Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

"Joey, looks like you got some tires!" That's a great thing to hear in the middle of the work day. I now have the fronts, and I'm waiting on the rear tires, tubes and the rim strips. The trim rings were provided by Charlie at North Palm Speed.

 

One of the most fun parts of building this car is digging up San Francisco hot rodding history. I spotted these jack stands on Craigslist a couple months ago and tonight I finally got them. I bought them from a gentleman named Nick who lives in the Monterey Heights neighborhood. The story goes that back in the 1950s and early-'60s he was a member of the Pitmen (?) car club here in San Francisco. In those days, he drove a heavily channeled, pink Deuce roadster with a 59AB flathead. I asked him if he had any photos and he shook his head. "We just didn't take a lot of pictures of stuff back then." He does, however, still have a 1953 Studebaker. I wasn't able to see it on this trip. Maybe some other time?

He said the jack stands are made from 1932 Ford axle bells. He cut them with a torch, welded on the handles and had them sandblasted with full intent of painting them. "As you can see, that never happened," he said. "Instead, I put them right into service!" Surface rust aside, I think they'll be a good addition to my shop.

 

Yes! I've been caught up in a lot of things editorially, but I'll get back to you tomorrow!

 

Totally normal stuff going on here [emoji41]


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Good info for sure. I talked to the tire shop who have been working with hot rods since the 1960s and they recommended tubes and rim strips for them. I'm taking that route.

Thank you. I'm just working to build the most straightforward early hot rod and learning along the way. Some days are certainly easier than others!

 

Yesterday was a full and very fun day. On Friday night, I could hardly sleep because I was so excited to wake up early and work on my car. Does that ever happen to you guys?

First and foremost, I rolled it out of the garage and fired it up. It started easily and sounded good. Next, I got everything in position to test all five '35 Ford wire wheels for runout. Safety measures included a swept driveway, jack stands (4x), wheel chocks, jack in position under the axle and two friends nearby. Before working, I leaned on it pretty hard and it did not budge. With that sorted out, I proceeded.

 

Excellent! Can't wait. Thank you!

 

The verdict on the wheels? Out of the five, three seemed to be good according to my primitive measuring system. One appeared to be okay-ish and one was bad. Interestingly enough, the worst one was one of the original paint ones. That's just the way it goes.

So do I have a full set? Hard to say. I'm going to go down to Andy's Tires and Wheels in South San Francisco on Monday morning. They handle all the rolling stock for Roy Brizio's builds and they know their stuff. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to use them. If not, I'm back on the hunt.

With the wheel off, I decided to take a look at the brakes just for fun. It's no surprise, but they've seen better days. I was surprised to see yellow shoes. Were these stock or an early aftermarket replacement? Either way, it became immediately clear why the braking left a bit to be desired.

Once I get the wheel situation sorted, I'll clean and sand everything. I'll mic the drums to see if they're within spec, and then I think I'm going to buy new brake shoes all around.

 

Finally, I took this photo just because I though the car looked nice sitting there in my driveway. It got lots of attention from the neighbors yesterday—that's for sure!

 

Oh, I almost forgot the most important part! You know I had to do a quick mockup with the new tires and the windshield.

 

Three seemed to be within 1/8th of an inch as measured by the lip and have no major wobble. The inner portions seemed straight and true. One has a slightly wavy lip and the last one seemed pretty lopsided. Like 1/4-inch or more. I’ve only done this with motorcycle wheels so this is pretty new to me. As mentioned earlier, these will be installed with tubes.


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