I have a Cobra body and want to make a bar

[Bill]

I have an FFR body that is painted blue with white stripes. The left rear quarter panel is gone. The past owner of the body had a run in with a Civic.

I am no crafsman, so I wonder how hard it would be to get someone to make this car body into a bar?

- Bill

[Don]

Hey, Bill - great idea - I'll tell you what I think but you are going to have to show me how to do the thumbnail attachment in the post like you did.

If it was me doing this there would simply be two issues. One is the bar proper and the other is the cutting and attachment of the car body.

The bar would be as complicated as your wallet or time would allow; out of any materials that suited you or your decor. The object with the bar would be to have the front surfaces large enough in width and length to accommodate the cut body. That surface could be anything, on the cheaper side of the scale you could have a right angle stud and Sheetrock half wall built, mudded and painted. The bartop on that and you have the beginnings, right? Or you could have the whole thing fabricated out of wood so you have shelves and/or drawers on the bartender side. The face could be any veneered plywood, bead-board or planks.

The other issue is going to be the accurate cutting of the car. This is where a little modern technology is going to save the day. The body is so curvaceous that arriving at a straight line would typically be very tough. Not so with a laser however. Position the body in a large clear area and prop up to approximate the final mounted position. Place a plumb line laser (Home Depot $98.00 Fatmax model #779153) across the nose and down the side at right angles to each other. The laser line with be a perfect plane showing where to cut. Mask that area with thick tape and carefully mark that line. Sawzall with a fine blade from the inside, leaving just a bit for a good belt sanding job.

After the cut and sanding to the edge, the tape is removed and the car body's rough edge is eased by hand to keep the paint from flaking. Then the cabinet maker will template some blocking at various places on the body's edge and adhere these in place with epoxy or similar. When this is dry it will be a matter of screwing the body in place from the backside of the bar.

All in all, not as bad as it seems in the beginning. The result should be really great, especially if you put some low voltage bulbs in the head and taillights.

Let me know if you need any more info.

All the best, Don

[Bill]

This sounds like a cool project and I hope to work on it this winter. I'll try and draw up some plans and have you guys review it before I tackle this project.

Thanks,

Bill

[berzerko]

anything ever come of the bar idea

a cut off wheel is the right tool to cut glass anything but carbide gets destroyed in no time

Bobby

[Bill]

anything ever come of the bar idea

a cut off wheel is the right tool to cut glass anything but carbide gets destroyed in no time

Bobby

No, I may not have enough skill to tackle that project.

The body is in my basement and has been for 4 years. One day----

- Bill