A few years back a friend bought an old survivor’34 five window coupe, that looked like it was a bit of a “show” rod in the late ‘50’s then drag raced in the ‘60’s or later. It’s was a ‘barn find’ sometime in the ‘90’s I think and rattled around untouched for a while till it was purchased and shipped to the UK. The guy who imported it sat on it for a bit the sold it to my mate. I got the job of sorting it out. Sadly it was in a bit of a mess. Some of the initial Hotrod work was probably typical of the time. Adequate, but not great. The chassis step being plated with chequer plate and the practice of just welding metal everywhere where something was needed meant lots of random steel with no real plan. It was ok for the time, but needed sorting. This is the only photo we have of the car as it was. The good bits: it was a survivor 34 and the body wasn’t in that bad a state. It came with lots of really good parts, a couple of hemi's, a couple of Lasalle gearboxes plus plenty of other good parts. The bad bits: it was going to take a complete rebuild to put it right. This is how the car was when we started. The body had had the floor cut out, channeled over the chassis and welded on wherever it touched. The flooring was just tin that had been screwed to the top of the chassis. it took a fair while to remove the body without destroying either the body or frame. Once off, the full extent of the chassis add ons became obvious. There was a square roll bar welded to the top of the chassis, but there was also a piece of angle on either side of the chassis that had three previous roll bars welded on that had been removed with a gas axe.
It's a great find, but you are right, it will take a lot of work to get it running again. I would think that a new frame would be a lot better than trying to salvage this one, especially with all that diamond plating welded on to it. It is amazing how much bad workmanship got through tech inspection in the old days.
LOL I like it. Truth is that diamond plate got used a lot it was usually available. Its gonna be work but there is a lot there to work with. Looks like fun to me.
With all the unnecessary steel removed from the chassis I stripped it down to straighten and repair the chassis rails. The chequer plate was added when the chassis was originally stepped and it was decided to keep it that way. The welds were all ground off, the plates removed, cleaned, straightened and welded back on. The original cruciforms had been removed. The chassis rails were twisted and bent. I used a laser to get the two chassis rails exactly the same I started to make new a cruciform. Made lower than original so the floor and seats could be lower in the car. Early long bell housing hemi and Lasalle gearbox trial fit More strengthening around the cruciform Cut out for oil filter clearance that won’t be used. It was there when it was first built so we kept it there. all the basic chassis work done. start of the mock up with a winters QC and cheater slicks. You can now see where it’s going.
Somebody went 100+ mph in that booger welded heap. Yikes! Looks like you have her on the right path, keep up the good work. -Abone.
It's rough, but very interesting. Hard to know where to begin, what to leave and what to replace. Back then, changes would be made to improve performance and/or safety. Hopefully more original photos will show up. On my avatar I can see where the ladder bars had been changed and stuff cut off back when it was being raced in the mid 60s. When I restored my Race Mini in 1986 (while in England), I made sure everything was like it was when originally built. Then when putting it back on the Tracks in 1993 (also in England), I had to upgrade the roll cage, add fire extinguisher system and a few other safety items to be legal. The car has a history so I had to make a choice, only show it or let it do what it was built for. I had two years of fun racing. Unfortunately now, for the past 20 years, it has sat in the back of my garage. Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress and keep the great photos coming. Ron PS. Wow, while I was writing my post, you did a lot of work. Looking good and keep up that fine workmanship.
As the car had no floors I needed to make them. I couldn’t just use reproduction floors as they had to be lower than the chassis rails to get the required room. The owner, KFC on the hamb, found a pair of seats that were labelled Maserati. Whether they are Maserati or not, they’re bloody cool. Tunnel and ‘holed’ strengthening parts added Start of the trans housing. I needed to get it as close to the bell housing as possible so the pedals would work. It was going to be very tight. With part of the floor in place the body was trial fitted to see if it all went together properly. And to push it into the daylight to stand back and get a better look. The obligatory “fit the carbs” just to check they’re the right ones, as if they wouldn’t be. Trial fit of the hood meant the grill shell was too long. The car was probably fitted without a hood and with the grill shell angled back. One of the rules of running with the VHRA at Pendine sands is that a hood has to be fitted. So 2” was cut out of the shell.
