Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Yes! It belonged to a friend of mine's dad. He was a United Airlines mechanic back in the 1960s and kept his things extremely nice. This camera is no exception.

Hahahha I told Yama that last night and we both got a good laugh (neither of us were born yet).

I'm proud to run them. Can't wait to wire them up and really give them new life.

 

Today in Photos

Extremely nice components from Dennis Lacy. Note that the drag link is adjustable. It will soon be painted white.

Rode the chopper to beautiful downtown San Francisco. I stopped to snap a picture of one of my favorite signs in that part of the city.

And on 35mm about four lifetimes ago.

Back at the garage, I knocked the flange off of the bottom of the steering box.

 

I then proceeded to mock everything up. Does anyone have a F-1 steering box nut and lock washer either in chrome or in nice condition? I'm on the market for one, but figured I'd ask here.

With the hairpin steering arm flipped, the whole setup looks like it's going to work great. Very exciting stuff. As you read this, the primer on the steering arm is drying. Next up, white paint!

 

Thank ya!

He's the best! We have some other top-secret ones from the Version 1.5 disassembly, but those are for another day.

 

One of the biggest moments for me in the past few weeks was being able to show Gen my progress on the car. As you can see, this build is serious business...
...sometimes!

 

Yesterday, I finished up the paint on the steering arm. One day I may make a plate for it to make it a little more custom, but this will do for now. And don't worry, I'll fix that metric bold on the tie rod!
I also ate a hamburg at Red's Java House. If you haven't been, I highly recommend. They serve the burgers on fresh San Francisco sourdough baguettes, and they pair well with a Coca-Cola and a sunny afternoon.

 

Don't worry, my brother has us covered! (Throwback to Christmas 2023.)

 

Man, that's been on my list for a long, long time. I'd love to drive my roadster out there—and pack just about every camera I own.

 

It's been a busy week with non-car related things, but I was able to make my way out to the garage for a little bit of progress on the steering flange reinforcement piece. I gave it a quick five-minute polish, and it certainly looks old. I'll give it a little more once I'm back in town. I may trim the right side a bit to even things out, too.

 

Made some progress last night in the garage. I'll post a full update once I check a few more things off the list.

 

After a very fun, very full weekend in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I'm back in the garage to tackle the latest task: steering. While I was there, I found plenty of inspiration in the landscape, architecture, and the region's rich cultural history.

Downtown Santa Fe.

A more contemporary look at the Santa Fe Opera House.

The International Museum of Folk Art was definitely worth the visit.

As the sun set on my trip, I felt grateful to be out in the desert.
And when I returned, I got right to work on my roadster.

 

Sidebar 480: Dropping In

Moon, and others, made column drops specifically for 1932 Ford dashboards. Mine, however, wasn't one of them. I thought about solutions for awhile. Then, yesterday morning, I came up with the simplest one that I decided to try.

First, I popped off the cowl top and bolted the dash in place.

Then, I took my little block of aluminum and misted it blue so I could scribe it.

Here's how the drop sat. See how it's cocked to the left? My plan? Make an aluminum wedge to fill the space. Then I would distress it to match.

CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) time.

 

From there, I spent the better part of the afternoon whittling away at the aluminum block. When I finally got it how I wanted, I mocked it all up.
Guess what. The wheel sat too low. It would have been okay for driving, but getting in and out of the car was extremely difficult. Because I'm planning to keep this thing forever, I could only imagine how hard it would be to maneuver once I'm older. I sat in the seat and thought about my backup plan.

 

Then, as I was messing with the column, one of my clamps slipped, sending the drop behind the dash. "Hey, wait a second," I said, lifting the column. "That looks great!"
I thought back to photos from Deuce and Andy Southard's Hot Rods of the 1950s, and I remembered that this was a common way to mount a column. And, strangely enough, this drop already had a score line that matched the lower contour of the dash rail.

Now that I had the positioning right, it was time to shore everything up.

Step 0: Cut steering column to length.

Step 0.5: Make at least three cuts as you zero in on the most ergonomic position.

Step 1: Make a steel column drop mounting plate. I cut staggered spacers for the dash-mount bolts using square tubing.

Step 2: Take a walk through the city.

Step 3: Laugh as you remember that this is a genuine LOON accessory. Textured paint adds to vintage appearance.

Step 4: Trim upper washers and bolt it all together.

 

I almost forgot the bonus step: use a crazy amount of tools and read two vintage Hot Rod Magazines as you work.

 

It's a little hard to fathom, but this car finally has a steering wheel. Not just any wheel, but one from a 1954 Hudson Hornet. It's in a perfect position for me: not too high, not too low. It's comfortable, and I think it'll be even better when it steers the car down the road.

I knew setting up the steering position was going to be tricky, but I'm happy with how it all turned out. It's a classic example of having to do something wrong in order to do it right. The end result is sturdy and simple. On to the next thing!

 

So, what's next? Earlier today, I ordered the full steering box rebuild kit from Mac Van Pelt, plus a few odds-n-ends. Tomorrow, I'll be doing some cleanup on the steering box to prep it for welding and assembly. Maybe I'll even start thinking about throttle pedal location and rear floor construction?