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

Hey Mike, since I haven't had time to find, scan and post the car I described last night, I'll throw another favorite '27 up here for you to peruse. This has a special significance for me because it was built by a guy that has become a very good friend of mine over the years, long before I knew him. He and a buddy named Mark Niver built two "T" in the early seventies in a rented garage that also sometimes functioned as home. Mark's came out as one of the coolest "high tech" cars of the era, and isn't really congruent here for that reason.

Dave's car though - well, it was far behind it's time for the early seventies, and with very little exception it would have fit very well into the '63 or '64 time frame this thread is about. It was drastically changed in the early eighties, and has finally dropped from view lately, but it was cool as hell!

 

...And, since I just said not much is too O/T... I found Mark's car at the same time. Yea, it's from the early seventies, but you really have to see this one in person to grasp the coolness it oozes from every pour... Oh, and like I said, remember that both these cars were built by then teen age or very early twenties guys in a rented garage. A garage, that just so happened to be about a 1/4 mile from my home now...

 

Okay, more cool stuff to add today. Over the weekend I found a Mallory double life High Performance distributor at the So-Cal swap. I love these things, 'cause short of a mag, nothing says "early sixties high perf stuff", and the two piece caps are just too bitchin'. It also came with a complete set of Raja terminals and has a Pertronix electronic pickup installed. I'll get rid of the beat up wire, cut the ends off the brand new set on the car right now and cover them with black shrink tube as what I have are grey, and get them installed.

Then it's on to valve covers and other fun stuff. By the way, if anybody out there in H.A.M.B.land has a pair of non-staggered Corvette style valve covers that have been drilled for Moon type breathers, ESPECIALLY through the Corvette emblems they can let go cheaply, P.M. me please. I think this might be a good way to "use up" some stuff that would normally be considered wall hangers due to the lack of perfection.


I'm wanting some sort of scoop for this thing for the time being, but I've been having a tough time finding something period correct. Anybody have any Photos of scoops, aluminum or 'glass from the early sixties they like for inspiration? i'd love to see what was about. I'm finding it pretty hard lately to look through mags with a single purpose like finding scoop pictures, 'cause I start seeing all sorts of stuff and completely forget what it is I'm looking for!

 

I'm not familiar with the Mallory Double Life Dist. so goggled them and still couldn't find any info on them, are they rare ? I have a twin point Mallory on my SBC and like it heaps as it is certainly fits the look better then those large ugly things. Although I have lost count how many times I have been told to get rid of it and replace with one of those large ugly things by rodders. I just " no and why, it is working perfectly well thanks " . What is the differences between your dizzie and what I have Chip ?

 

I remember way back there were some just BITCHEN glass scoops that were tapered front to back with a peak down the middle.
How's your memory Chip?

 

Nice find Chip. I have one on the Cad. engine in my 48 Ford sedan. Another period piece. Those clear red wires only last about a year before they start fading. Plus they screw up all electronics within a mile of them. I've given up on them and replaced them with a set of $12 Napa's.

 

If ya post a close up of your dist I can tell ya! Mallory made about a million of the next generation of this centrifugal advance distributor (YL?), and it uses a cap that is very similar to a standard GM type cap. The Double Life, or YC series was just an early and very well built performance type distributor that happens to use a really slick two piece cap. you loosen the upper cap and beneath it is a rubber insulator. You stick your square cut wire ends into the upper cap, press them into the rubber isolator and screw the two together. Super clean looking, old timey, and a great advance curve for general high performance. Most definitely a late fifties early sixties hot rod staple.

 

I'm gonna use the new set of "NAPA" type wire that are already on the car. They are however grey, and that makes me nuts. I will take some of the black heat shrink tubing that Judy keeps bringing me rolls of from Hong Kong when she goes home and covering the grey with it. It'll look just a touch thick, but I don't believe anyone will notice.

The comment "screws up electronics within a mile" made me miss my old street racer bug! I had a Vertex mag on that one for a bit, and this was in the late eighties and early nineties. At the same time frame, big "boom boom" stereos were becoming all the rage with the mini trucker and low rider kids. I would pull up to light right next to a Boom Boom guy, and as I did, their stereo would completely take a dive and play nothing but static at 110dbs! I seriously doubt that any of them ever figured out what the deal was, but it was great fun. Easy as hell to get one of those guys the entire length of Central just by staying near them!

