Termites and Bowties- Early Chevy Group

Have a few here , but didnt want to say more than five hundred and try to sell you one for that or more . Glad you found one , all the parts are getting expensive .

 

congrats, its a tough piece to get in decent condition. Certain things you just have to step up to cash register and pay up.

mike lynch

 

First Gillette’s Patriots Place Car Cruise April 11th 2019 at the Bass Outlet! It is the largest car cruise here on the North East drawing over well over 3,000 cars on a nice summer day! Cars as far away as Conn, Maine, NH, VT, RI at this car cruise! Here are a few pics and the post: Rory

 

Yep you have got it.

So far the costs/agreed prices have been pretty good
Car purchase $3000
Conversion to 2 doors (and panel in rear side windows) $2500
Cut out rear panel & make rear door (top follows the shape of the window) $2500
Fit electric rear window for ventilation $1000
Buy complete Henry forged and dropped type axle with wishbones (Speedway) $3000.
Buy 32 Ford front crossmember $350

A while back I got a quote for panel and paint on my 37 Nash sedan and prices varied from $25,000 to $50,000. So I put that project in the corner and went looking for one with smaller body work bills. The seller wanted out of the 34 and gave me set prices for the major components for the transformation. Im relaxed about his pricing, and his body work is excellent.

 

No he didnt do it like that

 

Its not an igloo

 

The inner frame being started. Then an "inner inner" goes in which gets welded to the outer skin to make the door. He will also fabricate an "eyebrow" over the top of the door to match the ones on the side over the windows. If it all works to plan, it should look "factory" in a hot rod kind of way.

 

If you are on FB, his shop is "Auto Innovations" in New Plymouth, New Zealand. He has pikkys up of the work hes doing

 

The rubber ends don't look very TRADITIONAL.

 

Just ran across this video. At approximately 9:40 the 34 Chevy coupe from The Meltdown Drags, makes it's appearance.

 

GasserTodd very nice build and different! I like those cool tail lights! What are they off of?
Here is a 33 Sedan Delivery in different stages at my friends shop! Rory

 

Repro 39 Chev sedan tail lights. Used two sets mainly to separate the indicator from the tail lights, so hopefully folk will see it easier, but also because I thought it was a cool custom type feature.

As we drive on the left side of the road, my rear door will open the other way.

Your mate has done very nice framework inside the body., and that finished pikky of the rear looks great. Hope mine comes up as well as that.

The slicks on the back of my car are there for set up purposes. Will have 285/75/15 BFGs on 15*10 rims when its all done. Kind of hoping to pick up a bit of a 60s hot rod vibe, so hopefully it wont look like a miss match of hot rod cultures.

Engine will be under a hood, so we wont talk about that. Its my sacrifice to reliability and a bit of fuel economy as gas here is the equivalent of US$5.50 per US gallon. And I plan to drive the wheels off this so I will be using up more than my fair share of dead dinosaurs.
.

 

"hairball" ?

 

GasserTodd - really nice work on your rear door and build so far! Question... Where are you getting the $350 price you mentioned for the '32 Ford front crossmember? Speedway Motors, eBay, Yogi's sells it for $85. So-Cal sells it for $10 less. So it's averaging for less than a hundred. Just sayin'...

 

He is in New Zealand, his dollar vs the USA dollar is probably .30--40 cents per dollar. That's $100 USA dollars, New Zealand dollar cost $140 to buy the USA money. Same problem we have here about $130 CDN to buy $100 US.

JUST checked NZ dollar is .68 to buy one USA $. so $132 to buy $100

Factor in shipping to about as far away as you can get on the planet , lets say $50--80 for slow boat speed or $150--200 by air speed.
Then when it hits N Z there is VAT = value added tax of 15% on the total. These are costs people in the USA are not aware of because they do not face them. What we others have to go thru to build cars is easily 1/3 ---1/2 more.

I bought a 34-35 chev grill insert last week, cost me $300 US that's $390 Canadian, shipping/crate the part, $30 to a NY state address. Go get it tank of gas round trip April $70 plus 13% when I cross the border with it and all my other items. Because to ship it here is 5 x's what it is in USA.
mike lynch

 

Madmike3434 has summed it up pretty well.

When the NZ dollar is worth around US70c, we can comfortably double the price for small items and treble it for the bigger and heavier stuff if we buy it direct from Summit/Speedway etc. So if we got thru a shop here, they need to factor in their costs and they need to make a profit and feed their kids too.

$350 was the cheaper option down here - others were north of $400

 

Thanks for the clarification Mike/Todd. You guys need to take out a mortgage loan to build a hot rod...

 

Hey guys, been working on getting my 31' Roadster finished out. It's been a long winter but had it out over weekend and took a few pics. Thought I'd share. Really looking forward to warmer temps and the ability to be outside again...cheers.

 

Very nice, clean and simple. Not many people can do that. Too many nice builds get spoiled at the end with the wrong paint and wheels. This just right.

 

I agree, it is 'just right'

 

and if you look at his AVATAR picture rtommss even managed to work a ford model A ??? dropped headlight bar and smaller 7 " headlights up front. Really suits it !!!! Ya steal those ford items for your Chevrolet. Like the fact you removed the outside low slung door handles , its noticeable to those that appreciate the bowtie.

That's some seriously tall rubber on the back, what are they size wise ? How about a few pics of the interior.

I call that shade of paint CUSTARD YELLOW , what is it from?
Have friend with model A pickemup desires that colour.

Next time you head out for a cruise, do not forget the fur lined underwear, still chilly.

mike lynch

 

Thanks guys!

Mike, the headlight bar is a stock 31' chevy that was cut and dropped. Headlights are Arrow 775's. Seems like finding the right tires is always a challenge for me. Rears are Firestone 8.20 -15's. They are tall but fill the fender well. With the long sweep in the back the oprning is pretty big. The color is the stock 31' color Coffee Cream. It's a PPG single stage. It changes with the amount of light on it. Sometimes looks dull other times bright.

 

Here's an interior pic.

 

Very nice Chevy! What powers it?

 

It's a 261.. I jokingly call it a "Mcgurk Special". It has a Mcgurk intake and cover, BXOV's, a Corvette dual manifold, and a Mag. If you have a McGurk speed manual its basically set up like he describes as a hot street set up.

 

LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Your getting the TRADITIONAL GUYS all excited, your going to have to post a picture to stop them tearing up. Pass the Kleenex.

Was trying to identify headlight bar from your avatar and assumed you reached out to other brand commonly available. Will pass on info on paint colour to friend Bob.

Nice interior , plain and simple, easy to love !!

mike

 

Mike, thanks for the kind words. This was originally a Ralph McEowen body/car.

 

I know exactly whom your talking about, did a lot of re-wooding of Chevrolet open cars. Spoke to him a few times and bought a set of open car door latch and lock parts common to open cars only.

Last time I spoke to him 3-6 years ago, he had a 34 chevrolet std roadster that somebody from east coast had dropped off to his house to have re-wooded and never got in touch with him and had been there 3 years so far. Ralph passed away I believe last year. ??

Don't forget pics of the motor, both sides.

mike

 

Yep, that's him. What a craftsman! He did 50+ open cars in his time...helped guys all accross the country. His passing was a big loss to the prewar Chevy communuty. Here's the motor....sorry it's so dirty.