Well, I contemplated where I should even put this article, do***enting my current hot rod. Having done this for several decades, one thing I am comfortable with is living with my artistic automobile expression. I am by no means a professional and my experiences over the years ***ists me in my craziness. I have been building hot rods, street rods, project cars since I was 16. Another thing I learned over the years is have a theme and do research. Lots of research. Historically, this was done by reading magazines and attending car shows. Thank God for the internet! Now I can do so from the comfort of my own living room, enjoying my coffee or cold beverage. So I will start there for now. I found a good project on the HAMB Cars For Sale section. Worked the deal and scheduled the delivery. The member was very accommodating and did some fine work. I just needed to put my spin on it. So here is the start. The 1931 Model A Tudor was chopped and channeled already. Had a early Ford truck 9" rear ***embly, 4" dropped "I" beam axle, modified headlight mount, and recessed firewall. Having built many cars over the years, I had some useable parts to add to the project, the main being a drilled, dropped axle, Guide headlights with top markers and most of all, a built SBC with a tunnel ram and built 400 trans out of my g***er. Now was the time to do my research. I really like the Boling Bros. frames and wanted badly to pull the trigger on a rolling ch***is. However, too many projects laying around and limited funds causing me to pull in on the reins. So, box the existing frame... No problem. Universal SBC motor and trans frame mounts... NO problem. Aftermarket 12-circuit fuse panel harness... No problem. **NOTE: I must give the HAMB a shoutout, because there are soo many talented and giving members, always willing to help and p*** on the knowledge! Creativity inspiration comes in many ways and various sources. The forum is one of the best! So back to research. The internet and Google images provides a remarkable and seemingly unending plethora of cars, builders, concept, tech articles, vendors, anything and everything you would or could possibly need. Again, I will throw out some of the concepts I wanted to incorporate into my build. Again, by no means a high-end build, but one manufactured in my limited garage as many of you all do. Here are a few concepts, the first of which is how I would like to have the car sit. Some body mods, more for aesthetics and look than functionality... What says HOT ROD better than louvers, lots of louvers. Multi-size dimple die visor... Salt flats, under belly louvered panels... Center console connecting or transitioning the dash to the floor. Cool aluminum or steel door panels, dimple dies and mesh vents. Other thoughts that I pondered and started, or redid... I like how some of the hot rods have wrap around dash frames that merge into the doors. OR, 1934 Chevy dash? Hot rod, bomber bucket seats, maybe some super stock seat brackets, dimple die holes and partial fabric pads for cushioning! Fill the top bows with steel 1" square tubing. A lot cheaper than the wood kit! With the car in red primer, I think the gold offset, accent color on the Torque Thrust and/or steel wheels would made a nice accent. I like the look of the old-school tire cover made into a front bobber fender... Soo many concepts and cool ideas. Just how to merge these into a hot rod build? Winding down from an event filled Christmas and it is past midnight here in AZ. I hope you all were able to spend many a wonderful hours with family and friends for this joyful day. Tomorrow I will start downloading where I am at in this journey and show you how I decided to perform the merger.
You say it's not a high end build? You certainly have high end taste. Those dashes and bomber seats are killer!
Thanks. However, aside from the first two pictures, I only posted versions of what I wanted to mimic. And you are correct, expensive seats. I will show you what I came up with at a fraction of the price.
<SolidAxle> here is my story on my seats. So, one day I am leaving the powder coater and I go right past the s**** metal yard that is in front of it. Always looking for project metal. Low and behold, I catch a glimpse of (3) bucket seat frames in the pile. Pinch me! I backed up and took a second look. Yep, I was correct. I parked and went to the guy and asked about the seats. He had no clue, but if they are in the s**** pile, pennies to the pound. I went and grabbed the two best (should have grabbed the third) and brought them to him. Well, what do you know? I didn’t know those were in there. We put them on the scale and $10 later, I was heading home. FIND OF THE CENTURY! At least in my mind. I have no idea what these are from. I put some dimple die holes in them, had them powder coated (some corrosion pit marks) made some padded cushions and viola!
