So I found this Model A chassis on LetGo for $200 and decided it was time to start building my dream car. Expecting a beater stock chassis, I was surprised to find one that had been at least started down the path to hot rodding......badly. Seeing as my plan was to strip it to bare rails and start fresh anyway, I'm not too concerned. I haven't decided on what body to put on it yet, but I've got time. I've got an 81A and******* out of a 40' pickup sitting on the trailer getting ready for a steam cleaning and teardown (once I get the garage to some degree of "clean"). Here it is in all of its glory........... Going to take a little work to get rid of this abortion: Frame horn needs a bit of massaging: Just because you can weld doesn't mean that you should: When all is said and done, I'm probably going to be a major shareholder in Norton abrasives and on the Christmas card list for Airgas, but it will be worth it in the end.
Be sure to start with a trip to the local DMV and see what they will expect to see when you are finished. Make friends and try to make sure they remember you (positively). Don't build it and then try to get a****le. By the way, what is your general location and how about adding it to your profile? Charlie Stephens
Sorry 'bout that - I thought I'd filled it all out. I live in Morenci, AZ (right on the NM border). I'm in pretty good shape for DMV - Arizona is pretty lenient on registration to begin with, and I have the****le for a 31 that my uncle destroyed back in the early 60's. The frame numbers point to it being a '29, but I'm not going for concours perfection here.
Welcome to the HAMB, The numbers are under the cowl anyway- I've put a few cars on the road with "creative paperwork" and never had a problem ( and Mass.*****S for paperwork unless you know how to play the game). The less you say, the better off you are. Tell them you need a new****le in your name for a coupe your Uncle GAVE you ( in Mass. sales tax on a "gift" is $25. not book value) I doubt anyone's going to make you take the car apart to show them a serial number. Good luck, have fun, be safe.
Welcome to the HAMB! Nice start for a project, at $200 you did real good, all the brake parts are worth that alone. Look forward to progress updates. Bob
Got a little bit done today before a little rainstorm decided to come out of the north and shut me down for today. The weather guy dropped the ball on this one..... The steering abortion is gone!! I made a template off of an unaltered frame to put the holes back where they belong and made up a .250" fishplate to stiffen up the repaired area. I also gave some attention to the mangled frame horn and whipped up a quickie spreader bar to keep them at the proper spacing. Also cleaned more of the "shop class dropout" fab work from the passenger rail and set some points to triangulate the frame off of - I've got right at 1/16" variance from square, so given the age I'm content to leave well enough alone. I'm going to go cruise one of the local abandoned car hotspots tomorrow and see what bits and pieces I can come up with.
Lookin good! I'am sure your pretty excited and itching to keep working on her so early in the game, I know I was with mine. Good luck and welcome! Also remember, it's like eating a elephant.......Have patience.
Right now since I don't have a very rigid plan I'm mostly focusing on getting it cleaned up. The goal currently is to start disassembling and going through the rear end on my next stretch of days off. I still haven't identified exactly what year the rear is, other than I am reasonably certain that it isn't the original 29 unit, unless Henry hired some REALLY bad welders to put spring mounts on the housings. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Looks like a later 40's car rear end. Is it juice brakes, front look juice too. If so you have scored. Someone did an Av8 in that car (badly) years ago. I bet it was abandoned for safety reasons or it was just never finished. The box you cut off at the steering was an old trick to relocate the stock A steering box for clearance for a v8. Post more pics of the front and rear axles and pull the drums. The guys here will tell you exactly what they are pretty quick.
When you take pictures of the backing plates be sure to get a clear shot of the 6 o'clock position on the backing plate. That will enable people to tell you if they are pre or post war Ford or something else. Charlie Stephens
It is juice brakes front and rear - the spring hangers appear to have been globbed on with at least 5 lbs of (cold) 6011 with an AC machine. There looks to be some modification to the torque tube - I'm almost afraid to see what is inside!
And that is by no means the worst work! Thankfully most of these cold welds are coming off with a Metabo/hammer combination but there's a few spots of burn through and a few spots of "I'd hate to see the bird that***** there" that are giving me fits to get rid of.
Around here building by yourself needs bills of sale for all parts [to protect against stolen parts], so build it, then sell it [complete car] on paper to 1 buddy, he sells to 2nd buddy and #2 sells you a CAR not a project... you register the car...
What is the secret here in MA? I've passed on a lot of old cars and bikes w/o papers, RMV is very foggy on it.
I've seen a lot of stuff in my 50 years in old cars, and you really did well on buying that chassis. What a great start with all those pieces. I am sure it was once on the road, and keep in mind about any bad welds and such, that back then there were no videos or websites to learn how to do better. They were young blue collar guys living their dream with what they could do. .
The Jalopy Journal
