This is the last car I worked on before selling my shop and moving to Columbus, in 2008. To my surprise he just popped up at Goodguys yesterday, so I pointed him back to the "second tier". He received a lot of compliments, and a handful were directed to me. The design/techniques/processes were my ideas, he did a majority of the work (body shop owner). I grafted the Mini lights into the fiberglass race clip, and made the hood from a Harwood scoop and the two-layer (stock style) race hood. I designed the dash and rear fascia and set up the bucks for him to build them, plus did some of the initial 'glass lay-up on them. I designed and tested the hood hinges in CAD, and had them cut. The mounting blocks that bolt to the hood were supposed to be sculptured, but he didn't have the budget for more CNC, at the time, and I guess not the patience to hand carve them. The hood/fender mounts, tach mount, shifter gate plate and knob are my design and work - those were fun to do. The gate plate is hammered from a 3/4" piece of flat 6061, and hand shaped (with die grinders and right-angle grinders). There are some pieces missing on the hood/fender mounts, and they were originally supposed to be TIG'd and left that way for a fabricated look, but the welder was so awful we had to blend them.
Overall, I'm not really happy with the final outcome, but I guess that's a normal thing as you look back. There are a lot of things I would do different; a lot of things I wouldn't do now... I almost begged him not to fill the quarter windows, before I left, I lost that one!
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
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