How about this one, you'll find more about in on www.flatheadmeltdown.com it belongs to an english 'bloke' and I like it a lot, sorta looks like a Bentley LeMans humped a poor TinLizzie and this is what came of it
you don't wanna see mine right now; it's just the body sitting on a shelf up high in the shop. BUT, i'll be keeping my eye on this thread. thanx, glendale, for getting it started.
Here's my Daughters 26. We have hopped the engine up quite a bit along with a 37 Chevy 3 speed trans behind the T trans which gives Her 6 forward speeds. Has rear disc brakes and a high speed rear. The motor pic is an old one from last Summer and I have replumbed the fuel lines and rewired the car also. My Great Uncle built this car decades ago.
it actually went to a hamber and i think its for sale again hulazombie is his screen name its 28/29 A front fenders and heavely modified 30/31 sedan rears i have an aray of build pics if you want to take a look tk
Here's mine. Built in '53. 322 Buick, Dynaflow, 3 97s, 32 V8 rear, 32 heavy front axle, Houdaille shocks up front, 1917 steel body channeled over a tube frame with stock T rear frame section, sectioned 49 Ford dash, 39 Chevy headlight bucket covers pitman arm/drag link.
This one cruised Billetproof in Washington last year, everyone in it seemed to be having a blast. (not my pic, btw)
I bought one last year and I am still collecting parts for it. It is pretty much all there (stock parts that is). Wanted to put it on an Model A frame but now I am considering put it on a 32 chassis.
http://public.fotki.com/tstoggie/hot_rod_albums/hot_rod_tubs/ Touring, Tubs, Phaetons....whatever you want to call them I have pics here Someday I will get back to building mine.
Here's what I have pieced together: It was built in 1953 in Fresno, California by Fred Gearhardt. He was an Indy car builder, among other things. The car is a 1917 steel Touring body with the rear doors welded shut. The body is hung from the top down to the frame so the vehicle is very stiff. The rear frame section is Model A and it is interesting in that the rear section is stubbed into two parallel round tubes that run the length of the car. These tubes are braced diagonally between them, and come together at the front. I have never seen another hot rod frame built this way. It is very clever and the car handles very well - well, he was a race car builder. Front suspension is a 32 heavy axle with split rods and Houdaille shocks. The front sprong perch is mounted in between the reversed spring and the axle, another unusual touch. The axle appears dropped but I have never measured how much. Steering box is mounted on top of the frame raile and the pitman arm/drag link are covered by a 39 Chevy headlight bucket welded to the lower cowl. Rear suspension is a 32 V8 axle with tube shocks and a buggy spring. Since the transmission is a Dynaflow (1953) the driveline is closed. The engine is a 1953 Buick nailhead 322. There are 3 Strombergs on a Weiand manifold. The vehicle has many custom fabricated parts - no billet, of course - that were poloshed and chromed when the car was built. The car might appear to be a rat to a casual or uniformed observer. I keep the vehicle clean but I will not remove the patina that has built up over 55 years. The car was a pastel yellow earlier in its life and the color is the same as that used on the Ol Yaller cars. Since those cars were also built in Fresno at about the same time, and with Buick engines, I have wondered about some connection between this car and Gearhardt and Max Balchowski. I once tried to confirm with someone who is a Balchowski historian, and he immediately dismissed the possibility. I wonder, though. The story is that Fred built the car in 53 and it soon went up into the rafters of his shop, where supposedly it was seen by many people. In the early sixties it came down and was registered in California. I have the California black plates from this period. At this time the car was rebuilt, and the yellow paint was redone. The car also got a set of chrome reversed wheels and a vintage-1960s naugahyde interior. This interior is still in the car, but it was redyed from tan to black. The interior was very professionally built, with elaborate wood framing that supports the upholstery and drops into the tub. The dash is a sectioned 1949 Ford. Many pieces and the wiring harness seem to be from a 49 Ford, so maybe a car was cannibalized for parts. The fuel tank mounts vertically behind the rear seat. It is a nice way of tucking it into the car. The tank seems to have been formed on a brake out of copper-coated steel, with the ends welded on. There are baffles inside. The car is channeled about three inches over the frame, and for some reason the engine was mounted with the distributor under the cowl - accessed by a removable plate atop the cowl. Between the overstuffed interior, channeled body and recessed firewall, there is not a lot of legroom for the driver and this is the only annoyance as you do get a bit cramped. The reversed wheels from the sixties had 10 inch rear rims. Very 60s. Some strange rear tires were mounted. The sidewall says 8.20 x 15 but the tires are almost a foot wide. These are the rear tires in my avatar shot. I removed the chrome wheels and original tires, and I have them stored along with every other nut and bolt that came off the original car (as maintenance is performed or repairs effected to correct some rigging that was done by someone along the way). The car came with the headers shown in my avatar shot. These had rust holes so I have removed them - someday perhaps I can find someone who can weld them back up without hurting them or spoiling the appearance. Until that day I have installed lake pipes. I also installed early Ford wires and period big and littles. After the 1960s, when it was on the road in California for a few years, the car seems to have changed hands again and it went into a barn - still in Fresno. There it remained until a few years ago, when the owner died and someone got the task of liquidating his car collection. Still a local Fresno person! I happened to be looking at the right place at the right time and spotted a very confusing ad. I had been looking for a tub for a long time, but there are not oo many around, and one that I did look at was an absolute hack. I bought this car sight unseen based on a verbal description. It was everything I wanted, and more. When I got it the car had a severe case of California Silt. It was everywhere, and it took an incredible amount of work to cleanse the fuel system. It seemed that no matter what I did, there was some more silt hiding somewhere, ready to clog the carbs. I eventually solved that problem and the car has been a good runner. Weather permitting, I use it as my daily driver. Anyway, that is the car in a nutshell. I am lucky to have found a hot rod that has survived intact from the way it was built. The car seems to have been a state-of-the-art professionally built car, circa '53. I have asked before whether anyone knows any of the history about this car, but have always come up dry. Perhaps not surprising given that the car spent a significant amount of time in storage. Nevertheless I am hopeful that eventually I will be able to fill in more of the gaps.
Posted mine before, but here goes. 27 tub done 60's style with a 62 chevy ll 4 banger, turbo 350. I gave it to my daughter a couple of years ago. It now resides in BC at her house. Pat.
The Jalopy Journal
