Hello, Just doing some reading and noticed that there was a problem with my picture in my Intro thread so I thought I'd give a quick review of my project.
It's not old, historic, powerful and is not what you would call a hot rod. It is Retro, sort of.
Hope I dont offend any Rodders by posting this here, just felt like sharing :)
Been at it for 3 yrs now, a long time I know but I do some moonlighting and a lot of smaller projects that take up way too much time. The push is on and maybe by posting it here it'll motivate me to get er dun! I hope to have it on the road in 4-6 weeks, It's going to Moparfest no matter what!!!
Here goes
Project before pic
At first, the plan was to simply remove the roof and make it a full time roadster. So I started cutting. Now Im committed
Thats about the time i see this one, and change my mind
Dove in head first, with barely a clue of what I had committed to. We push on
Got a lot of help with the rear of the cab, now on to the box
This is where I stalled for quite a while, asked everyone I could about how to proceed, got a lot of great advice from some really good people. THANKS Guys!!
Needed fenders of some kind, The point of this project was to do as much as I could myself, without throwing buckets of money at it and paying someone else to do it right. No show car finish, this is going to be a daily driver and probably a rat rod style. With that being said
I figured I was going to do the outer fenders myself.
So you watch some sunday morning cars shows and a couple hundred hours of youtube and start realizing that there is a difference between fabricating and Metal shaping.
Now you need a whole world of new tools. AWESOME, Cuz my wife loves when I buy MORE tools. bought a bunch
Quick update, super busy and a couple of days behind schedule. Was hoping to have some color on it this long weekend but family got in the way, what u gonna do?
I never intended to be show car shiny, just wanted to go for a rat rod finish. Not regretting that decision but I am definatly going to repaint it in a couple of years and do a proper finish. NAPA screwed up on the black, doesn't much look like flat black to me, (was supposed to be 10-20% gloss) Blue came up a little brighter than I thought it would but Im ok with it.
Looks nice and you have a lot of time in it but what have you done to reinforced the structure between the cab and bed? Did you add a frame to the underbody?
These are unibody vehicles and removing the roof will take out a lot of the structural rigidity that the car had when it passed it's original crash/safety tests.
After reading the post on avoiding Cobourg, I wonder if this is the type of build they're looking to inspect?
Would it need to be re-inspected for safety?
I would be afraid if you had a mishap on the road your insurance company may not cover you....
I think it looks like it had a pretty good frame built around that box and the way the fenders tie in I don't think it would concern me to much. Something funny about those PT cruisers is the way the ins company and MOT register them . My wife has a convertible PT cruiser and both the ins and MOT have it registered as a truck..I questioned that at first when they had that on the ins and ownership but they said that's the way they class them.. Wierd eh!!
__________________
There is no elevator to success — you have to take the stairs.
Looks nice and you have a lot of time in it but what have you done to reinforced the structure between the cab and bed? Did you add a frame to the underbody?
These are unibody vehicles and removing the roof will take out a lot of the structural rigidity that the car had when it passed it's original crash/safety tests.
Yes, I added box channel to the under side of the body, welded it solid. The body is surprisingly rigid.
As for the Cobourg area inspections, arn't they going after guys for emissions and conforming to regulations concerning engine swaps?
As for insurance, I will cross that bridge very soon. Ill keep you posted. Does anyone know for sure? Please post...
__________________
If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards and GET A BIGGER HAMMER!!!
I have a '68 pickup had truck plates on it. I bought historic plates for it for two years and never drove it. Wanted to put ordinary plates on it. I didn't have a weigh slip so now it has car /blue and white plates on it.
I think for me I would really have liked that paint done in the matte red.. Like Shawns Car.. (molten) His looks sharp with that color paint..I think the project and all the work is fantastic.. I am not fussy on the color though.. But I don't own it and you didn't build it for me..You did a great job on the fab.. The truck looks really nice..
__________________
There is no elevator to success — you have to take the stairs.
I was at Mopar fest and saw your truck it pretty cool you did nice work.My first time at mopar fest to man that a great show lot of nice ride there Am a mopar guy so that was the place to be .
