Had an unusual request form a customer, to convert his 2016 Malibu into a pseudo Aston Martin. Not exactly, but also taking a few styling cues from Ferrari, Corvette, etc.
He brought me the car with his ideas performed with a Sawzall, and duct tape.
Well, being the open minded lunatic I am, I accepted the challenge! I won't post all the detail pics, just highlights of what we are doing. First, as I received the car, and a picture of his inspiration.
Malibu to Aston Martin conversion
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You Gonna Use Glass or Metal?
Dennis B.
A&P Mechanic, FCC General radio Telephone Operator Line Maintenance A&P Mechanic and MOC Tech specialist. |
Oh, boy, looks like it's time to carve up some foam and lay some glass to me.....
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!
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NOOOO! I'm a metal guy! Did the back half in steel, but he did request the hood be done with aluminum, which I haven't worked with much. Caused lots of problems!
Started by defining the trunk edge with a 908 bent piece of steel, shaped with a shrinker-stretcher. Once tacked in place, a paper pattern, then put into steel. Mostly shaped this with an English Wheel. Used paper templates to establish curved shapes. |
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Once the trunk was roughed in, I placed the Ferrari tail lights where they needed to be. Then started building the sheet metal around them, slightly oversized, to be trimmed later, with 1/4" steel tubing, as an edge.
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I have to admit at first I was like "what the..."
ok now I'm interested Are you doing the final painting or do you send out for that? I look forward to watching this project progress, looking good so far (!) |
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Doing it all Chris! Right now, I'm at the point where I have to force him into choosing a color. Not easy. I vetoed keeping it the Chevy white color. Did spray-outs of Aston Quantum Silver, Madagaskar Gold, and Volcano Red. No go. This week I did a Maserati color, limited edition paint called Rosso Magma, 3 stage. Hoping he likes that one, I sure do!
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The car has new Corvette wheels and tires on it, sticking out farther than stock. Also, the new trunk and tail light treatment is wider than original. So instead of trying to modify the stock quarter panels, I just made them from scratch, to perfectly fit the wheel/tire combo. This time I wanted to establish the arch above the wheels first, the most important line to make. Then I used the shrinker stretcher again, to make a proper sized wheel well opening for the new Vette rolling stock. Then it was just a matter of putting the arch in the right spot and filling in the blanks with sheet metal. Properly bent, curved, stretched, etc.
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Forming the subtle, and not so subtle curves on the car was difficult. I already had a Wheel, but I needed something to do rapid forming, since so much was needed. I got a Tinman Technologies power air hammer to do this. Lots of great tooling to do almost anything I needed.
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I like were this is going!
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