Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Hey everyone, I'm back in San Francisco! For those who are interested, you can check out some of the hot rod-related pieces of my trip on The Jalopy Journal here. I'll also add some highlights to this thread later this weekend. It's a sunny Saturday morning, so I'm about to head down to the garage. I will keep the ball rolling by sharing a few treasures that came in the mail while I was away.

Yes, it was like Christmas when I opened up the package from @Hitchhiker. I never imagined I'd have an old chrome timing cover. I can't wait to bolt it on!

 

I didn't either! My good friend Kerry sent it to me. He has an amazing magazine collection and has been helping me out with mine. I'm lucky!

And yes, it's a stock cover that was chromed back in the day. I searched high and low for one to no avail. Like my dad used to say, "Not available at any store at any price." I'm so grateful that Matt was willing to dig it up for me. There's traces of old metallic red paint on the back side. Looks like it came off an old hot rod!

Good call. I inspected the old spring while the cover was off last month and it seemed to be the exact same as the repo one I recently purchased. That beings said, I'll compare them again while doing the chrome cover install.

The museums were amazing. I learned so much and enjoyed every second of it.
You know it's a quality display when you can spend close to 45 minutes studying three cars.

Some incredible craftsmanship here.
This was built on a stock Deuce frame. You can definitely see some '33 elements on it, even though it was built the year before.

I thought this was a neat image of the '34 Speedster in the modeling stage.

 

Oh, while I was home, I also did a little bit of Craigslist searching. One afternoon, my mom and I drove over to the neighboring town of Plymouth, Michigan, to pick up some vintage literature. I had never heard of "A" Quail Call before, but since it was the "Special Speed Issue" it was a logical addition to my collection. The gentleman who we bought it from is a longtime hot rodder and automotive enthusiast. He had a Model A sedan and a '40 Ford coupe a long time ago, and he now owns a '37 Chevy and a garage full of other interesting machines.

Some highlights from the issue. Note the Cragar side cover!

 

Yesterday I was able to turn a few wrenches on the car. After an afternoon driving it around town running errands, I decided to tackle the rear lunchbox latches. Measure once—drill a bunch of holes.

The left one went on with ease and latches nicely. Unfortunately, since the decklid is warped, the second one didn't really go as planned. It's all lined up, but it won't fully latch.

I'm thinking that I can adjust the rumble hinge placement a little on the driver's side to help bring it down. I also tried kneeling on it, which helped straighten it out a little.

My other install yesterday was far more successful. Having a rearview mirror is a game changer!

I wasn't very impressed with the provided hardware, so I dug up some vintage nuts, bolts and leather washers to backdate it a bit.

I proceeded to road test it and it stays in place. Nice!

My roommate Michael making important phone calls from the San Francisco Roadster Command Center (TM). No wi-fi in there though!

 

On Sunday afternoon, I managed to score a great deal on the wood for the rear floor of the car. Rather than going to a lumber yard, I drove across the Bay to El Sobrante. The seller was a retired carpenter who made his living building high-end cabinets. He and his wife taught me how to study the grain by laying the pieces out in the driveway. I told them I was using them for my Model A project, and they said I better pick the best ones!

Next, I'll be making templates and cutting them to shape. Then they'll be stained and sealed to match the front floor...

...the front floor that will eventually be covered by this mat. I laid it out in the sun yesterday to help flatten it out.

Last but not least, I was able to do one of my favorite hot rod activities—drive to the grocery store!

Other updates: my rear shoes are currently in line to be arced. My wood kit has unfortunately gone missing, even though it was marked as delivered on Thursday. I'm going to call the Post Office to see if I can find out where it went. Pretty frustrating but I can't let it get me down. One day at a time!

 

That's a bold strategy. I may have to see if it'll work!

It's the dream!

Hahaha that video is insane!

It's such a treasure. I never thought I would end up with this many original vintage pieces for this car.

I've been driving an Italian Model A this whole time!

Man, I was slamming some doors (not that hard) last night trying to get everything aligned. Progress!

I'll tag along for the Trabant build thread (probably on a different forum haha).

 

Remember when I said that the wood kit was missing? Well, after walking five miles to visit two post offices on foot, interviewing four postmen and spending more time than anyone should standing on a stranger's front porch, I trudged up the cul-de-sac feeling defeated. But, as I climbed my steps, what did I see? "No way! It's the wood kit!"

Here's my conjecture. There's a possibility that the package was delivered to a different address, sent back to the post office and re-delivered. Regardless of what happened, all the employees were extremely helpful. I'm glad that the whole thing worked out. What an adventure!

Naturally, I started piecing together the wood. It took a few tries to figure out where everything went, but it looks like it'll be very sturdy. I have to replicate that top piece for the passenger side, because my used kit didn't come with one.

The wood will be massaged further and later stained and sealed. As you can imagine, these simple pieces add a great deal of strength to the body. I can't wait to get the tack strip on there for that same reason.

Sharp eyed readers will also notice that I now have a registration holder on the column. I've always loved these, and I figured a vintage one would be perfect for my car. Don't worry, I have the original documents hidden in a more secure space.

 

With the body situation improving, I spent way longer than I should have reworking the passenger side door last night and today. It'll still require some additional love, but I believe it's heading in the right direction.

While we're talking about the finer details, I managed to get going on the trunk/rumble seat floor.
Mocking it up in cardboard.

Crossmember clearance. I'll post some shots of it all in place tomorrow.

 

Hahah maybe I'll have to sign it over to Floyd Lippencott...IV

Wow, that's like owning a Chris Craft for the street!

A stapler sounds better than tiny nails!

 

Today's garage time was dedicated to the lumber. I finished cutting, shaping and sanding all three pieces of the rear floor. I'll be using stock-style hardware to hold them in place. All holes were countersunk, just like on the front floorboards. Unfortunately I only took one photo of the first coat of stain. It's now wearing at least three.
Tomorrow, I'm breaking out the spar urethane. Do you like my sawhorses?