Eddie Paul: Learning Sheet Metal Fabrication from a Master
July 14, 2008 by Bubba Harmon
Eddie Paul is one of those rare individuals who can do almost anything. In fact his motto is, “If it doesn’t work, it just isn’t finished yet”. Often characterized as a serial inventor, Eddie has many patents in various fields. Some of his clients over the years include the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Boeing , Rockwell, Mission Research, SOCOM, and the Department of Forestry to name a few. He’s been a stuntman, actor, and stunt coordinator for many movies and TV shows. Need a shark? Eddie has built them for the Cousteaus and the Discovery Channel. Need some tools? Eddie’s shop builds many for the Eastwood Company including their English wheel and planishing hammer kit. The works most people will recognize though are all the vehicles Eddie’s shop has produced over the years for countless movies, TV shows, and commercials. A short list includes the cars from Grease, the original Dukes of Hazard stunt cars, the stunt chopped Mercs for Cobra, various cars for CHiPS, Triple X’s custom ’67 GTO, the custom Crown Victoria taxis in Taxi, all the vehicles in The Fast and the Furious, over 200 cars for 2Fast 2Furious, and the list goes on and on.
Eddie, being the great guy that he is, has started sharing much of his wisdom through the many books and instructional DVDs he authors. Recently I received a personalized (Thanks Eddie!) copy of Eddie’s latest book. “Sheet Metal Fabrication: Techniques and Tips for Beginners and Pros” is another fine book in the Motorbooks Workshop series. While the book is geared more to the novice fabricator, as the title suggest there are tips for all levels. The book is well rounded with sections on metallurgy, tool selection, pattern making, techniques, and examples. The 525+ full color photos (Yes, I counted them) make it easy to follow along. Some of the examples include:
- Creating custom Frenched headlights
- Fabricating a four-link rear
- Chopping 6 inches from a ’40 Ford
- Interior trunk panels for a ’50 Mercury &
- Extending the hood on a ’72 Mustang.
With this book, as with all of Eddie’s books, Eddie tries to inspire the reader to learn, try, and not be scared to make mistakes. The book makes for a great rainy weekend read while you wait for the UPS man to arrive with parts on Monday.
You can often find Eddie Paul on the forum of one of his websites, DeadlineTV.net. His books and videos can be bought through the EP Industries store or Amazon. To find out a little more about Eddie you can also rent Eddie Paul: Hollywood’s Best Kept Secret from Netflix.
Written by Bubba Harmon. Photos provided by DeadlineTV.net and used with permission.
Let’s see a finished pic of that Mustang. Saw the book, no pics of the car finished. Only a finished look at the car will prove skills.
As a big fan of Mr. Paul’s, I gotta say that I’m stoked about this entry, and really need to get my hands on the book!! The man truly knows his stuff, and if it’s like Motorbooks’ latest offerings, this should be a treat!
Thanks for pointing my library dollars in the right direction again, Pike!!
Dear MR. Paul my wife is a teacher and tries to teach the kids in her class about fishes and mammals ,and I admire your work alot . In one of your customizing books I saw how you made a shark ,any technical advice on how to build a not so high tech verison that I could hang up in her classroom to help her kids learn about sharks. She teaches at a title one school meaning she spends alot of our money on the kids in her class on suppliies,lunches,ect. So I would greatly appreciate any technical information on how I could maybe build her a shark. Many Thanks Phil Tamer
Well i saw a picture of that Mustang and all I can say is… YUCK! What is it? Even in the pic you can see its not smooth and the design is gawdawful. I will pass on learning how to do this to a car.
What Mustang are you talking about? Does the difference in style make you think that he’s not good at metal fab? Maybe he’s following direction from a customer?
It’s his personal car. I saw it in the forum on his website (www.Deadlinetv.com) . Go look at it and tell me it’s not a mess. It’s posted in the Latest From The Shop thread I think. Big Mickey Thompsons pro street tires but not tucked in. Just these humongus 50-gallon barrel-like flares around them. And tubing like back in the 70s. I dont often criticize but dang, I never seen anything like this. And he claims to be a master customizer.
flat6 runs around whining about all the stuff I build… what has he built or is he only a whiner????? I guess he thinks I should build things the way he likes, what a looser.
Harrr…here’s the pot calling the kettle black. Look who’s whining.
I”ve been reading and if you guy who are talking all this nonsence read the whole article the man is good at what he does he dosen”t have to prove to no one shiz it ………………………………………………..