[Vic1947]

In late 2004, I pushed the chassis out of the way and mounted the body shell on the rotisserie. One of the key body elements I wanted was smoothness. So the first thing on the agenda was to shave the drip rails. Not sure if you've ever done it, but it's much more difficult than you would think. In an effort to keep the heat from warping the roof panel, I'd do a small section at a time. The main problem was dealing with the sealant used by the factory. After they pinch welded the roof on, they shot a thick, black, tar-like sealer into the seam. Heat would liquefy the material and cause it to run, thereby contaminating the weld. So I had to first carefully pry open the gap with a thin blade putty knife and scrape out the sealant. Progress was slow, but the results were what I'd envisioned. Now when people see it, they'll ask if the top is chopped because the look is subtly different.

While working on this area, I also rounded the upper forward and lower rear corners of the door openings .