Little Runaway has is what we call her, she is a 1927 Ford Roadster that has gone and returned. I was pretty young at the time I started building her. I was about 21 years old. My dad scored a Deuce pickup cab, so I was going to build the truck, it was the only way I could afford to get into a Deuce. All while working on the truck I wanted a Roadster. Not too long after I started working on the truck I found a Roadster sitting behind a house on 1st Street in Loveland, CO. I made a deal on the roadster and brought it home. The pickup went on the back burner and I was building a roadster. I will post more pics as I figure out how to manage this thread.
Thanks, I have had so many different engines in this car. It started out with early Olds engine, then 270 Dodge hemi, flathead fords and SBC. However, I had this model T home in Dads garage and was formulating a plan with no money. I purchased an add in Hemmings and sold the running chassis and got paid to deliver the chassis as well. I had some money to spend and there were some swap meets coming up. At the swap meets I was able to purchase a set of Deuce frame rails, Mor Drop axle and Halibrand rear end. Dad helped me build the chassis and soon I had a roller. The frame was rough and had it's scars from previous hot rodders. I remember my dad asking me, "Are you sure you want to start with a frame this rough, we can find a better one?" I told him, "This one will do, plus it was in my budget." These photos posted are photos of original photos, but pictures will get better as I go. These are circa 1996, the frame rails were cut off behind the front cross member, I grafted the front part of a model chassis to fix that problem. I got pretty good at filling holes because there were hundreds of them. I set the roadster body on the table and drew the outline of the body, then removed the body from the table. I proceeded to shape the frame rails to the outline of the body. The yellow paint on the body was very hard to remove and became I key feature in identifying the car 25 years later.
Sorry about the double post on the picture, that made things confusing. When I sold the car I moved on to buying 32 Fords. The 32's were so much easier to build I.E. flush fit doors, plenty of room for everything and tons of parts available. Lil Runaway was my car and I was pretty hard on myself about quality and I always thought this was a POS. My dad and I would randomly talk about the whereabouts of Lil Runaway and wondered why we never crossed paths with it in all our travels. My dad was always more enthused about the car than me after I sold it. He would say, "We should look for your old 27 roadster and try and get it back." I would say, "That would be cool, but remember that was my first build. In other words it was a POS dad, I can just build another that is even better." He agreed and we would move on. This conversation would come up about every 12 months or so over the next 20 years. We were talking about Lil Runaway again in December of 2020, same conversion as before. This time I agreed, "We should casually start looking for my old roadster." He agreed and stated, "I will start asking around." It wasn't more than an hour later, and he called me back. He stated, "I found your car on Facebook and I am getting in contact with the owner." I said, "Is it for sale?" He said, "I don't know, I will get back with you." Long story made short, we made a deal and got the car bought without motor, trans and wheels. Funny how all these years I always refused to look for the car and never crossed paths with the car either, and then the first time I accepted to look for the car it was found in less than an hour. Lil Runaway had some specific parts on it that I made which made it easy to identify. Not to mention the traces of yellow paint still stuck to it on the inside of body and hard reach places. Here are some photos on the day we picked it up. Now the build thread begins...
It was long ride home and we discussed many ways to build the car. Everything from keep it the way we found it and stab a flathead back in it and have fun, to a complete overhaul. The car was cool, but it wasn't what I had envisioned, so I unloaded the car in my shop and started tinkering with it and getting reacquainted. There were items added and removed to the car I didn't approve of, the decision was made to overhaul the car. If I didn't like what was there or didn't put it there, I removed it. I removed the seat and sold it, I didn't like how high it made you sit the car and I could operate the pedals very good. I filled the grill shell and swapped out the front axle for a Deuce axle. Installed a set of Buick drums, Halibrand Sprint wheels and removed the big headlights for a set of King Bee fog lights. I just couldn't get myself to put a heavy Flathead or Overhead in the car I.E. Olds/Cadillac, Chrysler or Dodge. I chose an early SBC, my Dad had 265 Chevy that he had been following us around for as long as I can remember. It was an NHRA national record holder motor from back in the late 50's and early 60's. The quick change had always been setup as an open drive line so opted to put a Muncie 4 speed as a transmission. I am not anti Flathead Ford or Vintage Motor that this was originally set up for, I have just learned this combination is really fun to drive and performs well. Attached are some random photos as I go along. Thanks
Cool I have been thinking of something similar for my flathead to go in. I've got most of the pieces stashes away for a modified style roadster.
Very Cool Roadster. I am currently working on a 1927 Ford Touring Car Hot Rod (My Avatar). Later "T"'s are cool. Happy Building, VR&C.
