Here we are almost a full month since I last posted about the CLM replica build.
Fear not though, for I have been working on it diligently since, no matter what mother nature threw at Chicago to keep me out of the garage!
Where we last left off I had a huge outer shell, I acquired the inner loudspeaker, and started building the rear horn.
What sounded like an easy project, turned into one of the hardest and least like one of my entire Bluesmobile build, and that is saying a lot!
There isn’t going to be a whole lot of talking in this post, mostly pictures with captions, so just a real quick recap:
Building replica CLM speaker.
Speaker will be a “hybrid” between the movie version and a real CLM.
Speaker will not be functional as I want sound coming from outside the car with or without the speaker installed.
Speaker will have holes incorporated to help with air flow.
It all starts with positioning the inner speaker to get the dimensions uniform.
A lot of speakers I see have the inner speaker located to far back. I wanted mine to be close to the front like a real CLM and the movie version.A little left over body filler over the screw heads will make the end result nice and smooth.Time to make the custom brackets to hold the inner speaker to the outer shell. Old bumper shocks hold the steel nicely!This is steel. Strong stuff.My first ever handmade mount is finished!All of the mounts finished.Hmmm, I don’t think you little guys are going to cut it.Quarter inch machine screws and bolts will do the trick!The mounts I made essentially mimic the real CLM mounts. It would have been a heck of a lot easier to make “L” brackets and be done with it, but I thought that would look ugly! I didn’t want the mounts to draw the eye.Progress.Perforated steel sheet was used for the rear horn to allow for airflow.Rear horn gets perforated steel as well.Sprayed the inside of the cone black to hide the magic that’s going on inside of it.Sprayed the inside of the rear horn black as well.That’s alot of rivets. Biggest PITA ever.Holes drilled to mount PVC pipe socket and hole cut out for air flow.PVC pipe socket flange installed! Made a round backing plate out of 1/2 plywood to stiffen up the structure.Holes cut in the rear horn for the same.Flange installed.
Starting framing the speaker support.Side view.Mocking up rear horn placement.PVC pipe cut to length.I’ve hated every minute of this build until this very moment.Brushed on the first coat of paint and I mocked up some boards to look like the movie version, then I realized since it’s not 100% screen accurate anyway, why not use the space for some advertising since it’s a huge billboard on top of my car anyway!!!That’s better! Also you will notice that I started aging the speaker and wood in this photo.Steel straps over the rear horn like in the movie.Back of main speaker.More aging happening here.The other side of the speaker. I absolutely believe Elwood would have stolen a police barricade for this project.More aging.Here’s the speaker next to the Bluesmobile to give you an idea of how big it is.It was no small feat to get the speaker on the roof without damaging the car!After looking at it for awhile, I realize I made the speaker to high off the roof. I had no time to fix it last weekend, but I will tackle that soon.Front ropes added to finish the look.
Rear ropes. Hmmm, yeah I won’t be able to park in the garage with the speaker on.Making it’s debut at the Northwest Side Irish Parade on St. Patrick’s Day!!!
Hope you enjoyed reading about this build. Once everything was said and done, I am very happy with the way it turned out. Would I build another one? Absolutely not! Never again!
After we installed it on top, I took her for a long drive to test everything out and I am very happy to report that it doesn’t even feel like anything is on the roof! I feel no resistance even at highway speed or any significant drop in fuel economy (if I’ve ever had any with a big block).
For my next project I will be installing a speaker system underneath the Bluesmobile! Read all about real soon!!!
