Hot Rods Gasser Gasser Gasser!! 1962 Falcon Futura with a Nailhead??

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A suggestion for the tailights that you might,
(or might not) want to try, but I think would
look cool! Back in the early and mid-60's, there
was a bit of a fad for while, particularly on cars
like Fords with round, flat-surface-mounted
tailights. That being, to replace the stock talight
lenses with home-made ones, fabricated from
plain, dark red, semi-clear or translucaent
sheet plexiglas. Lenses cut from sheet plexiglas
don't have the built in light diffusers or DOT-spec
reflectors that the stock lenses have and at night
when they're turned on, give a very cool, kind of
evil looking, 'eerie' glow. I don't know if you want
to do this on "Strange Bird" or not, but it's easy
and cheap to do and lends a nice, 'custom' touch
to the back end of the car, even in the daytime
but particulary and especially, at night! Something
to think about anyway.
Mart3406
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^^^^ . . . you're the man , she's adorable

Can't wait to see this car finished

 

That is AWESOME. I feel like I just won an award.... I can't wait to see that build!

 

I have definitely been blessed in the wife department.

 

OOooooh......Thats a cool Idea. I will have some extra red plexi left from the side windows. We will see....

 

Hey, get back in the garage...see you in the desert

 

Have been following this build since it started. Going to be a handfull, but hey, you knew that going in, right.

I do have a question, and I may be showing my ignorance here, but what is the purpose of the panhard bar on a paralell leaf suspension? I looks like it would be in a bind as the springs try to work. Inquiring minds want to know.

Looking forward to more progress pics.
GV

 

The panhard won't bind. It has the ability to move fore and aft because of the heims and the difference in length as it travels through it's very small arc is minimal. Go take a look at modern F250 and F350 4x4 trucks......parallel leaf with panhard. It helps alot with road wander, and this thing will need all the help it can get.

 

Question answered, thanks. Great looking car.

 

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If you use some of the leftover red plexi from
the side windows for making tailoight lenses,
depending on how dark it is, it *might* be just
a bit too transparent for your liking. 'Back in the
day'' when this was popular, most guys seemed
to use very dark, more translucent and 'semi-clear'
rather than clear grade of plexi for the lenses.
Basicly though, it will be kind of trial error - use
what yoiu've got - make one lens and see if you
like it or not and then proceed from there One
thing that will help, if the plexi seems a bit 'too
clear' for your liking, is to spray the chrome
reflector assembly behind the lens,with a light
coat of 'rattle-can' 'candy red' or 'candy gold'
model car paint to darken and deepen the color.
You could even experiment with other colors too
('candy bugundy', 'candy lavender' or 'candy
organge' come to mind) for tinting the reflectors,
and 'fine tuning' the color.and tone of the light
that the tailights emit. Another 'little touch' that
looks nice with the homemade lenses too, is to
use stainless, 'button-head' screws to attach the
lenses.

Mart3406
==============================

 

sorry but i had to do it... i stole your front shock mount idea. you didnt patent that yet did ya? haha super build great inspiration! thank you again for sharing the ride,

george

 

This is a GREAT thread! Killer car, and ingenuity in your build. I have a little Studebaker Lark just BEGGGING for the same treatment!!!! This thread makes me want go to the garage and start cutting!! Keep posting the progress!!


Oh I forgot to ask,,,,,,, is my SIGNATURE OK, since you are the signature POLICE and alll ?????????? Keep up the good work!

 

excellent build!! i cant wait for more pics!

i pass by your shop all the time and wondered what was around there with the few toys you have sitting outside, now i know haha

 

great build. keep the updates coming.

 

Update #987425

The Strange Bird Goes To Vegas, and Scotty Almost Dies.

Hey there fellow HAMB junkies....It's been a few days since I've been on the internet. On Friday morning, I woke up with a sore thumb at 5:30am. I told my wife I must have hurt it in our mad rush to finish the Strange Bird the night before (Casey and I worked on it until 3am) I got up, put on my duds, and drove to the shop to meet casey and load up the car.

We got the car all loaded and drove back home to pick up my wife.....everything seemed fine but my sore thumb. I drove for about 5 hours until I started to feel REALLY tired. I just figured I was feeling that way because I had just worked 18 hours straight with only 2 hours sleep.

I handed the driving duties over to Casey and took a nap in the back seat. About 10 minutes later, I woke up shaking uncontrollably and barely able to move...I told Casey and my wife Julie that I needed a hospital RIGHT NOW. They took me to an ER in Bakersfield that treated me like a second class citizen.

Now, before I rant about how I was treated, I do thank the final ER doc that treated me, he was awesome...and a bike guy to boot!

I was "checked in" by four different "nurses" who asked the same 6589 questions, and typed it in to a slow computer system "hunt and peck" style. This took about an HOUR! By the time they were done "checking me in" I was in complete muscle failure, and could barely breathe or talk. My wife and I pleaded for a doctor, and I was then placed in a wheelchair and rolled out into the hallway where there were several nurses gossiping and chatting on the phone with their friends laughing and having a good time.

