My posts in this thread should answer your dual updraft question. And I may know of one for sale if you decide to go that direction. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=313458&page=9 http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=313458&page=10 Good luck!
39cent cant get this link to work : 'http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58834 thank you ............. steve
16" bent spoke kelsey hayes wheels were an accessory for the '35 ford people did hop-up the sedans pre-war.....pretty much since new leaving the fenders and whatnot is a great way to go about it more of a sleeper type car or a car from an area other then southern california if your shooting for 46 you can run dual ups or dual downdrafts, i actually think the updrafts were really lost out by the time WWII rolled around but im sure there were still guys running them sounds like a great project to me good luck Zach
so who is it you are trying to satisfy? me , politly . already got good info . just lookin for more . long road ahead of me ............... thanks .. steve
Hey Steve when wanting to go the route of building a period car it is sometimes easier to kind of start from the ground up to make things easier and in some cases save money, since I don't have a description of your complete car I will just say that I have seen guys build a completly new chassis and use there motor that they already have and recoop some money by selling the original rolling chassis, it also keeps your car running while still being able to work on it. I see a period sedan as one sitting on a model A frame, stock rear with some highway gears and basically stock frontend with juice brakes all the way around, fenderless but leave or make some type of splash apron, unchopped with a full hood. If you have stock running gear or early ford then half the battle is already done, I always like the idea of guys building period cars and sticking to it, I read earlier comments on period correctness being BS and people looking at your car won't know the difference but the bottom line is you will know the difference and most period correct people do it for a love of that particular time, mine happens to fall into most cars built pre 55, anyway keep us posted and good luck with the project.
Why not do what the rivet-counting "modeling" crowd does, like the model trains guys for instance. They get SERIOUS and pick a time and date - like October 19, 1947, 10:00 AM for instance - and go from there. Research the vehicles, products, speeds, etc. No sense building a period perfect car that's too fast, eh? And don't forget to also research the lives and fashions of the racers and their families - our society in general. Get out the family albums and take a look at what our folks and their family was wearing. If you are going to be true to some historical reference, then why show up with a rings in your nose, tatoos all over your arms, an orange mohawk or Nikes? And play some Benny Goodman for heaven's sake!!! Gary
Steve, one of the best books I've come across is The Birth Of Hot Rodding - The Story of the Dry Lakes Era by Robert Genat. It's available now in paperback from www.motorbooks.com or 1 800/826-6600. Lot's of colored photos, and period correct ideas for ya. Keith
tommy, Do you have any more info on this pic? McCay is a variation of our family name (it was McCaughey when we came over, got written down as McCay at Ellis Island, then became McKay...)
That's right....sedans were considered family cars then,,,not cool for hot rodding in the 40's. They were square (pardon the pun). That would have been like hot rodding an 18 year old Camry now. Pick a later "period" if period's your thing. Hot rod sedans started to proliferate in the early 60's.
well its all i got , so on with the project . ill buy manikens & put them in the back seat , family car & all . but it will be mine no matter what . thanks all ... steve
Sounds great fun , both part hunting and building Good luck and post some pictures up so we can all learn some thing new
I can't speak for other areas of the country, but I know for a fact that there were many hot rod sedans in the South. It is hard to pinpoint the dates they were first done, but they were early. The A sedan was one of the most popular, maybe THE most popular, shine runner cars in the early days, too. The shine runner A sedans were full fendered, and had heavy duty rear springs in the rear, which gave a jacked up look when unloaded. They were designed to look "normal" when loaded, so as to not raise suspicions. It is rather sad to see that even on the HAMB, so many do not understand the appeal of period correct hot rods.
Steve, just pretend you were the first guy building a sedan in the 40's. The fenders would have been the first thing to go, however. Good luck, it could be cool.
I agree, and not just in the South to haul corn. I can rember as a small boy during and right after WWII that old chivvys and fords were popular and affordable for almost anybody in our neck of the woods. All of my neighbor friends had one and my older brother had one. They were plentiful. In the heartland nobody was poor. Everybody had 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, family cars. Except my dad of course, he was a tightwad and wouldn't buy a new car. Backyards were full of old Chivvys and Fords, many wore out, after all they were nearly 20 years old for crrissakes! Of course some people preferred roadsters, but there simply weren't enough to go around. I was driving model A pickups around the farm in '45, still too young to get my drivin' license. That wouldn't come for another ten years. In those years and the years to follow, hot rodding was more of a national passtime than baseball, especially when the war ended and all of those GIs came home. Our farm was on a gravel road 6 miles from town and on Saturday night it was a virtual race track. Coupes and Roadsters were outnumbered ten to one in our neighborhood. Taking up a lot of time here, might even be repeating something I said in this same post, so I won't name them even though I remember most of our immediate neighbor boys that had old cars quite well. I believe that anybody that holds that a sedan wouldn't be fit the 40s tradition is just ignoring history. Or worse yet, wants to keep roadsters and coupes in the limelight for selfish reasons. I could tell you a dozen stories of my youth and the times a driver of a hot rod took on a race with somebody, a couple of my uncles, or a neighbor buddy, he was posative he could beat. Many of them were handed their ass, by a "sleeper" sedan! Another issue is the magazine articles from 'the day'. Don't forget that a lot of those cars were built for the sole purpose of being featured in a magazine, not really representative of the hot rod croud in general. (Maybe like today?) Ha.
but I know for a fact that there were many hot rod sedans in the South. thank you . LOL when i was in va. in the '60s , i bought a 1950 ford , chevy V8 motor + trans , had sugar tanks in it . i took sugar from va. to tn. one time . what a rush !!!!!! LOL ... thanks for the memory ... steve
My 39 Ply. 2 door back in 56 was lowered 6" in the rear had 15" Chry. wheels with wide whites, nosed and decked, hood side panels removed gray primer with red wheels.Flathead six with 2 carbs, split exh. manifold, milled head and glasspacs. Next rod was a 41 Merc. cp. lowered 6" in rear was nosed and decked with 48 Merc. taillights was painted black with red wheels with wide whites, had a 50 Merc. flathead with a 37 Floor shift tranny and duals with glasspacs.
While not quite back to '46, Art (or was it Jack? Yes, Jack. No, maybe both of them...well you get the idea.) Chrisman started his racing/rodding career by drag racing a '36 Ford Sedan in '49 at Santa Ana and by racing it at the dry lakes. They later built this sedan in the very early Fifties. (You will note that it is NOT fenderless.)
I think Sinister is trying to say that a Hot Rod is stereotypically an AV8 or '32 Ford roadster, or maybe a coupe, preferrably black lacquer, with a flathead and a 3 speed trans. A few people won't call anything else a Hot Rod. 'Specially not something with those damn new-fangled overhead valves with their goofy rocker arms and pushrods and such. Guys will hop up anything they can get. Just cause some people can't get their mind out of a box is no reason to change what you want. I think a hot "B" motor would be cool in your C-dan. Keep the fenders, to freak out the streetrod crowd.
Here's some stuff from a whole back on this forum http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149631&showall=1
If I remember right, this sedan was built in 1932/33. I would call this a custom, but it is billed as "the first street rod". This is the Cletus Clovis car.
You have probably checked out the Don Montgomery books - I have four of them and they are loaded with the photos. I have referred to them often during our roadster project. And, by the way, thanks to Don for putting this stuff out there!!!!
Build whatever you want to build! It is YOUR car, and ultimately, YOU are the only person you need to make happy! If someone else likes your ride, great! If they don't, piss on 'em!
If it's just you out cruising, build it period. If it's you and the grand kids cruising, install a modern master cylinder and residual valves. Then tell everyone it's a period car.
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