Rhythm - Late 60's Inspired Sports Car

Hi guys!

My name is Nick. I've been into hot rods and custom cars since I was a kid. For over 10 years, I've been learning the art of metal shaping starting out with a set of about 9 hammers, some dollies, and a 3/4" rubber mat and things have kinda evolved from there.

I'd like to extend my hand in appreciation to all the members who have the same passion for cool cars and enjoy taking the time to share their knowledge and experiences.

I was hoping to share a completed project built entirely from scratch out of steel that both my dad and I are quite passionate about. This got me hooked on fabricating.

I'll post one photo, if you guys feel it's "too out there"...it'll be removed.

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Thanks very much!
 
Nice to see some 'handyraulic' machine work going on! When I was an apprentice I would have got a slap for milling with the quill extended!

Glad you weren't standing next to me Stamford :D

You're correct as that's what one learns in basic machine shop classes. :blink: Normally, I don't like to run the quill extended either. But, at the time, I was making cautious light cuts creeping up to the final surface height and being aluminum I didn't see the proportionate extension posing a threat to the machine or process.

Bad habit to get into though....

Cheers! :)
 
Here are some pictures illustrating how the cockpit inspired interior was created.

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Starting to bend the main component of the dash in our 5 minute brake.

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Simple tools...simple results.

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Now for the more complex components...the driver surround. Template was created in the car.

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Dad tipping the lead edge with a hammer and pedestal dollie.

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Me taking over...

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After tipping and creating the correct curvature the piece is located inside the car.

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The cockpit is taking shape...

More to come ... thanks for looking. :)
 
Invision, this is just amazing mate. I wish I could have time, facilities and skill to do it.
I absolutely love the body shape, it will look stunning :)
 
Invision, this is just amazing mate. I wish I could have time, facilities and skill to do it.
I absolutely love the body shape, it will look stunning :)


Thanks buddy! This car is actually done...and these are photos i'm posting to share the build with members here :D...something I really appreciate.

In regards to the metal work...in the end it was all covered up with paint and upholstery...which was kind of a shame. When it came to having the skills ... its something that can be picked up as you work with it...patience and practice. Just pick up the tools and play with them. The body for this vehicle was created with a simple set of hammers and dollies...but took time and persistence...sometimes that meant doing something over again... and again ...until I was happy with the results.

If you get a moment feel free to check out the new ride taking shape...literally ...on our Facebook page. Hit the Like button to stay up to day with the latest progress.

__________________
Nick M.

A journey in design and fabrication begins with a vision, a single pen stroke ... and in some cases the blow of a hammer.

Some projects: http://www.facebook.com/iNVisionPrototypes
 
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All of that from your and your fathers head and from scratch maded in garage!!!
THAT is best and most astonishing, breath taking build thread I ever have seen or even heard about it!
Hope in some not far future, your vehicles will be nightmare for Konigsegg or Zonda! (not that I have something against those masterpieces, but just for ilustration of my wishes)

They do almost same thing but with other materials and more expensive mechanics.
 
....THAT is best and most astonishing, breath taking build thread I ever have seen or even heard about it!
Hope in some not far future, your vehicles will be nightmare for Konigsegg or Zonda! (not that I have something against those masterpieces, but just for ilustration of my wishes)

Thanks very much for your wishes Zwaf.

We have a passion for design and fabrication and building vehicles is one way we can do this. Some people do paintings, some build houses...we build custom cars to have fun... not out there to compete with anyone or existing car makers.

I came across TorqueCars one evening and joined because I was really impressed by all the great talent and projects guys have shared. :lol: I've spent quite some time reading and enjoying their build threads. My thought for sharing this project were to possibly inspire someone to put aside the thoughts of "ohh i can't do that" and get into starting their own project.

Cheers!

__________________
Nick M.

A journey in design and fabrication begins with a vision, a single pen stroke ... and in some cases the blow of a hammer.

Some projects: http://www.facebook.com/iNVisionPrototypes
 
Continuing on with the interior build.

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Wire frame buck created for the dash to door piece to form the metal on.

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Stock TR7 window channels incorporated into the new door perimeter that was blended into the roof for a seamless appearance.

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Too bad all this metal work was covered with upholstery.

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Due to the time between going to school and coming back to the shop to work on the car on weekends I was always amazed at how fast the panels would corrode. In many places you see green, yellow,.. and yeah.. that rose colour... well they are primers/paints i would mix up and spray onto the metal to prevent rusting if I knew I would be away for an extended period of time. The only thing with that was that I would have to remove it later...very time consuming.

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We didn't want any visible fasteners when mounting the panels. So they are fixed to the door in such a way that when you remove one screw, tilt the upper panel, they unlock from each other. The grab bars are made from stainless steel oval tubing.

