Anyone reading this magazine knows full well building a street rod is a tricky deal. Until you have that body down to bare metal you are never certain exactly what you are working on. In our last installment Flintstone Media Blasting removed all the paint, dirt, grime, and rust from our AMSOIL/STREET RODDER Road Tour ’51 Ford and what was uncovered was daunting. Not only did this old Ford have a lot of rust, it even had rusted-out patch panels that had been installed many years ago.

When rust is this extensive you may consider finding a better body, but happily the team at Honest Charley Garage felt this was a good opportunity to show that rough and rusty can be converted into solid steel with time, tools, and talent along with repair panels from Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts (DC). The Honest Charley Garage team of Greg Cunningham, Delton Scott, Richard Marter, and Jonathan Myren would be performing the salvage operation on our ’51 Ford.

The car had been crossbraced with angle iron and box tubing prior to being sent to the media blaster so no structural twisting or bending would occur. Now it was time to restore structural integrity to the body. The rust was extensive enough that the crossbracing was the only thing maintaining the body shape.

The first step was to cut out the rusted main floor section to expose the body mounts that attach to the bottom of the floor. Cut-off wheels and the occasional Sawzall removed the rusted metal with ease, exposing the channel body mounts, or at least what was left of them. With the body mounts exposed it became apparent that the first order of business would be repairing the rusty lower cowl area. This repair was a matter of fabricating box panels to replace the lower rusted pieces and connecting it to the toeboard portion of the floorboard. These repair panels were formed by Honest Charley Garage and welded in place using a combination of MIG welding with a Millermatic 211 and TIG welding with a Miller Dynasty 200 machine. Once the lower corner of the cowl was repaired the lower portion of the doorjamb was repaired in preparation for the installation of the new DC inner and outer rocker panels.

The inner rocker panel was tack-welded in place on the inside of the rocker panel prior to fitting it to the body. Happily our door opening was the exact same size as the replacement rocker panel so we felt certain the door opening had not been compromised. A little tweaking on the repaired corners and the DC rocker panel was tack-welded in place. The door was then installed to be certain the opening was correct and the gaps were all uniform between the new rocker panel and the door. The gaps were nearly perfect and after a bit of adjustment the gaps were better than any new ’51 Ford. The door was removed and the rocker panels were welded in place. We now had the cowl connected to the rest of the body and the inner rocker panels provide the mounting surface for the body mounts.

The body mounts were test-fit alongside the original mounts before cutting out the old rusted units. Delton Scott cut the new DC body mount and formed a 3/8-inch flange that fit flush with the new inner rocker panels. The new mounts were bolted to the Fatman Fabrications chassis and then tack-welded in place to the inner rocker. During rust repair it is best to tack-weld all your panels prior to finish welding. Most of these panels connect to one another so it may be necessary to go back and move one repair panel to line up with the next panel and tack welding makes such adjustment easy.

Moving to the rear a similar process secured the second body mount from the rocker panel to the body mount on the frame. Certain that everything was properly located, the mounts, rocker panels, and inner rocker panels received the finished welding in preparation for floor installation.

On our extensively rusted ’51 the entire front floor was replaced, once again DC repair panels saved the team at Honest Charley Garage a lot of time. The floors were fitted inside the car and tack-welded in place. The floors and transmission tunnel are not exact replicas of the original, rather they are designed to be cut and fit to each application. For that reason we used portions of the front flooring, leaving any good original metal in place. In the area over the rear suspension Scott and Marter fabricated their own floor panel, providing some extra suspension clearance in the process.

The trunk floor was also repaired using DC trunk panels. Since the spare tirewell was eliminated on our car, that area was filled with a flat panel while the remainder of the trunk was repaired using DC panels trimmed to fit our rusted areas.

The new rockers and floors made the car structurally sound again, while much of this work will not show on the finished product, it is very important that it be done correctly. The final portion of the rust repair lies in the outer skin.

As it turns out we used every single piece that DC offers for the ’49-51 Ford, and that includes the two-piece lower quarter-panels. These repair panels proved to be a lifesaver for our shoebox, and while the team at Honest Charley garage could have fabricated these panels by hand, the labor saving from just the quarter-panels alone was immense.

