Hey Guys. Who out there managed to build up their dream ride from a total basket case ? Or is in the process of building one. What were the hurdles you had to overcome to bring it back to life or are facing tpo bring it back to life ? The salvage ? Sourcing the parts or even having to fabricate the parts due to their rarity ? Rust, dents, bent ch***is, lack of funds ? lack of a suitable work area ? lack of experience ? Maybe some or all of the aformentioned. Either way I am keen to see images and here some of your stories. Here is one my own projects that I first discovered 28 years ago.
I'm in with my 29' Chevy roadster. I'm facing just about every obstacle you've mentioned. Buying parts overseas and then getting lost in shipping. Same thing in the states. Finally, after 8 years, I found a windshield. I'm going to have to make both doors, both quarter panels will need major surgery and up the middle in the rear has to be made from scratch but I'm determined to get this termite trap back on the road. Picture from 8 years ago...
As a 19 year old, I had no idea how much work this was gonna be. The '57 was a used up race car, Flintstone floors, butchered dash, wasted, twisted leaf springs, rust holes in the rockers & quarters. No interior. My pals & I bolted the body to a pair of oak timbers, like a gurney. Then tipped it up on it's side to weld the floors in. At dad's wooden floored shop. Welded in a good dash from one of 1/2 dozen cars I parted out. Some guy had a 9'' truck rear. Had it narrowed by a local guy. Adapted discs from a Pontiac myself. Now there's a kit for that... What an adventure it's been. The folks I've met and road trips to drag parts cars out of the woods. Swap meets, trading parts, picking ba*****ts & garages, building engines, test drives in incomplete cars. Life goes by quickly. It's fun to still be screwing around with the same stuff I was enamored with as a kid. More than 30 years later!
The fact that its a 29 Chev and not a Model A makes it all that much harder for you. My two 34 Chevs require a m***ive amount of body work. The sedan has all the panels but many are badly bent out shape. The utility, being a much rarer body is missing the garnishes for the doors and the original rear cargo bay and being a coupe style body these are not available as reproductions. When you own one body that was only made as a few hundred and another that was only made as ten, its an uphill battle alright.
The "Ranch Wagon" was the worse body I have ever started with. I won't bore you with all the photo's but suffice to say,with one-hundred and nine patch panels it was rough! HRP
I love how this car still has enough soul left in her to turn one of her eyes towards the camera for the picture. She's letting you know to put her back together.
I rescued this from close to going into a dumpster.. Second pic shows how far I got with it before issues with my back and legs prevented me from finishing..
Don't know about "worst", but certainly "most ambitious ". Roadster pickup in a box. No floors, rockers, or frame...but so much potential!
I know it is a lowly model a but, this was never a car. Just pieces scrounged over the last two years. Sent from my SM-G900V using H.A.M.B. mobile app
My 27 Coupe. "THE JUGHEAD MOBILE".....When I picked it up, the guy whom I had bought it from, had chopped the top off, chopped the only rusted out door that was on it. He laid a sheet of plywood as a floor and placed the dead body on a 1982 Mazda PU frame. It was all held together with bungee straps for the trip to So. Cal. from Dodge City, KS. It looked good for what he did to it but it wasn't feasible. By the way, I am selling the front end clip and rear end out of the Mazda PU frame.... Lucky for me, the guy kept the top and I was able to weld it back on. Found doors, trunk deck lid, seats, fabbed the floor, fabbed the trunk deck, had to fab a few pieces, got a 28-30 frame, etc......
Well I rolled this unit over 3 times in 1980. Totally rebuilt it in 2005 after sitting in the garage for 26 years.
I carried the body for my 23 T out of a field in Texas a few pieces at a time from where it was in a pile next to a fence line loaded it in the trunk of my 62 Impala and hauled it home with the trunk closed. That wasn't as big of a project as my Model A will be though. This one is going to be a full on challenge. I'm gathering pieces as I go but it hasn't worked it's way to the top of the project list yet.
This one was more of a pile than a wreck. Turned out OK though. The Merc was pretty ****ty. I kind of miss it sometimes... -Abone.
my 427 Chevy was a smooth ride until that girl ran a red light about 1980....did get it back together....saw it at a swap meet.....still had my stickers on the dash
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