I have been lurking in the shadows but I haven't posted anything for a long while. This is going to be a long thread with postings off and on through out the winter as weather permits. The overall object of this thread will be to show the progress of my finishing up building my Ford model-T coupe streetrod. ******************************************************************************************* The Ford model-T and this car in particular and I have a long history so I would like to tell you how I came to love old cars so you can understand my relationship with this car better. ............... I got my love for old cars from my older brother and my best friend, Jan. He was 10 years older than me and as I was growing up in the 1950's, he let me " help " him work on his cars. His everyday driver was this 1932 Ford V-8. His hotrod was this mid 1930's Ford coupe that he had chopped and channeled. Jan was building this car to take out to Bonneville. Unfortunately, he was killed by a drunk driver in February of 1963 so he never finished the car. I carried this photo in my wallet for years. Like most everyone, while I was a kid, my hotrods were all built out of plastic car kits that I got from the local hobby shop. My first real car was a stock 1925 Ford model-T coupe that I bought in Fort Lauderdale , Florida. I was 14 when I bought it in 1961 for $350. We took it with us when we went back to northern Michigan in the spring and I drove it all over the old logging roads that ran thru the Michigan forest behind our place. It took me three years to finally pay it off in 1964. I was living in Traverse City, Michigan at that time so I sent my last payment down to my dad and he made the last payment on it and got the title transferred over to him. ( I do not have any photos of that first model-T. When I was 16, I bought this 1950 Ford with a flathead V-8 in it. I was working after school in a body shop in Margate, Florida and worked on my car after work and on weekends. In this photo, I have already put the chrome side trim on it off a wrecked 1957 Ford 4-door police car that was sitting out behind the body shop. Me with the Ford finished and a 1956 Pontiac that I had fixed up to sell. I had started making a streetrod out of the 25 model-T while I was still in high school. In August of 1967, Marie, my high school sweetheart and I, eloped to get married and immediately moved from Traverse City, Michigan down to Kalamazoo where I got a job with Jim Gilmore, Cadillac & Pontiac garage. Before we got married, I had put the model-T in storage in a friends barn, out in the country about 12 miles south of Traverse City. While we were living in Kalamazoo, my friend called me and told me that his barn had been broken into while they were on vacation and the model-T was gone. All that I had left of it is the title. So .. time goes by. Its 1973 and we are living in Goshen, Indiana. I run across an add for a 1925 Ford model-T coupe for sale. The add said that the car is a little rough but had been running when it was put in storage. They were only wanting $100 so Marie and I went to take a look at it. It was a 25 alright but the title that he had for it was for a 1915 Ford coupe. I love my wife, the first thing she did when we walked into the barn was laugh and say " Give the man his $100 and let's load it up on the trailer ". Here is the original title and my bill of sale for the car. So I now had a model-T to replace the one that I had lost. I took the coupe body off and I eventually ended up making a C-cab body that I put on the original model-T frame to make it into a pickup. This pickup ended up being sold to a guy out in Oklahoma City. Meanwhile, in the late 1980's, I built a frame out of 2x3 steel and set the 25 coupe body on it to make a streetrod out of it. I was president of Hart City Street Rods at the time I was working on this streetrod. I still have the plaque and one of our show buttons. I would hook the model-T to the back of my 1960 Chevy El Camino with a towbar to take it with us to the car shows while it was under construction. This is what it looked like when I first started taking it to car shows. This was my 60 Chevy that we were driving then. And this was my wife's 1958 Nash Metropolitan. Again, time goes by and this model-T coupe ended up being put in storage in the early 1990's. It stays in storage until the spring of 2021, when I finally pull it out of storage and bring it home. I'm 76 now and my only income is from Social Security. So I have to sell something now and then to raise money to work on my other " more important"projects. ( heck .. I've been selling something to get money to work on something more important all my life ). At the time when I pulled this out of storage, I had intended to get it running and put it up for sale. Since then I have changed my mind. I'm keeping the model-T but I have pulled the Hemi engine and transmission out and I have the engine and blower for sale on Facebook Marketplace. This is what the car looks like now. I have a 49 - 53 flathead that is going to go in it now. This is my favorite photo of the model-T with my sweet Marie sitting in it. She would often sit in it and talk with me while I was working on the car. My only regret for leaving the car in storage for so long is that she died in July of 2019 at the age of 70 and never got to ride in it.
Thank you for suggesting that. I've listed both of them here but obviously I did something wrong because there isn't any thumbnail photo showing the with the listings We left Elkhart County in 2000 and I live down in Madison, Indiana now.