I think for me I would really have liked that paint done in the matte red.. Like Shawns Car.. (molten) His looks sharp with that color paint..I think the project and all the work is fantastic.. I am not fussy on the color though.. But I don't own it and you didn't build it for me..You did a great job on the fab.. The truck looks really nice..
I ran into a snag trying to pick a color, like you I thought a flat red would be my color but I let the wife talk me out of it. (SWMBO). When I went to the local paint supply/auto parts store and asked for a flat blue paint, they all looked at me like
i had 3 heads. What year /make/model or paint code they asked like good little sheep. Finally one fella gave me a choice of two blue colors, hard to pick from a 1" x 1" color chip. Time is not a luxury I had at this point, I needed paint now... So I picked one and it is what it is.
All said and done, it is a lot brighter blue than I thought it would be and the flat black sure as hell aint flat, but it's growing on me.
Plan is to have some fun with it for a few years then give it a proper body job. Thinkin Plum crazy purple with the same black fenders
__________________
If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards and GET A BIGGER HAMMER!!!
Thanks to all for the kind words, The PT has been for me, a first step of a long journey into the crazy world of car guys.
After I went to my first cruise night with the PT, my wife asked me "What did people think?" I told her they laughed. She looked at me with concern knowing how proud I am of my creation, she then asked " they laughed at your car?" I told her no, some chuckled, some smiled, some laughed but everyone enjoyed seeing it. I had all kinds of questions about it. How this and how that? at MOPARFEST the response was tremendous, and again the same reactions. Something about the little truck makes people smile and grin.
Love it or hate it, I did (most of) it myself, and what I've learned I'll be more than happy to share with any one that wants to listen to some silly ass that thought it would be neat to make a pickup out of a PT Cruiser.
Begs the question, WHATS NEXT?
__________________
If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards and GET A BIGGER HAMMER!!!
I'll bet there some guys who have been searching the classifieds and trying to find one for sale. I think it's a great looking little truck and you should be proud of it.
I'll bet there some guys who have been searching the classifieds and trying to find one for sale. I think it's a great looking little truck and you should be proud of it.
I had an older S10 extended cab pickup with car plates on it and was pulled over by the police for it. Upon further investigation and talking with the officer it was deemed that because I had jump seats behind the front buckets that passengers could sit there and that being the case I was able to continue to keep the car plates. Silly loop holes to no end.
I'll bet there some guys who have been searching the classifieds and trying to find one for sale. I think it's a great looking little truck and you should be proud of it.
X 2
X2 plus 1 = 3-lol
__________________
"if you are not the lead dog, the view is all the same"
I think for me I would really have liked that paint done in the matte red.. Like Shawns Car.. (molten) His looks sharp with that color paint..I think the project and all the work is fantastic.. I am not fussy on the color though.. But I don't own it and you didn't build it for me..You did a great job on the fab.. The truck looks really nice..
I ran into a snag trying to pick a color, like you I thought a flat red would be my color but I let the wife talk me out of it. (SWMBO). When I went to the local paint supply/auto parts store and asked for a flat blue paint, they all looked at me like
i had 3 heads. What year /make/model or paint code they asked like good little sheep. Finally one fella gave me a choice of two blue colors, hard to pick from a 1" x 1" color chip. Time is not a luxury I had at this point, I needed paint now... So I picked one and it is what it is.
All said and done, it is a lot brighter blue than I thought it would be and the flat black sure as hell aint flat, but it's growing on me.
Plan is to have some fun with it for a few years then give it a proper body job. Thinkin Plum crazy purple with the same black fenders
well by golly, if that ain't mopar then i am a horse's ass, "Thinkin Plum crazy purple with the same black fenders" probably couldn't put enough o"s in cooool
maybe if i may suggest, a cut down version to scale of the scoops to go with that plum purple.
don't matter what breed you are into, everyone knows where that plum purple comes from. more o's
i picked one of them up in kentucky 6-7 or 8 yrs ago at a very reasonable price, it was an unfinished father-son project, and everywhere i stopped on the way home it wasn't long for any gear heads in the crowd to be having a look at it. if it was a red-blue-green or black one it was just another old swinger but the purple they had to have a look see.