Hot Rods NEW ILL-ADVISED RPU MODEL T PROJECT

also, I was thinking of staying with stock A brakes... they don't go fast enough to real demand juice brakes??? do they... I have them with both... and both seem to work good enough...;My 31 with a hopped up B banger runs with traffic easy, so need good brakes... but most my cars, I'm a back road man...

 

any pics out there with green wires???

 

I'm saying this in the nicest way possible: What, exactly, do you want someone to tell you? You don't like the color of the wheels. Guys tell you that you can paint the wheels. You respond that you have a bunch of wheels, some need paint, some don't. You ask what color would look good with the green. Then you say red always looks good. Then you figure black looks good with the color of the wheels you've got. Then you say there's more sheep than herders here. But you want someone to tell you what to do, as if you're a sheep.....use those wheels or don't. Paint the wheels or don't. Paint the car or don't. Z the frame if thats what you want to do, or don't. Its your car, be that herder that you want to be. Or don't.

 

My T is also a '26 RPU cab and is also on a Model A frame. It's not Z'd or stepped and isn't super low but not super tall I don't think either. I'm personally not fond of a big step in the frame that ends up putting the top of the pickup box level with the back of the cab, looks odd to me, but that's my personal opinion.

If it was me, I'd paint everything black and put it all together on the frame, reversed spring eyes and maybe a dropped axle and/or flattened crossmember but without the step in the frame. I do like the look of a shortened box, but not too short, just enough so the wheel is in the center without a huge overhang. I was looking for a box for mine when I ran into the early turtle deck and just used that instead. No channel, and a dropped footwell behind the pedals for a bit extra space. Mine's got a V8 but I wouldn't mind a 4 banger at all, maybe with a header and a downdraft intake/carb.

 

WOW,,, thats cool




any more pics???

 

I'm say'n this the nicest way I can...THANKS

 

I do have a build thread on it but it's really poor, I didn't take a whole lot of in depth pictures or update it very regularly, but you can see more here.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/26-t-roadster-build-thread.851873/

 

Mmmmm, let's see. What body color would go well with your green wheels on your '26 T?
Do you mind if I take a stab?

 

lucky charms...probley the best so far...

 

Bit of a no-brainer really........

 

what did you do on the windshield??

 

I looked before to find this rear trunk section..

 

My friend Crazy Joe actually built that windshield, he's the guy I got the car from originally, it's the bottom section of a stock one and about 2 or 3 inches of the top of the top section put together, to make a frame that goes all the way around, and the posts were modified to match. That way there's no exposed glass edge, and a bit more windshield height than just using the bottom half of a stock frame. I do wish it was taller though, as I'm pretty tall and I end up looking over the top of it (Joe is a lot shorter than me). I do like the one piece setup though, and it makes a handy spot to clamp a rear view mirror onto.

 

when I looked at it it looked about 2 or 3 '' taller and figured thats what you did.... lotsa work... but it looks right and cool...

 

I don't mean to hijack the thread,
The wheels that were in the photo are stock 28/29 Ford 21-in wires, at first I wanted to go late 1920s race car with a homemade wood body using a Model A chassis, I probably spent 15 hours sanding those wheels and spraying them with rustoleum paint. As I was was starting to assemble the jalopy I all of suddenly realized I wanted to build a pre war banger or at least something real close to what they would have built in that time frame on little to no budget (My goal is $3,000 including registration so far I am way under budget) .
Anyways I have the hupmobile touring body, I had it for sale for months with no takers so instead of letting it rot away I think I'm going to use part of it (The shameful part is, it's a complete touring body and I hate butchering something relatively complete it has the fenders the rear doors the hood, rear body steel and I think even the steering column), I will post a picture of it from when I originally had it listed on craigslist. realistically I would like to come across a T or A roadster pickup body that I can afford.. I check the classifieds pretty much every day here in SoCal I'm sure if I'm patient something will pop up meanwhile I can build the chassis in the meantime and if nothing pops up by the time I'm ready to do the body I will cut up the Hupp. I literally (as in today) just bought 5 tires, a pair of Firestone blackwall 6.00-16 for the rear, 1 used and a single 7.00-16 (I think that tire is a little big for a pre war Model A but we will see) and I bought a pair of used but new if that makes sense 4.00/4.50 Firestones Blackwalls for the front, these are for the 16-in wires that aren't pictured, The wire wheels I have to paint, They were found in a garage up above the garage door displayed like a flag and they were powder coated "patriotic" meaning red, white and blue, I donated the white wheel to a buddy before I realized I had a use for it so I have 2 scuzzy wheels I bought at a swap meet and along with the red and blue wheels I now have a set of appropriate big and littles that should look pretty correct for what I'm going for, I figure a coat of spray can gloss black with some reproduction brand new hubcaps that I also bought for practically nothing will make it look like a million bucks.
The front axle was actually bought at a swap meet in San Diego, for some reason it was stupid cheap I bought it near the end of the day and he said nobody asked about it.
I have been buying everything at estate sales, swap meets or through the classified ads with the exception of the consumable items that I have to buy at CW Moss (brake hydraulics, The leaf spring bolts, new brake shoes and springs and a few other odds and ends).
The photo I posted a day or two ago was just to give me an idea if the body would fit and honestly it's a little big for the Model A chassis. A Model A wide bed fits the Hup-body really well width wise It's just my chassis needs to be about 5 inches longer but I'm limited by the 42 to 8 rear axle that somebody cut down and did a spring over conversion on for a Model A that I also bought at an estate sale, I guess technically I can probably change the torque tube an original length one and then lengthen the frame but I think it'll lose the tiny car cool factor that a hot rod needs.
Anyways I'm doing this on my back patio as you can tell in the picture, This weekend weater permitting I'm going to get the engine and trans in the chassis, I have bought some performance stuff for the engine but I think I'm just going to put it in there stock for now so I can keep moving along. I probably need to make a build thread I'm just not real good at documenting my work and a kind of bounce around between projects as I have money or parts. Anyways here is the picture of the hupmobile body complete.
Also and most importantly
For anybody (especially a younger person) in the future that is reading this, you don't have to spend a lot of money You just got to be patient and have the drive to hunt down all the parts and read as much as you can on this website, car vintage magazines and books for traditional hot rods, It's all about having fun and building stuff at the end of the day a budget built hot rod is just as fun as $100,000 32 Ford if anything it's probably even more fun because you can beat a bit on it and not worry about it.

