The crew at Honest Charley garage have been kicking butt on the body of this once-rotted 51 Ford Shoebox Ford. After replacing the rotted lower quarters, they moved on to making some subtle modifications to smooth out the body of the Ford while they have it in bare metal. Below Richard from Honest Charley shows you how they butt welded, lapped, and plug welded some of the patch panels on the car and a neat way they’re reusing the OE Ford taillight while smoothing the rear quarters.
After shaving and smoothing the exterior of the car, the crew moved to the interior to address the issues that stemmed from channeling the body over the chassis to give it the sleek, low ride height they desired. The first issue is that they needed to make a new package tray that didn’t interfere with the four-link suspension, and looked original. After rolling some beads and fitting the piece in they have a strong, OEM-looking package tray that both looks good and is functional as well.
With the floor pans and package tray in place, the team moved back and began working on the trunk. When channeling the Ford they ran into typical problems, and the rusty trunk floor had to be removed to raise it up to clear parts of the chassis. They made new patch panels and deleted the spare tire recess so that Jerry Dixey could cram all of his stuff in the car while he’s driving it around the country. After rolling beads in the metal to stiffen the new trunk floor they welded they floor back in and they now have a factory looking trunk floor that doesn’t hit the chassis.
Stay tuned for future updates, we can hardly keep with how fast these guys work! More body mods and a roof chop are to come!
Chopped the 51ford is awesome I’m building one already I put a ford truck grill in mine, looks awesome with 1984 grand mark front and back bumpers on it motor and all from the grand mark with shaved door handles.
excellent! perfect with video.