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Checked out a classic car show in Sacramento and saw something wild
I was at the big show at Cal Expo last weekend and this guy had a '57 Chevy with a full hand-formed aluminum hood. He told me it took him over 200 hours just to get the shape right, hammering and planishing the whole thing. The way the light hit the metal, you could see every little hammer mark, but it was perfectly smooth to the touch. It made me realize how much skill that old-school metal shaping takes compared to just slapping on a new panel. Has anyone here ever tried doing a full panel from scratch like that?
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murphy.lisa1mo ago
Did he say what kind of hammer he used?
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the_patricia17d ago
200 hours sounds about right for a hand-formed hood, actually. You can't rush that kind of work because every tiny mistake shows up in the metal. I knew a guy who did an entire 1932 Ford roadster body from scratch, and he said the hood alone took him 150 hours minimum.
@schmidt.kim, your hands get used to it after a while. My husband and I built a fender for a '32 Ford on a wheeling machine once, and it took us a few weekends to get the shape right. There's nothing like the feel of metal under a hammer that you know you coaxed into being yourself.
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schmidt.kim1mo ago
Whoa... 200 hours just on the hood? That's like a full-time job for two months. I can't even imagine having that kind of patience, my hands would give up after a week. The skill to make it look hammered but feel smooth is just crazy.
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