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2redrovers

Custom bodywork and design ideas

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Like this one the most, I'd drive that around. Nice little 347 Weezer, side pipes, and a "Go-Baby-Go" button.  
 
Swoyt.!

Yep that would be fun, give me a street version with a normal front bar

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This is probably the best spot for these ideas. There has been a bit of discussion on the torana fb group recently about a wagon/panelvan conversion of an LH LX. I've been chatting with two different people about the potential for actually doing it to a car. One was a general diy chat, the other would be knocking on my door if he was in the same state. It's been a fun distraction while driving to work, looking at all the different cars around me and mentally sizing the rear glass to find something that could be a wagon.

Cue the measurements of the Territory rear windows. Stupid part is the tailgate glass is within a few millimetres of the original rear windscreen of the LH sedan I'm working on. Fired up photoshop and squeezed out this...
d2770559d1128cf44ed01b9d5877f7eb.jpg
Kinda like a shooting brake looking thing. Got a comment that it looked tacked on with that large pillar. That pillar is almost the standard sedan one. I didn't add fake window trim to make it look like an old school rubber fit window but it would be fairly simple task to achieve in real life.

It's not what others are wanting but for me it was proof that I wasn't completely nuts. I'd consider moving the rear glass forward slightly to slim the pillar down but I'd have to see how well it sat over the boot edge before saying yes/no. Don't want a funky step below the tailgate glass but has to keep the torana lights out back.

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OK now to the design that Holden would have built.
7df6e23511b59fbf9c8dd4b8fc593dae.jpg
This uses all panels that made up the production hx/Hz wagons except that none of them are the same size any more. I've seen a concept /pre production version of the LH wagon in an old magazine and it's very similar but obviously not quite styled like the actual versions.

Interestingly, I have found that you can really only make a wagon from a sedan 4dr, not with a 2dr hatch.
1ff23df06089f4b2087c9c1af4d829da.jpg
While it looks OK, the slope on the B pillar makes it practically impossible to find glass to fit the gap without resorting to a custom made piece. The rear is made from vh commy glass and gate, the rest is custom roof and fill ins. Whenever you try to make it with a 2dr, it magically ends up looking like a gemini regardless of what you do with it.

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This is another idea I began playing with on my phone but not complete design yet. I wondered if you could do it with mostly torana parts.
981817df46628dac29d5e34b58e83e9f.jpg
Take the sedan window and move it back all the way to create an upper tailgate. I'm not sure what to fill the gaps with yet. Couldn't think of a panel or window that would be that shape off the top of my head. Saw a camry wagon that had a rear window that could work with this though.
0e2f1f98f05b04807f9729cde0015be0.jpg
As long as that doesn't have studs built into it to bolt in then it could be converted to a rubber mount window. Just requires a modified window opening to accommodate the rubber seal, relatively simple to make happen.

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some in this thread i've seen before..
 
http://www.gmh-torana.com.au/forums/topic/68393-torana-station-wagon/
 
the WIDENED torana LJ in in this thread also..
 
gemini wagon version(torana front)
8730349_orig.jpg
 

Yeah those were also shown on the posts I saw. The ones people seem happy with always look like gemini knock off's to me. I've tried hard to get away from that look as much as possible.

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Adding the other examples people have come up with.
4e9efa10a1fea6fd97e95127741cf6d1.jpg65e1eb40f4796370d2c5e61e467981ef.jpge9c87ae14cce57fec9dfd475263785c5.jpg18d9ed005f32943f08393d640e7af92b.jpg0ce81b9d97430cf7b9b65916531b8721.jpg
That's the original "fake", supposedly old school photo chop (with scissors). I'm guessing a PR gambit to figure out if folks would buy it before they tried making it.

I forgot this rough sketch with territory roof and rear.
edb6a2729f573f8f9fb26c950a4db1c9.jpg

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The guy who did the ones in the last post also revised the rear shot. There were comments about the D pillar not being consistent between the two views so he reworked and showed a closer view. Can see how the tail lights are modified too.
68ce141bd1aa6a84eaaa700adce078c9.jpg
This is the van version the diy fellow liked most, I'm sure there's a second version by this artist but I can't find it again.
ee886d15f45dd66aaa233de164c7456d.jpg

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Do you reckon cutting the side glass from something like that subi would be possible? Maybe a water jet cutter or something like that? Was thinking that it would be less involved to cut down a suitable van/wagon glass to suit the angles of the desired torana wagon. Just don't know if you can do that without the glass exploding into a billion pieces.

