Not long ago, Pete Jackson found himself toiling away on the floors of some of the region's most noted automotive restoration shops. Determined to replicate the metal forming techniques that helped birth some of history's most iconic motors, Jackson honed his skills at this largely forgotten craft, using hammer and dolly, making wooden patterns without guides. Three years ago, frustrated with the lack of proper tooling at many shops, he struck out on his own, and he started big.
Jackson's first project at his Huntsburg, Ohio, workshop, Pete's Custom Coachbuilding, was a 1936 Packard owned by a volunteer from the National Packard Museum in Warren. "The hammering and shaping was all designed and figured out in the 20s and 30s, and that's what coachbuilding is about," says Jackson. "American coach companies built with power hammers, and they were all about speed, while the English, they rolled them out with English wheels using aluminum, because it was a softer metal to work with."
While not cavernous, Jackson's shop is custom tailored to restoring vehicles. With no signage, and its placement off a rural road, it's certainly discreet. A Lennox Metalmaster is used to form fenders and body panels from single sheets of metal, in addition to elaborate flourishes, such as louvers and dimples. Once the rough body panels are formed, Jackson uses a modified pneumatic planishing hammer to further smooth, shape, stretch and form pieces. He uses custom fabricated railroad sweeps to gauge radiuses. "They're based upon making railroad tracks and the curve in the railroad, where you set out a certain curvature," says Jackson. "Harley Earl used that formula to design cars."
Although his methods speak to a bygone era, the techniques create seamless lines that can only be done by hand, and mimic the original artistry used to construct the cars he is restoring. "It's an old-fashioned thinking that was lost over the years," says Jackson. "It's the idea of shaping a whole piece in a sheet - everyone else wants to make them out of three or four pieces of metal."
As Jackson's reputation as a master craftsmen spread by word of mouth, his client list grew with it, though the cars got smaller. Much smaller. "I had one Isetta, and it grew into two, and then grew into three," says Jackson of the post-WWII microcar that was popularized by the character of Steve Urkel on Family Matters. "The Isetta stuff is kind of popping right now... I think it's because you can park them easily, and store them."
On September 21st, 2010 @ 11:55:pm, Anonymous said:
The fast and sporty British cars began to really take off when the Triumph came out with the TR2 in 1953. At the time Triumph produced some of the most sought after cars in the world. The United States fell in love with it and soon began seeking other British sports cars.