Posted 2016-12-12 2:34 PM (#528501) Subject: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Some of you may know this car. I hear it has been around for a while with the last owner trying to sell it.
I needed a car to make a show car out of, something that turns heads and makes a departure from the rest. I've always wanted a '57 Fury, but the thought of yet another Christine car made me think twice about getting one. Although without a doubt it was the movie that made me want to have one.
When I contacted the owner he told me it was a 2 door POST car. And I never reallly got any good photos of it before I purchased it. I seriously rolled the dice on this, but the price was low enough for me so I took the gamble. It's a 2 door Hardtop, with electric windows all round.
The body is solid and has had care taken to remove rust etc. The panels are amazingly straight, I know a lot of these slab sided 50's cars can be wavy down the sides, but this is really good. Plus it had been painted in a Dodge color from 2012 I believe. So it does not look like every other resto 57 out there.
I'm kind of OK with the paint, but I am going to color sand it and hit it again just to make sure it is as good as possible.
I am need of the original grille and headlight trim/buckets. I am ditching the Mercedes E90 lights the builder put in (the guy who owned it previous to the guy I purchased it from). I am not sure what he was thinking, but it does not work. So I'm taking it back to original-ish! I am planning that the inner 2 lights will be intakes for a turbo. Or at least look fairly hight tech type of intakes.
The interior is empty. But the dash has been redone in black leather with orange stitching. I will probably reverse the colors for the headliner, doing an orange leather with black stitching.
The car is on air suspension. But I'm going to change the system to a ride-tech one. The one in there at the moment could probably lift a bus! It is overkill. Rear end is Ford 9", with a 4 link setup. I'll most likely leave it that way for now. The engine going in this has not been decided yet. We are only aiming at about 750 to 850 HP. But options are open as to how we get there.
Posted 2016-12-12 3:24 PM (#528504 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert 5K+
Posts: 5006
Welcome! and thanks for saving that car from that sad horrid front end..
We being on the internet will critique your work with a fine wine and some cheese :) so it better be good!
yeah I think a lot of us were like daaaaammmmmnnnnn :wince: when we saw those head lights. And there is a lot of value in that body work and two door hard top body, I think he started out at 30 then down to 22 ...
and i'm sure you got a deal. Most of us buyers here wrote it off, I guess the seller gave up and took whatever he could for it.
Its a clean body with new paint though. Sounds like a good project. Watch out though the angry old guys here will screan "PUT IT BACK TO STOCK! :madman: "... so I hope you have thick skin
Its shown up for sale on this board probably 3 times...
Posted 2016-12-13 9:19 AM (#528545 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert 5K+
Posts: 5006
12k is a great price for a super clean completed body and all the other goodies.
Most of the people here were probably "too expensive to restore to stock" to start out at the 15-22 he was at last.
most here would restore to stock, and wouldn't have the heart to destroy that nice paint job.
I would get the dual 58 head lights on it, put a grill on it(paint those black again I guess or body color match?). Put a gold V on the grill ... The gold V would really accent off the black.
Actually maybe gold and black and orange color... I would probably go black and gold fury emblems.
Paint the rims gold? I am not a fan of huge blacked out rim, they just disappear and look like someone lost their hubcaps
Posted 2016-12-13 11:20 AM (#528552 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert 5K+
Posts: 7806
Location: Williams California
Sounds like you're going in a good direction with this Savoy. I, too, wonder why those awful lights were chosen by the builder, just seems totally out of place.
I have the grills and headlight buckets and such available, too.
Posted 2016-12-13 5:48 PM (#528592 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Elite Veteran
Posts: 854
Nice project it will be nice to see the front end returned to a normal looking 57 Plymouth ,I really like the simple 57 savoy side trim it has,Good luck with the project .John at Big M auto is a great source for parts for this Savoy .
Posted 2016-12-13 7:35 PM (#528599 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert
Posts: 2633
Location: Minor Hill, TN
When I seen the front of the car I was like what the hell but above comment is right put it back the way it was when it 1st rolled off the assembly line back in 1956
Posted 2016-12-13 8:59 PM (#528610 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 360
keep the brakes, 4 link, 9 inch, etc. Fix the front end is my opinion. This is obviously a custom rod so to reverse it will cost a lot. Put a hemi in it since originality is out the window.
