If you guys have been following my T thread, you might have seen my buddy AJ a couple times. When I went to back to the fifties, I stopped at his shop in Iowa, and gave him a ride in the T. That started the ball rolling, He had to have a T roadster. I went up to their open house, and then he came down to mine, but when he came, he was bearing gifts. We had been talking about doing some trading to get him IN to an early hot rod, and me ON to a triumph (he's an engine builder/ machinist/ bike guy) and so when he came down he made a dream of mine come true, owning a triumph motorcycle. It needs alot of work (all the work) but i'm up for the challenge. Now it was up to me to work on my end of the deal. a couple weeks ago, as I was working on turning more of my yard into driveway, I decided to drag the body out of my garden shed. I piled it into a wheelbarrow, and rolled it over to the shop door. Last weekend I had planned on pulling out some pieces while AJ was down visiting, but it was really cold and rainy all day, so we just sat in the shop, bounced ideas off each other and got a plan of where we were heading with both the hot rod and the bike. We went through a ton of early T pictures, and kept coming back to these two cars as his favorites. cotton werksman's T, I think Dennis mcphail owned this at one time? So, much like my T. How convenient to have a car in the wings I can get measurements from. As always, I don't have room for this, but I'm starting it anyways... which begs the question... As you can see, as usual, I am starting with a couple PRIME pieces of sheetmetal. Started lining up the pieces that had been cut up, this is probably the nicest panel on the car. then I started on this panel, I think i'll be able to use the lower piece from the rear door area as a patch for the driver side. In a rare turn of events for mid-December, we had an 'open garage door day' it was a balmy 48 degrees! The sunlight helps show how awful this panel is, hence the "sack O potatos" name. remember that door I didn't use on my roadster cause it was gonna take alot of work? Itttsssss baaacck! and its still garbage. I had to straighten up, cause I had a visit from the shop manager. I started sticking stuff together, and kinda getting an idea of how the body was, And man, it was fighting me, and I couldn't figure out why.. also this is about when I figured out the radiator was waaaaay too tall. a couple lucky informed guesses later, I had a top rail bent. this is gonna be somewhere between a T and an A back of the cab, flat top edge like and A, but rounded corners like a T. At least, that's the plan. Remember when I said this thing was fighting me? well I figured out why. The above side is from a 23+ T roadster, along with the cowl top and firewall. however.... THIS side is from a pre-22 'low cowl' T body. So after all the work I put into this side, It will need some surgery. Luckily, I happen to have a spare 'high cowl' side, that will work perfect to add the pieces I need. So with the cowl sorta fudged around to fill in the gaps, I mounted the windshield, and started playing around with frame, seat and steering ideas. hence started the extreme-high-tech drawing stage. still playing around with a bunch of ideas, but I thought I would color it out. It should be a lot like my car, but with a couple twists. I'm leaning towards using quarter elliptical springs again, partially cause they worked so well, and partially because they will help with the tight packaging. but to figure out the layout I needed a visual. So... Mockup time! And I'll leave you with another high tech picture, this time edited on my phone. It still needs a lot of tweaking, I'm not in love with the look of the back of the cab yet, and the rear end will be lifted up, so body will be set on a forward rake. So there it is. project number next. don't worry, it shouldn't stall out like the speed coupe.
Thanks man! its nice to try out some the other ideas I had for mine. Haha! you tupperware collector, you. Actually, since i'm not fully finishing this one, the chances of it being really nice go up substantially.
"We here at WagTag Rod and Custom get more done in an afternoon than most people get done all year....well at least more than that drdave dude." LOL Looking cool already Joey!
Use a cross spring in the back. In your drawing the quarter elliptic spring pads are where your ass belongs. Two outer, lower radius rods in back, (like in your drawing), for bottom…then run the single top rear bar down the driveshaft tunnel, (3-bar, not 4 bar). Now you can drop the seat pan down, to sit in car not on it. I’m 6’ tall…my seat pan is at the bottom of the outer perimeter frame rails.
We talked about a buggy spring rear, but he wants to put a bed on the back to haul motorcycle engines or mini bikes, so I don't wanna waste space up high with a spring. The plan is the springs down low like my T, under/below the seat, I was able to get the seat low enough for me in it, and I'm picky about seats. Where is your gas tank? that's another undecided factor.
Yeah you sit plenty low in Joeys T. Neither of us are small guys but if you sat any lower it would be to low.
Yes, I've been working on this too! Mostly still in the parts gathering stage still, but I finally shook out what id been looking for @CoolForSchool58 Bought some T parts, and wasn't going to use them all, so a small cash exchange later, and I own them! It would appear that it is the back half of a dodge touring. so now comes the thoughts, do we continue with the rpu plans, and just use the rear section of this? do we take the rear door area out and make a short tub? so many options, and I think the only way to figure it out, will be to mock it up. But back to Saturday, and cutting the subrails to shove this in my truck, with the worlds toughest sawsaw blade. and it fit! ... sorta. we probably raised some eyebrows on the way home, but hey, whatever works. till next time! . .
That is an '18 or earlier Dodge Brothers touring body. Rear fender brackets/angle iron tells me that. Dave
For the record... we all know you could have gotten it home without chopping it in half. You just didn't want to lmfao. Looks like some solid metal to work with.
Why do I have a feeling that your shop manager was sent by the boss ( your wife) to check on your progress.
haha well I thought about hoisting it onto the roof, but I already had planned to cut it up, and had my sawzall, so it went in two pieces.
I think I'm probably in contending for the record amount of times a Sawzall blade has been straightened.
Oh man, when that sawzall blade gets all taco'd an' grabs 'hold of the panel... and beats the dog snot outta yer knuckles... now we're cookin'!!
The Jalopy Journal
