For more than a decade STREET RODDER has built one car a year to drive on our 25,000-mile Road Tour. Tour leader Jerry Dixey takes a pack of hot rodders across America and back, traveling to various car shows while taking in sights along the way (world's biggest ball of yarn, etc.).
Over the years, Dixey has driven coupes, roadsters, '50s-era Chevys, and '30s-era Fords, and in 2010 he's driving a Shadow Rods XL27 roadster. When discussions between STREET RODDER, Shadow Rods, and the car's builder, Zane Cullen (Cotati Speed Shop in Santa Rosa, California), turned to customizing the roadster beyond its stock state, the decision was made to give the car a historic look by adding a track nose. That facet of the build-the building of the nose and hood-was turned over to Clay Cook of C. Cook Enterprises in Erlanger, Kentucky, who are not only metal-shaping craftsmen but also sell a line of metal fabrication tools and machines.
In last month's issue of STREET RODDER, we examined how Cook created a wooden buck to help form both the hood and nose and, in this month's installment, the attention turns to the actual fabrication of the steel hood and nose, which was done in two locations cross country from each other at Cotati Speed Shop and C. Cook Enterprises.
Look for the finished, painted car in the November issue of STREET RODDER or at any of the events Jerry Dixey will be attending this year (a list of those shows can be found at www.streetrodderweb.com).
Fed through a slip roller...
Fed through a slip roller to get the desired curves, the hood is repeatedly check-fitted against the wooden buck. Clay Cook then draws a grid on top of the hood that shows pickup points for the CAD machine to use to design a press die for the blister.
Sometimes cars look better...
Sometimes cars look better in bare metal than they do painted! The '10 Road Tour car-a Shadow Rods XL27 roadster-was halfway through the fabrication stage when this photo was taken at Cotati Speed Shop.
Once the die was made, it...
Once the die was made, it was then used in a 150-ton press to create a perfect blister out of steel.
A hole was cut into the hood...
A hole was cut into the hood for the blister to fit, then secured with small bolts around the edge.
A template was then made to...
A template was then made to follow the shape of the cowl.
Checked against the back edge...
Checked against the back edge of the hood, the template shows only a minor amount of adjustment will be needed.
At the back edge of the hood...
At the back edge of the hood a crossbrace was added to keep the shape the hood from changing while the fabrication takes place.
After a length of angle was...
After a length of angle was shrunk to follow the shape of the underside section of the hood, two locating pins were added at both ends.
Two female sections of the...
Two female sections of the hood mount were then added to the cowl, one per side.