Just to clear things up, the car is Canadian, not me. I purchased the body and frame from one of our H.A.M.B. brothers from the North about two and a half years ago. He happened to be heading through my neck of the woods on his way to L.A., so a deal was struck and I hauled home the sad remains of a '29 Model A Sport Coupe. Here's a couple of the pics I was sent. This is what I started with. The car was pretty rough, and looked like it had been backed into a tree, but surprisingly the only real rust was in the wheel wells, fairly common, the rest of the body was fairly solid aside from what was left of the subrails. Despite what it looks like in the pics, the body came to me in two pieces. The frame was stock and poorly boxed. The origional plans were to keep the car a Sport Coupe, but after actually seeing what I had to work with, those plans quickly changed. I know that Coupesters have somewhat of a bad wrap, and judging by most examples I can see why, so I knew what I didn't want to to do. Being inspired by the art of Keith Weesner, and with what I had to work with, I devised a plan. I knew the car had to be low, but driveable. I decided six inches of ground clearance would be sufficient, so I set the frame where I wanted it, and built up from there. I'm running 7.50-16 Firestones on early Plymouth wheels in the rear on a transverse spring over Ford nine inch. For the front, 5.00/5.25-16 Firestones on Astro van space savers with a spring over dropped tube axle with 49-54 Chevy drum brakes and hairpins. To achieve the proper stance with these components I pie cut and swept the front frame rails, stepped the rear a m***ive 18", and strtched the wheelbase by 4 inches to make room for the SBC at the firewall. The other reason I decided to build the car so low is that I decided to weld the doors shut, and I needed to be able to get into the thing. The body was also channelled five inches. Alot of the decisions on this build where dictated by what I had available to work with, and money, as I am working on a very tight budget. Instead of buying replacement wheel wells, I decided to fill them.It was a modification I always liked the look of, and especially makes sence on a channelled car because the tires don't sit in the wheelwell anyway. I'm terrible at stopping work to take pictures, so I'll just explain some of the other modificatioins that were done to the car, and post some of the other pictures I have left. Origionally I had wanted to move th rear deck forward to give the car the proper Roadster proportions, but decided I liked it better the way it sat. A piece of 3/4 x 1 1/2 tubing, and 1,000 pie cuts later, and I had a finished body line that wrapped around the back of the ****pit area, an area I always felt was overlooked on other Coupesters. The door tops were also thinned out. I didn't want to leave the square closed car windshield frame, so it was removed, and the car was fitted with a proper Roadster windshield. Some other modifications that have been done to the body are the addition of a '50 Ford car dash. The cowl top has been filled, and peaked. A highly modified '30 firewall was added.Some of these things I'll have to get pictures of to post later. I'm running a '57 283 with a TH350 for motorvation. A '29 Model A grill shell, filled, peaked, and sectioned with a Mustang radiator. Cheapie Speedway headlights, and '39 Ford tailights, F-1 box and column, and a nice pair of leather buckets out of a Cobra kit car. Have no fear, the car will be finished, and painted despite what it looks like now. The plans are for gloss black frame, body and wheels, wimbleton white firewall, and chevy orange motor with scripted valve covers. That's about it for now, this project has had a lot of down time due to money and time constraints, but I have the whole summer off, and I am using my time to complete my project. I'll try to keep taking pictures and updating when progress is made. Questions, comments, suggestions, I'd love to hear them all. I'll go ahead and toss up some of the random mock up pics I've got for now.
After having this project sit for a while, a lot of progress has been made in this last month. A lot of the small loose ends have been tied up, my steering is mocked up and I have started putting in the floors. Things are going to start happening fast now, I expect to have the floors done, and the car blown back apart by the end of the week. I'll try to keep this updated.
Very nice build, can't hardley wait till the next installment , sort like old serial movies on saturday at the local theater, Keep 'em coming ,
Nice job, keep up the good work. By the way, I restored an A coupe awhile back and when I got this latest A coupe to build for my wife I noticed all of the interior screws were clutch head. I was told that Canadian cars used the clutch head screws. Is there any truth to it? I found a Canadian penny in it.
We always called them a clutch head, it's a circle with two Vs in the side. Keep in mind around here we call a creek a crick and color, keller. Sorry, I can't hep were I was born.
The floors are finally done. It feels like kind of a milestone to call part of this thing done. Just one step closer, it's all in the name of progress. This weekend I hope to get the radiator, and grill shell mounted.
Eh nice work and I'm digging the stance! No6, nope, we use Robertsons up here. Musta had an elevator mikankick that owned dat body before you. -Shiny
I got the radiator mounted yesterday, but haven't mounted the grill shell yet. I sectioned the grill shell 2 1/2 inches. It fit's the Mustang radiator, and the proportions of the car better. Before After At this point I threw a few more of the pieces on the car just to get a feel for things. If you squint real hard, tilt your head to the side and stand on one leg, it almost looks like something. I also took a few shots of some of the smaller details of the car, like the filled and peaked cowl, and peaked rear deck panel. They're of course not finished and still require some fine tuning though. Here's a shot of the tank I'll be using. I was told it was a '29 Pontiac tank, but I'm not so sure about that. Either way it fits perfect.
I knew this day was coming, the Custom Canadian Coupester is for sale. I was hoping I would have come closer to finishing this project, but money and time constraints have finally reached their limits. I will continue working on it for now, and updating this thread with the progress. If you are interested you can view the for sale thread here: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=490166
Sorry to hear that Josh, I've been following the build. I wish you were on the east coast and wanted a 52 F1. bob
You've done some really nice work with some fine touches on that coupester. It's a shame that you have to sell it when you are so close to having it done. I'm sure you won't have any trouble, it seems like a nice project for the price. Good luck with the sell.
I would like to thank everyone for their words of encouragement. Sadly, being an unemployed full time student doesn't leave much time or money for toys.
Went to the junkyard today and picked up an electric fan. Came home and made a custom shroud for it and mounted it.
The fan was out of a '97 Ford Taurus. It's a dual fan setup, one 13", one 14" this is the larger one. Unlike others I have seen which are one unit and part of he shroud, the fans were seperate and removeable.
Dash is done. I wish I had the clock for the hole in the middle, but I was thinking of putting a small tach in there instead. I'm pretty happy with the way my column mount turned out. It's hard to tell from the pics, but it's actually tunnelled into the dash. Just in case nobody noticed yet, this project is for sale. I'm continuing work on it while I have the time, and funds, but I'd be happy to get it out of the garage soon, so tell your friends!
The Jalopy Journal
