what's the weirdest thing you've used

[RICH MUISE]

I enjoyed some of our past off-the-wall posts, like the one we did on the strangest things we've found in cars we've bought, I've been trying to think of a similar topic we could get into...so:
what's the weirdest non-automotive item you have used to get a project done on your car (other than a rat rod).
I'll start it..in my car I have arms from a swing set, a section of sheet metal from a microwave oven,a file box,and I just figured out I can get the stainless rings I needed for my '63 tailight lenses from dog dishes! I was cleaning out my Huskie's dog food dish tonight looking at how nice a polished finish it had and realized the outer lip diameter was about the size of our tailights, so I went out and measured and it is within a 1/32" of being exactly what I need!

[custom300fe]

Is there any way we can use these for "Dog Dish" hub caps?

[Zapato]

Few years back I used an oven rack for a grille on some vents. Saved a lot of fab time and it matched the bar grille on the car pretty well.

Zap-

[JimNolan]

Guys,
   I use an aluminum window screen for the front of my 57 to keep bugs out of my new radiator. It's a universal window screen that you cut to length and then install a black mesh with rubber gaskets along the edge. If you cut it the right height and length it fits perfectly in front of the radiator and doesn't need anything to hold it in place. Keeps the bugs out of the radiator. Jim

[wv 57s forever]

not on my 57 but i used a stove pipe cover to fill in a hole in the fire wall on a mustang11 where the ac was.

[canadian_ranchero]

on my mark viii i used a 4in drain pipe elbow to make a cold air duct from my air filer to the grill 

[Bubba]

Years ago we were fitting a Chrysler 396 Hemi into a 49 Merc lead sled.
The firewall was a major obstacle, not enough clearance, so after cutting out the firewall, we used a small metal wheelbarrow, cut it straight across the section nearest the handles and welded it into place in the hole we had cut in the firewall, instant recessed firewall.  My Dad always wondered where his wheel barrow disappeared to?
BuBBa

[Zapato]

A buddy of mine used the bottom half of a bedpan to make an air cleaner housing, came out pretty good considering the service it had earlier provided.

Zap-

[RICH MUISE]

This is one of the things that for me building a custom or modified makes it so much more fun than restoring to original. when you are trying to figure out how to modify an area when you have limited quick metal forming capabilities, you start looking at discarded scrap in a different light....and sometimes not discrded like Bubba's Dad's wheelbarrow. When I was modifying my dashboard I was doing a sketch of what I thought I wanted for the lower area all the way across,and realized looking at the sketch it looked really similar to some raingutters. I had planned on making a matboard mockup before I did the sheetmetal..but if a 5.00 plastic raingutter worked for the mockup it would save me some time...and sure enough a trip to local home depot confirmed one of the gutters they carried was exactly what I needed.
I liked Jim's idea of a removable window screen in front of the radiator that just slips in...and my wife said she was really getting tired of spending all those hours pulling bugs off the radiator anyway.

[RICH MUISE]

here's on I spotted in Fort Worth last weekend. sorry for the poor pic quality. looks like a motorcycle gas tank to me.