Moving forward, been doing some more sculpting and forming. This is just the initial go-around and I'll hit it with long boards after the body is foamed up. Starting to take shape! I’m extremely pleased!

Cheers :beers:
Dave

That looks great.

What are you cutting it with? I would think that stuff could be everywhere

Bill, it’s cut with a 12” fine tooth sawzall blade and sculpted with a belt sander with 60 and 80 grit. After each day I clean the shop and surprisingly, it really doesn’t make the mess you’d think.

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Coming along great. Have you done any measuring of the buck just to make sure it all matches up exactly with an original? Just curious since you're really into the meat of the body now, I'd be freaking if I found something was off after all the work was put into forming the mold.

Looking great!! Once you have the entire car formed in wood and foam, what is the process to make a mold and how many sections will it be? Did you get your intake yet?

Thanks,
Marty

Marty, the owner of the intake was really cool to talk to. After considering what I needed to do, I just couldn’t justify that price for an intake I’d need to modify anyway. I decided tig welding two-barrel adapter plates to a dual-four intake would be best since I need to do some fabricating to the remainder of the intake anyway for a drip pan. I couldn’t justify bastardizing a vintage speed part like that. That guy builds some cool old-Skool hot rods!:headbang:

Mark, I’ve been going off measurements from the model and then multiplying that number by 18 to get the proper dimensions. I have exact tail light housings and used this method to see how close I was to the actual real part. I was about 1/18th off, so it’s safe to say everything else is measuring correctly. Big dimensions like width, length, and wheel base are exact. Honestly, a keen visual eye for the detail of the curves is really all that’s needed for the forming of the panels. Smaller items like location of the side grilles measured perfectly.

I am thinking I may have the 3D scanning company come down and scan my completed buck and do a comparison to the scan of the model body and see where I may need to make any corrections. They can overlay one over top of the other and any resulting errors would show up red indicating where I’d need to trim.:wink:

More esplainin’ later.....:scholar:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Getting your buck scanned is a great idea.

On facebook market place I saw a wood racing boat hull that looked something like your buck. If you decide the car is too much trouble just throw a motor on the back of it.

I know the Kirkham brothers originally did one side of their Cobra from an original and did a mirror image to produce the other side as both sides of their fathers original Cobra had different dimensions.

It's interesting you say that, Tim. All of these cars were hand made so no two are identical. When studying restored examples, you can clearly see asymmetric traits in grille openings, headlight to fender angles, and various other small inconsistencies on the same car. Seeing how time was critical on making these, it's not surprising to see these errors.

Since time isn't critical on my build, those inconsistencies will be from me not knowing what I'm doing versus production volume! :thumbsdown:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

The weekend has been foamtuitous with progress!:headbang: I'm about 2/3rds of the way done with the initial foam carving. You can really see the lines now! The green is fiberglass impregnated filler which fills the seams and bonds the foam together. The other is just regular filler. The CAD scan gave me the hood line reliefs as well as the scoop position. No guesswork as to it’s location.

I’m thinking now my plan will be to make molds and then assemble the body as one piece. The nose will be a section, the left front and right front will be two more followed by the doors and rear. That way if I decided to build another (a his and hers version) I could easily make another body if needed. Or, I something happens and I need a repair panel. See? I’m already thinking of my first crash!:confused2::frown::thumbsdown:

I hope to have the body sculpting complete this week!:scholar:

Cheers
Dave

I thought you were sending us airport pictures like you were flying this weekend, how did you get all that done??

Progress looks great. Really starting to take shape

I flew Friday and Saturday getting done at 8am so plenty of time to get things done, Bill! Don't you realize I didn't get the Super Dave moniker coined by Sam for sitting around and doing nothing? :wink::p:p

Be well up there!

Cheers
Dave

Very common mistake to think it was the same car, but here's an interesting tidbit too; Elvis never "owned" the car. It was leased!:hmmm:

Cannot wait to get behind the wheel next year! And since I'm hoping to bring it to MCACN, I hope you all will get a chance to sit in it too!

Cheers:beers:
Dave

I'm late to the party but this is so cool! Subscribed.

So, from one shop to another! I'm relocating the 507 to the big shop for the next two months while I get the Cuda over here for paint. Man, I'm really happy so far seeing it out in the daylight at different angles! While it sits in waiting I'll be collecting more parts including the donor suspension and chassis along with the engine/ trans combo. Love it! :laugh:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

It is looking great, Dave. I'm enjoying following your progress.

Love the progress Dave.

Have you made any final decisions on drivetrain? I know you were considering several BMW power plants. I'm guessing you'll source one from a junkyard?

Thanks, Tim. I’m glad you’re enjoying the progress!:headbang: I’m extremely pleased and can not wait to have a body formed up and move onto the next phase!

Mark, the overall chassis will be from the Mercedes SL unibody like I had previously mentioned, and the engine/trans combo will be a SBC with a 2x2 intake, front mounted distributor kit from Summers Brothers, custom valve covers, and exhaust manifolds all to mimic on first glance, that you’re looking at at the factory BMW V8. The transmission will more than likely be a T5.

The Mercedes donor unibody will give me the 2dr structure I need along with a functioning top. My plan is to make the car functional too with a factory top that actually seals all around the joints. In other words, I don’t want to go through all this and not have correct trim, weather stripping, stainless mouldings, etc. Both front and rear suspension will be torsion bar. The front will be from a Mopar (64-70 style) and the rear will be my own design and use an 8.75 Mopar rear too:biggthumpup:

Maybe the next car I do will be a Z8 for a sister ship! At least I can still buy parts for that one !:worship:

Cheers
Dave

Thanks for the update. I must have missed the SL Mercedes as a chassis basis I guess. Makes sense since they're similar layouts under the body. Which generation SL are you going with? The R230? That seems like the most readily available modern SL chassis and the new and used parts supply is probably almost endless.