 

I do too fuzzy, but all I'm finding in repro today are about two feet long! I know that at one time they were made in a smaller size. Now to find one. Anything cool in aluminum anybody can think of?

 

Louvers, how is this guys transmission tunnel so small? My right foot would LOVE a tunnel that small. I'm guessing the T's running a SBC and either a power glide or a 350TH.

 

The comment "screws up electronics within a mile" made me miss my old street racer bug! I had a Vertex mag on that one for a bit, and this was in the late eighties and early nineties. At the same time frame, big "boom boom" stereos were becoming all the rage with the mini trucker and low rider kids. I would pull up to light right next to a Boom Boom guy, and as I did, their stereo would completely take a dive and play nothing but static at 110dbs! I seriously doubt that any of them ever figured out what the deal was, but it was great fun. Easy as hell to get one of those guys the entire length of Central just by staying near them!

Thanks for the laugh of the day, I'm sure we all could enjoy doing that the " boom boom parade " .

 

Pretty sure it was a powerglide, but I can't explain the floor at all. That's cool as hell! It's been probably 25 -30 years since I have seen the car in person, but I'm told it's still around town. Might be worth taking a look. The shame is that the first page of the article won't scan well for some reason and reproduce here, so you don't get to see the bitchin' Ford 9" based IRS system beneath it.

 

Fred I'm betting it's just a high floor. How he got it up there I don't know. Maybe blocked between the frame and floor. With the vertical steering (and it looks like it is mounted about the same place as mine) and mine sticks up through the floor.

 

I can't remember where I got these photos, could have been from here but I'm interested in what time period you would place it.




I've made some guesses myself just interested in seeing if I'm close or miles away

 

Chip.
Two things. First, "Remember the concept of shop night at Chips.." I crew on a "Racesaver" Sprint Car, and we meet every Wednesday night. Ostensibly, it's to work on the car. But most of the time it's an opportunity to just drink beer and share life. We call it "prayer meeting." Some serious conversations about cars seem to happen...
Second, the reason I brought up the 27 body was ever since I first saw Cotton Werksman's bucket in the 60's, I've thought about how that style would work with one of the later bodies.
I love the buckets. they remind me of the 60's-70's Super modifieds in that this style of car is where you seem to find the most ingenuity. Line up a dozen buckets, and they will show some innovation. Try that with a dozen deuce hi-boys.

 

On scoops; the ONLY scoop that makes any sense at all would be a Greer-Black-Prudhomme style.......and with your talent I'm sure you could whip one out made to scale.

 

You flatter me sir! My aluminum welding skills suck rocks, but I guess I could give it a shot. I do have tons of 3003 stock around for making hoods and such.

 

Same floor like that,I helped a good buddy of mine Rosh, to rebuild a crashed T-bucket he got,we took it all apart ,made a new frame ect. but 23 body was OK,high gloss red was real good after buffing it and Gray upholstery looked nice after cleaning to him. I wanted to move the floor back down*,it was high just like that one with no hump,but Rosh would not let me,cuz it would mean I would have to redo some of that gray insides. Even after I pointed out that I thought the crash happened from the brake pedal being some thing that drivers foot would only work at his heel to a little above maybe mid foot at best=very bad control He also would not let me make new brake master/pedal mount ether. In the end he did let me cut a hole and drop his heel down
3.5 in.s in to box behind the pedal for his heel to fit in so his foot was pushing brake pedal in a fairly normel way.

 

Well, it is a very cool little car, but it's NOT a T-Bucket, it's a Modified. Take no insult in this at all, but I have been shocked at the number of folks hereon the H.A.M.B. that seem to be of the thought that if it has a "T" body of some sort, it's a T-Bucket. I always thought that was a fairly strong visual definition.