Of course if you see external rust you can bet there is internal rust behind the panel. Sure enough behind those rusted quarter-panels we found rusted wheelhouses. Panels were fabricated and welded in place on the wheelhouses before the lower quarter-panels were fitted and welded in place. One of the biggest challenges in serious rust repair is actually locating the panels when many of the mounting points have been eaten away. Much time was spent carefully measuring to be sure the panels were in the proper location.

After the rust was repaired Marter and Scott teamed up and removed the accent spear from the quarter-panel. Finally they were out of the rust and into the fun part of modifying the car. It was a lot of work, but in the end we have the satisfaction of saving another vintage car and the team at Honest Charley Garage has the pleasure of looking at a job well done.

Watch the guys over at Honest Charley Garage work their magic on the rusty floorboards here.

Watch the Honest Charley crew repair the repair quarter panels here.

Long before one Road Tour ends the car for the next year is under construction. The 2013 AMSOIL/STREET RODDER Road Tour car will be based on a ’51 Ford Tudor sedan. Starting with this most basic of shoebox Fords, the team at Honest Charley Garage will transform the car into a sleek hot rod that rides on an all-new Fatman Fabrications chassis.

The body arrived at the Honest Charley Garage resting on the aforementioned Fatman Fabrications chassis. Even at a quick glance it was obvious the old shoebox was suffering from the ravages of time. Rust had totally consumed the inner and outer rocker panels, almost the entire floor, the rear pan, lower fenders, and lower quarter-panels. Like most 62-year-old cars, this one was keeping some secrets. Under that time-flattened black paint rust was not so slowly consuming the ’51 and the rust damage would be greater than expected. To repair this rust would require stripping the car down to good clean metal to facilitate good welding when the Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts repair panels were ready to be installed. After removing all the parts from the car, such as doors, decklid, dashboard, and front fenders, the body was cross-braced with angle iron to be sure it would not distort during its travels.

There are any number of ways to strip a body, including razor blades, sandblasting, media blasting, and chemical stripping. Having plenty of experience in saving structurally challenged cars, headman Greg Cunningham from Honest Charley Garage knew exactly where to take this highly oxidized Ford.

It was a short trip, barely five miles to the door of Flintstone Media Blasting, where Richard “Ricky” Holmes was waiting to assess the latest project. The body was lifted off the frame inside the Flintstone Media Blasting shop and it became apparent the body would have to be media blasted top, bottom, inside, and out. Since the floor would be replaced, that metal would not be blasted clean but the mating points, where the rust stopped and good metal could be found, would be cleaned for proper welding.

After many years in the business of stripping hundreds of vintage cars Holmes has found the Opti-Blast Type II Urea plastic media to be the best product for the job. The plastic media is aggressive enough to remove paint, undercoatings, and scaled rust without damaging the good metal. Because this plastic media is applied at a lower pressure, the heat generated is kept under control and prevents warping panels. Many people think it is the pressure of the media that cause warping, but in reality it is the heat generated by the media. Flintstone Media Blasting runs their blasting gun between 50 and 55 psi, considerably lower than other forms of blasting. This is extremely important in case of a long, slab-sided car like the shoebox Ford. Of course the curved panels, such as fenders, are much less likely to suffer any warping, but the Opti-Blast media takes the worry out of the work.

Before the actual media blasting can begin, Holmes methodically removes every piece out of the car and takes a digital photograph of each piece. This method of cataloging each part ensures that all the parts delivered with the car go home with the car. With multiple projects going on it would be easy to get parts mixed up, so special care is taken to catalog all the parts.

With the parts duly recorded, the body is raised off the chassis with a two-post lift and the frame is rolled out from under the body. Now a fully rotating rotisserie is rolled under the body. After the body is bolted to the rotisserie it is wheeled into the blasting booth; a booth not unlike a conventional spray booth but rather than spraying paint we will be spraying plastic media.

With an outside air source and a professional-quality media-blasting coat, the work begins. It is a slow, time-consuming job to do it right and the body will remain in the blasting booth for almost two days before all of the paint, rust, scale, sound deadener, undercoating, and overall grunge is removed.