Love how it's coming along.

Headlight buckets are in along with stainless trim rings for fitment. Now I can cut the holes out and know where to end the mounting flange. :biggthumpup:

The guy that provides pest spraying services for the house was out today. He's a former parts manager at a BMW dealership and his jaw dropped when he saw my creation! I think that's a compliment! :hmmm::biggthumpup:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

I was able to score a carbon fiber dash molded off of a real 507 dash. It should be here in a few weeks, and this well help fine tune the measurements of the interior based on what I’ve calculated so far. WOOHOO!!! The gauge pod is easily fabricated and I’ve already talked to a place that can make the gauges for me.

I already have a factory Becker Mexico radio, speaker, amp, as well as the throttle, choke, wiper and vent knobs. Moving right along! Time to do a video recap to show how I’ve got to where I’m at since a few BMW aficionados somehow got wind of this project and are pretty intrigued to say the least!:scholar::eek2:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

So are you going to stop flying and start production of 507s? Could be a lot of money in it.

Or, write a book titled "How to build anything awesome in 6 months or less" by Super Dave.

Nice work, exciting build.

BWAHAHAHA!!!:haha::haha::haha: OK, now that’s hysterical right there!:worship: Thanks for the encouragement, my friend! It’s comments like that which keep me moving forward!:worship::biggthumpup:

Well, if I somehow find myself on the unemployment line, I might just do that Freddie! But nah, I think there’s probably a bunch of copyright issues and such on doing that. This will be a one-off creation for myself. Although I may possibly build another for a “Herr und Frauline” pair. Although I may donate one to Ashton since a man of his magnitude and elevation needs a pimp-daddy ride like this!:biggthumpup:

I’m not sure of the copyright on the body, but the BMW marque and Roundel sure are. A fellow did this with the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing but he advertised it for sale under the Mercedes name, I believe. He shortly found himself in a world of hurt by Mercedes. Not only did they come down hard on him, they seized the body and crushed it. And last I checked, you don’t want to mess around with the Germans!goggles

Hmmmmmm, although I could create a new automobile manufacturing company and create my own logos and trademarks!:hmmm: I could call it Jammerlich Und Nachgewiesen Kabrio, which is German too!:shocked: I can shorten that to JUNK Cars, Inc. Yes, it may translate to “Miserable and Proven, Convertible”, but heck, that could really catch on! I’d set the world on FIRE with State of the Art options like dual 2bbl carburetor efficiency, 2-Speed wipers, smooth and sound bias ply tire technology, and a dual band radio featuring booth Amplitude Modulation and Frequency Modulation channels!!!:headbang:

Cheers:beers:
SuperDave
CEO/CFO/NORDO
JUNK Cars, Inc.

Dave, here's a link to the front drive unit that is on my Scarab. Their website is pretty cool, also.

https://www.scarabmotors.com/front-drive-unit

They also sell the Hilborn Fuel Injection unit that I have on my car. The combination is amazing with a 383 Chevy in a 1900 LB car.

https://www.scarabmotors.com/efi-vintage-hilborne

This story brought your 507 build to my mind when I read it Dave:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/202...ign=2020-04-14

Wow, that front drive setup is interesting, Tim. I'll have to look closer at that.

Mark, wow! That's awesome! Thanks for posting that. Inspiring for sure!

Front turn signals are in. More soon.....

Cheers:beers:
Dave

PS; thanks for the thread title change Steve!

I placed a turn signal under the headlight just to see if the spacing was correct and it looks pretty close. These at the bullet turn signals from a 60s Karmann Ghia. They’re just about identical to the 507s. The angle under the headlight needs to be trimmed down more and I have a bunch of hi-res photos of two 507s under restoration along with several of the bare body painted alone on a body dolly for comparison.:scholar: I’m planning on mounting the headlight buckets and turn signals over the weekend iffin’ I don’t have to fly.

More to come!!!:biggthumpup:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Thanks Mike. Of course, something like this won't affect the latest build thread comin' in hot in another section here shortly.

Hey Dave..I thought you'd get a kick out of these pics I found on the web of the Daytona...getting mocked up :) :headbang:






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You would like this page on facebook..they are doing a 250 GTO...click on the album
https://www.facebook.com/19902456944...2244244885360/

Those pictures of the Daytona coupe mockup were taken just a few blocks away from our home in Marina Del Rey, now the back side Bartels Harley Davidson dealer.

----The pic of Ken Miles sitting in the mock-up is really special. Thanks!...….Bill S

Now that’s just classic, Bruce!:3gears: Thanks for posting that!!:biggthumpup:

Very inspirational when I start on a metal body!

Cheers
Dave

Dave,

Looks like all you need is a T-square, a race car driver and some sheet metal... done!

Great photos Bruce. I'm sure Dave will impress and entertain us along the way. Looking forward to it.

Phil

It’s killing me to not have done anything on the 507 these past few weeks! :confused2: Right now I’m moving my folks from Florida to Texas, so this week is shot. Back in the shop next week with more updates! Oh, and with help from Ian Ashton, my new video cam arrived so you’ll all be treated to The “SuperDave-a-tron 5000 Video camology” soooon!:eek2::rolleyes::rolleyes::eek:

Cheers:beers:
Dave

Dave, will we have control of the camera so we can follow you around the shop and zoom in on stuff? :wink:

That could be a possibility, Mark. The SuperDave-a-tron 5000 with "SD Vision".:headbang:

I'll set up multiple ones so every angle of the disaster can be replayed and analyzed! :cool2:

Cheers
Dave