History Proper Front Suspension for a Traditional Rod ?

Check out that front suspension ! Now when you want to build a real Nostalgia Hot Rod you know what front suspension was used........ ;-)
Member... Volvobrynk says, It's a 1941 Chevy knee action IFS, the only traditional IFS!
So easy and a lot safer maybe ?

 

VERY unique and hardly "common" on the cars I've seen. If fact, in today's world, that would be a "rat rod" set up. Kinda funny how times change. If he were still alive, I wonder how many would tell Mr. Miller he needs an "I" beam and a spring to get it "right"?

 

One swallow does not make a spring.

 

Ak did things his own way. Wasn't worried about looks

 

No Rules = Hot Rods and Customs.

 

Still pretty ugly.

 

Unique, for sure..........

 

I'm going to go against the grain here and admit I don't think it looks all that bad honestly.

 

Found this article from 1954.
He was way ahead of his time and found the only fault ever with a Henry Ford car and fixed it.

 

I'm not quite sure of the point you're trying to make with this.

 

I can't twist that into being any form at all of
TRADITIONAL or Nostalgia.
Sometimes it's interesting how some oddball thing gets looked at as what its not. Well sorry,but its still oddball,an as much as I liked an built hotrods an customs myself in 50s an 60s,that would not of been, then or now cool to me. Kind of also comes back to,if you don't know how to set up early ford axles to work well,its that you don't know how,not that there's something wrong with the Ford axle.
So yes ,its interesting,thanks for that,but that's all to me.

 

A tradition means doing something over and over, usually til it becomes beloved. That ugly Chevy independent was used once, and nobody ever did it again. Absolutely the antithesis of traditional.

 

The uglier, the better. Function over what other "Hot Rodders" think for me thanks.
Ak had vision..... and comfort when cruising.... Lol.

 

Around 1991, I scrapped out a '46-'48 Ford Fordor that had suffered an engine fire that also burned under the dash and the headliner. Why is it noteworthy here? Because it had been built as a hot rod in the 1960s, and had '49-'54 Chevy IFS under it! I'll agree that I-beam axles have always been the most common, but they aren't the only thing traditional (cue Corvair IFS guys).

Eli

 

Ak Miller was known for "rough" looking cars...

 

he likes ugly cars...

 

I've seen old pictures of people pulling cars with horses, there could be your traditional power plant for your next car. After all, if it was done once before, it must be traditional.

 

Yes. Like this one from WWII. This guy had real vision and was only 100 years too early. You may laugh now but, Wait a few years and the Greenies will have Hot Rodders believing that this is acceptable .

 

I'm always amused by these type threads.... Somebody posts a vintage pic of something out of the ordinary and the nouveau traditionalists solemnly pronounce it as 'not traditional' because it's not 'common' or 'commonly done'. Like building a 'traditional' car has to be done to some lowest-common-denominator blueprint or something. And I hate to say it, but many of the cars built like that end up with a 'sameness' and can be more than a bit boring... sorry. Not to say that a 'traditional' car has to be boring, but following a set of 'rules' is unlikely to get you beyond boring...

Now, Ak Miller was known for his 'out of the box' thinking and managed to get kicked out of an early car club for being 'non-traditional', but given his track record (both literally and figuratively), he would have been unlikely to attain icon status if he had 'toed the line'. And these same traditionalists will drool and wet themselves when some ultra-rare bit turns up, yet by their own definition ('common') it's not traditional. You can't have it both ways...

So let me pose a question.... If this car turned up unrestored and it's provenance was established, would a traditionalist remove the offending parts in a 'restoration'? Or if someone decided to clone it, would it be a 'traditional' build?

These are prickly questions, but more than anything, 'tradition' is about history and editing history is never a good thing.

 

Well said. I have always ONLY ever had a liking for 1955 onwards Fords because of the antiquated running gear etc before that year.
Then, yesterday I spotted the article with Ak's Roadster and its cool creative ideas that could be done for low $$$. Finally, I had a little urge to maybe look into a pre 35 project.
But there seems to be some unwritten rules enforced by the Little Bo peeps , who follow like sheep everywhere....
Like Mr Crazy Steve says..... following a set of 'rules' is unlikely to get you beyond boring.....

 

Are you trying to have an argument? I don't think anyone cares that much. Ak's roadster is not a hidden secret. He liked to try ideas. There have been others that have tried different ideas. Sometimes they catch on, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they're good ideas, sometimes they're not.

Build what you like. Build one like Ak's. Just don't pretend it is a typical post war dry lakes era roadster with that style of front suspension.

I'd also like to know whether your 'antiquated running gear etc.' remark is based on experience or text books.

 

That suspension is homely looking no matter how you slice it. You are in the wrong place if you don't like "antiquated pre 55 Fords" . Have you ever even ridden in a properly setup straight axle car? I'm doubting it.

 

What he said

 

I've raced built and raced more race cars with straight front axles than most ...
And all on Dirt Speedway and know their place. On Dirt cars. They were easy to set up and easy to make handle .
They were the only cars that had straight front axles over the years in our class. Through the 70's, 80's and 90's and were the "Ak" equivalent at the dirt tracks. Different and kicked ass. So, yeah, I know my stuff. I just like the idea of the independent front on that old roadster. I really do.
Heres a few pictures of the cars we had with straight front axles and leaf front springs on the Dirt.

 

If you are a race car builder as you claim, you know very well that when you pick a class to run in, you follow its rules and make them work for you...WITHIN the parameters set by the governing body.
A smart person can make it all work by being adaptive and creative in their use of the rule book.
THEN you get the complainers who only look at the rules as a restriction and butt heads with everyone and whine and bitch to get everyone else to follow their lead. As if the racers who CHOSE the class they're in to start with, really want or need to "break free" from all those perceived restrictions the complainers blather on about.

Anyone who truly wants to "break free" just needs to find a different class to run in. Period.

Get my drift?

 

I see what you did there, I think...?

I mentioned this which is going on in this topic in another topic or 10. Usually it involves something purely "fuck wad" built, but I would never apply that description to "Ak" Miller. Still, just like customs too numerous to mention, not all of the hero builders from the past got it right every time. This topic's example is unique, probably worked really well, was built by a notable and respected player from the past, and still doesn't seem to "fall in" with the majority of period rods. Of course it's more than uncommon when you consider that the best and easiest thing is to modify what the car was built with. In the case of our beloved early Ford it was a buggy spring suspension and the near infinite number of ways to modify it. Even more in context, scrap yards were nearly over run by Ford parts simply by virtue of volume. At the end of the day we can ask whether or not this car is traditional. Of course it is, and of course it isn't. A country music star does a cover of a popular rock song, that cover done in a way that's suitable for air time on a country music station. Should the same song be played on a rock station with equal frequency of air time? Should the original rock version get air play on the country station? If a goat is a ram, a donkey an ass, why is a ram in the ass a goose?

 

Looks like it T-boned a railroad car.

 

wait for it.....


*yawn*

 

About time^^^ ...

 

Ray Brock coined Ak as "Always the Innovator". Roger Huntington, S.A.E. seconded it.

Ak's wife, "Chub" ran her '55 T-Bird at the drags in '57(?) with a 312 stocker, consistent 88 MPH.
Ak transplanted a 324 Olds in the 'Bird, drove the speed up to standing 91.
Was it worth the trouble for 3 M.P.H.? I never dared ask...

Not many have done loose 'cloning' of "The Caballo De Irro".