 

F them!
Most of the people that will criticize you are the ones that don't build cars but always talk a good line that they're going to one day and they are going to do such and such but yet they haven't built anything or they have a million unfinished projects, If you get a guy That is a serious builder and he asked you why you didn't do something he might actually have a genuine curiosity or might know a better way but those guys are rare.
I would imagine all of us are guilty of having some unfinished/back burnered projects but you know the type of people I'm talking about we've all met them.
My thought is when it comes to your car in this thread make it a roller ASAP once it gets the body set on the frame all of a sudden you can see the vision and like everybody told me the car will talk to you until you what it wants done for the style. Even if there is a million things to do on the car you are more motivated to crank on it If you can see it. Also If you build it and you make it a driver you can always change stuff at a later date, The cool thing is with these early cars is everything's like Legos You can change things like dropped axles in just a couple of hours or even do engine R & R's In a few hours. To get it on the road, don't have to have the built model B engine a stock couple of hundred dollar Model A engine will do just fine. The green wheels don't even need to be painted (honestly they might pop with a black bodied car That doesn't have a lot of Chrome). All you got to have a real basic vision of a style and era you want, then stick to it and then start wrenching. I have to say so far the Model A Banger project is probably one of the funnest cars I've tinkered on and ironically it's one of the cheapest.

 

still gathering parts and ideas... so thanks to all that post'
I've got more to go on the 32.. and alot togo on the 31

 

this 26 is kinda DeJa'Vu... the last one

 

this is just part of the cars I did last year,I built a barn to put them in ,in Kanab Utha.... while the barn was being built I parked them in front of the house... everyone loved them, and people stop and take pics everyday... so this is where they will stay...

 

I like your last roadster pickup. Maybe a bit lower, and some '31 A splash aprons on there to help cover up some of the mechanicals that droop down below the frame, that's a solid look.

 

thats one of my ta do's,,, gotta raise the motor... it's about 4'' too low... made for a tough time try'n to get it lower...

 

so here's my progress...put big lights on the 32 and rims to get the tires closer to the body... picked up a ford falcon/comet v8 rear..56'' wide for it... but too lazy and no time for the swap.... so it's pretty much done...

 

the vicky got a 36 front axel, 48 chevy tail lights lighted plate frame and brake lights so I can drive it...far from done...also built a play house cabin for the grand kids..milked that job long as I could..

 

little progress on the AT, A chassis w/ T body... put the 600/16's square...all for corners the same... figured running in the dirt the bigger tires on wider rims would be better...of coarse I don't know nothing about any thing so surely it a bad idea...I set the body on,and have a too nice truck bed... I really hate to cut up, so watching for another bed...at the cross roads for the front axel... ??? 36??? or 4'' drop??? and the brakes... I have all the stock brakes.... but don't know how to put them on...but, I don't know how to do anything, so not a surprise

 

oh, and heres more pics of the cabin... collecting old stuff for it...
I took my labor out in trade... one of the only times I come out on trade deals you know your gonna end up F'd on the deal

 

so whats the though on the 16'' wires ... keep um or keep looking???

 

Green looks alright, with or without W/W

 

Looks like a real decent body, I wouldn't hesitate to use up a real nice box on that.