On to the car though. It's built to reflect and immediate post war type of race car who's class was discontinued by the SCTA in late '46. Modifieds were really the first "purpose built" hotrods in my opinion, and most were put together with what ever was at hand the week before the meet they intended to race at. Narrowed "T" bodies were the norm, although Dodge and others were not uncommon. Most were on passenger car frames and suspensions, and most were four banger powered as the V8 really didn't catch on too heavily until after everyone came home from the war and had time to play. These car had full hoods as that was an SCTA rule, and rarely had a deck of any sort to save weight. If a Modified gained a tail, say like a sprint car tail, it was immediately bumped up into the streamliner class that eventually replaced the Modifieds altogether. The last Modified class record was set by Karl Orr in '46, and still stand to this day.

There are many things that would mark this car as a modern build, The discs on the front, the small drums on the rear, the fake quick change cover on the rear the carved aluminum windshield posts, lots of aftermarket suspension bit and pieces, too. But all in all it's a neat little car that I would be proud to own. And, much like this thread is about detailing an existing car to bring it more into a certain time frame, with a change of some details like the rear axle and windshield posts it could easily be made a bit more convincing to the viewer that it is indeed an early car.

I hope that answers your question, and I hope there are no hard feelings.

By the way, I have a Modified project that is on the back burner around here that can be seen in it's different stages on the "Modifieds Only" thread. I think I'll pull it out this spring, get it up and running and probably sell it.

 

Funny you should say that Dana. After the weekend driving the Bucket around, the one thing that I will be doing very soon is some "lost cardboard" and fiberglass trans tunnel mods to move the accelerator pedal over about 3", then a small aluminum heal rest in the floor. My buddies are already laughing and calling my idea a "stirrup..."

 

This. ^^Post-war modified,and contrary to what you see on the HAMB every day, bent-spoke wires had been pretty much dropped completely as a hot rod wheel by 1950s, replaced by '40 ford solids. After 1950, its rare to see a car with bent-spoke wires in any section of the magazines from the time, unless its a stocker. By the mid-fifties, the 16" Ford wheels that everyone on here thinks are a "must" were being yanked off and replaced with 15" wheels. Bent spoke wires with an overhead look as out of place to me as an LS-1 with Olds Fiestas.

 

Pretty sure it's Jim Ewing.

So in love with this Bantam (this would be a hell of a head start to something I'd like to build)! And this little bucket is perfection....
Neither of these cars would have been built if the original owners were OCD with era correctness.

Chip....this bucket deserves to be finished!


BLACK or even better, DARK BROWN interior. But, then again, I've already "suggested" that.....hehehe

Don't know if I've asked before, but do you have any pics of the Bantam that Don built with the Hals....SOOO RIGHT ON!

 

Pretty tough to get pedals in a comfortable place in the combines of a T body. Picture is of Ivo's car. The ones on my roadster are almost in the same place. I do use my heels to work them. I'm sure Ivo did too. You really get used to them quickly. I have seen some farther forward but the builder had to slot the firewall for them to pass through.

 

Absatively! I'll always remember a now gone buddy of mine who was there at the lakes after his discharge in late '45 when things started going again telling me that by late '46, "if you were still runnin' wires, you were a poor boy and we pointed and laughed at ya". You hit the other one too with the 16" wheels in the fifties comment. Just had a guy the other day on the board wanting to build a "sixties styled car" and needed to know what sized slicks would fit his 4 1/2" X 16 Ford wheels... None that would look appropriate! 'Bout the only top line car I can think of after the mid fifties that was on 16" wheels was the Orange Crate.

 

Yup, absolutely Jim Ewing! The next stop for the Halibrands on this car was the first incantation of Chapouris' Calfornia Kid '34. Got called a "know it all" again this week by a friend who asked a question of me and didn't like the answer, so I've been refraining from just correcting stuff left and right lately.

Which Bantam are you talking about? He's done a couple with Halis on them.

 

Sometimes you just can't save people from themselves......

 

thanks Louvers and George, I did pick the discs and windscreen posts, wasn't sure about the rear brakes and diff but the other info about the lakes puts things in a new light for me. Love this thread always some thing to learn.

 

Could be right, My brain is getting all mushy and soft...

 

When I get called a "know it all" or a "rivet counter" I just smile and say "thanks"....