On another note, I am fortunate enough to have found (and visited way too many times) a Model A vendor/boneyard 15 minutes from my house! Great family run business and always a pleasure sitting and talking with them. Now I have to clarify something here. Growing up in the Midwest, we called them Junkyards. However, I was very quickly and sternly corrected that this is NOT a junkyard! Not wanting to insult the owner any more than I had, I quickly acquiesced and made the change. https://sites.google.com/site/arizonamodela/ I needed some over the door panels, wood header, header panel, all kinds of hardware and misc. stuff. So off to the Boneyard.
Mistakes? I am haunted by that Queen song in my head, going round and round… “mistakes, I’ve made a few…” Well, the good does come with the bad. Just change the subject, take a break, have a beer, work on something else! Works every time. One thing I knew I HAD to do was insulate, insulate, insulate the car. Nothing says HOT like AZ summer and 115 degrees!
Occasionally, my wife, son, or both will come out to the garage to see how I am doing. Only to be barraged by expletive language that would rivel Old Man Parker from A Christmas Story. Fortunately, I have been working on catching myself. Most of the time!
One some of my wiring challenges, I reached out to Jeremy from “REBEL Wire” … SHOUT OUT… he is a great guy that I cannot say enough good things about. His harness would have been the way to go, I just found out way too late to do a redo. http://www.rebelwire.com/
Along the way, so many decisions, so little time! (LMAO) Keep the fenderwell headers, or run with the lakester style? Carpet or no carpet? Painted interior or brushed steel/aluminum? Cl***ic, old-school pleated interior? Full length door panels, or partial with fabric? Extend the stock frame to get more room, or leave it? One area that stumped me, and I always get stymied by this is, where to put the brake pedal? Fortunately, I started a “HELP, please provide feedback” on the forum and was pleasantly surprised to get a mul***ude of comments and preferences. I just had to take it all in, contemplate and decide!
From a painting standpoint, even though I have the equipment and can do a decent job, the HOA Nazis would catch me when I am not looking and send me a letter (LMAO again). Fortunately, there are several powder coating places in the general area and the two I have been using do a phenomenal job! Some of the pictures of the red metallic just do not do the finish and color justice. I kept it simple, traditional chrome with black face gauges.
From a painting standpoint, even though I have the equipment and can do a decent job, the HOA Nazis would catch me when I am not looking and send me a letter (LMAO again). Fortunately, there are several powder coating places in the general area and the two I have been using do a phenomenal job! Some of the pictures of the red metallic just do not do the finish and color justice.
Forgot to mention. While contemplating what to do about a reverse light, I picked up several old dash clock pods. Found one that fit the contour of the top of the body. Drilled a hole, installed a LED bright white light, found an old-school clear lens, glued it into the housing. Mounted the unit on a cork trimmed seal and I have a unique reverses light.
So, when I referred to mistakes. One of my concepts was for a wrap around dash. The pictured ones are hard to come by. What I did find was a complete 1959 Galaxie/Fairlane dash. So the surgery began! I had it in the car, didn't look half bad, I just couldn't find it in me to weld the side panels to the doors. Give a look.
I also toyed around with different tail light ***emblies. 1961 Plymouth tail lights. I had these on another 31 sedan I owned years ago. Worked well. 1950 Oldsmobile tail lights. Maybe mounted on the roof corners. The contour was close, requiring minor shaving. These already have the reverse light built into the housing. They were just slightly over size and would have to be recessed into the roof sheet metal for a more natural look.
That's wicked! I've got a pair of those front wheel fenders if you want them! Located in CA so shipping wouldnt be bad
Tim, for the front braces, I ended up notching the bottom of the 1" square tube so it sat flush. Basically, just cut a 1 x 1 piece off the bottom and installed a spacer between the inside top of the square tubing and the over the door panel lip. This prevents the tubing from squashing (?) when you tighten it down.
Good call. Do you have any wood or metal running the sides from front to back or it is bolted to the stepped sheet metal? Can’t quite see
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