The media is returned into a vacuum system inside the booth where it is drawn into a cyclone separator that allows the heavier pieces of blasting media to return to the blasting pot while the dust, rust, and spent media is drawn into the dust pot. New media is added during the process and the mix of old and new media allows the plastic media to flow through the gun better than all-new media.

The smaller pieces are media blasted in a cabinet blaster rather than the big booth, while panels like fenders, inner fender panels, and hoods are hung from trees inside the booth and blasted separately. After the blasting, a simple wipe down of the panels and they are ready for primer. The plastic doesn’t pit the substrate and leaves no film so it is very easy to get ready for primer. Flintstone Media Blasting offers a primer coat as a separate process if the customer requests the service.

Five days after the body was dropped off the team from Honest Charley Garage returned with a roll back truck and a body dolly. The body was filled with bare metal parts and then winched up on the roll back. Upon its return to the Honest Charley Garage work will commence on replacing all of the rusted panels on the car, and there are a lot of them! We’ll tackle that next month.

Watch Greg Cunningham of Honest Charley’s Garage introduce the 2013 AMSOIL/STREET RODDER Road Tour Car.

Sherm’s Plating Headquarters (Sacramento, CA) to
NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion (Bakersfield, CA)

Our season wraps up again in the state of California with the Sherm’s Custom Plating Tour. We kick-off at the Sherm’s Plating facility in Sacramento. We will be guests at a party held in our honor at the home of Sherm’s president Gary Matranga. Then it is on to Santa Rosa and the famous hot rod shops and private collections of the San Francisco Bay area. After a drive down Pacific Coast Highway we will visit the famous Hearst Castle before arriving in Bakersfield and the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway.

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

June 13th – 23rd Aeromotive Tour

July 12th – 21st Eastwood Summer Classic Tour

Aug 1st – 11th Speedway Motors Tour

Aug 11th – 17th Autopalooza.org Tour

Sept 1st – 8th Vintage Air Tour

Sept 8th – 15th Shades of the Past Tour

Sept 15th – 22nd Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour

Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour | September 15-22
NSRA Nationals North (Kalamazoo, MI)
to Charlotte Auto Fair (Charlotte, NC)

After the weekend in Kalamazoo we set our sights on the city of Charlotte and the Auto Fair at the Speedway. On Monday we spend an entire day in Cincinnati as we visit Soffseal headquarters and everyone is invited to a big party at Easy Street Speed and Kustom on Monday evening Sept 16th. Then it will be on to Charlotte with visits at Jet Hot Coating, Dennis Carpenter Ford Reproductions and Fatman Fabrications.

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

June 13th – 23rd Aeromotive Tour

July 12th – 21st Eastwood Summer Classic Tour

Aug 1st – 11th Speedway Motors Tour

Aug 11th – 17th Autopalooza.org Tour

Sept 1st – 8th Vintage Air Tour

Sept 8th – 15th Shades of the Past Tour

Oct 12th – Oct 20th Sherm’s Plating Tour

Shades of the Past Tour | September 8-15
Shades of the Past (Pigeon Forge, TN)
to NSRA Nationals North (Kalamazoo, MI)

After the fun at the Shades event in Pigeon Forge we head north to the NSRA Nationals North plus in Kalamazoo, MI. Along the way we will stop in Louisville, KY and Indianapolis, IN. We will also visit the shop of Rad Rides by Troy Trapanier, the cool Studebaker Museum in South Bend, IN, the RV and Motor Home Museum in Elkhart among others. Then it will be on to the popular NSRA event in Kalamazoo.

