Fournier Enterprises {Custom Metal Shaping, Shelby Twp., MI}

1950 Mercury project

Tuesday, July 22nd:
Julia takes the newly christened "Lady Bug" out for another test drive. The stereo system, paint job and adorable sounding horn get a thumbs up!

This is the start of the inner door skin.

'58 Kurtis Indy car
Final fit and finish on body work

Ron and Dan Fournier wheeling the hood for a 1958 Kurtis Indy car. More photos This Indy car was on display at the Monterey Historics in August.

The Indy Roadster was this year's featured vehicle at the 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races.

© 1995-2009 Fournier Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. FOURNIER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Fournier Enterprises, Inc. All other product or brand names are trademarks of their respective owners.


1950 Mercury project





Working on the front end roll pan (Oct '08)


Working on the underside of the Merc's roll pan (Nov '08)





Dec. / Jan. Work In Progress

Rare car from a Coney Island ride, circa 1960. Named "The Bat Mobile", shown in original condition below.

This German company manufactured electric powered carnival rides for children.
The body has been media blasted and is ready for sheet metal repair.	Entire lower side panels had to be fabricated because of the extensive rust.
Foot controls are between the front wheel houses. The item between the pedals is the steering column U-joint.	The old taillights were not usable due to their condition. Instead, Ron chose a new, retro looking round light with a LED bulb.
January 19th: The long awaited "test drive day" has arrived, and our driver Julia has agreed to brave 16 degree weather to take our car on the road!	Test driver receiving a few last minute instructions before departure.
Checking top speed: approximately 15 mph.	Engine, brakes, steering - perfect! Success!
Ron continued to work on the restoration/remodel of the small Coney Island car. During February, it got to the point where it had to be road tested, like any other car, regardless of size. The main idea of the test was to determine if all the components were working properly such as the brakes, the motor, the clutch and the steering. On a very cold Saturday morning our test driver, Ron's granddaughter, Julia Osborne (age 11), was available to test and evaluate all these systems. The overall test went extremely well even though our test track was a least half covered in snow. The temperature hovered around 17 degrees but it was all smiles from the driver! She approved everything, including the top speed and handling. Her only negative comment were a soft brake pedal and the hard accelerator pedal. Luckily for Ron, those are easy fixes.
The new rear bumper has the same sweep as the one on the original car, however this one is a lot lighter.	This shot of the dash shows the zero - 40 speedometer. Two more gages will be added later, along with an ignition key.
Now it's on to correcting the minor flaws and fabricating a few more pieces. The biggest fabrication job remaining is making the front and rear bumpers. Next we will remove the body and send it to be painted at Fournier Customs!
In January Ron put the final touches on the carnival car to prepare it for paint.	The hood design allows easy accesss to the battery and master cylinder.
Tuesday, July 22nd: Julia takes the newly christened "Lady Bug" out for another test drive. The stereo system, paint job and adorable sounding horn get a thumbs up!

'37 Bentley fenders in for repair & restoration (completed Dec. '07)
This right front fender needed a large patch at the top center of the wheel opening.	The right front fender also needed a lower leading edge. It was made from two pieces and the bead was formed with a stepping die.
This is the end of the fender that joins at the running board. It also required extensive rebuilding.	The entire lower section on both fenders had to be replaced. The lower piece is tacked in place, soon the larger hole will be filled.
After the welding is completed metal finishing is started. Ron uses layout die to locate and correct high and low spots with a bullseye pick, hammer and dolly. Here is the completed right side fender. This side has a tire well, shown right.
During Fall of 2007 Ron's focus was a '36 convertible Oldsmobile. He installed suicide doors with hidden hinges.
'36 Olds as it arrived in our shop.	This is the start of the inner door skin.
This is the same part with both ends in place.	The door inners are started and the suicide hinges are in place.
The hinges required sunken pockets on the inner door frame.	Wooden stations were added to the door inner to create a buck. The section at the right side of the photo was the only salvageable piece from the original door.
Large panels like this one require two men working together.	This is our trial fit. The pinch flanges have been turned but not tacked yet.
	< > Both doors have large access holes to reach the door mechanism and hinge shims.
The final job included both doors, a complete floor and even lower quarter panel patches.
1936 Ford fenders

Custom air box for a Cobra, completed 10/2007


'58 Kurtis Indy car Final fit and finish on body work Ron and Dan Fournier wheeling the hood for a 1958 Kurtis Indy car. More photos This Indy car was on display at the Monterey Historics in August. The Indy Roadster was this year's featured vehicle at the 34th Rolex Monterey Historic Automobile Races.






Pedal Car

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© 1995-2009 Fournier Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. FOURNIER name, design and related marks are trademarks of Fournier Enterprises, Inc. All other product or brand names are trademarks of their respective owners.