Bob's 57 AGIN is back to the shop (Santini's)

[djfordmanjack]

beautiful work and good to see it coming back together again.
It's amazing how much seam rust is trapped even in a dry and solid California car ( when the rear pan is removed).

[57AGIN]

Djfordmanjack:
Yes, surprised me too. But, whenever a little space is available to moisture  on steel over a 50+ year period, rust will form.  But, at least in the areas being worked on now, rust will be a thing of the past, at least in my life time. Lol

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Just got back from a trip to the East Coast for a wedding.  Visited my 57 and found both the front fenders rehung to check gaps and the passenger door had also been rehung.  Apparently, the driver side front fender that was slightly bent in the accident is easier and less costly to repair than completely rehabilitating the replacement front fender.  Not so for the passenger side, this one is still being worked on in several areas, but was rehung to check out the gaps.  Finally, the passenger door that had the skin separated from the body of the door was used instead trying to rehabilitate the replacement door.  Jeff determined that less hours would be required to reattach some new skin to the body of the door, than to completely rehabilitate the replacement door.  So I'll be able to return several pieces to Steve Pierce's 29 Palms parts yard. So, attached are photos of the rehung fenders, the original photo of the skinned back passenger door and the still being repaired original passenger door.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Back to Santini's again today.  Jeff Beck was working on smoothing out the repairs he had done to the passenger side door and generally getting the passenger side ready for some primer in preparation for block sanding.  I was sent out to find a cage bolt to use in holding the top of the fender to the body near the cowl where all the windshield wipers are hidden.  Seems that the cage bolt on the passenger side fender got ripped out of the body during the accident. I couldn't find one in the Dennis Carpenter catalog, so I went down to a fastener warehouse nearby and got an assortment of cage nuts/bolts and j-nuts/bolts.  If these don't work, I'll get in touch with Steve Pierce again.  The re skinning of the passenger door looks like it came out of the factory back in 1957 (Jeff sure does nice work).

Bob
57 AGIN

[John Palmer]

Bob, It's looking great.  Great to watch a skilled craftsman, thanks for allowing us to watch the progress.  I know it takes a long time, but it will be worth the wait.

As a side bar, Santini has painted many of the most famous VW drag cars ever built.  The paint detail is incredible, they look like show cars, not race cars.  He's done several race cars over the years, for my VW engine builder Shawn Geers.

[57AGIN]

Well the work continues on my 57.  The rear end is just about done, all that remains is the rear bumper modifications.  The fenders are temporarily hung to sort out the gaps and as soon at a good 57 hood is ready final fitment will be undertaken.  The driver side front fender was straightened, it was bowed slightly up in the middle due to the impact.  This required less shop time than rehabilitating one of the replacement fenders from the replacement front clip I got from Steve Pierce in 29 Palms.  The passenger side fender is a replacement fender and the side trim will have to be mounted temporarily to see which of the trim holes will need to be filled in.  A small bit of customizing is about to be done to the front where the headlight eyebrows will be molded in to remove those seams, like we had done in the rear.  The final result is that all the visible seams, except for the front piece with the F O R D letters will have been filled or molded in, can't do that one as it needs to be able to be removed to allow easier access for installing/removing the engine.  Finally, the fender wells for both sides have been marked up to fill in all the unneeded holes and remove a number of hose clips.

[RICH MUISE]

Looking good, Bob. You probably will want them to also fill in the seam line on each end of the spash pan. That's an easy one as the seam is just the result of the splash pan actually being 3 pieces spot welded together.

[JimNolan]

Bob, you've got a nice car. I'm not going to talk about your car though. You Sir, have more patience than anyone I've ever known, especially given the fact that driving a car is more enjoyable than working on one. Jim

[RICH MUISE]

I agree, Jim, but having a Shelby to drive while he's waiting has got to ease the pain a bunch!!

[JimNolan]

I didn't know that, thanks. Jim

[57AGIN]

Thanks Guys:

I really miss taking the 57 to our local and some distance car shows.  It is a fun car to drive and I can hardly wait until it is in my garage and ready to show again.  Took Rick over to Santini's to show him the progress on the 57 and then we went over to visit the shop where my engine is awaiting its turn for reinstalation.  Rick says that I'll have a couple of weeks of work just cleaning the dirt & grime off the engine from just sitting there, but I think I'll actually enjoy that.

