I’m new here and just wanted to introduce myself and my project. I am an average 33 year old garage mechanic who is self-taught and starting to build an aluminum 1963 e-type Lightweight Lindner Nocker Low Drag Coupe from scratch in my home garage. I am documenting the process along the way and have so far been sharing photos with family and friends. I am still a long way from completion but thought this might be a good place to post to inspire others. I currently have a 63 roadster I am using as a body buck and template. I am using traditional metal shaping techniques I learned off of YouTube (English wheel, shrinker, stretcher, hammer and dolly) to shape and form the aluminum. I have also been teaching myself how to Tig weld aluminum.
I tried to upload multiple pictures but is says new members can only upload one media item so I have included the front section of my hood I built this past weekend.
Wonderful. Welcome to the forum. If you post a few different threads and contribute to a few others in the next while you will quickly be allowed yo post multiple pictures as well as other abilities.
Start with this my friend…If you want a massaged version, Jason Len is selling his right now in California, he will be happy to share his details…
If your going to real drive it.
Good luck.
gtjoey1314
Thanks for sharing. Right now my plan is to eyeball the roofline and A pillar rake from photos but it sure would be good to have some actual measurements.
My plan is to complete the front bonnet first. Then build the monocoque chassis starting from the floor pans and working my way to the roof. So far I have completed the front driver side fender and will be working on the passenger side next. Then the middle hood section and bracing underneath.
Haha far from it. I started to follow a guy on YouTube called laze metal shaping. He gives tips and tricks. The rest was just trial and error. There is also a channel that was on Jay Leno’s garage of a guy who does custom coachwork. It may be a dieing art but I personally find it very relaxing and rewarding after a long day of sitting at a desk.
You appear to have some very impressive skills already. Think seriously about spending a bit of time researching and then building this car as accurately as you possibly can. You have been offered help with measurements and you can be sure that the people offering will be all over this project trying to help you. There will be others with knowledge who will chime in once they become aware. You will probably find out that building an accurate replica will not be that much more time consuming than a close replica and the result will be much more satisfying.
That is great advice and thank you to every who has posted. Up until now most people I have shared photos with or talked about the project to outside of this forum has really not taken me seriously and do not understand why I want to build it. I really do appreciate all of the advice and enthusiasm. I will be sure to follow up on measurements and more photos of my templating process.
Wow the pictures are fantastic. Thank you for sharing. Attached are a few pictures of my paper template process with foam board shapes.
Below are basic pictures from my process. Make a tape template. Peal it off and use baby powder to remove the stickiness. Use foam board to build curved templates. Then wheel out the shape and checking every so often. Then trim, and roll the edges to factory spec.
No fancy tools but I am able to build the shapes I need. These were pictures from the two piece fender I built. The surface after the last wheeling is ultra smooth and can be polished. I am still practicing using a tipping die to make smoothed curved edges. Smaller areas I just use a hammer and dolly.
There was a car that advertised for sale on ebay a few month ago. I’m sorry I didn’t down load pictures of the car to present it this evening. As they say hindsight is 20-20, bummer!
This is fantastic. I tip my hat to you cheers!