The nurse that pushed me into the hallway then told me to get up and get into the bed....that would be cool if I could actually move!! I asked for help, and she proceeded to cheer me on. Wonderful. I asked the nurses that were standing around for help, and they stood there and stared for a bit. Finally....two male nurses came over, one was talking on his phone laughing while he was "helping" with one hand, and the other actually tried to help.

At this point, I snapped and started saying not so nice things which I later apologized for.

Finally I was on the bed, and another half hour or so passes before I get an antibiotic drip and some pain meds. From what my wife tells me I was out cold for the next 45 minutes to an hour. During that time, I was given a tetanus shot, and a blood sample was taken. My wife, at this time was scared to death that she might be widowed soon. She gave the nurses her two cents worth as well.

The whole time this was happening Casey is out in the truck waiting patiently, and getting texts from my wife on my progress. He's the man.

I woke up soon after, and could not comprehend who I was, where I was, or what the bloody heck was going on. It took my wife talking to me and feeding me countless apple juice pouches to get back to my senses. She is awesome.

Finally, 3.5 hours after my arrival, the doctor gets there and Immediately determines that the wound is necrotic, and removes all the affected tissue. Tests pointed toward a Brown Recluse spider, which the doctor confirmed with me. He worked on cleaning it a while, and somehow we started chatting about motorcycles, this was soothing to me. He was a cool dude. He then told us that if I had waited an hour longer to come get help, that I would probably be a dead man because the poison had entered into my body so badly. That's really nice to hear when you just spent 3.5 hours laying in a hallway!!!

Anyways.....on to the good stuff!

If it wasn't for my wife Julie's amazing cell phone navigation skills and Casey's help driving/lifting/pushing/waiting/etc... I would be in a world of hurt. I thank the Lord for them, and for the doc that fixed me up.

Although I was almost a corpse a bit earlier, I decided to tough it out and push on to Vegas.....Julie was looking forward to it for weeks, and Casey and I had put way too many late nights and hours into getting the car ready not to go. I felt like crap the whole time, but we made it! Heres some pics..

Nic......Thanks for letting me mooch the trailer again!!!!

Loaded up and ready for the trip:



Strange Bird on the strip:



Strange Bird visits the Bellagio:



On display at the "Gasser Reunion" display at VLV. I got to meet Kiwi Kev and his amazing Willys. What a rad guy and cool car!



The wife making the Strange Bird look better:



Julie with her new friend Dayna:



Here's some detail shots of stuff we got done before the show. I was too busy to post these before:





























I'm going to take a week or so off to heal up and rest....see you guys again soon!

 

WOW. Gotta love good ol Bakersfield. My wife lived there for a short stint and said about the same thing about thier lovely medical help. she went in for some girly pain and they told her she had ovarian cancer that may have spread and she needed a lot of surgeries and such. and might not make it. she got a second opinion in santa cruz where she was originally from and they say she is fine but had a slight infection take some antibiotics. third opinion said same. good ol Bakersfield,

Glad you are ok. and that car is amazing. the red light covers are the shit. I would totally make out with that car.

Eric

 

Glad to hear you are alright. The Lord was definitely watching out for you. The car thus far has turned out great. I am looking forward to seeing it completed. Keep up the good work. You are a blessed man!

 

Holy shit!!! My brother was bit by a brown recluse last year while visiting me and now he has these blacks scars on his leg. Man that's fucking serious!!!! I am really glad that you are ok and that everything went well in Vegas. The car looks great and I can't wait to hear it fire!!!!

I know you feel the same when I say I would be half the man I am without my wife....and you'd be dead so I guess we owe them the world. hahaha!!!

 

Great to meet you Scotty! Hope you are doing OK! Love the car, really nice workmanship. I was in Bakersfield with a friend one time and he got bit by a dog and needed a few stiches. I took him to the ER and after 3 hours or so waiting he gave up. Glad you actually got some attention!

 

WOW dude, that's some crazy shit. When I cut my finger off there were a few people in the therapy place getting worked on because they lost entire parts of their hand from spider bites.

Health comes before everything, get well



. . . . and then get that f#ckin bad ass car finished

ps- awesome job on the cowl

 

wow this thing just keeps getting better ! outstanding fab work , nice clean opening around the cowl cut out and nice bead work on the aluminum firewall

 

Thanks guys!

And to Kevin.......I definitely need to come check out your place sometime! Thanks for the tour of the willys too!

 

Glad to hear you are still alive at least, hope you get to feeling better soon. Car looks awesome!!

 

To the guy that wants to build the Studebaker Lark gasser:

Dont do it! Thats what I'm building!! Look at me thinkin' like I'm all original and sh*t.

 

Glad your doing better Scotty, you looked likr hell on Saturday, but glad you made it out for a while.

Take care, see you soon.

 

Thanks Dave, I wish i could have participated more. It was rad getting to see you again! Next time I won't be one foot in the grave!

 

Wow Scott, a spider bite, my brother was bitten at Christmas 3 years ago and spent 4 days in the hospital getting over that one. Glad to here your in good shape and your wife gets a big that a girl for keeping everything in check, you have a great lady there. The car looks good as ever and getting better looking every time I see it. Get some rest and look out for those multi legs creatures.

Jon

 

nice job looks great ...