PPI On ERA Cobra Replica

[Xcentric]

Any sheet metal malleable enough to be formed, whether by stamping or hammering on a buck (or, in very rare cases, super plastiforming!!!...e.g., Ford GT and, I believe Kirkham), is going to give you a good shot at reforming before work-hardening becomes an issue.

David Kirkham is a modern day Michaelangelo. I wonder how many hours he put into that fender.

Edit: He says 30 hours total. Around here, that would be about a $6K repair if done by a master.

 

[bonehead]

I'm no metallurgist, but the aluminum on the Kirkham cars seems quite good. This is a good video of David Kirkham removing a nasty dent in a rear fender:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9moYO-WWhaQ

That's incredible. And I can't imagine the amount of hours it must have taken to pound out that panel.

 

[Sinovac]

Gary, virtually all of the Kirkham cars are hand formed. Mine has tool marks everywhere on the inside of the panels. Very cool. I understand Kirkham may be changing (or changed recently) to stamped panels.

Ed, everything Kirkham does is incredible-from the workmanship to the customer service. I'm the second owner of my car. I called once to ask a question and the tech immediately put one of the Kirkhams on the phone (regrettably, I don't recall which one). He spent much time on the phone explaining all the details of the car.