I've been here a while (I forget now will check later) June 2012! and I came to the right place! I was talking flatheads to my buddies in high school when Pro Street was budding and my friends's older brothers had muscle cars IF anything...Street rods were what was happening (I remember Chip Foose was 18 and building a white Nova with green and purple stripes ala 80's and his DAD was the street rod big deal)...meanwhile I was poring through old Hot Rod magazines in the library and finding the works of HENRY GREGOR FELSON, William C. Gault, and all the other '50's hot rod pulp fiction I could lay my hands on! the other kids were maybe glancing at a CarCraft or Road &Track occasionally while I was perusing the back pages of HOT ROD and small b&w pics of '50's hot rods...the icons! So I did what those kids did... in 1952 a Deuce was a 20 year old beater fit for racing or cuttin' down...but in 1990 a 20 year old car was a $50 - $500 Rustnag, Falcon ehs, Mavericks and Darts! V-8 swaps and even more sophisticated shit like disc brake and rear end swaps! Nothing like a 1974 302 packin' 85 horse a shushbox and a 3:00 8" to get your pulse pounding!! (remember these are upgrades from the 70 horse 6 and 7" axle w 9" brakes) so I guess I lived it at the wrong time...my favorite pipe dream as a kid was that someone realized they fucked up and transplanted me back in the '50's where I was supposed to be!! Life and commitments happened but in my heart the eventual goal was a 1950's style hot rod with the strictest adherence to my deep dives into the early days of hot rodding...which brings me around to today and well that ain't happening...the Doc is telling me to clear my slate....trad projects are stalled in parts phase and or I never had the $ to complete them... So I'm changing the parameters and letting go of that purist traditional vision...if you're looking for that please scroll on or if you're Admin go ahead and delete but please do not call this a *** rod Tomorrow I'm going to see this collection of parts that was going to be a hot rod...my buddy's wife has been taking their dog walks past it for ages and he gave me the whereabouts, I dropped a note and set up a viewing but I'm not sure what I'm looking at lol...I've identified the frame as model A, and the tub as most likely a '22-3 Dodge touring front 1/2???? but it's the rear section that I have no clue about...X brand 1920 to 1930 3 W coupe? that nailed on body bead might be a clue...it's obviously wider and taller than the Dodge(?)... Buick?? ....Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated! @31Dodger ?
'27 Whippet Willys ? very close but that bead below the trunk is missing and the trunk seems narrower from side to side...
Thanks @choptop40 Erskine's seem to have quite a different rear 1/4 profile from what I could see... Well no one else piped up with any other ideas so I rolled with the Willys as the most likely, although I'm not 100% ...the guy turned out to be very cool and building a couple really nice mild customs...he has an o/t vehicle just painted and needs space so the roadster must go! but to be honest its not really my style also a bit more than I wanted to pay for a starter...but I bought those rear 1/4s because....well I thought I had an ace up my sleeve!...you see there was a guy selling the remnants of another project which included a painted Willys frame and front spring, a dropped front axle, hair pins and the front half of a body, doors and cowl...yup a '27 Willys for $500.! I couldn't get a hold of the guy and make the deal fast enough!.....only the axle and hairpins were sold and he had abandoned the body and frame elsewhere never to be seen again and very likely scrapped. More later....
Me too....I really dug into it...but if you've ever tried to mate a ford driveline to a nailhead those bits are like hen's teeth each small bit costing hundreds of $ and all ordered from other countries ...also I never (in 12 yrs) ran across an operational ford 3 spd. the one I eventually ended up with is a giant block of rust...I suspect us Canucks are far more into recycling than down south, old trans are first thing to go...then there's really no way to replace all that wood in a "traditional" way...it was going to look like some monocoque mess of tubing...registration...yada yada yada...but mainly TIME...apparently I'm running low on it
see? quick and dirty...see you guys at the car show! Ah ha ha ha ha ha just funnin' ....its available on Marketyplace if you're in Colorado but move fast I'm sure she'll go in no time!
