Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

I don't think all traditionalists are down on a well built bucket.

What I get often is "I really don't like T buckets but I like yours" I take that as a great compliment.

 

With yours it's probably that a lot of car guys, especially hot rodders, get the Norm connection. You did a great job on her and really captured the look. Everything fits and that's hard to do.

I'm collecting parts for a '27, but I'm still not pegged into an era, yet. Probably late 60's drag look.

 

Search my posts on Leg Show if you wanna know my feelings about THAT!

 

Not at all Bob! here is the "other Himsle tub"...

 

The word "traditional" is rapidly spinning down the same tiolet right behind the word "gasser" IMO. I am trying to get into the habit of using "period-correct" in its place.

 

I found this, Falcon. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=435798

But you didn't post on it. Is there another one?

That is a crazy looking T Bucket though.



Period correct does sound better.

 

Oh great, now you did it! Ol' George is probably being made into a jukebox somewhere about now with that picture of the Leg Show car!!! Expect vile spitting and genuine hate filled post in 5,4,3,2,1...

 

funny what memory does, I remembered liking both of them. they blew me away sitting next to each other, NOW, not so much.. I figured the man wanted a Ford so bad , he imitated them with wrong w/s. Remember the one they called a fad T in movie "the Lively Set" A Dodge , not a Fad T. good lookin' but, no Ford.. (sorry can't post pictures, not a 'nuff grey matter....)

 

Give me a call tomorrow Bob, I'll walk ya through posting a picture...

 

Here's a quick one. Hardly faddish, IMO.

 

yes that is the critter,,some call a "KOOKIE KAR" ..po'dumb, other peoples kids

 

For some reason I don't have anything against "Leg Show" or the "The Uncertain T. Thinking about it, they are both quality builds and they are so over the top that they are really making fun of themselves and of where other T buckets have gone and are going.

 

Damn what a day! I've been and rolling since 4:30 am when I woke for the So Cal second Saturday event! I was so damn proud pulling in in the Bucket of Ugly this morning, my friends were all up along McDowell road clapping and cheering as I pulled in! It's always so damn cool to debute a new car around this town 'cause we are a huge, pretty close knit group. I hung out there this morning with LandSeaandAir, HotRodRon, Verde742, and a dozen or so more H.A.M.B.ers and literally hundreds of other friends.


Then there was the Central Avenue Cruise! Judy got home early from work and the two of us headed out for a bit and met up with everybody at our MacDonald's. About 5:00 Rob Derrengowski called, who is a H.A.M.B.er, (sorry man, I can never remember your screen name, I just know it when I see it!) and a Client of mine from up in the Chicago area. He was in town with work and came down to see how we did this stuff Phoenix style! Judy stayed home and Rob and I did the walkabout in the show lot and cruised around a bit in the 'Bucket and introduced to some of the gang. A little later, my buddy and client "endlessearth" called, and brought his '64 C10 down to drop off for me to do and engine and trans swap in the coming weeks. It's gonna be killer too, a 380 or so horse small block and Tremec TKO five speed. He walked around the 'Bucket so many times I threw him the keys and he took it out and around the area with his boys piled in it. Few things in life better than seeing your car going down the road with a friend driving it!

Now I'm just sitting here with the windows open on a perfect evening tapping this out and listening to the last of the squirrels roaming Central being rounded up and pushed off to other parts of the valley... Damn it was a good day!!!

 

One thing I'm really noticing in all this discussion, it takes ALOT to make a T bucket look right, it dont take much to make one look wrong. Proportions and I think maybe the word everyone is looking for is continuity....this goes beyond tradition and period correct, there HAS to be a continuity and cohesiveness to the build and parts.....IMHO

 

great writing, when our cars were made of imagination and parts, on real cruise night we all traded cars, so we could watch ours go down the road, we had little invested and a lot of fun, lloyd cope would drive mine and say; let's adjust the clutch tomorrow, and after driving his I would say 'you need different rear end gears and I have just what you need, and we would do it. The best feeling was when ya leave a car show, knowing ya had the keys in yer pocket to the car ya liked best, sitting in the parking lot waiting for ya,, no show car, but good enuff.

 

Can someone please tell me how to wipe this smile off my face?
I just got done cruising with Chip in his "bucket of ugly", but I just couldn't find a thing ugly about it. A great riding machine, with plenty power.
Thanks for some great memories.

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Oh, forgot! About 2:00 Kurt and Roy showed up, bringing Roy's '31 Bantam (the first car I put together for him) and his 55,000 mile original '40 Chevy as well. I just about have Roy convinced that he needs to do something with those rear tires and wheels o the Bantam... Look for some Hurst pie crust cheaters and Americans soon!

 

Brave man parking those three in a row outside your home and the street is narrow with cars parked either side, just hope it wasn't closing time at the local watering hole ? The height of the shifter is growing on me too by the way.

 

Cool ride update,love the fun of it!

 

Man, it looks like it would be hot in that Bantam, being in Arizona.

 

Those two are soul mates! That Bantam is COOL!

 

Chip, That is quite a radiator cap, in that first picture,, and can you relocate the rear wish bone so it is level with the ground? it bugs me when they are at the wrong angle.>> either, level at attachment point a little higher, please. IMO

 

EVERYTHING IS HOT IN AZ. trust me, I am a Doctor......

