The BMW 507 Ultimate Build Thread!!!

[olredalert]

Originally Posted by Charley Lillard

I need to con you out of that somehow...

----Charley,,,Just keep telling Tim how labor intensive that finish is and I'm sure he will sell it to you for a song...…..Bill S

[markinnaples]

That is unbelievable, wow. Whew, that is amazing, congrats on owning it. I love bespoke stuff in general, and I think you've taken the cake with that.

[mockingbird812]

Originally Posted by mssl72

That's gotta look like a shooting star zipping down the road!! Bee-u-tee-full!!

That’s it right there!!!

[A12pilot]

Good..night!!! That is gorgeous!! I can only hope mine comes out 1/1000th as nice as that!! How in the world do you keep that clean!?!

Don’t you worry Samitron.....you’ll be sitting in it next year at MCACN if things go right!!

Cheers
Dave

[TimG]

It takes some work to keep shiny, but it's worth it. It's an amazing car with the bronze body and stainless steel chassis. There's absolutely no paint on the car or chassis at all.

[A12pilot]

Well men, I think I’ve made an executive decision on the 507 build. I’m starting to lean on taking a page from “The Book of Woj” and leaning on making the first run of my design out of fiberglass. I put the kaibosh on that idea initially since I really wanted the body to be metal. And then there’s the mystique of all the Fauxbras running around, but honestly, I think with this car and all the other fabrication involved on the chassis (including the amount going into this buck right now!!!), the fact that the body is fiberglass probably won’t make a real big difference in the car’s appeal when it’s done. My initial thought was that this was going to be taking the easy way out, but the more I read about it, it’s changed my mind completely. Making a fiberglass body ain’t exactly easy either!

There’s several reasons for leaning on using fiberglass, and mainly, it has to do with the amount of tools required to form the metal panels. I’m looking easily at upwards of over $10K for a few tools I’ll need before I even buy a sheet of metal to beat on! So just for giggles, I started looking at how to make a fiberglass body/mold and coincidentally, I’m pretty much headed down that direction right now! I still would like to make a metal body in the future. Maybe the next one.....

The next stage of the buck is building up all the cavities with foam and sculpting it down to form the body shape so I can compare it to the original. This will allow me to fine tune any errors I see so the final product is as close to the real thing as possible. Think of the clay models that the Big Three do when designing a car. Same concept! This will be all sanded smooth, primed, and painted. This will allow me to spray a mold release on the surface and keep the underside of the body smooth while laying up the body. I could also make molds for each part, then assemble them later. I haven’t decided which way I’ll be going (mold or moldless) and am still looking/readin/researching this whole endeavor. I could mass market the car if it comes out right! Uh.....no

So now we’re coming into the next phase where I’m going to start needing my donor chassis which will be the basic platform of the 507. My chassis design of the car has changed from what I thought I was going to use initially, and now I’m leaning on using the Mercedes R107 (1971-1989) 350SL/450SL chassis. I’m looking at the earlier versions that have manual windows and locks since that will make the door internals ready to go for the 507. These Mercedes have dimensions that are just about identical to the 507s in length, wheel base, track, and width. This will give me the basic 2dr convertible body chassis I need with all structural issues taken car of, plus a functioning convertible top. Although I am still planning on using a 4-wheel torsion bar suspension like the original had. More details on that later.

More pics tomorrow!!!! It’s really coming out great and starting to look like a car instead of a popsicle-stick Tyrannosaurus Rex!!!

Cheers
Dave

[TimG]

You're amazing, Dave. I can't wait to see your progress.

[m22mike]

Originally Posted by TimG

Dave, there are some good Kirkham videos on YouTube that show great metal forming skills. The Kirkhams are the ones that built my bronze bodied Cobra. What these guys do with a flat piece of metal is amazing.

I watched some of the Kirkhams videos on YouYube yesterday and as a A&P mech and sheet metal hack I found it very interesting. Like the repair to the left rear fender/Q panel that was caved in..... WOW !
These guys are GOOD.
Question Tim

What was the metal and or process in making your bronze body ?


Thanks Mike

[TimG]

The metal is silicon bronze and the body was built in Poland at the old Mig factory. They hand pound the panels and attach them the to the stanless steel chassis. It is shipped to Kirkham for finishing. There's a good video of Kirkham building a bronze hood for a SOHC twin supercharged car. I have no idea how they produce such beautiful cars.

[TimG]

I don't mean to take up Daves post as I want to follow his build. I'll put this on a separate post.