1st car is still in Dallas waiting for me to go get it (1987 Reliant)...but that is again another story.

I want to build something with a modern drivetrain like a 5.7 Hemi automatic and all the comforts - air/heat/P/S and disk brakes. It will be a daily driver and it will be driven by her to work and back.

So the obvious question begs, can I do something with a re-enforced chassis or would it be wiser to slip something under a '30's '40's body and just make the interior like old school?

I have 2 years to pull this off and a garage on the way....lol.

Love the thread and thanks for all who contributed!

Looking forward to the completion of the '33!

njdevil2, I suppose you could pull off this build you want to do in 2 years, you have your work cut out for you, for sure.

Realistically? I think the "a garage on the way" is going to be a problem, unless that "garage on the way" is a fully equipped shop your getting next week....

Then, I'm a bit concerned about the questions your asking, it sounds like you may not have a lot of experience. 2 years on this big of a build is going to have a pretty steep learning curve. I suggest you get started now...

This is not to say it can't be done. If you start out with a modern Hemi car, pull the sheet metal, and cover the chassis with a 40s (or 50s) body (a 30s body is too small to be even close to fitting), the time frame might look more promising. Your still going to have to perform a lot of modifications to the chassis so it will mate up with an old body, and then you will have a lot of modifications to do with the body so it will look OK. On www.killbillet.com (its a rat rod site, and you may have to join to see the pictures, its free to join) in the 50s truck section there was a guy that put a 50s international pickup body on a Hemi Durango chassis. The build was pretty well documented, with pictures and descriptions of the process. The same process could be done with nearly any 40s or 50 Mopar car or truck, and the body can be finished to suit. Gene

Well, Gene, thanks for the feedback.

I am NOT by any means a body man, however I am well versed in suspension, mechanical, braking and electrical. By no means am I a BODY SHOP kinda guy.

That being said, there are other means than scratch built, there are 2 local "projects" that I can take on where the body is about done and I can install the powertrain of my choice and adapt what I need to.

There are, of course, ways to build things and I see that this and your projects are ground up. I'm not going for that.

I have friends that weld and weld very well, thank you.

I have all the tools needed to complete whatever I start. I am a mechanical by trade.

Thanks for the "warning".

After owning this car for 27 years, i drove it down the road for the first time today. Got the exhaust put on and the suspension lined up today. All that's left is the interior.

Fantastic!!!!!

It took me 15 years before I got to test drive my 37 Dodge. I can attest to how good it feels to have them move without having to push them.