Projects The Helmuth Brothers Coupe

Nice car ! I believe car in post 91 was built by 'Rocket' , here in Hamilton, New Zealand. Love your mini channel, wish every one who put an A on deuce rails would do an one inch channel, - makes them look just so much better. Personally I would not chop it, But it's your car. It'll look good either way.

 

Thanks for the kind words! I'll do some searching online to see if anything comes up on that model A from New Zealand. Super nice car.


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Holy cow lack of updates. Had to put the car on the back burner for a few months due to side work. All finished that now I'm back on it. Got a beadroller from HF and make some reinforcements to it to get rid of flexing and started bead rolling everything.


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A few more from tonight [ ATTACH=full]2688805[/ATTACH]


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Good call on the bead roller reinforcement! I have the same one, it does flex a lot.

 

Yeah man it was kinda bad at first. I was about to return it before I looked up what people do to get rid of the flexing problems and it was pretty straight forward so I gave it a shot and it's perfect now. I finished all of beads in barely two nights and now the bead roller will probably sit for another few months lol all that work on it for a few hours of actual work on the car.


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........very cool.

 

Driver side wheel well patch panel fully welded in. First time doing that. Nothing a body man can't perfect when it comes time to paint it. Pretty happy with it.


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Having grown up around Hooker Hood, who was a legendary sprint-car driver in the Memphis/West Memphis area, and wherever he raced, I learned, without exception to never paint anything that good luck the color green. Take that for what it's worth, and go forth accordingly. No green. Green is Bad Luck to old time racers. That said, I think your 'A' is going to be one of the better ones I've seen built here on the HAMB, and that's saying a lot. Because there are some very fabulous rides cobbled together by the little men with hammers who live in the HAMB mountains. Trust me. On both statements. No green.

 

Thanks for the compliments I really appreciate it! I can only hope my car will be up there with the well known hamb A's but we will have to wait and see! I ruled out green a while ago so don't worry about that


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Nice way to start the build like a big Ol model

 

Sidebar... I saw Hooker race a couple of times at the Marion County Speedway in Southern Illinois in the early-70s. Crazy fast. I also saw him crash his car into the infield pits there once warming up before the start of the feature - it was with great fan-fare he parked his sprinter on top of some unlucky haulers / trailers. Too crazy. He missed that race. Gary

 

Been steady ordering parts while we finish up the floor. First came in today thanks to jegs Labor Day sale


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Huge thanks to SoCal speed shop and Gary Schroeder for helping me track down what is supposedly the last new 17" Schroeder bell style wheel in stock they can find. The guy they use to cast the rubber grip passed away so they are discontinuing production of these. So glad to get one of the last ones. First real shiny piece for the car!


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nice wheel!!

 

Updates! Finished the back of the car. Had to get a new brookville decklid and lower panel. Mounted the tank and hinged the decklid. Started recessing the firewall. Bought the brookville 32 dash insert. Chris from Grace and Co sent me a nice 32 style insert. Cut out some cheap wood for a temp floor to start building the trans tunnel. I'll replace the wood with nicer hardwood. Next weekend I have someone coming over to talk about the chop. Finally.

 

Man that looks good!

 

Looking Good, How much are you going to chop it, Are you going to leave the floor wood exposed? Did you decide on a color, Keep up the good work!

 

Nice work man! How much you going to chop it?

 

We are gonna do at least a 4". Yea I'm gonna leave the front wood exposed but add some detail. I have a color in mind I just can't find the right shade so I may have it made.

 

Who needs a speedometer! Looking good! I like the wood exposed idea.

 

Super nice job. Love those finned disc brake calipers - I'll have read up on them. Gary

 

Thanks a lot!

 

dropped the car off this weekend with jerry McCarthy in Delaware for the chop and misc body work. Nice to have it out of my hands for once!

 

Some nice updates via Jerry. Excited for more.

 

Wow I really appreciate that! To be completely honest I'm terrified! haha I wish I had a second junk coupe body to try it on. Because if I could do one I'd do mine. I don't want to cut and possibly mess up such a straight body. Believe me...I bought a few magazines and read some tonnage online on chopping these cars. Studied pictures and took photos of cars in person. They seem to be one of the simplest cars to chop. And I totally understand where and why certain cuts need to be made, but with absolutely no experience doing bodywork, let alone a chop, I felt comfortable handing it off especially with the budget I'm working with. Jerry has way more difficult cars under his belt and with such a great price I couldn't turn it down.

 

Yeah he's totally within my budget and I'm in the same boat as you with the paint situation. I know I could paint most of the car if I had a place to do it. My neighborhood and property is not ideal for doing any serious paint work. If I could rent a booth Id consider it but I don't even know what those possibilities are. In the end I don't want to cut any corners on this thing and I have no problem paying professionals I can trust to help me along the way. As much as this project is for my love of hot rods and working with my father it's also a huge investment for me and it'll be a nice down payment for a house one day so it's worth it for me to put the money into it where it matters most. Beyond paint and body I can do everything else in the garage.

 

Finally caught up with your progress --- looking really good, John!

Malcolm

 

Thanks a lot nick! Hope to show you in person sooner or later!

 

This guys workin quick!