Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

Think this the same body as mine.

 

I believe this machine also appeared in a film sequel to "The Lively Set". It was called "The Erector Set".

 

Side by side.

 

Front half of a T touring car? What year/years?

 

Looking at the cowls, I'd guess '23-'25.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Mine is about a '19 not sure what the primer ones is. The firewall looks bigger than mine. It might be a '22. It's hard to tell sometimes. Their was a transion in the early '20s. Ivo called his a '25 and I disagreed with him. He later threatened to send a UPS bomb to my house if I didn't quit calling his a '15. But that's Ivo always the practical joker. Sometimes I think his is an early body from the teens sometimes not. Thanks boner for the side by side. It pissed me off when it went to the next page that's what I wanted.
All in all I love that little primer T from back east. I kept up with the HAMB thread on it. Think I might have even sent them a part or two. And that is a 6ft.+ guy driving it.
Gary

 

Hey does Chip post on his thread any more???????????????????????????????????????

 

He hasn't lately but I think he is real busy with customers and hasn't had time to do anything to his bucket lately. Or maybe he is pissed at me for taking over his thread. Sorry Chip My roadster is yours Fathersday.
Gary

 

Yes, Chip is extremely busy with his customers work plus helping friends wit their rides. He is only on Faceache long enough the say that too. Atleast he will be making a dollar or two to help get his T finished.

 

as long as he's not to busy to come to LARS

 

Hey T guys I'm building a C cab and have a question. I made my windshield support rods out of 1/4" rod and they wobble a lot . Should I use tubing instead of rod.?

 

did you make them with threaded ends so you can adjust them?

 

First you have ask yourself if you really need them or are you putting them on just for the look. Grobowski really needed them on the Kookie Kar when he extended the height of the custom built windshield. If you don't need them shit can them. If you are using any stock or aftermarket windshield posts you probably don't need them and they are just superfluous junk. If you really need them you might just have to put up with the vibrations.
Gary

 

I've not run across many T buckets that I would drive pretty much as-is, without making many if any changes. But with only one change, the removal of the top panel of the windshield, I'd do this one. To my eye the proportions are just right and the details are nicely done as well. Don't know who owns it, but if he'd toss me the keys I'd be on my way.

 

One more addition to Gary's input. If your radiator is mounted with springs on the mounts, the rods should run down to support it.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I would definitely would use tube to make the screen supports as it is stronger then solid round. Ask me how I know this...... yeah it isn't funny when the stay breaks down the front end and tries to dig into the tarseal as you drive down the road at 35mph. Luckily it happened on the drivers side so I could reach around the screen and hold it up until I could stop.

 

I'll take a picture of my set up and post it .I have it apart now for body work.
I think I need them as I don't want the windshield in my face at 75 MPH.
No they are not adjustable. Thanks for the reply.

 

Sorry dirt if your windshield brackets are so weak that you are afraid it will come back into your face at speed or they vibrate for all means put some braces on them. I am really against anything not needed being pasted onto these cars. Pretty soon they look like clown cars. T buckets have a bad enough reputation anyway.
Gary

 

Why would a C-Cab need windshield supports, it held at the top.
Jeremy

 

This is before support rods. It is not supported at the top. There is about an inch opening

 

I'll have to 2nd you on all counts.

This one does bring up an issue I've been wondering about...the low roll bar hoop. My wife is already hinting that she expects a roll bar. I hate the ones tall enough to look like a shopping cart handle, and I don't like the bracing running through the already small passenger space. I do like the one in the pic, but for a different function...as a hand hold and support getting in and out.

Obviously without longitudinal bracing and more height it's not going to be as effective as a true race roll bar...but is one like the pic functional to a lesser but meaningful degree, or is it for all practical purposes decorational?

Is the issue of ones head impacting the bar in a rear end colision real or theoretical?

Inside the bucket for a cleaner look as the one in the pic, or behind the bucket?

 

dirt t, why do you need them other than for looks?? The windshield is going nowhere at 75mph. If you think you have to have them just make them adjustable and of tube.
Jeremy

 

The way I remember it back in the day we used them to keep the glass from breaking from the wind pushing on the frame and the vibration.

 

I definitely think their necessary on a roadster with a tall top (parachute?!??!)! As it is, the top half of my windshield keeps slowly working it's way back to about a 20-25 degree angle due to wind resistance. The braces attach at the hinges now. I thought about either a) moving their attaching point up to the top of the windshieid (but I think it will look goofy), or b) replacing the functioning hinges with solid ones (I really dont see me wanting to lay the top half of the windshield back for any reason). Dirt T , your C cab windshield sounds like it's too short. You might want to look at how the wood header panel is on a canvas top and do something similar to your car.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

A couple of shots of how I connected the two piece windshield together. Luckily I have a friend that is a good machinist and he cut a flat spot on an aluminum rod that would slide up into the windshield posts and cut a piece of S.S. tubing in half that fit around the outside of the posts. I then drilled tapped all that so it would connect it all together.

 

I'll have to check it out at the roadster show, Gary. Se you there!

 

You might want to avail yourself of some historical perspective, Bill, and then share it with your wife before you go much further building a traditional roadster. The bottom line is that open hot rods provide very little in the way of safety, nor have they ever, even in racing venues. Seat belts and roll bars are relatively modern accommodations, the early roadsters being more like 4-wheel motorcycles than anything else.

There's a ton of historical material documenting the evolution of the hot rod roadster, the track roadster, the modified roadster and the Indianapolis roadster, all of which were developed to be nimble and fast, not to be the ultimate in safety. The real-world bottom line is this: you pays your money and you takes your chances, just like on a motorcycle.

You CAN make an open hot rod safer by equipping it with a well-braced head-high roll bar, body bracing and seat belts and/or harnesses. The techniques and dimensions are well documented in the regulations for Bonneville roadsters. BUT...the application of these specifications is going to make your street roadster look exactly like a Bonneville racer. It'll be safe, but it won't be very pretty.

So, seriously, if you or your wife expects your hot rod to be as safe as your everyday driver, you might want to rethink the entire program. It's probably just not going to happen.

 

Actually, Normie told me in an unguarded moment - we were in the Burbank Pickups Ltd. together - that he added the braces because the knuckle-headed actors kept pulling themselves up out of the seat by the windshield and breaking the glass.

 

Good point. On the occasions that I let someone get into my T Bucket, I'm always standing close by to tell them, "PLEASE! Do not use the windshield as an entry or exit devise." Out of all the stuff that's in or on my car, my greatest fear is that someone will use the windshield as a handle.

 

Great story dad and it makes sense. They did have a purpose and they looked good on his car. Norm had an eye.
I too have to watch people and actually school them on how to enter and exit my roadster. A big friend on mine a while back opened the door and flopped his ass in the seat and laid his leg on the hot exhaust and did the same thing getting out. He now has two big round burn scars on his right calf. So now I school them. Stand up and step out. Some of my friends are getting to an age that they actually don't have the movement to get in and out of my roadster safely. Especially with the top on.
Some people have a problem with the "NO TOUCH" rule on our old cars. My wife and I restored a '55 Cadillac Coupe DeVille and the door window mechanisms were badly corroded and I spent many hours fixing them. But I never rolled the window all the way down Left it about an inch up. Whenever anybody came up to talk when we were in the car they wanted to lean on that window and I had to constantly tell them not to. The "NO TOUCH" rule has a reason.
Gary