Projects John Gerber's 1920's sprint car

Love it. I'll require a taller seat back on mine, worked into a tail of some sort. And perhaps a seat for the mech set back a few inches on the other side. Twin tails? Not to get off post, this is a wonderful car. Hat's off. Gary

 

THAT is just plain kool...............love it

 

No still have driven it yet, we have ti pull the head and repair it.

These ended up getting full welded because they almost ended up getting nickel. I I used To radius rods on my other single seater and spot where welded like the pictures and seems to be holding up fine.

I had the local radiator build a custom one. Made a wood template of exactly what I wanted and had them build it to that. The made it spot on, probably within a 1/16"!

The front tires are Firestone's and yes the backs are Lester that had been grooved. Just the cheap grover you can get a speedwat, they sell different style and thickness cutting blades.

 

It don't have a picture of the radiator in this car but I do have a picture of the radiator out of my other single seater. The were built buy the same guy and almost identical, except the one shown is 3" narrow to match the narrowed Whippet radiator. There is 1"x1" angle that support the sides and fill up the tapper between the sides of the radiator and shell, once every is painted black it is hardly noticeable

 

This is the coolest thing I've seen all week.

How does it stop though?

 

Thanks! It as aftermarket brakes that fit over the drums, I will try and get some pics this weekend.

 

any updates on this one?

 

Yes! More please!

 

Cleaned up a bit more from the trip to New Jersey. Should have the hood back from paint soon and waiting on the engine builder to come up before we test drive it

 

Close up up of the nickle front axle and spring

 

Dude I just noticed there was a kid sitting it!!! Lol

 

Haha that's Paul's Grandson, he hops in and "races" every one and everything in it!

 

Very
That's going to be one fun ride.

 

Love it. Good to see it here and on the IG too.

 

What are you running for wheels? Car looks great! Bob

 

The fronts are 21" Hayes and in the backs are 21" Buffalo's

 

That is Great.Gotta be smiling...

 

I've seen the inverted front crossmember to achieve several inches of lowering on T Speedsters lots of times, but never the curved spring to clear the frame. That must be a unique feature of the original car, and I'm glad to see you chose to include it in yours. Nice build! Please keep us posted.

 

Just how tough was it to bend the front leaves? Bob

 

Yes the front spring is one of my favorite parts of the car, it was a shit ton of work. I have not seen the done any any other car except for the Whippet special which makes it pretty unique.

Here is step 1 of 8 to compete the front springs.

Step 1: find a perfectly good Model T spring to ruin and mark it every inch.

 

Step 2: flatten the shit out of it.

 

Step 3: Fire up the torch.

 

Step 3: Fire up the torch.

 

Step 4: bend it!

 

Step 5: Time to reverse the spring.

 

How was it for temper after all that?!

 

It was pretty soft! Almost like mild steel. On to step 6, step 7 is tempering the spring.

Step 6: Test fit. Looking almost straight down on the spring you can see it pushes the front axle forward so the frame/front crossmember has clearance.

 

Step 7: Heat up the spring evenly until it's a dull red color and toss it in some used motor oil, wait until the flames die out and your back in business!

 

Step 8: Main leaf and the rest of the springs are back in, everything looks good and nothing binds. Time to repeat step 3,4, 6 and 7 on the next two springs!!

 

So neat!