A long while ago, I had shown the process of building the dash for this car. I wanted to re-post it on this thread for those that have not seen it before. The piece of metal is cut to size for making the new dash and a quarter inch lip is bent up along one side that will fit up under the windshield frame. The bottom of the dash is curved to fit these four bezels that came off a 53 Ford dash. The dash panel is put in place for it's first trial fit and to figure out how far I want the bottom of the dash to stick out from the lower crossbar. The bottom part of the dash is bent up and it has a thicker strip of steel welded to it with two locating pins and three 1/4-20 threaded holes for bolting the dash to the lower crossbar. This is bolted in place on the lower crossbar. Then the dash panel is set in place the the bottom sections are temporally fastened together with screws. A thin strip of metal is temporarily fastened to the back corner on each side so the dash panel won't spread apart when I remove it from the car. The bottom pieces are welded together and the two end pieces made up and welded to it. I put it back into the car and marked where the speedometer is to go. The hole for the speedometer is finished. The holes for the other gauges are drilled out and 1/4 inch locator holes are drilled for the 8 holes for the control switches and cables. With the clearance holes drilled out for the controls, I now have a dash full of holes. There are two stamped backing plates that go behind the dash with particular size and shaped holes for locating the individual control switches and cables. Seen from the back side, there is a hole in the center of each one for a dash light socket and bulb. Those bulbs will make the letters on each of these plastic bezels light up at night. The glove box door panel is cut out of the dash and a piece of piano hinge is welded to the bottom edge. The bottom of the dash is drilled and tapped so the other side of the hinge can be screwed to it. here is the dash so far with the glove box door attached to it. I took four strips of sheet metal and bent them lengthwise at a 90 degree angle. These strips will welded together to form a " Z " channel for each side of the glove box opening. The two side panels are welded to the dash.
Two pieces of 1/4 inch square steel are bent to fit the curve on the inside of the glove box door and welded in place. A piece of sheet metal is formed to fit the inside of the glove box door This piece of sheet metal is then welded to the inside of the glove box door give it the strength that it needs. Here's how it looks with the door closed. The welding leaves little pock marks on the finished surface of the dash and they will all be filled in with glazing putty later. I machined out two small blocks of aluminum to mount the two glove box door stop brackets to. Each of these are fastened to the inside of the glove box door with two countersunk flathead screws. The door stop brackets are then attached to them. Here is how the brackets look from the back side with the glove box door closed. A 3/4 inch hole is drilled thru the top of the glove box door and a notch is milled out with a 1/16" diameter endmill. This hole is for the door latch. Here is how the latch look on the back side. Next I machined some angled surfaces on a small block of brass. Then I soldered that block onto a flat piece of brass to form the striker plate for the door latch. I also drilled and tapped the back side of this for a #4-40 countersunk screw to make sure that this solder joint doesn't ever come loose. This has two slots machined into it for the adjustment on the mounting screws. This striker plate is attached to the top of the glove box opening. This is how everything fits together when the glove box door is closed. This is the hardware that will go with these parts. The large round tubes are soldered onto the flat strips. Then the parts are assembled in this order. This makes up two little spring loaded plungers. The plungers are mounted to the top of the glove box opening. With the glove box door closed, the plungers are compressed in about 3/16 inch. When I push the latch button to open the glove box, the two plungers push the door open this far. From this point, the weight of the door makes it open the rest of the way. The dash is painted with the gauges installed and I'm fitting the switches and cables in place. Of course the original switches from the 53 Ford dash are easily fastened right in place to complete the dash. With the switches on the left side, the top left was original a cable for opening an outside air vent. It is now going to be a push - pull electrical switch for turning the power on and off for the transmission overdrive lockup solenoid. The round red light on the far left will light up when the power is on for the transmission switch. I have to make a special bezel nut to fasten this switch into this hole and I have to cut the knob off the air vent cable and drill and tap it to fit the electrical switch. The lower right switch on this group is for the electric windshield wipers and the original switch had two speeds. I have a newer wiper motor on this that has a variable intermittent cycle and I have to modify the original knob to fit this new wiper switch. Here is a closer view of the controls. That top left bezel originally said " AIR ". I masked over the " I " and panted over the other two letters. When the headlights are turned on, there is a thin ring around the back of each of the eight bezels that lights up and the letters themselves light up. This transmission switch will have the ring and just the little vertical line light up. Under the speedometer there are the turn signal indicators and the bright headlight indicator. I have managed to get the dash wiring completed and mounted the dash in the car.. This gives you an idea of how it will look at night with the dash lights on. I have built a swing away steering column to make it easier to get in and out. This is with the steering locked in the driving position. There is a brass button under the left side of the dash that releases the steering lock when it is pushed in. Then the column can be swung over toward the center of the car. Ford had a swing away steering column in the Thunderbird ( I think 61 or 62 ? )
Ill tell you something...as one of the "young" guys on here, its stories like yours that get guys like me into hot rodding. I am sorry for the loss of your co-pilot, maybe stick her name someplace, the dash or passenger door to mark her place. The dash turnes out great as well as the swing away column. Im following, please keep posting sir!
i would suggest you make a copy of this photo and keep it in the car when finished, as far as the car keep up the amazing work, the dash is a knock out! HRP
When I looked up the old thread today, I saw that a lot of my photos are no longer showing up on it. I had been using Photobucket for my photo storage back then and now I'm loading the photos right onto this sight. Also, this thread is about finishing and keeping the car instead of just fixing it up enough to sell. So I would rather keep this as a separate thread. On a side note here .. in the first thread, even though this is a 1925 model-T, I had intended on using the 1915 title that came with the car for selling it. On a car this old that has been modified so much it really wouldn't make a difference if the title was 10 years off and I didn't want to get rid of the original 1925 title that I've had since I was 14. Now that I'm keeping the car, it will be registered with that original 1925 title from my first car. PS .. I really like the 46, 7 or 8 Plymouth that you have for your avatar. I have a 47 Plymouth convertible still in storage in my son's garage ( my next project after the Model-T ).