Posted 2016-12-13 10:28 PM (#528616 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 494
Location: Alberta
In reading the info provided some Hot Rodder did not get the memo before he emptied his wallet. The torsion bar suspension design for these cars was set up with the differential set 1/2 inch forward of centre so combined with the the front torsion bars under excelloration the force moves the differential into centre line positioning, gaining traction and preventing "wheel hop" something GM never quite understood thusly the GM Lovers came up with the aftermarket 4 Link when they finally got some HP. That's my opinion I'm sure this Tid Bit will make you laugh but this changed the world for Chrysler to bad a former GM Executive spoiled most of it in 1960. I Love the Black Chrome I was considering it my 57 Coronet 2DR Sedan Everyone loves a Knight in Shining Armour
Posted 2016-12-15 10:52 AM (#528767 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
HI all. Thanks for all the comments. I'll try and reply to those that made suggestions, if I miss you out don't worry the suggestion was noted and appreciated.
So decisions that have been made.
1- The front lights will go back to 57 or 58 style. (most likely 57, as I kind of like the smaller inner pair of lights) Those inner pair will become turbo inlets! Oh yes! 2- I DO understand this is a custom style car now. I won't make attempts to make it back to original. Firstly I always thought my 67 Coronet 500 was hard to find parts for..Until I met the 57! Secondly, this is meant to be a show car that we will drag race a bit in a 'Blacklisted' class over here in Finland. 3- Power train is most likely going to upset any Mopar people not ALREADY upset with this car as it stands now. My mechanic and I are about 99% sure we drop a V8 Duramax into this! That will be for showing and drag racing. After we are done with that, we will put a new Hemi in it. ( Trust me I am as anxious as you are about putting the diesel engine in it. But my mechanic said we get good HP relatively cheaply compared to using a Hemi right away) 4- Wheels! Yep they got to go! The Baer brakes will stay, they are actually pretty good for 2 piston brakes. But the front wheels cannot turn full lock when the car is sitting low, so I am going to run 'Pizza cutters' (Don't know if you guys call them that, back home in Australia where I am from, that's what we call narrow wheel/tyre combos) up front. I am going with a more 'showy' bead locked wheel. I like the look of the new WELD ones. I saw a lot of them at SEMA this year. 5- Interior is going to be 100% fabbed. At this point the 2+2 setup is the main idea. But the seats will be crafted like WW2 fighter pilot seats with small leather padding etc. Plus racing belts for each passenger. We will put a small rear console 'bar' between the back seats. 6- I am taking out the current air suspension system. And replacing with a Ride tech one. The one in it now is more suited to a truck. The rear dual donuts are overkill for this car. So I will use Ride tech's #F9000 Air Spring which is a 1500lb spring with a tapered rear. I will use their 5 gallon tank, and upgrade their system to the larger valves, 3/8ths. Car will go up and down faster but still have good adjustability.
Ideas you have posted that I like.
Mikes2nd mentioned the GOLD! Yes!!! I was looking for something to set it off. I don't know how many times I have thought about going back to chrome on the trim. But it just does not look right and is a huge cost. But I do like the gold badges, and that V idea..Well the Christine addict in me likes that!
I did not know about the fiberglass bumper tips, if anyone has a link, post it up. I NEED THOSE too it seems! I have looked at real steel ones..darn! They are a bit pricey eh!? LOL
I think we will keep the lower grill body color. The front looks pretty good head on with the paint like that. And it will accentuate the car when it is dropped to the ground. I think ALL black will make the front end look like a black hole and lose the dropped effect?? I'll add a photo of the front end after posting this. If you can stand to look at those Merc lights again..check it out!
Just a comment on the 4 link rear. Since this is a Ford 9 inch that has obviously been modded for air suspension, the 4 link was the way to go. It is setup fine. But we will see how it really goes once we go through the geometry a little more closely early next year. This is my 48th Mopar! And my first forward look. But I'm pretty well up to speed on why torsion suspension is awesome
Posted 2016-12-15 11:24 AM (#528771 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert 5K+
Posts: 5006
looks like you got some bends in the front bumper and lower grill to fix also... I dunno man those "holes" need addressed. I would paint it or put trim on that matches upstairs with the down stairs...
Gad those headlights...WHO in their right mind thought that was okay>????????
Posted 2016-12-15 11:44 AM (#528772 - in reply to #528771) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
That entire lower valance is going to need panel work. Somewhere between California and Tampere, Finland, somebody dragged it out or into a container with no air in the front..It is the only damage done during transport luckily. It always happens. This is what 5 to 6 weeks in a container will do to a car.