With all of your other great looking chassis work, IMO, that re-used checker plate looks out of place.
I perfectly understand your opinion, and it was discussed at the time whether we should have included the plate or remove it. In the end it was decided to keep it as it was part of the original build, and while we have changed lots of the original stuff, keeping some of the little bits of the car would be a great talking point.
Knocking it out of the park @nutrocker...congrats on this new milestone in Hotrod and thanks for taking us along for the ride...
Marvelous job nutrocker, I know full well your story. Been there, done that, myself. Although it was a driver, it was a gigantic mess and truly unsafe to drive. So much so when driving it home and arriving safe I got on my knees and gave thanks,..........well almost anyway. I can't post pics as it is not traditional by HAMB standards which I have learned the hard way to respect but I can PM you. Yours is looking fantastic and your work looks superb.
I like how you are keeping some of the history of the car intact. I did the same on my 28 and 32. Like you, I totally redid the chassis' on both and could have erased all traces of earlier builds. But on the 28 I left the old rear upper shock mounts and on the 32 I left some evidence of a prior engine swap.
With the body temporarily back on the chassis I could work on getting the floors completed as well as the trunk floor and some bodywork that was in need of attention. The rear arches had been radius’d by cutting the old returns and swage lines off and beating a return in to add strength. This was in principle great, just in practice it lacked a bit. Some of it I cut out, other bits will be lost under a smear of lead. I made new wheel wells. They now look like original ones that have been cut down keeping part of the crows foot. Having them cut down like this also exposes those diamond plates. on the original build it looks like the car was fully rendered with the fenders blended in with lead. At some point, probably when it hit the drag strip, those fenders were removed. But as they were leaded in they were just cut off leaving an inch or so sticking out. I have replicated this. Once a smear of lead is blended back in it’ll look the same. Seating position was always going to be an issue. Chopped, channeled and with a long bell housing hemi set back in the frame, space was tight. the seat is placed well back. The steering wheel is removable to aid getting in and out of the car. Rear valence was repaired as it was well beaten.
Where you able to determine where the car came from? I googled "Hobbs city line" and found New Mexico. I love how you guys have taken on the rebuild.... I just love old fender less Hot Rod Drag Cars.
we've not been able to find anything else other than the photo for the car. The history of it being a Hotrod first is only guessing. It just looks like it was with all the lead work, the blending and a leaded raised aerial mount. If anyone can find more info we’d be really interested.
It got to the time where the body had to come off the chassis to allow all the underside parts to be welded. you can see how much the body is channeled over the chassis. While it was stood on its firewall I repaired the front lower wheel arch corners on both sides. I also started on the exhaust too. The heads that will be used are quite well ported so we used 2-1/4” pipes. 8 into 8, exiting in front of the rear wheels. And because the body is heavily channeled, a d wanting to keep the pipes as high and tight to the chassis it meant that I had to cut the body to let them through. The exhausts were a lot of work. My tube bender would crease the pipe, so each time I wanted to bend it it had to be filled with sand. For every bend! Exhaust fitted, wheel it outside to check it all in the daylight You can see underneath how the 8 pipes run nicely each side.
At some point yes. There isn’t one fitted yet because we need to decide on how best to fit one. we’d love to fit a really traditional style roll bar, but sadly that won’t pass the requirement for running at Pendine Sands. So we need to make something that is more like a personal cage and seat that can fitted and removed.
It is a part of it's history. When restoring cars with racing history, it is a "photograph in time". These things were constantly evolving from 1st build to retirement. You did the right thing by leaving those "signature battle scars" in place. The only downside will be the constant barrage of comments from ignorant observers.[at shows] Keep up the good work! A good example is this O/T race car [link] that passed in at Auction Check out the dent in the door on the first photo [ The dent is part of it's racing history] https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2...e=dm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-11-23 Make 2 that can bolt in! [one roll bar for period displays] and one cage up to modern specs
Happy with the chassis we gathered some people and fitted the body back on. Not quite for the last time, but pretty close. Wheeled it outside to my favourite bit of backdrop wall to take photos and get the chance to really look at the ca4 fron a distance to check the stance. I think we got it right.
The Jalopy Journal
