hand built vers jig built

John ED Renstrom

PCS Member
Super Site Supporter
got into a discussion with a man the other day and he was complaining about the Eureka he was working on. nothing was the same left to right.

they always told me that GMs tolerance was 1/4 inch off the center line. they parts went into the jig and when it got spotted together it had to be that tight.

working on the Eureka you can tell it was a hand built car. with people building on each side at the same time. with the amount of lead in this car it would be the only way to build the body. sadig your can tell the difference. so today I dragged out the tape and did some measurements. it is definitely a had built body. here is a little side to side comparison.

you have to have hands on to tell it but definitely different left and right
 

Attachments

  • 58 eureka.jpg
    58 eureka.jpg
    74.2 KB · Views: 200
  • 58 eureka quarters.jpg
    58 eureka quarters.jpg
    79.3 KB · Views: 198
  • 58 glass openig.jpg
    58 glass openig.jpg
    60 KB · Views: 197
one more of the side glass opening. dead on here as the glass would not stretch. the corner glass is in a frame so were the frame sits in the hole could make up the difference
 

Attachments

  • IMG_5823.jpg
    IMG_5823.jpg
    52.9 KB · Views: 197
  • IMG_5824.jpg
    IMG_5824.jpg
    49.7 KB · Views: 198
That's one of the things I hate about my horrible OCD as I see this type of thing often without measuring it. And when I do I will stare at it for hours. I have a picture at home that to me looks like its off about a quarter inch in the frame, and my girlfriend thought I was nuts and that it was perfectly even. I got the tape out, and it was 1/16 of an inch off, but for some reason my brain sees it as much more.
Guess that's why I always think my cars are much rougher than they really are. So, if you ever see me with a spaced out look and my eyes shifting back and fourth, I see something uneven that is driving me nuts. Yeah, I know I need lots of help :rolleyes:

Sorry about the rant, but back on topic, you can really see it was built by hand in those pix, and understand why body shops charge so much to make these look great again.
 
there is not any of them that will stand up to a man with a set of calipers. I did not notice the space between the fins till I started blocking the car. I could get the block in one side and not the other.
 
Back
Top