Dollies and Bucks

As you've seen on The Cobra Parts arrive, the FFR kit is shipped with the body and many of the aluminum panels attached temporarily to the frame. The kit builder's first task is to remove the body and all of the aluminum panels.

Here's a great shot of the body and frame in the morning sun, the day after we unloaded the kit.

And from the rear, we get another view of those sensuous curves ...

Note the lines on the fenders. These are mold parting marks left by the "seamless" body molding process used by FFR's fiberglass supplier.

Later, we'll have to remove those parting marks before painting.

Step right in, heh, heh!

Oops! there's nothing to sit on. Sorry!

Finally, some actual work gets done!

Before stopping to clown around for my photo, Nate built some nifty little wheeled dollies for the frame to sit on. You can just see one of the casters on the rear dolly behind Nate's right foot.

It took a hardy crew of volunteers (two of them eight years old) to heft that body off the chassis.

The body now sits forlornly by the woodshed. But not for long ...

Here are some of the parts that came off of the body, stashed in the attic until we get to the stage where we put them back on. The hood is on the left, and the trunklid is on the right.

Note also the seat in the background, and the fuel tank from the Mustang in the foreground.

Nate has now built a magnificent body buck to support the body while it awaits its return to the chassis. Note the wheels which will allow a single person to move the entire body around as needed.

The two eight-year-olds, Amos and his friend Rigel, lurk in the background on their bicycles.

And now the body resides on its new buck!

Way cool, eh?

Finally the Cobra has moved under its own power - exactly one Nate-power. Har har!

Ok, I'll stop with the bad jokes.

The body will live outside next to the woodshed for a while, until we are ready to put it back on the finished chassis.

Here's the frame, with the sheet metal visible now that the body has been removed.

In this shot, you have a better view of Nate's nifty little wheeled dollies, which allow us to move the frame around the garage at will. Right now, the frame has the nose pointing out the door, but shortly you'll see it the other way around, with the tail by the door.

Our next step will be to remove all those sheets of aluminum ...