Just before World War II, most cars had fenders that stood proud of the main body structure in the style we now call “fat fendered.” When passenger car production resumed after the war, this style continued for a few years. Still, most manufacturers started tooling up for a new, slab-sided look where the fenders blended in seamlessly with the body. Ford made this transition in 1949, and the 1949-51 Ford is called the “shoebox,” reflecting this revolutionary styling feature. This car became immensely popular for car customizers and has remained in vogue ever since.
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If you look closely at the headlight extensions and grille opening, you will see they are made of multiple, poorly formed pieces. This must be corrected.
Scott’s Hotrods ‘N Customs is building a custom Shoebox in the traditional style for Danny Rowe. The car is based on a 1950 Ford Tudor sedan, featuring a just-right chopped top. All the body modifications are geared toward a traditional look while adding sophisticated refinement. Ken DeKiserre is the primary craftsman on this project, and in this article we will take an in-depth look at the beautiful metalwork he is doing on the front end of the car.
Here, a piece of new metal has been shaped for the fender extension, which is held temporarily in place with Clecos.
The car they started with was basically sound. Still, some earlier attempts at reshaping the front fenders and grille opening had to be cut out and replaced, and a lot of work went into making sure everything was smooth and symmetrical along with dialing in the hood gaps precisely.
The poorly formed metal is cut away, leaving temporary tabs for attaching the new metal. These tabs will be cut away at a later stage.
There are some important lessons to be learned from the procedures used in this project, such as removing only selected parts of the body structure at a time so that the overall shape and integrity of the panels are not compromised. Lots of care was put into temporarily fitting and positioning each component before tack welding it into place and double-checking everything before finished welding. A laser level was used at key steps in the process to provide an accurate reference. These procedures are essential for keeping a project from getting out of control during extensive modifications.
Here’s the new metal held in place, ready for the tack welding. Doing the top and bottom sections separately retains the headlight location with precision.
We trust the photos will give you a lot of insight into the techniques used for high-level metalworking, and we hope it may inspire many of you to take on even more ambitious projects. MR
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The metal is tack-welded here, and the fit is carefully checked before moving to the bottom.Clamps are used to temporarily hold the lower panels in place as the fit is carefully dialed in.Once the fit has been verified, all the joints are finished welded.Here’s how the fender looks after the final tune-up and metal finishing.Keeping the shape of both sides the same is critical, and frequent checks are made to ensure symmetry.The edges of the hood are tuned up to smooth out any irregularities.The hood is carefully positioned with the gaps as even as possible and held in place with multiple “bridge” pieces and Clecos. The gap at the front will be reworked.A laser is used to position the front of the hood precisely, as well as the grille opening.An angle formed from sheet metal is positioned to be perfectly level. The hood will be reshaped to fit this reference.New metal is curled for the top portion of the grille opening.The new metal pieces are held in place with Clecos, and the laser is used again to ensure that everything is properly aligned.With the alignment verified, the panels are tack-welded into place.A slight correction was needed at the sides of the grille opening, so new metal was shaped and fitted into place.Once all the metal around the grille opening was metal finished, a new flange was fitted to reinforce the back edge. Clecos are used to hold it as the fit is adjusted.This low-angle view emphasizes how smoothly the metal shapes flow together.Looking from the inside, you can see how intricately all the pieces have been fitted together.A flanged section is being fitted to the front fender in preparation for installing a new splash apron to fit below the grille.After welding and metal finishing, you can see the fit is flawless.Chipboard is used to make a pattern for the new splash apron. It is held in place with magnets and support blocks.The splash apron is trimmed, fitted, and welded into place.To finish and strengthen the front edge of the new splash apron, a formed sheet metal angle is fitted into place.On the top of the fender, a sheet metal angle is shaped by shrinking and stretching the flanges to dial-in the contour needed to perfect the hood gaps.The fit of the new fender edge is getting closer but still needs some more tweaking.You can expect to work tricky parts like this back and forth a few times until the fit is finalized. A few more small adjustments are needed here.The new inner fender edge is fitted and welded into place with the fit perfected.Another angle is fitted to the inner fender edge for additional strength. Silicon bronze filler rod is used here to reduce the distortion that may occur with a fillet weld.Here, the fillet weld is sanded to a nice, smooth contour, and a graceful mount has been built to attach the top of the fender to the newly fabricated core support.With all the front end metal finished, you can see how beautifully everything fits together, which is the hallmark of top-notch metalworking procedures.
