My Daytona Coupe (cobra) scratch build

[MAStuart]

Hi! In my introduction, when I first joined, I told you I was scratch building a Daytona Coupe using Chuck's plans. I brought the nose to the 2010 metal meet and worked on it some. Had some help making a small metal panel for the nose. At that time it was suggested that I get some pour foam and use it to fill in some of the buck so I could get more detail. I purchased a 3 gallon kit of 2.1 nominal density instafoam from one of the aircraft suppliers. This 3 gallon kit under ideal conditions should expand to about 90 gallons. Recently I finally had a chance to try some.

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poster board and masking tape for forms and foam poured in.

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foam hard and forms stripped

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the first pour roughed in with a bow saw (pruning saw) and cheese grater, more formed and poured and other areas partially filled in with pink foam board

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the remaining area formed and poured. after it is mixed it expands and hardens in approximately 5 minutes at 90 degrees

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shot with the foam roughed in and the nose on the buck with the aluminum panel and a paper pattern for the grill taped to it

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couple of shots of the nose with the foam roughed in and sanded with 36 grit and a layer of fiberglass cloth with epoxy resin. for this i used a product available at menards. It came in a gallon kit called 50 to 1 (50 coats of varnish in 1). This was the cheapest large quantity I could find.

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shot of the nose back on the buck

[MAStuart]

It has been a day or so and the epoxy has set up, but I need to wait another day or 2 for it to reach full hardness. Then I should be able to use some bondo to finish filling the nose in and get it primed so that I can make some flexible shaped patterns. I have been toying with the idea of filling in the other side too, so I can add more detail, like the grill opening the headlights and fog lights. I am probably going to add some foam to the tops of the front fenders to get more detail in that area.
Is there anyone that is a whiz on the computer that could draw on the one of the above photos of the front end some lines that show where panels should be made and joined together. I have some ideas, but I am new to this. This is the first thing I have done to the buck since the last metal meet. I have been working on making chassis pieces. That's all for now. Mark

[admin]

good going Mark
you might look at Shelby's new coupes
the white areas are where the seams are
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/alumi...totype/#960976

alumcoupe01.jpg

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Dick

[superleggera]

Hopefully you have a copy of Peter Brock's (Daytona Coupe designer) book "Daytona Cobra Coupes". This is the proverbial bible on these cars. There are @40 pages of build sequence with Dave Friedman's photos where you can see all the seams (inner/outer) of the first Daytona being built using panels pre-made via California Metal Shaping. (all others were built in Italy and the coachwork was done a bit differently as well as seams/etc)

I know the "used" book is stupidly priced now. But it's definitely worth having in the archive if you love this particular racecar. Fortunately I bought three of them many years ago when first released -- sold both extras @xmas for $2500/$2750/ea. (still new in wrap) But you can find them at times for @$500 in "good" condition -- still worth it to have at that price given the documentation it provides.

[oldgoaly]

Mark, Your bringing the buck to Oblong in October?
Mark, that is obscene amount for a book! cost almost what the car did in 1967 must be a bunch of good pics and reading!!!! tt

[MAStuart]

Thanks Dick for the reply. I have that same set of pictures somewhere. Do you or anyone have any idea who is doing that aluminum body for Shelby? Possibly someone in Africa? The panels seem to be divided up differently than other ones I have seen. When Chuck built his car the front end was made up of a lot of smaller pieces. After it was welded together then details were added to it, like the grill opening, fog light and headlight openings. How do you think those panels were made? Were they wheeled, made on a stretch former, made in a press?
Thanks Mark for the reply. I don't have a copy of Peter Brock's book. If I had the $2500, I would spend it on more of the suspension pieces that I need. If the car was all done, I would probably like to find a cheap copy of the book. It would be nice to have. I went to a shop that was building a coupe for a customer, they had a copy of the book there. I had a little time to spend looking at the book then. If I remember right the majority of the pictures are of the prototype car (2287). I talked to the shop owner to see if I could scan some of the stuff that would be of interest to me and he said I could. I just never got back up there to do it. The prototype car is quite a bit different than the other 5 cars that were built. So far I probably have a whole lot more time doing research and looking for pictures and stuff on these cars than I have actually worked on my car. I do have a lot of time in it already. I have the buck built. It still needs a little minor shaping here and there. I have the majority of parts made for 2 complete chassis. I have all of the packages that Chuck has available, but I still need a lot of information. There seems to be a lot of missing information in the packets from Chuck. Chuck suggests you build a partially complete chassis to put the buck on, then you build a completed chassis. When you make your aluminum panels to fit the buck then they are transferred to the completed chassis. I figured I might as well build 2 of everything and build 2 cars.
Terry, I would like to bring the buck, but right now I have no way of getting it there. But if a bunch of people wanted to help make some panels, I am sure I could find a way. Thanks all! Mark

[MAStuart]

Hi I was looking at some pictures and found this pic of my frame . This is a shot of it from the front . The very front of it ends up being close to the grill opening . The main structure you see is the spring tower for the cross leaf spring . I have a lot more pic of the frame construction. If there is interest I can post on how I made some of the parts. MarkSSCN3375.JPG

[jlrussell4]

Hi Mark,

I am interested.

[bobadame]

Me too....

[Joefish]

me three