Willys Tailgate - California Hauler Part VII

Fitment was checked for the exterior skin. Perfect.

To add the Willys logo, Luc first determined its centerline and then scribed the mark in the piece.

Using the centerline marked on the framework, I lined the logo piece up to where I thought it would best look on the tailgate.

After rounding the logo piece's corners, Luc located where the piece would fit to the skin.

With the logo piece clamped in place, I used some masking tape to figure out where the bead lines would run.

I used the masking tape as a reference to get the actual side-to-side measurements, which I then transferred and scribed into the skin.

Luc used a compass scribe to mark the bead line design's corners.

With Marcel manning the crank, Luc fed the skin through the bead roller twice (once at half depth, then at full depth).

The curved bead looks right, but the result is a severely warped piece of metal.

Since there is no die to stamp a rounded edge at the end of the bead roll, Luc used a dull chisel to do the rough work by hand...

...This will be filled later before bodywork is completed on the project.

Luc and Marcel then fed the skin through the shrinker to get some of the warpage out. It's something both of them need to do together, because the skin vibrates so hard while in the machine!

Once the sheet was back to an almost flat state, Luc used the nibbler to cut away the section where the logo piece will be added.

A little bit of hand trimming was necessary to get the fitment between the skin and the logo piece perfect.

Tacking the piece in first, Luc then welded the entire logo section into the skin.

More warpage has occurred due to the additional welding, so Marcel and Luc hammered and dollied the skin to shrink and stretch the metal back to a flat state.

Using an air file, Marcel made sure the piece will lie flat on the table without any bumps or dips.

A little more hand trimming was needed at the top of the logo piece

And there you have it: a steel skin with reveals rolled into each end and the Willys logo added to the middle section. It was a lot of work to make something look fairly stock, but it was worth it!