Yeah those holes..Was there supposed to be trim covering those bars too? I was not sure about that. What did it look like originally?
And back to those lights..Yeah..Awful. The problem is they person who did them also altered the stone deflectors big time. In fact you can see that there is NO MORE join between the deflectors and the upper part of the light housing.
So I am trying to get a pair of those stock deflectors now. Then I will just cut the lights out. Straighten the bottom edge and put the stock deflectors back on. Luckily he did not smooth the top of the fender, the holes for the original trim are still present.
I have a few leads on the original buckets for the lights too.
Posted 2016-12-15 2:32 PM (#528793 - in reply to #528787) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Thanks helps a lot..And raises a new challenge.
I see that the headlight TRIM housing (don't know what else to call it) but the part that inserts and lines the actual fender hole for the lights. Kind of is designed to sweep into the trim piece lining the hood lower lip. That is going to prove to be challenging, my car does nto have that hood lip trim now. But putting the twin lights back in I am going to need those inserts to the fender, right?
Posted 2016-12-15 6:48 PM (#528812 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Expert
Posts: 2308
Location: The Bat Cave, Fairborn, OH
I'm glad you're going to ditch those awful Mercedes-Benz headlights. It really brings the car down in my view. Putting a stock 1957 Plymouth face on it wouild be an improvement and I'm sure you can put halogen bulbs in it rather than the old style sealed beams for modern cruising after dark.
I personally like the color but I might consider going back to chrome - at least for the bumpers.
Posted 2016-12-15 10:12 PM (#528828 - in reply to #528812) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Location: Parts Unknown
Contact Big M for all your front end metal needs. It is common to all
but Plazas (they use painted steel instead of aluminum for some of the
trim bits). No real unobtainium here.
Someone really had a serious case of SFB Syndrome that greenlighted
that headlight idea. WOW !
Posted 2016-12-19 8:56 AM (#529137 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
OK Guys!
I have the stone deflectors now, won them on ebay. And a guy in Norway had the grill, light surround trims etc. Should be on their way soon. And I also purchased the fiberglass bumper wings set from ebay as well!
I know what to do with the area behind the grill, that is easily fabbed/hidden. I have an easy away and a hard way to do it.
The easy way would be to create a backing plate that goes directly behind (read touching) the grill right below each headlight pair. Yes I lose the 'depth' of the original, but I might be able to get away with this for a show car. Once we are done with the shows etc. I can fab some real solution that is closer to original. That way the next owner of the car will not have to worry about it.
Posted 2017-01-22 10:12 AM (#532009 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Update.
I am still on the fence about changing the lights.
I have most of the stock 57 front end parts. I have, grille, headlight surrounds and the headlight bucket for the main headlight pair, plus the inboard smaller parking light lenses. As much as i want to go back to the original it is way harder to do it now. It's not just because of the single light having been fitted, it's also the chrome trim that attaches to the fender itself. I don't have that yet, but even if I do that part continues onto the hood, and on my car that trim piece is no longer needed.
Right now as much as I hate to say it. The Merc lights might stay for this season. But we are looking at fabbing the new grille I have so that it covers the light at the lower portion. It will look better. But I need to photoshop it first before I start cutting up a perfectly good grille.
Stay tuned.
Bumper wings turned up and they look amazing. And the stone deflectors are in great shape so worst case scenario, I fix the entire front end look after this season.
Posted 2017-01-22 12:13 PM (#532029 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
I do agree..But just to recap. This season the car is a promo for my new business and my mechanics business. Show it, stir the scene a bit here etc. . We will sell it eventually, and before that happens it will be back to normal.
Oh, but the good news is...We are putting a HEMI in it right from the start. We both agreed the diesel was not going to do it justice.
What was the most powerful engine the 57's could have? I need horsepower for an original or OPTIONAL engine. That is how they work out the capacity of anything we put in it now for road registration over here.
