Projects 60's Era Street/Strip Model A Coupe

I've owned this Model A Coupe body for over a decade (purchased in the summer of 2008). Back in 2009, after the car was chopped, the car got shelved and then, subsequently, buried.

Funny thing is, the car and I had similar journeys. It wasn't until September 10th, 2017 that I "woke up" and made massive changes in my life. Six days later, I found out that I was at risk for losing my eyesight. From that day on, everything, and I truly mean EVERYTHING changed. I cut out most of what didn't matter and made building the coupe a priority.

Truthfully, with where the direction of the car is, now, I'm glad it didn't get built. It would've been a pretty soul-less hot rod. The plan, back in '09, was to build a 30 Coupe on 32 rails with a Y-block. That wasn't really my dream car, though. It was just something I thought was cool and there were plenty similar examples being built in 2007-11. I was following along...

HOWEVER, what really grabbed my attention as a kid were 60's style hot rods. I loved that they were taking ques (and parts) from the muscle car era but cars from that era could get a little funky. I loved that... still do.

Understanding that life is too short to not get EXACTLY what I want out of life, I changed directions.

All that said, here we go.

I picked the car up in Adiar, Oklahoma from HAMBer @coopsdaddy. I didn't have all that much money back then. I had moved to Utah from the northeast and I was saving for a wedding ring. My girlfriend (whose now my wife) had just gotten back from a month in China. She slept all the way there, through picking the body up and having a beer after we loaded it, and nearly all the way back. Haha.



Shortly after the car was in Salt Lake, it ended up at Chris Davenport's shop (Salt Flats Speed Shop). It was torn down and blasted.



Based on what I can tell about the car, it must have been a circle track car or a low budget hot rod. It was crudely channeled and there was evidence that a sheetmetal roof insert was screwed to the roof.

 

When it came back from blasting it was a little better than I expected but it was still pretty rough. It needed complete subrails, patches, and a bunch of misc. work... but we were young and not experienced - so of course we did the chop first. HAHAHA.











Prepping for the chop.





Laid out to take 4" from the height and 3" out of the rear window. These are choices I'm glad I made back then.

 

Model A 4" Chop

I'm sure I have more pics from way back saved somewhere and if I find them, I'll include them. Here are some of the detail pics of the chop.





















This was what I was going for, back then.



One of my favorite pics from those days.

 

I love '60's style builds, will be watching.

 

Then... the car sat.



This is when I put it in my garage, when it was just a couple light bulbs and an outlet. Couldn't really get any work done. So it sat, stored. It had already sat a while in a storage unit... kind-of in the same configuration.

Then, I remodeled my shop and moved the car to storage. This was about as good as it ever looked.



It kept getting more and more packed... it got pretty bad. I need to find a pic at its worst! I was overwhelmed.

 

When the choice was made to get some help with the car (let's be honest, the car wouldn't get done with the skills I have), I had a short list of people whom I shared the same vision with. On the top of that list was Matt Seret. I just plain old like Matt.

A plus is that he completely got what I was looking to do with the car. He likes the era and he's one hell of a fabricator. He's also in Vallejo, California! I'm not one to shy away from a road trip (this car's frame comes out of Colorado and the fenders came out of Big Bear Lake, CA.), so I packed up the car and the family and we headed west.



This is the first time it had been outside in years. It had some new dings and dents from sitting, getting moved and then getting junk piled on it, repeatedly.



Packed and ready to go.

After a long trip on I80 west and 200 stops to use the bathroom... we arrived in Vallejo.



We'll stop here, for tonight. After this, the car really takes shape... not without some life drama to challenge my commitment to building this car.

 

Excited to see this build thread! Was good meeting you and getting to hang out with at Glory Days Drags. You must've finally got caught up on sleep after the red eye trip coming east.

Gonna be a super cool buggy!

 

Thanks man! Yeah, it was cool to have some guys to sit and chat with in the stands, I appreciated that. I'm really excited for what's next.