This coming Saturday I will be able to see some of my other car friends, as the Annual Shelbys on the Pier Show at and on the Santa Monica Pier is taking place.  My Shelby is just another car lost among all the classic GT 350's, Cobra's, Super Snakes and King of the Road's. But, is sure good to see all that eye candy.

Bob
57 AGIN

[57AGIN]

Rich:

You said you haven't seen any updates on what's happening with my 57 in quite a while.  Unfortunately neither have I.  The car was nearly ready for a few months ago.  But as they looked closer on the driver side rear quarter panel Jeff saw some waviness and repaired that.  A couple of weeks later they started to finalize the deck lid and hood and we came up with a fitment problem with the hood.  The deck lid fits better than my original one, the gaps are all equal and it sets in the rear end just fine.  However, when Jeff was setting up the gaps on the front fenders to the body, and the rear of the hood there is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch set back in the front of the hood where it would be in relation to the nose piece (the one with the F O R D letters that bolts to the fenders on either side).  We've measured the hood length on several of my hoods including the damaged 57 hood, the 58 hood and several of Rick's hoods.  they all measure the same.  But, the gap that is there now is much greater than it was before the accident.  Rick's hood has about a 3/8 inch set back too and this was more than my original one was, too.  The work on other cars in the shop continues on, but mine is still just sitting.  Very frustrating as it seemed to be getting real close. 

On the other hand, Rick helped me yesterday to get the engine home from the shop that checked it out following the accident (I got busy and cleaned out some space in my garage so I could work on cleaning it up.  The blower and new pulleys have been installed and when clean it will be ready for reinstalling.  After draining the oil and replacing the filter and broken dip stick it should be ready to start.  Meanwhile, back at Santini's, the front & rear bumpers are going to be modified slightly, removing the bumper guards and filling in the bumper bolt holes and installing bumper mounting studs.  The rear bumper is being notched where the exhaust pipes exit (a little more than a 1/2 moon notch).  Then all will be sent out for re-chroming and the stainless trim will all be re-polished.

I go by the shop every day to see what is going on and actually got an apology from Santini, as he had said I'd have the car by Christmas.  The main frustration I have is that Santini has 4 cars sitting in his shop that have been completed and whose owners won't pick them up because they are on a cruise or out of state and wont be back until the new year, generally one excuse or another, while I've had all the parts and cash ready for months.  Or because of his reputation he will get a very high end car in for a minor repair that will take precedence over everything else.  It is frustrating, but I do know one thing, when it is done it will be as good as it was before or better and it will have been worth waiting for.

Bob
57 AGIN

[RICH MUISE]

I'm not sure what is more depressing...living in a neighborhood (mine)where 1/2 the cars are 20 year old broken down Lincoln towncars riding around on donuts or living in a neighborhood(SoCal) with all the 1/4 mil super cars zipping around.

Gotta be tough on you, Bob....walking the line between when the heck am I gonna get my car back, and knowing when you do get it back it'll be much better than if done elsewhere.

The infamous nose piece to hood gap....A few of us here have had that frustrating experience this past year. Get it close, then slightly tweek something seemingly unrelated, and bamb...back to square one. Mine is not correct still...waiting for a later date when I'll have more patience.

[lalessi1]

I just got my hood back on my car and I spent an awful lot of time trying to get those gaps right. I lowered both hood hinges by filing slots, added shims here and there and I even bent the hood to recurve the cowl edge by kneeling on it upside down! My car has been in an accident at some point in its life and there was no way to straighten out everything within the range of factory adjustments. It is pretty close now.

[57AGIN]

RICH MUISE &  lalessi1:

Thanks for the encouragement, I'm in the process of getting a replacement bolt, nut pucks & retainer for the core support and hope that maybe that will help a bit.  I'm pretty confident that Jeff & Pete will figure something out to get the fitment a bit closer.  We'll see.  I know Jeff wanted to get the gaps as close as possible before blowing the front end apart for painting, but I think he's resigned to the fact that he's going to have to do it after the paint is on the car.

Bob
57 AGIN