 

I tried searching myself, cant find any of them. The search function is not working that great lately.

Ok, found one via google...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7548540#post7548540

I almost wonder if my one real RANT I went on might have been deleted. It was pretty vile. I remember one sentence was something like "It looks like he hit an episode of The Antique Road Show, bought every piece of brass he could find, and hung it on his car." I recall there was one guy that was kinda upset by what I said...

 

Yea, I've been there and I'm not a patient.

 

My friends and I did this a lot when we were younger. Hell, if ElPolacko had a car HE wanted to build and no money, he'd con ME into building it and we'd share the damn thing and vice versa! Hell, my buddy Brian Bridgewater and I traded his '34 pickup and my '48 Plymouth so many times that folks around town were convinced that we had traded permanently! I miss all that along with 10-12 hour business days followed by all night build sessions with alcohol involved, and simply restarted the next day. It was bitchin' to be twenty something and a hot rodder back then when NOBODY else was. You older guys thought we were nuts, but I'm sure remembered your own days of total immersion into what it is we do. I still to some extent live those days, but the 24 hour stuff is far behind me, and the buddies are all in the middle of or just finishing raising their kids or building businesses. We'll all click again soon and maybe have some of the same fun, but on a lighter schedule...

DUDE! Your way welcome! And Judy thanks you for the Kettle Corn, too! That was the perfect bribe. She was already asleep when we rolled back in at what, 8:00 or so? You took off a bit soon sir! You too were about to get the keys to the Bucket of Ugly thrown your way! Hope we got you a bit revved up to lay the finishing touches on the '26... Come back any time!

 

.....I do believe I am smitten.....

 

GIANT BINGO!!! We all know me to be sort of whacked on era specific kinda stuff, but what it really takes is just what you nailed in that statement, continuity and proportions. There was a whole line of T-Buckets in the static show last night that I wish I would have shot a picture of, simply so I could illustrate that point. All were painted and shiny, but ALL had weird proportions and kinda strange detailing that really didn't work with the rest of the car. I didn't snap the shot (and there was about 15 of them) because I know some of the owners personally and I didn't want it to get back that I was trashing their cars on the internet. I also don't want anybody to think I'm preaching this stuff and think I'm of of sufficient "power" to say what's right and wrong. That's for you and your pocket book and tastes to decide.

All these cars though were part of what I believe made the T-Bucket the Rodney Dangerfield of the hot rod world - The odd proportions with a way too long wheels base and body shoved back too far, and weird, random detailing that just doesn't happen any where else. I mean, 16" wide Convo Pros, Mickey Thompson Pro Streets, square headlights, Two Glass "T" grill shells mated to make an 8" deep shell, a formula 5000 type scoop that is 10" taller than the chopped fiberglass rounded hardtop, all festooned with 24" antique brass coach lights... All of this thrown at a Total Performance kit. I mean, what is it? Is it a drag car that got hit with a trinket cabinet? Is it a formula 5000 car that tail ended a dragster? Is it a horseless carriage that slid into a space ship? The world may never know. It did have a pretty big crowd around it for most of the evening though, and MAYBE that is another part of the deal.

Remember the "wacky show cars" of the late sixties and early seventies? You know, the old claw foot tub on a T-Bucket chassis? The outhouse on a T-Bucket chassis? Those things were ALWAYS ten deep at the shows when I was a kid, and it wasn't the hot rodders that had their cars in the show next to them. It was the general public, and kids in particular. coincidentally, about the time those creations stopped is when T-Buckets in general lost their minds. Could it be that in the minds of the general public, the T-Bucket was a replacement for these freak show kinda things? Makes the mind wonder...

 

It is HOT in that Bantam in the summer time! Cold in the winter too! Funny thing though, with 10" less wheelbase than the 'Bucket, it feels even MORE like my Go Kart! Goes right where it is pointed and dead straight with the right pedal flat on the floor! It's been for sale in the classifieds for about six months, (Roy just doesn't fit in the car - told him that before we built it!) but it's detailing is holding it back. One guy that was interested though was up in Seattle, and when he asked me about shipping, I offered to drive it up to him! And I certainly would, too!

Damn Straight Bob! you must be a doctor though, 'cause you're smart enough to go north when it is hot!

I can't wait for Roy to let me set up the wheels and tires on that car! It will COME ALIVE! It is going to get the combo you suggested the other day, with the E.T. five spokes in full polish and the Hurst 16X10X30 Cheaters. The diameter of the wheels well needs just a bit more tire height than my 15X8.5X28.5 Cheaters had. Soon! Did I mention it's for sale in the classifieds?

I sometimes think I am... just lacking the proper meds.

 

Left the decal on the radiator cap expressly so that Judy would have something to explain to people at shows. If she is called on to explain stuff, she is the Belle of the Ball, and when she is in that mode, she is happy as hell to be anywhere she is. Call it simple relationship survival skills, and possibly a bit of the "female whisperer" mode that I am somewhat noted for... Your welcome!

The hairpins on the back are another deal altogether. Yes, their angle drives me completely up the wall too. They are what Roy handed me to put stuff together with, along with those damn way too stiff coil overs. I am rapidly approaching a complete melt down mentally that will see me doing a one or two day gig that will throw one of my cross springs underneath it and a pair of radius rod brackets that drop the hairpins down a bit maximum happiness...