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Making the ceiling mold.

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This is the only fiberglass panel in the car!

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Heads up display incorporated into the ceiling panel. Also a classic chrome dome light with trick map lights on the sides...one of the very few off the shelf components.

Next photos will cover electrical... Thanks for looking.
 
Thanks T9 Man :)

When it came to wiring up the vehicle...there was nothing really out there for an existing harness to do what I needed done. I looked at the Painless system..but for the cost and me still needing to modify the majority of the harness...it was a no go.

Sooo, I ended up designing and building the wiring harness for the car ... from scratch. Wires, plugs, controls used from a Pontiac and 2 Caddys. To minimize splicing ...each wire was removed from the 'original' plug and plugged into empty plugs chosen for Rhythm ... and for the wires that needed to be spliced... each was soldered and taped.

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Organizing all the harnesses required for each area of the car.

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After I had developed the wiring schematics, harnesses were stipped... wire by wire as per colour required. By the way, you can see the row of hammers that were used to create the body.

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A few feet of wiring...

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Initially I believed it would be a simple job wiring up the car with a carburated engine ... boy was I mistaken. As you all know...circuits were needed for the engine, gauges, wipers, HVAC controls, power windows, cooling system, power locks, power mirrors...and lights...the lights were fun...since I wanted to retrofit the '58 Fairlane lenses with LEDs... which I will leave for another day :p

Thanks for looking. :)
 
For that cockpit inspired interior, a brushed stainless dash panel was created.

After creating several templates from cardboard and aluminum sheeting used for soffits/eve troughs to get the gauge spacing and component locations just right, the final piece was laid out and cut from a sheet of stainless. Once all the holes were created it was taking shape...except for one thing. The grain in the brushed stainless sheet didn't flow correctly with the curvature of the dash...so had to recreate a new grain using some 80 grit sand paper. Since the panel wasn't a true circle, running my fingers along the edge worked pretty well as a guide. This was during one of those sleep deprived moments were creating an actual fixture to hold the sanding block and have a guide that ran along the edge seemed like too much work at the time.

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Trimming edges and cutting the holes out in the stainless. You can see the aluminum template in the background.

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VDO Gauges installed.

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We wanted to do something really trick with the taillights and create a 'turbo' effect on each side of the vehicle. One night on my way home from work I saw a '57 Fairlane for sale. On a whim I stopped in to ask the owner if he had any left over parts - specifically the taillights. As it turned out, he updated the ones his car and gave me the originals. It was a pretty sweet pinch...even though the bulb reflector shield was missing since I would be modifying anyway.

With the help of a friend who is an electronics guru, we designed and he built the sequential circuitry for the lights. The LEDs are set up in two rings. The outer ring indicates running and turn signals while the centre indicates the brakes. Initially white LEDs were used behind the lenses(pictured below) however, we discovered that they were kinda dim. After some thought, we decided to try red LEDs....BINGO! It's all about the length of the lightwave...and how the red lens filters out white light, so - red lens with red LEDs. I went though and changed the LEDs(94 per light) to the red type resulting in a huge difference.

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This is what they look like installed(only running lights on) and was taken before the white LEDs were changed to red...so they're not as bright during daylight hours as they are now. At night it's a totally different experience. When I get a moment I'll take a new picture/video of the new LEDs in action.

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The lights mounted on the sides of the centre section were actually marker lights and converted over to 6 LEDs bulbs each.

The lights sequentially flash when the signal lights are operated - so for instance when the left signal comes on...the Fairlane light starts, then the lights on the deck individually come on moving from the right of the picture to the left. The light on the far right is the centre brake light.
 
Some closeup pictures...

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Cockpit inspired brushed stainless steel dash and interior trim.

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Brushed Stainless Steel door sil panels were fabricated and topped of with a molded and hand painted emblem.

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To follow through with the Blackbird/fighter jet theme...these cross hairs were created from Stainless Steel.

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Power mirrors are mounted on the door extension...with no visible fasteners or wires.

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Now you guys have seen how to fill up the car...

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'57 Ford Fairlane taillights are retrofitted with LEDs...the centre bullet is the brake light...the outer ring is the running/signal light.

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... and if you're wondering of both sides are symmetric...they are :D
 
What a project this has been, I found your workmanship and attention to detail simply staggering! You are to be congratulated sir ;) Are you planning to display the car now at any shows?
 
What a project this has been, I found your workmanship and attention to detail simply staggering! You are to be congratulated sir ;) Are you planning to display the car now at any shows?



