matt and stephs 55 delux

Before I bought the bus some one did all the paint and body work on it.  The problem is that they did a bad job, so after they had done that work the bus sat for 12 years in new paint.  No one wanted to spend all the money to put it back together when the doors didn't fit good, the cargo floors were still rusty, there was still rust in the wheel wells and the bench divider was replaced very poorly.  I bought the bus with the intention of just putting it together and driving it but once I had it I knew I wouldn't be happy with out totally redoing it.  So that's when I had the whole bus striped to bare metal and of  course found a bunch of other surprises to fix.  It will just be nice knowing that the bus will be totally rust free and straight when I am done.  This bus is just such a rare one with all the 1955 only stuff, factory safaris, 6 pop-outs, and semaphores that I just had to do it right.

I have it completely stripped right now and I am replacing big pieces of the body. I am replacing the bench, floors front and back, floor under the drivers seat, passenger side dog leg, passenger side short panel and B pillar. I have NOS front and back floors and short panel that I am using. Most of the other parts are just good used. Here are the only pictures I have here at work. The bus came factory with safaris, 6 popouts, and semaphores. It was delivered to Hollywood Motors in California the same dealer that James Dean bought his 550 spider from. There is a good chance he could have seen my bus on the dealer lot since he spent a lot of time there in 1955 working on his car.

Update 14 JUN 03

Here are those pictures of all the NOS sheet metal that I have for my bus.  Also attached are the pictures of us putting in the NOS short panel, it turned out sweet.  Next will be the front floors under the front seat

Test fit of the cargo doors on the NOS short panel right before we welded in the short panel.  Starting to look like a bus again!

Update 06 DEC 03

The nose skin was removed so we could weld and grid both sides when we fill the unwanted extra holes. Also by removing the nose skin it makes it easier to spot weld the front floor in and weld and grind the extra holes in the dash. The original nose skin will be used as it's in good shape besides the extra holes.

My body man made the front lower part of the nose that's behind the front bumper by hand and as you can see it turned out great. You can also see his before and after pictures of the drivers side dog leg. That's bare metal and there is no sign of the repair.

Since last update the following work is complete:

- Extra dash holes welded up.

- Both dog legs were repaired.

- Floor under the front seat was replaced.

- Lower front nose fabricated and replaced.

- Front barndoor bumper was straightened, test fitted and bumper trims were polished.