 The finished product; the edge won’t be trimmed until the outer fender has been installed. |
Finally, when he is satisfied it is exact, the welder comes out and the replacement is carefully retrofitted in place of the original. At first, my ignorant mind thinks it may not fit, but Tracy has already taken in account the heat and gap needed for the weld and soon the piece is almost place. Extra time is spent if it requires a fully-enclosed bead, as the trick is to never weld in one spot for more than a couple of seconds. Then the polisher comes out, maybe a little hammer and dolly work, and suddenly it look better than new. Even the blend area striped of paint on the original shows no sign of exactly where the welding was done. That’s craftsmanship.
Restoring and building the cars we own is a big part of the hobby we enjoy, and there are people (few and far between, it often seems) whose willingness to take pride and patience in their efforts results in world-class results. I’ve known other body shop and fabrication places where, after watching them work, I wouldn’t send my ride-on mower in for patchwork, let alone a car. Just like good engine builders who know how to eek out every ounce of power from a given displacement, a good body man can make a car better than it has to be. A lot of Hicks’ careful detail will be soon permanently be hidden by quarter panels and replacement parts, not to mention paint. He’ll knows it’s right, though.
And it’s not cheap, either. Tracy charges a pretty substantial dollar amount per hour, and those hours will add up as the work continues. I find the whole fitting process tedious (how many times do you have to check that thing?), but I’m just a scribe and picture-snapper. Hicks, on the other hand, is Vulcan, tempering and trimming and testing and taming the ferrous pieces to do his will. Long hours and patience (the latter was never my strong suit) result in the sort of work that he himself is satisfied with. Even the car owner paying the bills sometimes doesn’t get it until the vehicle is in the paint shop and the painters can’t believe how nice it is. Yes, there is a pretty sizable waiting list to get Hick’s careful attention these days.
And in his spare time, when not busy with his family, he and a few buddies are working on a rat rod that will have a CAD-designed custom frame, vintage speed parts, and a 40” ground-to-roofline stance. It’ll get Brand X power; Tracy has no problem with Mopars (he had a Pro Mod Barracuda back when the class was still an IHRA sportsman division), but he is familiar with big-inch rat motors. Right now, its looking like a tunnel- rammed 540” Dart with aluminum heads and streetable compression will be the ticket. It will get a lot of attention; heck, even the UPS guy is digging it.
And me; I’ll set up shop in a corner (the place is clean), type out my drivel, push the shutter button once in a while, and be a witness to the whole thing. It’s a little humbling...
Stunkard can be found here at MoparMax once a month, or all the time over at www.quartermilestones.com.