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

June 13th – 23rd Aeromotive Tour

July 12th – 21st Eastwood Summer Classic Tour

Aug 1st – 11th Speedway Motors Tour

Aug 11th – 17th Autopalooza.org Tour

Sept 1st – 8th Vintage Air Tour

Sept 15th – 22nd Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour

Oct 12th – Oct 20th Sherm’s Plating Tour

Vintage Air Tour | September 1-8
Vintage Air Headquarters (San Antonio, TX)
to Shades of the Past (Pigeon Forge, TN)

Every year Rick Love and Jack Chisenhall put together a Road Tour that is always one of the largest of the summer. This year we head out from San Antonio on Labor Day weekend. On our way to the popular Shades of the Past event in Pigeon Forge our visits will include the Barber Motor Sport Museum in Birmingham, AL, Alan Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop and Honest Charley’s Garage in TN

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

June 13th – 23rd Aeromotive Tour

July 12th – 21st Eastwood Summer Classic Tour

Aug 1st – 11th Speedway Motors Tour

Aug 11th – 17th Autopalooza.org Tour

Sept 8th – 15th Shades of the Past Tour

Sept 15th – 22nd Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour

Oct 12th – Oct 20th Sherm’s Plating Tour

Bonneville Speed Week (Wendover, UT)
to Woodward Dream Cruise (Detroit, MI)

After our weekend at Bonneville it will be time to head east to the gigantic Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit. After stops in Cheyenne, WY, Omaha, NE and the Chicago area we arrive in Detroit in plenty of time to visit many of the great automotive related destinations that The Motor City has to offer. Then on Saturday we have a front row seat and great parking to be part of the largest special interest vehicle event in the country.

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

June 13th – 23rd Aeromotive Tour

July 12th – 21st Eastwood Summer Classic Tour

Aug 1st – 11th Speedway Motors Tour

Sept 1st – 8th Vintage Air Tour

Sept 8th – 15th Shades of the Past Tour

Sept 15th – 22nd Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour

Oct 12th – Oct 20th Sherm’s Plating Tour

NSRA Street Rod Nationals plus (Louisville, KY)
to Bonneville Speed Week (Wendover, UT)

The Speedway Motors Road Tour starts at the NSRA Street Rod Nationals plus in Louisville the first weekend of August. On Sunday afternoon we head to St. Charles, Missouri for the evening. Monday afternoon August 5th we will arrive in Lincoln, Nebraska. We will spend a full day on Tuesday, August 6th in Lincoln visiting the Strategic Air Command Headquarters, the amazing Smith Collection of American Speed and getting a tour of the Speedway Motors facilities.

There will be an evening cruise in Lincoln hosted by the Lincoln Rebels Car Club. On Wednesday, August 7th we travel on to Denver, Colorado and artist Darrell Mayabb’s studio. Thursday we visit custom car legend Bo Huff in Utah and see his car collection and shop. We will spend Thursday evening in Price, Utah. On Friday we will travel on to Wendover, Nevada in time for tech inspection and the kick-off of Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats. On Saturday and Sunday we will experience all of the sights and sounds that make up Bonneville Speed Week.

For those that are interested we have made arrangements for a shuttle van to get us from our Salt Lake City hotel on Saturday morning to the Salt Flats and back Saturday evening. This option is available to Tour participants at a very reasonable cost.

It is going to be a great week on the Speedway Motors Road Tour. Make plans to join us on all or part of the Tour. After you have registered you will receive a hotels list and can make your reservations at the hotels where we have blocked rooms at special reduced rates. After our weekend at Bonneville the Autopalooza.com Road Tour begins as we head back east to attend the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit. If you have any questions call the Road Tour Hotline at 1-800-664-1362.

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

June 13th – 23rd Aeromotive Tour

July 12th – 21st Eastwood Summer Classic Tour

Aug 11th – 17th Autopalooza.org Tour

Sept 1st – 8th Vintage Air Tour

Sept 8th – 15th Shades of the Past Tour

Sept 15th – 22nd Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour

Oct 12th – Oct 20th Sherm’s Plating Tour

Eastwood Summer Classic (Pottstown, PA)
to Syracuse Nationals (Syracuse, NY)

We kick off the tour with a weekend of fun and excitement in the Pottstown, Pennsylvania area. Thursday evening July 11th we will be part of the cruise at the local Sonic. Friday morning we visit Pennsylvania Dutch country then tour the Boyerstown Auto Museum. Friday evening we get a special tour of the Eastwood facilities including their new photo studio and retail store. Saturday is the huge Eastwood Summer Classic Car Show from 10 – 3. Saturday evening we are guests at Blast from the Past Street Rod Shop. Sunday we visit the Simeon Automotive Museum and historic Valley Forge.

