Little more progress last night.. got the piece I made welded in.. What’s your guys thoughts on metal vs wood for the door surrounds? I thought about building mine from metal instead of wood, I know that’s not traditional.. any pics of this being done out of metal?
The way you can work metal, I would say, why not? Could you maybe throw a couple more wheel nuts at this project to help me sleep at night?
Started tinkering on getting the front sheet metal to all fit… so far it fits like***** lol but I did get a few good pics..
Hey it’s an old Ford. Acceptable tolerance back then was about 1/2 inch!!! Lol Very nice work bringing the old girl back to life!
Can somebody post a picture of what the door weather stripping looks like factory on a 33/34? Particular at these angles. Or even a picture of a factory car with or without rubber at these angles. Thanks!
Weather seals were fabric and nailed onto the wood on the body. So, if you replace the wood with steel you are going to have to come up with something else
Stock 34's had a simple lip seal that fit under the jamb strip above the door. Also a bit taller strip that fit under the door upholstery card on the bottom of the door. And as Curbspeed said, the upholstery covered windlace all around the front, top, and back of the door opening. A vendor like Dennis Carpenter or Drake should have pics in their catalogs.
I’m back! Been busy with work and have a little daughter coming into the world any day! Little update! I knew life would get busy so I chatted with Clay from Clayton’s hot rods about finishing up the car. I got it as far as I could with the time I had and then dropped it off to him a few weeks ago. I’m eager to see the progress once he starts! Prior to dropping the car off my 4 year old son pulled the motor out, the only help I gave was bolting a chain to the motor! I will just kind of do a photo dump here, but after we got the motor out and pulled apart I found out it was in much worse shape then I was told. Can’t win em all.. so I got the car dropped off to Clay and started hunting for a motor. I got a lead on a rebuilt engine 3 hours south of me, old posting with*****ty photos and the guy says I’m just helping a friend sell it, call her and set up the deal. So I call her and she mentions that she is selling a bunch of old parts and maybe some cars so I grabbed a chunk of cash and my trailer and hit the road. To keep it simple I went to get 1 motor and ended up making 2 trips filling my truck and my 20’ car trailer both times! 5 olds engines, 1 hemi and tons and tons of parts. (@cruisinthepines or @saia_vintage on instagram if u wanna see the video and pics of the haul) injection, 6 packs, heads, 94s, 97s u name it! So I got everything home and started figuring out what all I had and started to figure out which engine I wanted to run. Out of the olds I had 1 394 3-303’s with ported 371 heads and 1 455. I’ve planning to run the blue engine it’s a 303 with 371 heads adjustable rockers and a crazy custom built roller cam setup. For now I’m going to run the offy valve covers with the eelco valley cover and off 3x2 manifold with these old chrome 97’s. (Need to clean up the paint off them still) long term I think I will run the scott97’s but they need to be****embled and adjusted. I’m working on a run stand so I can run the motors and make sure I’m making the best choice. They’re all 0 miles engine. Anyways there is my update!
I’m also naming the car the Nighthawk special in honor of my late great grandfather who set the world and US endurance record in his home built glider in 1941! His plane was called the Nighthawk. I’ll be doing the same logo that’s on the tail of his plane on my decklid. It was his squadron logo, unfortunately he was shot down in his p40 during Pearl Harbor. Here is a link to a cool article on him if you guys are interested in it. I’ve been trying to track the glider back down for the greater part of 10 years. I believe it’s at the natural history museum of Los Angeles sitting outside under a carport but they have been absolutely no help to me! https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/soaring-of-nighthawk/
What’s the name of the museum? I know a guy who works at a Museum near LA, it has vintage military aircraft, etc. May not be the same place, but worth a shot. He may know someone who could contact them.
Hey, I’m that guy. Name is Shane Thompson from the CAF Wing in SoCal. I can most likely have no problem in getting the NHM in LA to fess up. Especially, since it has to do with my museum’s mission. if you send me a PM of you and your grandfather’s information, I can give them a good reason. Nothing too personal, just something to prove.
Wow! Congrats on pending arrival, That amazing parts haul, Great story about your G'pa & looking forward to hearing how the quest for his old glider works out!
Just keeps getting better, Like a great novel. I'll be following. Nothing better then A boy\son in the garage!! Thanks...Mike
Shane didn’t drag his feet, he went to looking into it while we were texting. Hope there’s a good outcome for ya!
Came here to check out your car, was impressed, now I'm completely fixated on your great grandfather's story and his glider, let us know if you track it down!! Cool stuff. Congrats on your new baby as well!
Hey guys, copy from my instagram post but here’s the follow up on my car and the glider, huge shootout to Shane for making this connection for me!!! Here is a rendering that Rik giving did for me of the “Nighthawk Special” that Clayton’s hotrods is currently building. This car is in memory of my great grandfather William*****e jr and his sailplane that he built, The Nighthawk, that he set both world and US records in, in 1931. The coupe will wear his squadron logo on the rear quarter, the same one that was displayed on the tail of his sailplane and have pinstripes to mimic the scallops from the front of the Nighthawk. There will also be a few other subtle touches done to the car in memory of him and the Nighthawk. This is where it gets wild… My great grandfather was shot down in his B-17 during Pearl Harbor and our family eventually lost track of the Nighthawk. I have been trying to track it down for 10 years reaching out to numerous POCs and ending up hitting dead ends. Every time I would find out a little more info and think I’m getting close I’d hit another wall. I reached out to enough people that I started getting phone calls and emails from people I’ve never met in the aviation community that heard I was trying to track it down and wanted to help. Just when I thought this effort was going nowhere, I posted updates on a build thread on @the_hamb and another member of the hot rod community said he thought he could help.. within 24 hours I got word that The Nighthawk is in a storage container in downtown LA and owned by the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles! Shortly after this the @Smithsonian reached out and sent me a 1st class mail pack full of archived articles, photos and other info. I have since had a zoom call with @nhmla and have set plans to get my eyes on the Nighthawk in person, and then speak about hopefully getting it on display again! But the story doesn’t end there… In the package from the smithsonian it tells a wild story of how my great grandfather joined the caterpillar club in 1932 by jumping out of a biplane to save his life, in the middle of winter and hiked for almost 24 hours in the snow until he was found by Park Rangers. This all took place in Sequoia National Forest in the same area my wife @tayyy.quinn great great grandfather was a Ranger at that time. The plane went down within a few miles of her families property, where I’ve been several times, not knowing how close I was to a piece of my own family history. I’m still hunting this story down and there are so many details on the Nighthawk, I will probably make a YouTube video documenting this journey. If you’re interested in any of this let me know and I can send more details on the Nighthawk. The Nighthawk is not only one of America’s oldest existing sailplanes, but it represents one of America’s most honored record setting sailplanes and I’m honored to be the great grandson to such a savage!
You have an interesting project and a lot of talent that is showcased through your postings The story about your Grandfather is facilitating. I’m heartened that folks stepped up in your behalf and helped make the connections to locate your Grandfather’s glider. That is completely cool
I’ll post update as I get them from clay. He got started on brake lines and some frame work yesterday.. hoping this thing goes together smooth! Wish it was finished for trog, but will have to make that happen next year!
The Jalopy Journal
