When it comes to traditional customizing techniques, sectioning a car is arguably the most complicated. The process involves removing a horizontal band all the way around the car’s body to thin the profile—kind of like chopping a top, only you’re chopping the whole body. Done right, the results can be dramatic. Done wrong, you can wind up with an expensive collection of vintage scrap metal.
Cody Walls has been hard at work building a unique, sectioned ’49 Buick custom for his wife, Erin, at his Delaware-based shop, Traditional MetalCraft. What started as a low-mile original destined for a small-block swap and some mild modifications quickly turned into a full custom concept car. By the time you read this, it will have debuted at the 2023 Grand National Roadster Show where it was invited to compete for the vaunted Al Slonaker Memorial Award.
Inspired by the conceptual designs of Harley Earl and his Art and Color Section at GM—and particularly by Earl’s personal tour de force, the Buick Y-Job—Walls set about refining the already