By this time I am cutting off stuff left and right, I filled two wheel barrows of metal and burned threw 5 cut off wheels and bunch of oxy/acetylene. There is no real order of operation here, I do what I can, when I can, where I can. I knew I wanted to run a magneto so I made room for that. I made the original dash in the car by modifying an original, but I wanted something a little more custom, so I made a dash that resembled a Deuce dash. The dash would be a scaled down version with a Stewart Warner straight 5 panel. I also decided to get rid of the cowl steering. The decision wasn't easy because I had all that time in making the parts and modifying the steering box, but in the end the car had to perform. I remembered some of the reasons I had for doing the cowl steering. One reason was, I was being lazy and not taking the time to make everything fit in the car. So it was kind of short cut in building this car. So out it came and in with a cross steering box and pan hard bar. I made a new column drop and bracket to bolt the column to the firewall. You can start to see a theme here of this stuff gets bolted in so you can work on it later I.E. assemble and disassemble for paint or later repairs. I started on new headlight mounts and shock mounts. Everyone has their own ideas in this department, so I will go through mine. I placed the shock behind the axle because I didn't want it to be the focal point on the car and take away from the axle. I placed the headlight in front of the shock to attempt to hide the shock. You can still see the shock, but you get the picture. I also chose a small headlight, because I feel it is more proportional with the smaller model T body. These lights are 5" King Bee fog lights. There will not be a high beam low beam option, just lights. I also place the headlight low enough so you can't see it from the side, because it is hidden behind the wheel. Now for the application of the shock mount bracket. I always like to make the bolt holes run as vertical as possible on the side of the frame. This helps distribute the lateral forces at the attachment point. As you can see in the photo the chrome ones have the bolts running for and aft with a little extra material welded on the frame. These end up tearing out the frame in short order. So I removed the old and threw them in the wheel barrow, cut off the scab that was under it too. The new shock mounts were mounted with 7/16 thru bolts with hex nuts in the gusseted frame. With this design the bolt will break and the bolt will be easy to extract and replace.
Great story. Sometimes things are meant to be, glad to see you got it back. Looking forward to watching your progress.
Moving forward, I knew I wanted a complete car I.E. 3 piece hood, top etc...but not fenders. So first was the hood top then hood sides. I wanted louvers that would flow some air so I put big ones in. The front part of the sides don't have louvers because that is my fan shroud and will help direct the air out. I am also working on the turtle deck in between. I will keep the turtle removable, so it has to fit good. I am moving along at a fast pace, feel free to ask any questions and enjoy the photos.
The hood is pretty much done, now I just have to make everything fit inside. Moving on to the cockpit, I chose a set of Ford F1 pedals they were part of the original design too. As for the gas pedal, I couldn't get myself to cut up an original spoon pedal so made one that is stronger. I prefer a mechanical linkage, not a cable. The pedal assembly is based on a Ford design from the early 60's. I had a Hurst Competition Plus shifter for the Muncie. I had to bend the handle over to the right so I could fit in the car. There is no extra room in these Model T's. The floors are all removable in case I need to adjust shifter linkage or clutch linkage, inspection hatches for master cylinder service and battery disconnect switch. I originally design the car to use a gas tank out of a 28 Chevy. That tank fit well, but the capacity was too small. So I built a new tank with a whopping 25 gallon capacity. Gas stations can be few and far between when cruising on scenic roads. As I work around the car I find things I am not happy with. For example, this car has a narrow rear I.E. less than the standard 57". I like the rear wheels sucked in, but the front wheel track is too wide for me, especially with the brakes that I really want to run so I can create center point steering. I will be digging through the axle pile to figure out how to narrow the front track.
Wow! This completely kicks ass. There’s a few things that I think if I read them on paper I’d be skeptical of such as the long hood but I’ll be danged if every single thing just plane “works” I love the down sized dash, the tall louvers reaching nearly to the edge of the panel and leaving the front blank like a stock ford, the cove for the mag. It’s all really great man thank you for sharing. a few questions real quick, does the throttle get any sort of bushing or is it just the metal Z bar rod threw the plate bracket? Second question, how did you make the long louvers? Splice some existing louvers in, humongous die, pull max? On the front axle width if you run out of viable option and don’t want to cut an I beam in half super bell can make you an axle to whatever width your wanting. Just an option to throw out there.
T Thank you, thank you thank you for the kind words. The hood is a little longer than normal. This is a model T body on a deuce frame. Lil Runaway is definitely not the status quo when it comes to roadsters. Interesting enough, when Lil Runaway is parked next to a status quo 32 high boy roadster it is like Carrie Underwood sitting next to Kim Kardashian. The hood sides was made from a stock 32 ford. I only possess basic tools and that is what I came up with. As for the axle, I cam up with one that is not like any other and will show later on. This car is a must see in person, I will be debuting her at LARS this year, even if it is in primer. The gas pedal has no bushings, just like a 64 mustang, self cleaning and works freely without a lot of maintenance. I put a little weld on the shaft to keep it located in the bracket. Thanks again.
Amazing effort,,, Thanks for the show. Really LOVE the whole Package, Plus History. Just sayin' so as I'm sure you know, Wider front track gives more/easier control.
Thank you, I appreciate the compliments. You are correct about the wider front track. The track will only be narrowed enough so the front isn't wider than the rear. I am just "picking the fly shit out of the pepper".
I spent a lot of time on the front of the car. The back of the car need some attention now. I love 50 Pontiac taillights, and many 27 Roadsters use them and they fit in the panel below the deck lid. On my roadster I was just hung up on the location and the light location made the rear of body seem even more shallow. I started to sample some different light locations. I used card board cut outs and red paint to mock up new ideas. I even tried some hanging below the body, simulating a 37 Ford light. I chose a 46-48 Chevy tail light located in the sub frame. I moved the Hollywood license plate bracket with them and made rear bumper. I also shaved the Model A deck lid handle and made a new latch. I didn't want an electric solenoid release or pull cable to maintain, so I made latch that would always open with basic tools. I also planned on a full exhaust for this car and the tail pipes would be part of the look at the back of the car. No pea shooter pipes here, 2.5" exhaust the whole way from the back of the Hedman headers. There will be motor swaps in the future, but the first one will have tons of compression.
Fuck that looks immeasurably better. I can’t believe how different/ better it looks with the lights moved down
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