Monday evening we are special guests at Cruisin’ Port in Port Jervis, New York. Tuesday we stop at the museum at the Woodstock Music Festival site, and the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Wednesday we visit the Northeast Classic Car Museum in Norwich, New York and then see some racing at Watkins Glen International Raceway. Wednesday evening we will have dinner along the Wine Trail near the Finger Lakes.

Thursday we arrive in Syracuse, New York for the huge Syracuse Nationals. It is always a great weekend at this event. Make plans to join us for the week on the Eastwood Summer Classic Road Tour.

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

June 13th – 23rd Aeromotive Tour

Aug 1st – 11th Speedway Motors Tour

Aug 11th – 17th Autopalooza.org Tour

Sept 1st – 8th Vintage Air Tour

Sept 8th – 15th Shades of the Past Tour

Sept 15th – 22nd Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour

Oct 12th – Oct 20th Sherm’s Plating Tour

Aeromotive Tour | June 13 – 23

NHRA Hot Rod Reunion (Bowling Green, KY) to MSRA Back to the 50’s Weekend (St. Paul, MN)

Again this year the Aeromotive Road Tour kicks off at the NHRA Bowling Green Hot Rod Reunion at Beech Bend Park in Kentucky. Activities at the drag strip start on Thursday, June 13th , continue with vintage drag racing on Friday and wrap up on Saturday evening with the famous Cacklefest. On Sunday the Road Tour participants head west and spend Sunday evening in St. Charles, Missouri near St. Louis.

Monday we continue across Missouri and arrive at Aeromotive headquarters in Lenexa, Kansas near Kansas City. We will be guests of honor at a huge cruise-in and car show at Aeromotive and everyone in the area is invited to stop by, say hi and join in the festivities. Tuesday we will have a quick lunch in the Des Moines area and then visit the National Motorcycle Museum in Anamosa, Iowa. Late afternoon Tuesday we will be special guests at Yogi’s Inc. , see their hot rod parts warehouse and enjoy dinner. Everyone in the area is invited. It is then a short drive to our evening stop in Dubuque, Iowa.

Wednesday we visit the amazing collections of Elmer Duellman in Fountain City, Wisconsin. Elmer’s Auto and Toy Museum is legendary with hundreds of muscle cars, classic auto and trucks, 500-600 pedal cars, and thousands of vintage toys and dolls. The museum is not usually open to the public and this will be a special Road Tour treat. We will spend Wednesday evening at the Treasure Island Resort near Red Wing, Minnesota.

On Thursday morning June 20th as part of the Aeromotive Tour, the cruise will stop at QA1′s facilities in Lakeville, Minnesota on the way to Back to the 50′s. QA1 will host an open house and give tours of their manufacturing facilities from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. Visitors will get the chance to show off their cars, get an inside look at QA1 and enjoy refreshments.

On Thursday afternoon the Road Tour will arrive in St. Paul for the huge Back to the 50′s event at the fairgrounds. We will again have special parking and a hospitality tent for all of the Aeromotive Road Tour participants. If you would like to join us for the week of fun you can find a registration form at www.streetrodder.com. You can also join us for the evening at Aeromotive in Lenexa, Kansas, Yogi’s in Monticello, Iowa or Thursday morning at QA1 in Lakeville, Minnesota by just stopping by.

Check out our entire 2013 Road Tour schedule at the website or call the Road Tour Hotline at 1-800-664-1362 for the latest details about our summer plans. We hope to see you on a Tour or at an event this summer.

Jerry Dixey

Street Rodder Magazine

Road Tour Director

Click Here to Download the Registration Form

Click the links below to view the rest of the 2013 Street Rodder Road Tour:

July 12th – 21st Eastwood Summer Classic Tour

Aug 1st – 11th Speedway Motors Tour

Aug 11th – 17th Autopalooza.org Tour

Sept 1st – 8th Vintage Air Tour

Sept 8th – 15th Shades of the Past Tour

Sept 15th – 22nd Easy Street Speed and Kustom Tour

Oct 12th – Oct 20th Sherm’s Plating Tour