AWB Wagon Build

[Redpolara]

That's quite a collection of cars you've got in the yard Pat.

 

[Polara Pat]

That's quite a collection of cars you've got in the yard Pat.

Oh, I wish I had that collection of iron in my yard. That belongs to my buddy Chris Barnes at http://www.wagonsofsteel.com/

 

[Polara Pat]

Got my floors completely installed which as you know takes a long time. For the rear patches I strapped the intermediate layer with 16ga. sheet metal instead of using one piece, this way I can still access the inner and outer panels as they are installed. I started patching the inners with pieces from my parts wagon but the outer will be a panel shuffle with some hand formed sections for the lower quarter.

 

[Redpolara]

That floor area looks nice and solid now Pat, the outer rear quarter is going to be very time consuming, in terms of getting everything to flow correctly.........these things are never as straight forward as they seem in photos.....not that you didn't already know that.

 

[Polara Pat]

That floor area looks nice and solid now Pat, the outer rear quarter is going to be very time consuming, in terms of getting everything to flow correctly.........these things are never as straight forward as they seem in photos.....not that you didn't already know that.

Too true Red, this project is massive but I've been trying to log hours almost daily. I think the key is multi-tasking, so when something seams really daunting you can tackle something fun like the dash or seats so you can actually see progress. The outer skin is a bit tricky but if you look at the second to last photo I posted you can see the section marked out in front of the gap. That part will slide back and rejoin the rear, then the front patch is pretty straight up as far as mating the body lines.

 

[Polara Pat]

Chopped off my roof and patched the quarters as well as test fit the two door doors. Now it's time to prep the new roof, doors and rear side glass/B-pillar sections.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

Wow....just....WOW!!!!

 

[Redpolara]

Making some progress there Pat, you must be putting some hours in on it.

 

[Polara Pat]

Hemi seats with aluminum brackets and tuck & roll.

Paint and retrofit dash cluster with after market guages.

Organize, clean and Por-15 straight axle and 8 3/4 housing with welded back brace, Moser 35 spline axles, 489 chunk with full spool and 5.38 gears. Still need to weld up leaf spring relocation kit and install super stock springs but we got 'em.

 

[poly1963]

awsome job cant wait to see the finished product

 

[72Satellite440]

Great looking cars/projects you have going Remends me of the '65 plymouth I used to have

 

[Polara Pat]

Thanks for the props guys, I'm not super happy with how the gage retrofit went since the 2 5/8 Summit gages are a bit lost in the pods but it's what I had. (sort of a theme to this build) Someday it would be good to get some vintage SW or Sun gages but it's not a priority right now.

Tonight we will be hopefully getting the new roof on which will be a big milestone and give me a bunch of my shop back. Stay tuned.

 

[Polara Pat]

New roof installed without too much grief, still lots of stitching, inside and out to make it solid.
Last night we got the Hemi grill mod mostly done, still needs to be tigged and polished but you get the idea. Also got the better part of the drivers side B-pillar and rear window section tacked in place. It's starting to vaguely resemble a car again.

 

[crossram 426]

doing a great job there Pat, taking shape now. Awesome work there and thanks for sharing the photos, Matt

 

[Redpolara]

Looking good Pat, Could you post some closeup pics of your grill conversion, i've been wanting to do mine but haven't found a donor grill over here yet. I could get one from the U.S but the freight would be a killer.....because of the size not the weight.

 

[Polara Pat]

Looking good Pat, Could you post some closeup pics of your grill conversion, i've been wanting to do mine but haven't found a donor grill over here yet. I could get one from the U.S but the freight would be a killer.....because of the size not the weight.

Just got in from the fab shop where I got the grill welded up, it looks pretty good, I would call it driver quality but that's what I'm into.

Hey red, if you're interested I could sell you or trade something for the inner portion of my grill. It's in excellent shape and with your grill would make the Hemi grill happen. Shoot me a pm if you're interested and I can get you some better shots
I did mine a bit different than the original ones but it's all about personal preference.

 

[Redpolara]

Just got in from the fab shop where I got the grill welded up, it looks pretty good, I would call it driver quality but that's what I'm into.

Hey red, if you're interested I could sell you or trade something for the inner portion of my grill. It's in excellent shape and with your grill would make the Hemi grill happen. Shoot me a pm if you're interested and I can get you some better shots
I did mine a bit different than the original ones but it's all about personal preference.

Yeah I noticed that Pat, usually the two outer wide vertical bars are close together.....yours aren't (aren't I observant) I personally think it looks better.
I'll definately PM you on the center section and pics.

 

[Polara Pat]

O.K. RedPolara, here's my now welded but not ground or polished Hemi grill with the remaining center section left. It looks a bit misleading but the drop-section is not located in the center. As you can see I trimmed the outer bars and used the factory mounting holes which makes the grill slightly overlap the headlight surround but also makes all of the small and large vertical bars symmetrical. Good eye by the way. This is not the traditional way of doing it as far as I know but I think it looks cleaner.

 

[MarPar]

Good God Pat!!! You sir, are a glutton for punishment!!! LOL

Seriously though, you are very talented...BIG props for you on your wagon!!!

ccasion14:

keep the pics comin!!! and i can't wait to see the first pic of your wagon with air under the front tires!!!!

 

[moparstuart]

very cool car