Hot Rods The Arin Cee Roadster

In the process of getting settled in from my move I cleared another area in the new shop - it's still packed full of junk from the old place - and brought the coupester home today. It has been in storage at another location for the duration of the move and I was getting a serious case of cabin fever without it. One to drive and one to wrench. What's a mother's son to do...?

 

I like the use of shipping containers for a garage. Instant shop in a box. Frank

 

A friend of mine has 2 shipping containers welded together, runs a full blown VW repair business out of it.
The 'spirit' of this thread, and the memories of the original "Arin Cee" have really fueled this '29 Hiboy fire!
Hope that pedal setup can be sorted out...

 

In the interest of total transparency, it's starting to get complicated now.

On one side I've got Arin chewing on my butt to get his new ride finished so he can get to pickin' up chicks now that the weather is promising to warm up.

On the other side I've just been handed the opportunity to make his new kemp even better by substituting a genuine Henry body for the Brookville that's on it now.

But...if I make the switch it'll take longer.

What's a mother to do...?

 

Finish it the way you planed than build another with the Ford for yourself. Just an idea.

Ryan.

 

The next step is to get the proportions right. Getting the front and rear suspensions in place to set the all-important "stance" was first, and that part's pretty much done. I've got some roller wheels/tires on the car that are close to the ones I'll eventually use so the "stagger" is pretty much like it's gonna be. Now comes the hard part, figuring out where to put the radiator.

Lots of folks have put forth their opinions as to how this "should" be done, but most involve a Deuce grille shell...which is NOT where I'm going with this car. Instead, I plan to use a stock '28-'29 radiator shell with a one-piece hood top, much as was done on some SCTA and CRA roadsters back when they were doing dual duty and had to meet the safety rules for both kinds of racing.

Good friend Chip (need louvers ? is his handle here on the HAMB) of Hot Rod Central Louver Co. said that in his experience there's only one way to get it right: mock it up, then step back and see how it looks. Repeat until it looks "right". Then order a custom radiator to suit.

Good advice, I think, so that's what I spent my morning doing today...



(Geez, I'm going to have to rattle can that grille shell black to cut the glare and bring it back to visual balance. It looks huge!)

 

And no, before anybody asks, I still haven't decided what to do about the early hot rod I stumbled my way into. Right now I'm leaning towards switching bodies, keeping the gennie body for the Arin Cee Roadster, and putting the Brookville body onto the banger chassis and letting it go to a new home. We'll just have to see how it goes...

 

I think you should keep your build as it is. Keep your barn find as is. Do you have some one to Louver the hood? If not let me know. Frank

 

I think A look good with A grill shells just my opinion? Opinion are like (@) holes every one has one

 

As much as I have lusted after it, I forgot that your tub is on a Deuce frame. What did you do with regards to the radiator and shell? I expected mine to be 2" too tall due to the upward sweep of the Deuce frame, but in mock up it looks pretty much okay as-is. The hood line seems to slope properly to the front. How about a few more pictures?

 

I will take some detailed pictures and send them to you tomorrow. Frank

 

Fun build - I like the use of the stock radiator shell, painted or not. A deuce shell would look good but I feel it has been over played.

 

Yes, the use of a Deuce shell probably began with lazy rodders who plopped a Model A roadster body on a 4-door '32 frame - after disposing of said 4-door body, of course - but left the engine, radiator pretty much as-was. The mis-alignment of the radiator height didn't seem to bother them much, but it irks the snot out of me.

But the real reason I'm using an A radiator shell is because I much prefer the look and flow of the original '28/'29 body lines, especially when parked on top of a perimeter-style Deuce frame which eliminates the somewhat spidery appearance and replaces it with a much more muscular look which is, in my humble opinion, much more suited to a hot rod.

 

I think you are right with the A shell. I used one with my 28 on deuce rails. Like the look

 

Hey, Eric;
Nice build.
FWIW, I noticed in the pics of the cars posted earlier, the old R&C 29 roadster by Bud Bryan wasn't among them - although one looked close. Anyways, in the Hot Rods' Street Rod Quarterly Summer '71 issue, there is a (mostly) complete writeup/compilation of the R&C '29 roadster on '32 rails Project Car Series. W/O reading thru the long article, IIRC, Bud used a '29 rad shell n rebuilt rad. Don't remember him mentioning having to section it to get decent hood-line-flow. Was a Dave Kimble cutaway drawing that was really helpful. I literally wore out at least one of those Qtrlys studying it.

Only different things I'd use, would be a '51 Stude v8 n 3spOD. Really do like the '40s updated w/a real early 50s mill look. Even though Bud used a Flattie v8, he really nailed the look n stance.

Airn Cee awaits w/eager anticipation... .

Marcus...

 

Thanks, Marcus. I saw Bud's car for the first time at the Detroit Street Rod Nationals a very long time ago - 1972 to be exact - and shot the s**t with Bud as he cleaned all his rubber with lacquer thinner from a baby food bottle! I liked it then and like it now, but it's not on my list because it's just not "old timey" enough for me. Nice car, don't get me wrong, but it's a little too cliche and not really what I'm looking for. I am interested in how he treated his radiator however and, since there's a wealth of photos of it on the internet, I will study them closely and see what I can learn. Thanks for the nudge!



