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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

Building your own classic body

Wilson’s 6C 2500: Will it Fit?

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This is number 10 in a series of articles about the design and construction of Paul Wilson’s very special Alfa 6C2500.

Story and photos by Paul Wilson

I wrote this, looked at it the next day, and nearly threw it away. Who needs to hear about picky mechanical issues in restoring a rare car? If after reading it, you share this thought, I understand.

But then I realized that such a narrative fills an information gap. All most owners get is a gigantic bill, with hard-to-believe specifics: “At $150 an hour, you took two days to fit the hood???” The other side of the story rarely appears in print. I’m haunted by the feeling that True Experts aren’t delayed or puzzled by issues that I struggle with. But it’s likely that my experience is typical. So here’s more about what kept me awake at night.

Not only did I promise to bring my Alfa roadster to the Lime Rock show, but I also agreed to give a picture/talk on how I made it–logically concluding with its triumphant completion. It was far from finished, of course, but I still had a month. Four whole weeks. It shouldn’t take that long, I foolishly thought.

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Wilson’s 6C2500 Coupe Gets Roadworthy

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Story and photos by Paul Wilson

Lest we forget, over the past few years, Paul Wilson has designed and created three distinct cars on Alfa Romeo chassis; a beautiful coupe and sister roadster on 6C 2500 chassis, and a B.A.T. recreation on a 1900 chassis. He has chronicled each in the pages of VeloceToday. Below is an update on the status of his 6C2500 coupe, which is now roadworthy. Click here to read a previous story about the adventures of building the coupe.

When Pete first suggested that I write about my projects, I told him I couldn’t because they weren’t finished. What kind of story has no ending? Just write, he said. So I did, and it’s been fun.

But the problem didn’t go away, and now I’ve reached the mess that I foresaw. Supplier delays and unexpected problems have continually postponed the happy endings I was so eager to write. The 6C2500 coupe, nearly done seven years ago, is now truly done. But the final stages were agony. The roadster still awaits its engine, though there was still some work I could do on it. Only the BAT, seemingly the most farfetched of them all, has made steady progress.

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Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster, Part 8

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Story and photos by Paul Wilson

The most satisfying part of any restoration is the last stage: putting sparkling new pieces onto a gleaming car. Minimal effort, maximum reward. After a few minutes’ work, you can stand back and take deep breaths, enjoying a visual feast. That’s part of it, anyway. But there’s another side. You discover how many parts a car really has, and how much time it takes to deal with mundane matters nobody thinks much about.

As my roadster nears completion, I’ve had both the pleasures and the pains. [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster, Part 8

Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster, Part 7

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Story and photos by Paul Wilson

From the VeloceToday Archives, November 2021

Readers may have already guessed why this series has stalled: the story has caught up with progress on the car itself. I spent the Pandemic Winter pushing a sanding board, then it went to a paint shop, from which it has just returned. Now as I start on the reassembly, wiring, making and trimming the interior, and sorting out mechanical issues, I’ll have more to write about.

I didn’t tell about constructing the center body, which presented more dilemmas than I expected. I thought, how hard could it be? It’s just two boxes, one ahead of the cockpit and the other behind it. Just make them light and stiff, and what else is needed? A lot, as it turns out. Most of the problems arise from what comes in between: the doors and the rocker panels. Often there’s a chicken-and-egg dilemma: if two pieces have to fit together, which do you make first?

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Paul Wilson’s 6C2500 Roadster Part 7

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Story and photos by Paul Wilson

Readers may have already guessed why this series has stalled: the story has caught up with progress on the car itself. I spent the Pandemic Winter pushing a sanding board, then it went to a paint shop, from which it has just returned. Now as I start on the reassembly, wiring, making and trimming the interior, and sorting out mechanical issues, I’ll have more to write about.

I didn’t tell about constructing the center body, which presented more dilemmas than I expected. I thought, how hard could it be? It’s just two boxes, one ahead of the cockpit and the other behind it. Just make them light and stiff, and what else is needed? A lot, as it turns out. Most of the problems arise from what comes in between: the doors and the rocker panels. Often there’s a chicken-and-egg dilemma: if two pieces have to fit together, which do you make first? [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C2500 Roadster Part 7

Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster Part 6

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By Paul Wilson

To complete my Alfa’s body I still had to construct the center body, with the cowl and doors. But first I had to solve several aesthetic dilemmas. I was unhappy with the rear view, and I wanted to take care of it–at least improve things–before going on. The rear deck looked too wide and bland, and somehow I needed to incorporate a license plate and taillights into it. Making a suitably racy windshield would not be very hard. But a curved, downward-sloping hood line, to harmonize with the car’s aerodynamic look, was surprisingly difficult. [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster Part 6

Paul Wilson’s 6C2500 Roadster Part 5

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Story by Paul Wilson

My “one-man band” system of designing and building a custom body has obvious defects. The lone worker is going to get overwhelmed. And at best, he’s slow. But with many people involved, how does the designer explain what he has in mind? With just a few drawings, how does the builder know what to make? And if what emerges doesn’t look right, how can mistakes be corrected? Without seeing the full-sized car, in the flesh, how could any designer anticipate what it will look like from every angle? [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C2500 Roadster Part 5

Paul Wilson’s Alfa 6C 2500 Roadster Part 4

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Story by Paul Wilson

For my 6C roadster body, I made two important improvements in my technique. I used steel instead of aluminum. And with a few changes, I made my wire-form buck much better.

The Lotus and the Amilcar were originally made with aluminum bodies, so I had no choice of material. Aluminum is light and easily worked. So why would anyone use steel? Experience suggested some answers. First, it’s hard to get good welds in aluminum without much better (more expensive) equipment than I have. More skill, too, maybe. But I still don’t have it after twenty years of effort and instruction from many experts (none of whom could do fast, tidy welds with my welder). If practice would do the trick, I’d have it by now. [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s Alfa 6C 2500 Roadster Part 4

Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster Part 3

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Story and photos by Paul Wilson

Read Part 1
Read Part 2

Once the chassis of my Alfa was sitting on its wheels I could start on the fun part, building the body. Over many years and several major projects, I’ve developed methods of fabrication that work pretty well for me, but it’s important to understand what my situation is, what my goals have been, and the limitations of my system. [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Roadster Part 3

Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Dream Gets Real

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The Alfa 2500 Freccia d’Oro. Nice chassis, so so body. Cutaway is the art of Giovanni Cavara.

Story and photos by Paul Wilson

Read Part 1

My dream of building a roadster body on an Alfa 6C2500 took a startling turn, from something absurdly impractical to an idea that might be possible. I was talking to a collector who was restoring a unique 6C for Pebble Beach, when he casually mentioned that he had a parts car. [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Dream Gets Real

Wilson’s Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Roadster

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By Paul Wilson

I enjoyed my Alfa 6C2500 project so much that finishing it creates a problem: what next? Without a major dream to focus my thoughts on, I knew I would feel aimless and lost. So a few years ago I began to consider the possibilities.

With the coupe almost done, a roadster simply had to be built, a feat to be accomplished because it wasn’t there.

[Read more…] about Wilson’s Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Roadster

Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Completed & Revealed

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By Paul Wilson

Read Part 1

Over the years my skills improved, but my income remained modest, and it was clear that the project would have to be done with my own hands, if at all. Was I crazy? The jury is still out on that question. I did cheat. I realized that, sitting quietly in junkyards, was sheet metal in many of the shapes I needed. The 1937 Lincoln Zephyr, for example, had gorgeous rear fenders, with skirts over the wheels. [Read more…] about Paul Wilson’s 6C 2500 Completed & Revealed

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