Posted 2017-01-22 10:43 PM (#532077 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert
Posts: 1740
Location: Alaska
The hottest engine available in 57 Plymouth Furys was a 318 with dual 4 barrels rated at 290 HP. Not sure if you could get that in other body styles. In 58 you could also get a 350 with dual 4 barrels rated at 305 HP. ( not counting fuel injection)
Posted 2017-01-23 12:37 AM (#532079 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert
Posts: 2633
Location: Minor Hill, TN
If I were to have a '57 or a '58 plymouth . I would not want any changes on the front of the car I would want it the way it came off the assembly line. It also must have the original engine. If it has been overhauled that is ok but if its been swapped out I do not want the car. Here is a photo of my '57 sorry about the way the photo looks it was taken back in 1985
Posted 2017-01-23 3:57 AM (#532090 - in reply to #532079) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
1961plymouthfury - 2017-01-22 7:37 AM
If I were to have a '57 or a '58 plymouth . I would not want any changes on the front of the car I would want it the way it came off the assembly line. It also must have the original engine. If it has been overhauled that is ok but if its been swapped out I do not want the car. Here is a photo of my '57 sorry about the way the photo looks it was taken back in 1985
This is not the thread for you then..Sorry. I don't see why I need that info mate? You can clearly see this is not that type of car.
Posted 2017-01-23 9:30 AM (#532100 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Guys. We got word from the authorities here in Finland. It is way better news. So it works like this.
For the Savoy I can choose to base the calculation of horsepower on ANY available engine that Plymouth could use spanning 1957 to 1959. From there there is a calc. done on SAE HP, multiplied by 0.9, then that new HP figure can have 20% added to it.
From what I can tell, the highest HP engine in 1959 that could have been in a Plymouth would be the 413 cubic inch big block. Is this correct? Does anyone know if there was a larger HP output engine in 59?
What we are trying to do is end at a high enough gross horsepower that allows us to use the 5.7 Hemi in the Savoy. That get's the car passed through inspection and registered BEFORE we add a procharger or any other power adder. Once it is registered we can do what we like.
Posted 2017-01-23 11:43 AM (#532113 - in reply to #532100) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert 5K+
Posts: 9649
Location: So. Cal
So they don't care about torque??? Typical bureaucratic BS. Unfortunately, the 413 wasn't available in the Plymouth. The best you could get is the 395 golden commando engine, which was a 361 with 305 hp and 395 ft-lbs of torque. This doesn't include a dual quad option. It is unclear if the dual quad was offered on the '59 Plymouth. But the dual quad 361 in the '59 Dodge was rated at 320 hp.
Posted 2017-01-24 2:00 PM (#532208 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
I'll say it, as much as i'm not a huge fan of the lights, i think they will go over well for you since its a promo and also since you are in Europe. People will maybe recognize them which is a plus for you as a promo. Also not messing with the headlights means you don't have to repaint it, which saves a lot of time and money. The hemi will be a nice touch.
Posted 2017-01-25 11:31 AM (#532299 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Yeah. I know..the lights. I get it. I agree. But think of this car as having a 'this season' look and then we dig in and fix it later. Well unless someone buys it from me at the show.
Posted 2017-01-25 4:33 PM (#532328 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Roll with it man, i totally understand, I wasn't giving you hard time for them. I actually think they work well for your business case for the vehicle. They get peoples attention, thats what you want in a promo vehicle.
Posted 2017-02-15 5:14 AM (#534057 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
OK..Update..
The lights are definitely getting fixed. Well I can say that the e90 lights will be diced. The area will be smoothed into a curve with a small hole for the electrics of the new lights. I am putting the stock 'look' light bezels back, but they will be populated with LED projector lights and RGB halos. I am certain that purists are not going to be happy. But as has been established this is a promo car. It will hark back to the original front end form, but with modern function.
Fenders and stone guards are ONE piece now. The original builder actually did a pretty nice job of integrating those 2 parts. We don't want to mess with it as it looks really clean and smooth now. I will take the fenders off this week, wrap them in lots of bubble wrap and get them off to be modded and the inside areas repainted.
Posted 2017-08-15 4:55 AM (#546224 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
OK, been a while that I updated this..
Car progresses..
We have our work cut out for us on this build. Has to be done by September 29th..When it has to be in place at the show.
Still to do..BASICALLY everything!
:)
Interior is totally custom, so we have made all the new door and rear seat side panels, waiting for the Alcantara and leather so we can cover them. Rear trunk trims are being made now. All of our tech stuff, electrical control boxes, batteries etc. will be in the trunk between the rear seat back and the main trunk area. We will enclose that area then make some covering trims for the rest of the trunk the sides and in front of our new technical area.
Ridetech RidePro 4 way digital system arrived the other day, so we ripped out the old system and will be putting the new one in this week or early next week.