Thanks very much Gents...your compliments are greatly appreciated by us. The car was done during the latter part of 2008... think I mentioned it..but may not have been clear. Yeah, so we've been enjoying taking the vehicle to shows and mostly just out cruising. Tons of fun :D
 
Ah ha, sorry must have missed that :embarrest: The way the updates were coming across, it was as if this project was currently ongoing!
No matter as it is ruddy marvellous to see the finished article. So what's the next planned project to showcase more of your skills or have I missed that one too. :)
 
Ah ha, sorry must have missed that :embarrest: ...

No worries T9. :) It was buried somewhere in the intro descriptions. Also tried to post photos to the thread as time became available. As for new projects...I've been working on the second vehicle. If you like I can start a new thread on that one here? :D

Have a good one!
 
No worries T9. :) It was buried somewhere in the intro descriptions. Also tried to post photos to the thread as time became available. As for new projects...I've been working on the second vehicle. If you like I can start a new thread on that one here? :D

Have a good one!

Marvellous, I think best to leave this thread as it is to allow other people to continue to post on this project only. Start a fresh thread with the appropriate title for the second vehicle and I for one will be looking forward to the updates :)
 
It's great to see such enthusiasm for this one off. Granted, there are some elements of the design that could have been changed...possibly simplified...but I wanted to maintain that SR71 Blackbird/late 60's theme. I'm my own worst critic...and early on realized that if I kept going back to change things, Rhythm would never have been completed. It's experience that you put in your back pocket and move onto the next one.

Anyhow, here are a few photos heading out to one of the local cruise nights just after the engine transplant.

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Rhythm was built as a driver and that's where the car is the happiest... cruising down the highways...though shows are fun to attend as well.

Thanks again for following the build journal for this vehicle. It's been fun sharing it with you all. Shortly, a new thread will be created for the 'the next one'.

__________________
Nick M.

A journey in design and fabrication begins with a vision, a single pen stroke ... and in some cases the blow of a hammer.

Some projects: http://www.facebook.com/iNVisionPrototypes
 
This all looks very impressive...and I'm very jealous!

About the looks...I like it, the only thing I can pick at is that from back to front 90% of the car looks like a sleek sports car, but the very front of the car has a hint of muscle car in it I think. Don't get me wrong I like the car, just that it looks slightly confused.

I know this is a very late post considering it was finished in 2008...but still need to say congratulations on completing this project and I'm very interested in seeing the next one completed
 
This all looks very impressive...and I'm very jealous!

About the looks...I like it, the only thing I can pick at is that from back to front 90% of the car looks like a sleek sports car, but the very front of the car has a hint of muscle car in it I think. Don't get me wrong I like the car, just that it looks slightly confused.

I know this is a very late post considering it was finished in 2008...but still need to say congratulations on completing this project and I'm very interested in seeing the next one completed

No need to be jealous mate!

Thanks very much and you didn't offend me Curd ... actually I'm quite critical of my own work...that's why I'm building the "next" version ... with sketches for the one after it. :D:D Crazy, huh??

I think I mentioned it somewhere in this build post already. The front of Rhythm actually borrowed elements from a '75 Jag...specifically the hood. Except I found the Jag's hood a bit boring(sorry Jag lovers). So, it was cut up, stretched, massaged and lengthened to what you see.

Thanks for looking!

__________________
Nick M.

A journey in design and fabrication begins with a vision, a single pen stroke ... and in some cases the blow of a hammer.

Some projects: http://www.facebook.com/iNVisionPrototypes
 
That is one sick set of wheels, great job, what I would give for the skills. Be sure to post all your projects on this site.
 
Awesome build.. I have no words how to appreciate this work. you have made a cool sports car. Can you please tell me how much this car costs and how much time you spend on building this car? Very nice work. Thanks for sharing.
 
Awesome build.. I have no words how to appreciate this work. you have made a cool sports car. Can you please tell me how much this car costs and how much time you spend on building this car? Very nice work. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Cedric! With respect how much it cost to build... I never really kept track of the receipts. As for the time, it took around 8000hours...over an 8 year period to finish the project.

Thanks for looking!

__________________
Nick M.

A journey in design and fabrication begins with a vision, a single pen stroke ... and in some cases the blow of a hammer.

Some projects: http://www.facebook.com/iNVisionPrototypes
 
Awesome build.. I have no words how to appreciate this work. you have made a cool sports car. Can you please tell me how much this car costs and how much time you spend on building this car? Very nice work. Thanks for sharing.

Ohh really that good. Thanks for reply.

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Hey obi_waynne! The only update for this project is spending as much time behind the wheel as I can cruising around. She's a blast to drive.
 
I can imaging, glad she's still around and bringing you much pleasure. It is just a weekend car or do you use it in anger on a regular basis?
 
On a pretty regular basis till they start salting the roads ...just not to work or shopping malls.

Basically get in turn the key... and forget all your troubles.
 

Please watch this on my YouTube channel & Subscribe.


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