In August of 2002, Fred Johnson completed the restoration of his 1966 Glassic Phaeton. Scroll down to see this beauty transformed. Congratulations Fred, and thanks for sharing!

gerijons@aol.com

I made the decision to cut  my hood in half!  I made a simple form with two pieces of wood and then with fiber resin and mat made the 90 degree angles in the form.  I had to make the front and back brackets by welding some pieces of stainless steel together with stainless steel mig wire then  filed them  into shaped and then polished them.  I purchased a length of stainless steel hinge and now I have the two piece hood that hinges in the middle.  I got carried away and smoothed the inside so that when the hood is open it dosen't have that fiberglass look anymore. More hood pics below.

This is a little list of what I did already.  Transmission mounts had to be fabricated using Volvo mounts, some interior trim pieces made out of wood.  Filled in the spare tire side mounts with fiberglass. Spare tire changed so that it cranks up under the back

My paint color for the car will be dark blue with black fenders and a lighter shade of blue for the bodybelt accent.

One piece hood split into hinged hood - car 144

Guide clamped on hood for edge of saw base -- hood cut in two.

Lip formed to attach the piano hinge.

Under side view of the lip for the hinge.

Extending the body molding onto the hood

Getting ready to add the little bump of decor trim along side of the hood. (Gray area)

A guide clamped in place for the body belt trim.

Squeegee mold for the raised body belt. Note the small indent cut in the lower left of squeegee.

The finished body belt extension now continues the trim line all the way to the car front.

Another view of the guide in place to add the bump along the hood edge.

The bracket to hold the piano hinge on the car at the rear (cowl) end of the hood. To the right is the money that Fred will have left when the car is finished.

Modified air cleaner

This is a Chevy air cleaner -- The base from the old air cleaner was used (since it fit the carb). .  I used the part that mates up with the carburetor off the aftermarket one that came with the car and welded it to a plate and then to the Chevy air cleaner.

Inside door handle added to car 144

I have been busy working on the door latch.  Car 144 did not come with an interior door handle.  Went to the junk yard, got parts from a 80's vintage Chevy van.  The colors of the parts are for identifying what they are.  Silver pieces are original  Glassic door latch, red are the parts from the Chevy van, and the blue piece on the red rod is the  part  I made and welded on (see drawing). The black  pieces are wood which  are used as spacers and could be cut to the thickness that is needed to make the door handle fit up flush against the door panel. They are all mounted to a board that is the same thickness as the fiberglass which is then used as my templet.  I did this so I would know where to cut the rod and weld it since I could not work inside the door. They work excellent.  On any of my modifications I'm willing to answer any questions that anyone would have.

Spare tire UNDER the car!

The spare tire project, on car 144, the gas tank is on top of the frame behind the back seat.  There was available space between the two rear springs and the rear differential for a donut spare which I  crank up with the mechanism salvaged from a Chevrolet S10 pickup and a bunch of bed iron frames cut in various lengths.  You may notice that I try to use things on a low budget.  The trick was finding a donut spare with that 4 lug pattern.  Sure enough it did exist.
The first one I found was a steel wheel that I believe was from a Acura.
Now I have a donut spare that is an aluminum wheel from an old Mustang and if its re-drilled to fit the International bolt pattern it will even be better than the other one.
More pictures and info coming.