The front lower grille section and the 2 left and right lower valances were destroyed by the transporters, so now these areas are metal worked and will be painted soon.
We found some clear coat problems in the door jambs, so I rubbed those areas back and we will hit them with paint and clear again. Same for the rear panel where the license plate goes. Actually that area was hidden under the rear bumper and I didn't really need to fix it. But why not..
Made a decision on the roof. It's now going to be covered in black chrome vinyl. I really wanted to leave the black roof, but it was not finished well at the front and the surface had a few gouges in it. So I rubbed that back so it is flat again, but we just don't have time to paint the roof now..I'll do it after teh show.
We have a local Finnish company that makes proprietry flat panel touch screens with custom programming, that integrates into trucks, and other heavy duty vehicles. They are coopoerating with me now, I will make a kind of similar interface like on the new Hellcat control panel, but with old school looking buttons etc. This system is programmed in C, so it is really robust and is on the instant power is turned on to the car, i.e. when unlocking the doors etc. This is going to be trick!
My custom seats are being made. These are also going to be really unique, in fact what we are doing with how we are installign them, is something I have never seen done before. I am paying serious homage to the forward look with these seats..You will see once we are done.
Seats are 2+2, so 2 single seats separated by a console front and rear.
Teh console is all custom made by me and anothe guy. The headliner will be like in a new car, so hard against the roof. And it will be in 3 pieces, but the middle section will mirror the floor console running the length of the car. And the middle of the headliner section is dropped down a few millmeters and the gap is lit with side emit LED. So it will glow on the roof when teh door opens. It will fade up to full bright and when you start the car it will fade back like in a new car.
Stereo system will be totally hidden, you won't see speakers at all.
Engine is a worrying me a bit. We have one on its way, but apparently it is stuck in Germany now. I have a backup 5.7 coming out of a 2009 Chrysler 300 in Estonia that we can buy at the right price..
So some nail biting..But I am sure we get it done.
Posted 2017-08-15 12:22 PM (#546252 - in reply to #546236) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
The side rear SAVOY badges are going back..but with a cool twist..I will post that once we are done with them.. The 'V' is going back on to the front..I have a Gold one that is a resin repro I got from a guy on Facebook.
Posted 2017-08-20 5:10 AM (#546561 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Just another little update..Interior is starting to take shape. And the 'V' are the steel pieces that will be featured as inserted into each of the 4 seats we are also custom making..:)
Posted 2017-09-11 2:35 AM (#548134 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Expert
Posts: 2905
Location: little rock, AR
1959 Dodge D-500 was the 1st year for the 383 engine for Mopar. I just bought a '60 Polara and if it end up being a parts car I'm going to drop that 383/4bbl in my '59 Plymouth 2dr HT. Looks like your catching your 2nd wind.
Posted 2017-09-14 7:20 PM (#548407 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Well, major progress last week or so.
5.7 HEMI is now out of the donor car and hanging from our engine lift in my garage.
Twistine (that's her name now) has been at the painter since Sunday. Horrible headlight area is now fixed, we put in new steel and it has been panel bonded into place. There was no way to weld so close to the finished paint on the fenders. But the 3M panel bond chemical is good enough for Audi, BMW and the like to glue in their firewalls, so it will be good enough for a non load bearing sheet of steel in my fenders.
Front bumper has been straightened and painted. Engine cover for the 5.7 is going to be black with orange HEMI script either side and orange centerpiece.
There were clear coat issues in both door jambs, so they were taken back with 2000 wet sanding, and are repainted now. Same with a small area center of the rear near the license plate mounting holes. Found rust under the paint there. Cut that out, and it is now finished.
Wheels are tyres are on. Vintique 15" smoothies with baby moon caps. Wheels are painted gloss black, and caps will be orange. 165 up front 255's on the rear.
Ridetech is working like a dream. Still have not fitted the shocks, but they will go in early next week. Engine in first part of the week too. Interior is going in from tomorrow onwards. Oh and my one off custom seats arrived. They will be painted black and orange, and will be getting an LED treatment. Plus black leather upholstery with an orange stitching down the middle of each cushion.
Looks like it is going to be down to the wire but things are on track.
Posted 2017-10-01 5:08 PM (#549546 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
OK, Car is now unveiled, here in Finland.
We did it at the best show in the country, the X-Treme Show.
And guess what, me and my garage won Best Builder of 2017! And as if that was not good enough, MOPAR USA awarded us best Mopar for the 80th Anniversary!
