How the Fenderless '36 Was Built, Part One: Body and Chassis
It began with a concept sketch by Adam Banks and a challenge from Ross Myers: see what you can do with a fenderless '36, with essentially no restrictions on design or complexity.
A '36 Ford is a hard car to take fenders off. The fat-fender body style can look awkward without them, which is exactly why you almost never see it done. Solving that was the whole project.
Ross shipped an original 1936 body from his collection. After calculating what it would take to refinish and reshape those panels, the team made the decision that set the tone for everything after — use the original only as a buck, and form all-new sheet metal. The cowl and tail section were mounted on a chassis table, the cowl was moved back ten inches, and new quarter-panels were rough-shaped from 18-gauge steel on an Eckold power shrinker, then refined with an English wheel, a planishing hammer, and hand tools.
A Pullmax machine and a set of purpose-made dies duplicated the body's upper reveal line. The male die was test-fitted against the original body to check contours before anything was committed. The tail section kept the character of the original but was radically shortened and reshaped, built in two pieces and joined. Doorjambs were formed from new metal. A new pillar in 14-gauge steel reinforced the rear jamb.
After welding, every joint was metal-finished until the seams disappeared. The result fits better than the original Ford bodies did.
Then came the unconventional part. Because the bodywork was so radical, the team built the body first and fitted the chassis inside it — the reverse of how nearly every car gets built. A completely new frame, designed around a body that already existed.
Ron Covell documented all of it for Modern Rodding, with photography by Adam Banks. Part 1 · Part 2 · Part 3
