This decision to save the Plymouth would be Jay’s introduction to shaping and repairing sheet metal. Soon an English wheel, a power hammer and shot bags would be a big part of Jay’s life and so would begin over 2500 hours of metal work resurrecting his Coupe. Jay first thought about having the body chemically stripped, but was afraid that once they were done they would “only pull out a chain”. Beside the extensive rust 70 pounds of lead from old repairs was melted off the body before new door jambs were created to replace the rotted away originals new body panels fitted from the mid body line down and while he was it the doors were also switched to open suicide style for extra cool points. Once the old hulk was feeling much better Jay turned his attention to the roof and “kept cutting until I liked it” which turned out to be almost eight inches!
To get the car rolling Jay began with a few sections of the original frame and tied them together with plenty of fresh steel to put together a bullet-proof chassis. The interesting front suspension uses the front axle from a ’49 Ford pickup that was narrowed by the owner 11-inches and modified to end up with stunning 8-inches of drop! Axle modifications were made using stainless steel rod and gussets by the owner who says, “when in doubt, use 309 (welding rod)”. Once the axle was finished being built in a custom jig it was placed in a special oven for three days to complete the annealing process. Early Ford juice brakes were used and combined with a manual steering box from a Toyota Land Cruiser that Jay reports is an excellent unit even though he has worn out a few already in his many travels. The rear uses a pair of parallel leaf springs mated to a ’64 Ford Galaxie 9-inch housing fitted with axles and brakes from an 8-inch Maverick rearend and homemade traction bars. The super low car does not use airbags, special skid rails get the job done to drag over bumps.