SO to say I am happy is a major understatement.
I am dead tired now..The last few weeks were immensely hard work with little sleep. But it paid off BIG TIME!
Posted 2017-10-02 4:54 AM (#549588 - in reply to #528501) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
Thanks!
Check out the facebook page for more, plus the LIVE videos I did, both during the last parts of the build where we were all working nearly 24 hour days..(not an exaggeration) and then the show videos too.
Posted 2017-10-10 11:59 AM (#550091 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Elite Veteran
Posts: 1150
Location: Southern California
thank you. thank you!!!!!!! for saving this car! I like what you've done with her and bringing back some elements of her original look! those mercedes lights were %$#&!
Posted 2017-10-17 4:12 AM (#550440 - in reply to #549768) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
mikes2nd - 2017-10-04 12:22 AM
oh and you need back bumper wings For shame :)
Absolutely not! We have them, painted up and everything. We test fitted them and it closes the area around the fins so much it lost all the streamlining. I will never put them on the car!
Posted 2017-10-17 5:03 AM (#550443 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
SO for those that are interested..
I have read comments on facebook etc. about how 'easy' this build must have been. Nothing could be further from the truth on this car. As most car guys know the rule is NEVER BUY SOMEONE ELSE'S PROJECT! I wished I had heeded that advice many times through this project. It was a nightmare car.
FIrstly I bought this unseen, well I did send the guy who transported it to the harbor for shipping down to pay for it and inspect it first..But it checked out according to him and I pulled the trigger. When the car arrived she was a mess. So much missing trim and other parts that I had some hard choices to make. Of course I started to search for parts but as you all know they are either so expensive or impossible to get. Plus I knew I was keeping the trim black so buying mint condition expensive trim was out of the question.
Next thing..the whole front end was damaged. All lower panels, bumper was bent badly, and frame was all banged up. Apparently the shippers did not bother to tell their unloaders in Finland that the car needed to have the front airbags inflated to get it out of the container..So..they dragged it out. Which would not have been a terrible thing..IF the car had shock absorbers installed...Which it DIDN'T!
The bumper was so bad there was a difference side to side of about 6 inches..I am not even sure how they managed that.
Then the messed up Mercedes E90 lights! Oh my god..I knew they were going to go before I bought the car, but I had no idea how the guy had built that area..If I had known I would have passed on the car. I will attach photos of what we found below. But basically the light area was made in steel....kind of..And done like you would for any custom car. The big problem is instead of carrying on with steel, he decided to shortcut the process and slap in HUGE amounts of bondo! Honestly we were laughing and crying at times. I have a piece of the headlight surrounding area that looks like it was once part of a very thick homemade piece of pottery! I started to grind the bondo away and was covered in yellow dust for days. Eventually I thought EFF IT! And we made a new plan to cut the entire area out, put in steel and do it properly. The resulting area is NOT like in the factory car. There is NO flat wall behind the lights now. It is still curved. The stone deflectors and fender are ONE piece now. We made a few carefully chosen spot welds to align the new steel and then GLUED the rest in using the 3M stuff they use in modern cars to 'chemical weld' in firewalls. It is super strong now and because it is not a load bearing surface it is totally strong enough for the long term.
At that point all the front end pieces were at the painters. I had purchased a grille from a '58, so that we could put back the original look grille. The one that I got with the car was cut off where the Merc lights began. It looked stupid. Plus I wanted dual headlights again and kind of create a modern update to the original look using LED's and RGB halos etc. Once we had the steel done in the fenders we sent the car off to the painter. At this point we had also found the rear lower panel that is partially covered by the rear bumper was totally rusted out. And again filled with bondo and painted over. So that was cut out and repaired then repainted too.
The door jambs had massive paint problems, so we sanded back and had to re do those as well. The clear coat had kind of shrunk away from the paint, we think he must have painted over the color coat that was not quite dry enough. We also redid the hood and trunk. The problem with those areas was that he had painted over wet skim coat of bondo, so the bondo shrank away from the color layer but he had already clear coated over the color! So it was FLAT, but had craters in the color layer..Bloody amatuer!
The roof will eventually be repainted black. For the show we just sanded it back and wrapped it in vinyl. I simply ran out of time to make the show deadline. And even then we rolled Twistine into the show at 9am, with doors opening to the public at 10AM! The roof was painted in what we think is plastidip type paint..It was awful. Huge canyon like cracks in the sub surface. I sanded them back to flatten it out, then we painted 2 stage black gloss so it would not show through the vinyl. But before I sell her I am painting that correctly.