I just took a big stroll down memory lane while I was organizing photos, tonight. There's a lot to post.

 

Great Stuff @-Brent-...Power to the past...look forward to the evolution...

 

Okay, let's get back into it.

Before the car was loaded up and sent anywhere, I wanted to solidify the plan. 60's era could mean a lot of different things, early, mid and late 1960s hot rods reflect the time and style differently. I chose mid-to-late sixties. I loved the proportions, the NO BS approach, the chrome, and the fact that street/strip cars could be both stylish and "mean".
...
The car I always imagined was shiny but I'm not chasing perfect. I want a thrasher.

In fact, I probably used the word "thrasher" in conversations with Matt a hundred times. That's what I want to do with this car. I want to burn out in the street in front of our house every time I leave. This car is going to be built to play with because I don't know how long I'll be able to drive and that scares the hell out of me.

What I see is a big part for me. I want to see a bunch of chrome inside the car. When I walk up to the car I want to see the rake from slicks in the rear and narrow front runners.

Examples (just a few):



I want to have creative/well thought-out, stylish elements and a tough drive-train and frame set-up because I dig those things but I don't want a strickly show car. My goal is to design/build a double-duty street/strip car that will make me do a double take when I'm walking away from it after a drive.

The plan looks like this:

Drivetrain -327 with a single 4bbl to a 4spd (AutoGear M23Z) to a 59 Pontiac rear (with 1964 brakes). 15x9.5 Halibrand rears, Radir slicks... fronts I'm on the fence 16x4 Fords or something else?

Chassis - similar to The Freakin' A - which is a modified model A chassis, hairpin front (32 heavy axle, for now), ladder bar rear with a Model A spring rear, F1 steering box, etc.

Body - 30/31 coupe, chopped 4", welded visor, reversed firewall, a sheetmetal bulkhead, a 35/36 dash with 60s gauges and a bunch of little ideas I've been carrying around for well over a decade. The fenders will be narrowed like the Maratta Missile (aka The Rake) and the rears bobbed. 1931 grill shell and aprons. Truck running boards.

 

Wheel well patch/replacement - Seret Style

Here's the before:



Matt scribed a line where the patch panel will sit.



Notice there are issues beyond the perimeter of the panel. Those need to get fixed first.


Patches inserted.



Now the scribed line can be cut.


Panel nearly done.

 

The Other Side

 

Passenger Side Cowl Patch

The whole bottom of the car was replaced. I didn't buy and repop side patch panels. Matt hand made them all with 18ga.

 

Driver's Side Cowl Repair - A Bit More In-Depth

The driver's side cowl was in rougher shape than the passenger side. I looked for a decent cowl that was affordable and within a decent driving distance but I struck out or was a fifteen minutes behind a buyer (on two occasions).



Matt fabbed a lower patch and waited for my patch.



Not having any luck, I put a request out to a Facebook group and a gentleman out of TX had one that was a great deal. Obviously, though, it needed some TLC first.




She was a little wrinkly but I though we could make it work. If not, I'd keep searching in hopes I didn't have to drive a state away to grab one.



In a rush, I brought the piece down to a shop where I get some powder coating done. They handled my rush request and after blasting it looked like there was enough to make it work.









That night I marked a straight line and trimmed it.





















It fit perfectly in my carry-on bag when I went out to visit Matt and the car and do the body wood.





The pitting on the top wasn't nearly as bad as the rest. The body guys can neaten that up.

 

Rust Repair Continued:

The rest of the patches.









And onto the FUN STUFF!

 

Model A Subrail Installation

On the morning of the subrail install we found out that the Internet doesn't have all the right answers. There's not a whole lot of subrail dimensional information on the web and some of it that we'd referenced was wrong.



So it took a couple hours of the two of us working at it to figure it out.

The next day, a pal had all the pertinent information in an old restorers book of his. Turns out, the Internet doesn't have ALL the answers. Hahaha.













Here's a good look of the install, completed:

 

@-Brent- I would like to extend positive thoughts your way that you are going to drive this Hotrod till your an old old man...and then your Son and maybe even the Daughter can take it on...

