I just built a '27 roadster for a 6'3" guy and he fits perfectly. The trick is to use a 32 floorpan as a seat pan and to mount the steering wheel high enough for knee room.
Kept simple I don't think there is any better bang for the buck than a T roadster. Having had one I'd say that while I really want another one and have most of the pieces for one, I need a reacher on the road first as I sure as hell am not going to be able to talk my 66 year old wife into any road trips to Texas in a T bucket in March for roundup unless it's on a trailer behind a motorhome. I saw Bill Wendt's roadster in person when I lived in Texas and that is one wild car that would hold it's own with any of them around today. Somewhere I have rod trot photos stashed from the early 70's in Texas that have a lot of wild T roadsters in them.
So you guys all now know I didn't dream this. George Did I toggle any demerits, or did I have it down solid?
Please...do a photo thread! I loves me some t-buckets!! DDDenny, you know I have a t-bucket parts pile right?
the T s i like the best seam to be the ones that all four wheels are about the same size. fellow hamber's cars.
T or not a T is not the question - it's all about taste/style and that's nothing we should argue about. I like the workmanship, time and dedication some guys put into their Ts
Who built the black one with the soft top ? That low profile top is 10x more attractive to my eyes that than the tall look. Any links to build info ?
The black one is Clayton Paddison's car. He's a HAMB'er and did a build thread on it a while back. His HAMB name is MrModelT.
i love the stance on that car. bad ass! his intro thread: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/new-to-the-hamb-my-26-model-t-roadster.308638/
As a Hot Rod defined in its most simple form, the Model T is where it all started. Manufacturers in the late 20'2, 30's and then forties made the cars (& trucks) wider, longer wheelbase and improved suspensions, leaving their horse drawn cart roots. Model T's were the 1st to get the Hot Rod hobby going as they manufactured millions of these vehicles, so they could be bought, cheap. As these young Hot Rodders got older and had more money to spend they wanted the newer cooler cars to customize. Model T's will never die.....they will just go faster!
Hey, T fans! Anybody know what happened to "the YELLOW PERIL" ? 1927 T roadster pickup, flathead w a 671 Gimmy, column shift. It was built in 1948 by surfer Bob Bergstrom in the Hermosa Beach area. My buddy Mike Eaton is the guy who REALLY wants to know what happened to this car. He bought it from Bob in 1950 and drove it from California to New Jersey twice to attend boarding school. You may recognize Mike Eaton's name. He is a renowned surfboard shaper and hot rodder born in 1930 and still pretty fired up about cars. The last he knew the car was owned by Chuck P Dawson who may have taken it to Florida. Any help on the Yellow Peril's whereabouts would sure make an old man happy.
Forgotten? Not big enough to drive? Hmmmmmnnn, been driving the Ugly Bucket as my daily for two years now! All things "T" spoken around these parts. I'd sure like to see the newer guys learn some distinction between "T-Bucket", "Modified", "T", Full Fendered cars, though. Saw a full fendered, unchopped '27 coupe called a "T-Bucket" on it's For Sale sign this weekend.
I never understood the body-narrowing bit. These things are too damned small to begin with. I am in the process of rebodying my old RPU with a touring body. It will still be only a two-seater, but one with leg room, space for luggage, and maybe even a spare tire. I hated fighting the fight if I was going to go some place more than 50 miles away or overnight.
They are definitely on the "small" side for anyone over 5'8" tall. That said, they are fun as hell and light weight (especially the glass versions) I ran this little number for a while...
This is our family's "T" roadster. My dad, Ira Hassad, started the chassis in 1948 as a sports car, but Bonneville fever took over in 1951 and so the 241" 1953 Dodge Hemi was squeezed in the frame. He was just finishing work on a rotary supercharger, so the car went to Bonneville for a class record attempt. He qualified for C modified roadster class record at 174 mph. The car was left overnight on salt in an impound area. Sadly, somehow a washer was placed in the intake overnight and the supercharger was destroyed upon startup. 1955 saw him use nitromethane for the first time, but a leaking fuel shut-off valve in the pressurized fuel line hydraulic locked one cylinder and subsequent explosion on startup split block in half. He eventually ran 151 mph at El Mirage in 1958 and retired from racing. I refined the hood section in 1991 from my Dad's suggestions and took car to many vintage track races on the West coast until 1999. The chassis performed great and I could equal track times from contemporary Ferraris and Jaguars. BTW, the engine has never been rebuilt since 1955 and still runs great! The T body was a gift from his good friend, Ed Stewart, who owned a San Diego speed shop and it fits on the tubular chromoly frame just fine. I was born in 1949, so the car has been like a family member to me.
If you would like to see pictures of car when first built and before Bonneville runs, see Hot Rod magazine, November 1955. Article is "Test Lab T". The car ran in the 1954 meet and pictures were taken in spring of 1954 for magazine, but not published until 1955! My dad, Ira, was president of the San Diego Roadster Club from 1955 until 1958, when he left dry lakes racing to concentrate on his work. He still had friends at the lakes meets and to help a young racer accomplish the goal of the first motorcycle to break 300 mph, he designed and created the first cast metal bike wheel in 1975 to allow Don Vesco to set that record.
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