Workshop Handout

Building a Sedan Delivery

Rich Henderson

September 5, 2026

Workshop Outline

The handout was prepared for Rich Henderson's September 5, 2026 workshop on building a sedan delivery. The workshop began with the structure and condition of the frame before moving into body fit, alignment, woodwork, brackets, fasteners, and panels.

Frame structures
Frame damage conditions
Measuring with a Stanley Liner
Body bench and leveling
Body shimming
Rear door alignment
Old wood vs. new wood
Brackets
Panel fasteners
Body panels
Questions and possible answers

The remaining pages of the handout are reference material used to support the frame-structure, damage-analysis, and measuring portions of the workshop. They are reproduced below for convenient online reference.

Body Drawings

The handout includes two period body-layout drawings showing sedan-delivery body proportions and dimensions.

Period sedan delivery body drawing included with the workshop handout — Sedan delivery seminar drawing included in the original handout.

Sedan delivery side and rear body dimension drawing — Side and rear body-dimension reference drawing.

Frame Structure

The reference material identifies several basic vehicle-frame designs: ladder, perimeter, X-frame, and hourglass. The ladder frame uses side rails joined by crossmembers, while the other designs alter the rail and reinforcement arrangement to support the vehicle body and increase frame strength.

Frame Damage Analysis

The handout groups underbody/frame damage into five conditions: side sway, sag, collapse, twist, and diamond. The reference pages illustrate how each condition changes the relationship of the frame rails and vehicle reference points.

Repair sequence noted in the source: length, height, width, side sway, and twist. The handout also notes that more than one damage condition may be present at the same time.

Damage-analysis reference showing side sway, sag, collapse, twist and diamond conditions — Damage conditions and side-sway reference.

Frame twist and diamond damage reference — Twist and diamond frame conditions.

Frame sag and collapse damage reference — Sag and collapse frame conditions.

Underbody Measurements

Accurate measurement begins with repeatable reference points. The source recommends using existing holes, bolt centers, nuts, or other known points in the vehicle structure. Control points are particularly useful because they are established manufacturing reference locations and can be identified on many vehicles by round or oval holes.

Underbody measurement reference showing round and oval control holes — Reference and control points used for underbody measurements.

Automobile bodies on a production assembly fixture — Production-line reference photograph included with the measuring material.

Measuring Equipment

Tape Measure

The handout describes point-to-point and cross-check measurements using a tape measure. Comparing measurements between symmetrical reference points can reveal dimensional differences in the vehicle structure.

Dedicated Measuring System

The final reference page illustrates a dedicated bench system using transverse beams and fixtures positioned at specified control points. The system provides fixed reference locations for checking vehicle dimensions and alignment.

Dedicated vehicle measuring bench with transverse beams and fixtures — Dedicated bench and fixture measuring system.

Source: Workshop handout presented by Rich Henderson, September 5, 2026. The scanned reference pages are preserved with the handout and reproduced here to support the workshop outline.