1937 Packard 115 coupe

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Started on the top install, cut the old nailer edge off the opening and melted and wire wheeled the lead out of the corners.

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Laid the new piece on and weighted it down, marked the edge on the underside with a felt marker.

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Cut the insert to the line, leaving these tabs around the edge.

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Laid the insert on the roof, the tabs keeping it in place so I don't need supports to hold it up.

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Tacked all around, cutting the tabs off after I had a few done. I'm no expert but I have learned one important lesson with this sort of work - DON'T RUSH IT. Take time to make sure the edges are flush when tacking, if they get out of alignment or you get some warpage, stop and hammer it flat, don't keep going and think you can fix it later, it will only get worse and require a lot of corrective heat shrinking and hammer & dolly work and frustration.

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Only 1000 more tack welds to go (literally)

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I learned that tab trick from a neighbor long ago who was a packard man. He was one of the best body guys I ever got to watch do his thing. Along with leaving tabs on patch pieces, he showed me how to bend the tab up and then back down and it leaves the tab offset just enough to let the patch piece lay in the hole a little better.
 
Lookin' good.
I just noticed that this car doesn't have (traditional) rain gutters. Does the slight flair over the door serve the same purpose?
 
Wow, awesome work! I'm looking at this with the reminder in my mind that you'll probably be cutting it again when you 'adjust' the roof. That's looking great!

Thanks! I won't be cutting into the middle of the top (I hope!) but I need to get it done first so the roof isn't so floppy when the 'adjustments' happen.

I learned that tab trick from a neighbor long ago who was a packard man. He was one of the best body guys I ever got to watch do his thing. Along with leaving tabs on patch pieces, he showed me how to bend the tab up and then back down and it leaves the tab offset just enough to let the patch piece lay in the hole a little better.

They say there are no new tricks, just people who haven't seen them yet...:cool:

Lookin' good.
I just noticed that this car doesn't have (traditional) rain gutters. Does the slight flair over the door serve the same purpose?

I guess it does, sure makes body work mods easier without them.
 
Got back to work today and finished welding in the top insert. Went slow, hammered up or down any warps as I went, sanding off the weld bumps after each round of tack welds. Just some minor hammer and dolly work needed to finish it up later.

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Thanks guys, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Time to jump into the deep end of the pool - here's a 'before' shot.

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Marked for cutting, just 1" coming out of the A pillars.

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The OMG WTF did I do moment :eek:

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Fun job of the day, scraping off 80 year old tar sound deadener from the underside.

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Just sitting in place, 1" out of the A pillars, hardly looks any lower [S

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Cut a notch to drop the rear down 1"

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Cut loose the rear window to pull it back

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A pillars tacked back together.

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Need to make a relief cut here to drop the rear of the roof down one more inch.

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