 

Thank you, my friend! You don't know how much that means to read that. I've made a lot of changes in my life with that exact thought in mind. Due to that, my health may have never been better.

 

Model A Reversed (Flipped) Firewall

Up until that point, the coupe could've gone in any direction. The repairs were your standard Model A fixes.

Now that the car had the subrails and patches pretty much done (the doors hadn't been done at this point)... now we could put some of the creative/distinctive plans to work.

The plan was to reverse the firewall. However, I wanted a blank space where the hanging pedals mount. Matt and I bounced a couple ideas around on and he knocked it out. I tell you this, it's really important to be on the same wavelength.
A spare firewall I had brought along. Good thing too, it was way better than the other.



Trimmed away the perimeter and added some metal to the bottom.



Created a new blank with a similar vibe to the A. However, it looked off, so Matt through in a bead that jutts up.



Tacked in.





In its home.



Getting the feet situated.





View attachment 4373706

 

Firewall Feet Caps

To finish off the foot of the firewall, I thought of my 26/27 Roadster and how at the front, it had a dimpled side. It looked more finished. Though it will barely be seen, if at all, we fabbed a cover that fastens to the foot and covers it.

 

It's the little things that add up. Looking great!

 

The Dash: 1935/36 Ford Dashboard Swap in a Model A

There are two cars that made me fall in love with 35/36 Ford dashes. One is John Joyo's 36 Cabriolet with the chrome dash and the other is @MR. FORD 's Model A. Mark was actually gracious enough to send me some detail pics a while ago.





This pic doesn't do it justice. This old custom is such a killer car.

When it comes to 35/36 Ford dashes in Model A's, it's not uncommon. Rather, it's pretty common. However beautiful these dashes are, it's easy to make them look a little off in a Model A. Mark's car nails it and he insists they just trimmed it and slapped it in.

After studying dozens of Model As with these dashes, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to look at during all the miles I plan to drive.















It's weird seeing it all blank like that.

 

1935/36 Ford Dash with Holes for Stewart Warner Greenlines

I messed around with gauge layout one night when everyone was asleep and came up with layout spacing that I liked best...



I'm not fancy or high tech. I just measure things out and figure it out.





Holes cut in.



Every other 35/36 dash in a Model A I'd ever seen has this gap and you can see everything behind the dash. Plus, my windshield was modified so the lip the overhangs this area has been removed (more on that, later). This filler strip will be chromed along with the dash (and windshield frame).



This was our first attempt. The second piece goes all the way to the A pillar and sweeps up, like the dash (on either side). As well, the dent in the dash was removed.

How it all fits and lays out.









Daydreaming behind the wheel.

 

Go go GO!!!

 

Looking really good. Can't wait to see more!

 

32 Style Header Panel Insert

From early on, I wanted a top insert. I'm still uncertain if it will get upholstered, paint or polished.

I chose to go with a Flop style 32-style header insert. I originally bought one from Tom but didn't use it (it's been sold, fellas). Matt ended up fabbing one from 18ga.

For some reason, the sheet metal that covers the wood header was too tall. I swear it was the one that came with the car, too.



Who knows? It got trimmed and fit to the car.



The windshield (and garnish moldings) were chopped around this time, too.





From this vantage point, you can see the holes from the sheet metal top had been fastened. We should have filled them before I put the wood in.

With every added part the car is getting more and more rigid.

 

Thanks! I'm happy to be making progress.

 

I installed a wood kit in my old coupe and it was quite a jigsaw puzzle with all the brackets and such...instructions were minimal with the kit...I suppose Henry had a team fitting those all day long and they surly reworked stuff to fit the bodies...all day long...

 

I hear you on that! I'm glad to be the one that had to put it in. Man, that header and pieces above the doors were a pain!

Because I'm running an aluminum top insert, I am going to pull out the halo pieces (sides and back) to free up some headroom. The insert should provide the same amount of support (or more) than the wood pieces.