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7 minutes ago, 2redrovers said:

Do you reckon cutting the side glass from something like that subi would be possible? Maybe a water jet cutter or something like that? Was thinking that it would be less involved to cut down a suitable van/wagon glass to suit the angles of the desired torana wagon. Just don't know if you can do that without the glass exploding into a billion pieces.

 

i've chatted to a few windscreen mobs over the years about "stuff" i've seen going on in the background.. 

and one mob was cutting down(not sure what they use) a laminated (not toughened) front windscreen from a van to use in something similar..(oddball flat glass hotrod i assume) 

@Thommay have an idea being more in the hotrodder/old stuff scene

 

one of these BOXY early express vans had pretty flat windscreens

04213-Mitsubishi-Express-Van-hr.jpg?itok

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I know that cutting laminated stuff is much easier than toughened, I don't know what side glass is for that era as it possibly depends on the car.

In a rough mock up the Subaru seems a very easy fit. Even seems like it has the same angle on the pillar to a hatchback.
62ce917aac5f0bcf427896afda8697d1.jpg
That could be way off though because I didn't chase measurements for the Subaru. There's even the touring version that can use the roof bump for that surfer look.

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I know that cutting laminated stuff is much easier than toughened, I don't know what side glass is for that era as it possibly depends on the car.

 

In a rough mock up the Subaru seems a very easy fit. Even seems like it has the same angle on the pillar to a hatchback.

62ce917aac5f0bcf427896afda8697d1.jpg

That could be way off though because I didn't chase measurements for the Subaru. There's even the touring version that can use the roof bump for that surfer look.

I believe you can't cut tempered glass once it's gone through the tempering process. The shape needs to be cut/ground to it's final form, then tempered.
yeah i've only known the side windows to be toughened, but i don't know why that is?  aid in body flex? cheaper? 

It's not so much about the toughened bit (but that does help a lot), it's more about, in an accident, the glass breaking into small, manageable, less threatening cubes instead of deadly sharp flying shards that could kill or maim an occupant. Hence the term "safety glass".

 

Old windscreens were made like this until laminated became the industry standard. The problem with safety glass is that one small chink in the corner of the glass sends the whole windscreen frosty with a million little cubes and visibility goes to zero. Not fun at freeway speeds.

 

Sent from my CPH1920 using Tapatalk

 

 

 

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57 minutes ago, gerg said:

I believe you can't cut tempered glass once it's gone through the tempering process. The shape needs to be cut/ground to it's final form, then tempered. It's not so much about the toughened bit (but that does help a lot), it's more about, in an accident, the glass breaking into small, manageable, less threatening cubes instead of deadly sharp flying shards that could kill or mame an occupant. Hence the term "safety glass".

Old windscreens were made like this until laminated became the industry standard. The problem with safety glass is that one small chink in the corner of the glass sends the whole windscreen frosty with a million little cubes and visibility goes to zero. Not fun at freeway speeds.

Sent from my CPH1920 using Tapatalk
 

laminated should be fine for side windows then? i've seen them on trucks etc with cracks in them (door glass,. for acoustic reason?)

 

ps.. the WIDENED  LJ torana is for sale..(don't look at the dash, it's body swapped onto a VR commo platform)

 

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/taree/auto-body-parts/lj-torana/1269001781

 

s-l800.webp

 

s-l800.webp

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laminated should be fine for side windows then? i've seen them on trucks etc with cracks in them (door glass,. for acoustic reason?)


I have seen double-glazed roll-up windows (Scania) but otherwise, all the windows I've come across are toughened/safety glass.

Maybe in a fixed position they would work, but I don't think laminated glass would deal with the stresses of a roll-up situation.

Sent from my CPH1920 using Tapatalk

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