In the meantime I took my angle-finder and compared the hood angle on the Arin Cee Roadster to that of the old stock-bodied car I found, using the door tops as a constant index/reference point. Looks like they are on the same plane on the stocker and a negative 2 degrees to the front on the Arin Cee car as it's currently mocked up. This will give me a great reference, but I"m still anxious to hear from others who have used this combination of parts and hear how they did it. Frank is going to send some photos of his tub which has really great proportions, so we'll see where it goes from here.

 

On my tub the axle is moved foreward and the spring attaches to the radius arms getting it lower and the radiator sits in front of the xmember thus giving a longer wheel base and a better ride. The body is channeled the height of the subframe ( just cut the inner lip of the inner rail and let it sit down. The frame has been pinched to do this. Thehood is 32 3/4 long. The Tank's on the radiator are custom made and the lower connections have be made with 2 90 Dg. Bends. If you need more pictures I can take them or take it to you to see in person let me know.

 

No wonder your tub looks so slinky! Very nicely done and very subtle!

My radiator will be above the cross member in the original location, which is altogether different than yours which sits ahead of the cross member, so I think I'm back at the beginning again. The good news is that my mock up seems to indicate that a stock height '28 - '29 shell and radiator might be okay on the Arin Cee car. I guess the next indicated step is to pull the rad and shell from the 'banger hot rod, plop it on and see where that takes us...

 

Well, I made some progress yesterday by borrowing the radiator and shell from the 'banger roadster and mocking it up on this one. Hmmmm...

 

Looking good.

 

And as the sun sinks slowly in the west...



There's an old saying that "the simplest solution is often the best" and that would certainly be operative here. After farting around all day, measuring, mocking up and researching obscure sources I found that a stock height '28 - '29 radiator and shell in the stock location on the '32 cross member would work perfectly with no cutting required.

Duh.

 

More progress today...



I decided to stick with the most basic style possible in order to preserve the "home built in 1947" flavor of Arin's roadster. So far, so good...

 

Needs a Carter WCFB or a Rochester 4GC.... Dump the AFB. Find a 55-56 oil bath air cleaner too.

 

It's about time you made some progress on my kemp, Dad! I'm pretty tired of tellin' all the chicks about my ride...but not being able to show it to 'em is a real turn-off. Can ya' dig what I'm puttin' down...?

 

I just noticed that your frame is not pinched in at the cowel, most of the older ones like your trying to replicate are not pinched at the cowel, nice touch. I am going have to make a trip to see it. Frank

 

Yes, that was an intentional choice which also keeps the front of the body higher than it would be if pinched and "channeled" at the cowl. This helps with the radiator / shell alignment. If the frame was pinched and the body channeled at the cowl the radiator would have been too high, necessitating sectioning it an inch or so which I wanted to avoid. As you note, the cars built back then did not have such refinements. Some were built without access to a torch, and others did not even have an electric drill so they were often quite crude by necessity. I will also have to fashion a filler for the gap between the body and the frame...or just leave it open the way it often was back then. An accurate historical perspective is a great aid to the appreciation of early hot rods and how they really were as opposed to the "retro look" most people think of as reality.

PM me and I'll give you my new address. You'd be welcome any time!

 

A lot of people made a spacer out of wood to fill in the gas. Are you going to get a alternator that looks like a generator? Frank

 

That's the plan, but it'll have to wait until I've got the more important stuff...like tires and a radiator and a seat and an exhaust system and a...

 

Installed the F-100 steering box and shaft today. Got the measurements on original box placement from Rusty at Dirty's Speed Shop in Seagoville, Tx, figuring that a young builder would probably have used the original hole. The wedge is a Speedway item to allow proper mounting of the straight flange on the box to the curved '32 frame rail. It's clear the pitman arm will need to be heated and reshaped a bit to get everything to clear, but the interference is minimal.Tomorrow I'll fine-tune the fit, set the drop at the dash and install the bolts. It's pretty close the way it is right now.

 

Today I spent a few stolen hours finishing up the steering install. I used the steering column that came with the box - from a '55 F100 - after removing the column shift mechanism. It needs to be shortened but I'll do that after I get the seat and pedals in place. It looks like about 4" shorter should do the trick. The F1 steering wheel is from my junk pile, ugly as sin but it's beginning to grow on me.

The next task is to build a custom steering column drop using two '53 - '56 F100 drops (I ONLY HAVE ONE SO I NEED ANOTHER ONE...HINT, HINT...) and get the drag link ordered from Speedway Motors.



If anybody's got a '53 to '56 Ford F100 steering drop like the one in the photo above they want to sell, please PM me. I need one! Thanks! (UPDATE: Thanks to HAMBer Jason at Webster's Restyling in Oklahoma the second drop is on the way! Ya' can't beat the HAMB for finding needed parts QUICKLY! Thanks, Jason!)