My April coachbuilding class was a great time. The guys were all motivated to learn as much as possible and they all did outstanding work. Attendees Brian, Jeff, Elton, and Jim all own small English wheels and had a little shaping experience. Bob and Dave were total novices. All of the panels were made using my flexible shape pattern method, no wood bucks used or needed. High crown panels were shaped using my innovative non marring shrinking techniques that are very easy to learn and require very little expense for tools. Brian and Jeff concentrated on making the right front fender for the Daytona, later Dave helped out by making the front lower panel. All of the panels were ready to trim and weld, but we just didn’t have enough time. Jim, Elton, Bob and Dave all worked on the 1934 Ford front fender. The four sections that made up the whole fender were finished but again we ran out of time for welding. I did tack weld the two front sections together, they fit together beautifully. Jim wanted to make some aluminum head rest nacelles for his 17 foot 1933 Chris Craft speedboat with a blown hemi in it… which he is building so I told him to go for it. He did a great job. Bob and Dave made the two front sections of the 34 Ford fender, this was their first time ever shaping sheet metal. Elton made the rear reverse curve side panel for the 34 Ford fender and did an awesome job on it. Later he worked on Jesse’s 1928 Stutz front fender’s rear section, again another panel with a wicked reverse curve. In the process of making that I came up with a new technique to create reverse curves using a simple easy to make inexpensive tool. It was a fun long weekend with a lot of great friendships and panels made. I love challenging the students with tough projects and seeing them respond to the challenge with outstanding results. They all leave tired but with a head full of ideas and possibilities. Wray
