The Round Six Podcast

The Round Six Podcast


Banging Metal with Luc De Lay

March 01, 2019

"AFTER ABOUT FIFTEEN YEARS, I'M LIKE 'MAYBE I COULD BUILD A CAR!'"


Luc De Lay sat down with the Gearheads in The Round Six Experience at the 70th Grand National Roadster Show. The son of famed metalsmith Marcel De Lay of Marcel's Custom Metal Shaping (Corona, CA) fame, he has been actively forming custom steel for some of the world's finest hot rods, custom cars and high-end restorations for over thirty-five years.


THINGS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE:



  • Noting Luc's involvement in nine of the cars across the aisle from our booth
  • Humble beginnings
  • Getting work with builders like chip Foose, Roy Brizio, Rick Dore, Boyd and more
  • A thirty-year family affair in the shop
    – Working with his Dad and brother
  • First projects on his own
    – Having Dad drop in
    – Marcel finds his way back into the shop after retirement
    – On keeping up with eighty-six year old Dad
    – The unfortunate passing of Marcel at eighty-nine
  • The trials of working alone
  • "You don't see a lot of morbidly obese metal shapers"
  • "Dad's fingers are smoking..."
  • The story of Marcel narrowly avoiding bombs during the war
  • Learning because you have to
  • Luc discusses his dream car
  • The attempt to round up a tribute retrospective of cars that the DeLays have worked on
    – A roughly ninety-car list
  • On having shaped eleven Ridler and AMBR cars
  • Brian proposes the "De Lay Memorial Metal Shaping Award"
    – The gang proposes making the actual award from fiberglass
    – "Planishing fists"
  • Moving from classics like Duesenbergs and Delahayes to hot rods
  • The Boydster
  • Boyd's '36 Roadstar
    – A discussion on a car being ahead of its time
    – The Sportstar
  • A discussion of "relatable" cars and design
  • The best bang for your "buck" (...is this thing on?)
  • Always building for a builder
    – The difference between building for an individual versus a shop
  • On knowing when to stop
    – Fabrication shop hours VS paint shop hours
  • "How big is your scrap pile?"
  • Riding dirt bikes
  • Having the help of his wife in the shop