Then it was on to the interior. We had a blank slate with the interior, so I designed the floating seat concept, and had custom seats and front mounting system made from scratch. Everything was going fine until we put the window and side glass back in..The car has electric windows from factory, so what could go wrong? Well the rear window motors were FORD! And the mopar gear was tack welded onto the a cut-down Ford gear! Nightmare! Not to mention both rear motors were mounted onto literally swiss cheese. We found about 20 or 30 'test' holes drilled into the inner door panels. I guess they could not get the geometry right and kept drilling holes and moving the motor until the windows kind of worked..They DIDN'T work! We spent a huge amount of time to get these to work. We even found that during the gear 'grafting' attempt that they had let some weld fill up half of one of the gear grooves, so the drivers side rear window would skip that tooth and that was causing more issues.
We took out all factory wiring, and rewired the entire car. Using brand new Mercedes fuse blocks, and top quality wiring. Most of the fuse blocks and wiring center is in the trunk now hidden behind the trim. Up front the 5.7 Hemi wiring loom was broken down to only what we needed, then rebuilt into a loom again, which was grafted back into our new wiring. All the modules needed for the 5.7 to work are hidden either under the dash or under the passenger side front fender. The engine bay is clean of most wiring. Also the brake booster was already under the dash, which was good. But for some reason ALL of the area under the front cowl area was cut away. Right now it is a hole going straight into the car..We have a new cowl trim that we custom made to cover that area and it is sealed with a custom made gasket. And the only thing left to do now is to put the wipers back on. We did not use them for the show. But I want the car road registered and it needs them by law here in Finland.
The Hemi fits like a glove...After cutting the front k frame away! We sliced that frame, cut off the existing engine mounts and recreated the whole area in thick steel. The frame now has a U shape, allowing the sump of the 5.7 to clear. And we created a new type of rear mount to locate the transmission. The whole drivetrain fits so nicely that even when we dump the car to the lowest level the sump or trans does not protrude past the frame. Theoretically you could drive the car at the lowest level!. The frame is notched for the steering components, so there is no binding, and the wheels would still be able to turn unobstructed.
Exhaust is the only thing missing now. We did not hook the engine up for the show. Since we went down to the wire we decided it would not be great if fuel or coolant started to leak at the show. Since we did not have time to add all the fluids and test all the fittings. Fuel tank is brand new and we also made new brake lines as well. It is all very neat under the car now.
Twistine has a Ford 9 inch. The center is open. I have my mechanic looking for a locker center now, so we will change that this week or next week.
Anyway, that is more about the saga which is Twistine..There was a lot more drama of course but this was the main stuff.
Posted 2017-10-17 11:16 AM (#550459 - in reply to #550451) Subject: Re: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
mikes2nd - 2017-10-16 2:28 PM
that's actually a crap load of work but super unique. Just the wiring alone...
I think there are two 57-58 Plymouths now customized in the world and the other one is a piss poorly done post car with painted on trim...
Going to put the rear bumper wings on?
did you reshoot the entire car? were the quarter panels straight? is the body original paint from when you bought it?
Is that 4 door one the Christine look alike with the same Hemi as mine? if so, I saw it at SEMA last year. It has painted on trim.. I think they called it Furyious?
I'm not putting the rear wings on. They are painted and ready, but we tried it and as I said earlier in this topic is really closed the back end down design-wise. The angles are restrictive. Now the car flows from front to back.
We reshot the hood, trunk, all the front panels. The sides are the original paint, but we also had to put a massive amount of work to them. The car must have been left out in the open for a long time. It looked good in photos but there were hard water spots baked into the clear. I personally rubbed down just about every panel on this, and that was in combination with one of my detailer buddies doing a lot of work with his secret potions and clay bars from Meguairs.
I also repainted the front frame area in the engine bay, the frame is a champagne silver color, which was hard to match, but we got really close. I know it's just the frame and it's now mostly unseen thanks to the engine, but I still wanted to do it right.
Posted 2017-10-17 11:46 AM (#550460 - in reply to #528501) Subject: RE: My new '57 Savoy
Regular
Posts: 50
I have to post again! This just arrived in Finland! I am so honored to have MOPAR actually award this to Twistine. Like her or hate her, when MOPAR acknowledges a car like this then I am satisfied.