I know! F*** that guy! I don't need negative Nellie's in my life! One of the ways I'm working through it is to finally Hot Rod for the first time so the program is getting moved up and things like 75-90 year old parts are off the table...I'm lowering the bar, it's tough enough finding 50 year old parts and the necessaries to refurbish them! Anyway a 3..er ahem "283 style engine" followed me home today after helping a friend unload a sea can into his new shop...a real dream come true for him...it's got a set of shorty headers on it that will look good on a rod
Here ya go John So I was disappointed to learn the '27 Willys stuff was off the table... but a friend of mine was dismantling some yard art whilst at the same time I was discussing a yard art project with a friend of mine who was a tremdous help while I was sick...I decided to buy said yard art for him but my friend knew I had a stash of Model A stuff so suggested we trade...after making the deal my other buddy's wife put the kybosh on the yard art (for now) so it ended up being a '29 Willys cowl and doors, the ass end i think might be a '27 Willys so lets call this thing a '28 Willys for now this front axle and springs are from a 1932 Buick model 50...at one point it was a complete unit minus b/p's but over time sold the wire wheels and steering gear the real antiquated stuff so this is my plan : these spindles etc. are from a 1953-4? Buick I hope to graft the spindles, steering box/column, and steering gear to this axle using the '32 springs 1/4 elliptical style This axle is from a '53 -'56 Ford pickup and here is a running engine that will suffice for now but eventually be replaced by 283 that is coming down the pipeline (i think) at some point... these header will look cool on a rod and I see a space on the driver's side for a steering box So far that's week 1 and no money spent because the model A pile was actually deep into the black...it paid for itself, the front + the rear section and probably still in the black but I didn't keep count so I'm just going to say it paid for the body, everything else is stuff lying around the yard ...zero dollars so far
yes...o/t "283 style" engine it's a bit convoluted but I had some long term projects on "slow burn" that now have to go... one of those requires a running engine...they aren't o/t but no point delving into them here...once this running engine is installed it will free up a 283 (of unknown condition) for this project...and yes I'd like to use those headers if they fit!...but have some ram's horns if not
I'm going to raise the rear 1/4's so they don't have that 1920's turtle deck look lower than the rest of the body...to that end I'm going to add a few inches to the bottom of them in front of the wheelwells. I would like recreate these '29 body beads on these earlier 1/4s ...I think I'll add them externally rather than try to hammer them in...anyone have any ideas where I should look for some 1/2 round stripping? Think easy to find or create...like something you'd find at the hardware store...any ideas throw them out there - thanks!
well this '30 Dedsoto followed me home...she was the victim of a fire many years ago and sat up in the dry part of our area...I know you're thinking what does this have to with a Willys coupe? well there's the last missing component...a frame! she's 13 feet long stem to stern which is getting away from the stubby little coupe I had in mind but I'm not fussy...I have a chopped up mangled Model A frame I was working with and some ideas for an elliptical spring set up (which was really getting away from the simplistic quick and dirty concept of this project) so this is a big step forward...it's got springs etc. so I can literally bolt my axles right on to it...I have 2 old axles to work with '23 Packard and '32 Buick whichever bolts in, steering gear from a '54 Buick, a 283/PG combo and a '57 Chevy rear axle... and I've been working on a tubing inner structure to replace the non existent wood...other parts I will use off the Desoto are the fenders(maybe) the door posts (or one cut in half) , roof side panels and the rear of the roof & back window for the 3 W coupe, and possibly the all steel inner panels from the front doors as they're currently just skins
So we decided the best thing to do was bring my roller axles there and bolt them under the car...seller was a super nice guy and gave me a hand and even delivered it! So first I tried this combo... But it just wasn't working for me...while I was there he gave me a little tour of his beautiful property and huge shop....and I spied a pair of '20's something coupe rear 1/4s...he had aquired them through an "all or nothin" deal and didn't need them so gave me a great deal on them... Since the Willys is just a sheet metal skin at the moment having the other 1/4's got me to thinking...hmmm maybe I actually have 2 cars here
So to that end... There's no turning back now lol!....since neither pairs of 1/4's had a body bead line I'm going to incorporate the body bead of the Desoto into the rear section...slipping it down until the curvature of the bead under the rear window (which rises up) meets the top of the Chev 1/4's
I was nervous but there comes a time when you have to make that first cut.... **Ignore the length of that 1/4 window...it's going to be a 3W....I left it there because it's going to be one of the most crucial cuts and I don't want to fuck it up! Also helps to get the bead line square with the door edges.... Proud of that... I suddenly hit the first big snag of fitting two different makes of car together... If you look at the rear roof panel and the door below a trained eye can see that A) the rear 1/4 window tapers down at the rear... B) the upper body bead follows that taper... C) the front doors taper up 5/8ths from front to back! Uggg oh crap! I started to envision extremely difficult things like: cutting a wedge shape up into the gutter/body bead of the roof or even worse trying to wedge chop a square door top!! fuggedaboutit! both options would look like warm dog shit! measuring up from the side body bead the 19" I needed would move the doors farther forward making a huge side roof area...too ugly for a 3W and a rather odd looking 5W ... then it dawned on me...maybe the Plymouth engineers had already solved the problem for me...(once again ignore the large 1/4 window!) the door tapers....yep if I suicide the doors flip 'em side for side I can move them back to a point where both the top bead and side beads line up... add a couple inches to the front of the 1/4s and Bob's yer uncle ...whew!
The Jalopy Journal