The rear axle is a 9 inch Ford with positraction. I wanted the looks of the old style quick change rear axle but I didn't want the gear noise or the problem of expensive and hard to find parts. So I made a oval ring out of sheet metal that is welded it to the back of the axle housing and bolted a Frankland quick change rear cover to it. This way I have the dependability of the Ford axle with the looks of the old style quick change rear end. The fenders are for a 1915 Ford. They were special order from Rootlieb and they are 3 inch wider than stock so they cover the wider tires. This is what they looked like when I bought them in the early 90's but they have over 30 years of sitting in storage on them now. I built the chassis frame out of 2x3 inch box steel. The lower control arms for the rear axle are 2x2 steel and they have a sway bar mounted on them. The two gas tanks are made out of aluminum with baffles inside to keep the fuel from sloshing around a lot. They both have an aluminum heat shield with about 1/2 to 3/4 inch air space between the shield and the tanks. Here are the two tanks. I took advantage of any extra space under the frame rails so I could get as much capacity as possible. The larger tubes at the bottom are the fill tubes and the smaller tubes at the top are the air vent tubes. Here you can see how the tanks fit on the sides of the frame. You can also see the two upper control arms for the rear axle. They are mounted at an angle to keep the axle from moving sideways. The finned round canister on the right side in front of the axle is where the fuel goes in. Both tanks are connected to this round canister by 1-1/2 inch diameter tubes so the fuel level stays the same in both tanks. This is also the lowest point in the fuel tanks and the hose for the electric fuel pump comes off the bottom of this canister. The fuel filter is mounted on the left side under the upper cross frame ( chrome can with red top ). The tube coming out of the top of the round canister is connected to the fill tube that is behind this door in the left side of the turtle deck. The air vent tubes are also connected to the fill neck tube and vented thru the gas cap.
This is the finned canister that the gas goes into first. The electric fuel pump is mounted behind it and the filter is mounted over to the left. You can also see the power brake master cylinder mounted on the inside of the frame behind the fuel filter. The tan colored hose on the right is one of the emergency brake lines. This is the filler hose connection from the finned canister to the right tank. And the filler hose connection to the left tank. The gas passes freely thru the filler hoses to equalize the amount of fuel in both tanks all the time. This is the copper tube that connects the vent tubes together on both tanks. Here you can see the hose coming down from the fill neck to the finned canister. You can also see the copper vent tube above it with the smaller hose going up to the fill neck.
I love that you made so many parts yourself. Your dash panel was very well explained and very nicely done. I really enjoyed your story. Thank you.
Absolutely not. I like the looks of a tall-T coupe. They are about as aerodynamic as a billboard so they definitely are not a race car but they make a nice looking street rod.
If you wonder if tall Ts are race cars watch this video from the Mildura nostalgia drags 2022. This bloke has been racing this for years, drives it to most tracks and puts on a good show. Should start at 13.24 but the whole video is worth a gander.
WOW .. That was unexpected. He must be pretty fast considering the amount of lead time they gave the other guys. Thanks for posting that.
This is the rack out at my son's garage with the engines for future projects. As you can see .. I still have two more 354 Hemi engines. The one on the far right has a stock 4-barrel intake. The next one has a tri-power setup. The next engine is a 350 Chevy with Tri-power that belongs to my son. And finally, my flathead. On the shelf underneath is 350 Chevy with tri-power that belongs to me. The flathead is a 1949 to 1953 engine that has been modified so 1948 or earlier finned aluminum heads fit on it. I got this engine from Fred Sibley in Elkhart, Indiana in the late 1970's. Fred Sibley is well known for building jet powered dragsters and he is in the Drag Racing Hall of Fame. I haven't checked the identification numbers on this engine yet so I don't know if this is a Ford or a Mercury engine. I was told that this engine was used in a dragster back in the late 1950's and early 60's. It may of had a blower on it that was chain drive because there is a chain sprocket on the front of the crankshaft ? It has a Pro Racing Model intake manifold on it now that does not have the boss on the front for mounting the generator onto. Ordinarily, I would sell this intake and get one that has a generator mount on it but this has been welded on the side of the fuel pump mount so I wouldn't be able to get much for it. I could smooth the weld down so it wouldn't be noticeable but I still wouldn't want to sell it because I'm not the one who did the welding and I don't know if it can be trusted to not brake back out later. I also have a stock single carb intake manifold off a 60 HP engine that were made from 1937 thru 1940. This is a shorter manifold then on my engine and they really aren't worth very much. However, the generator mount on the front is the same as the ones used on my engine so I have cut the front off this manifold. If you look at the side of the carb mount, you can see a long crack in it so this manifold is scrap anyway. The mounting holes on the front of both manifolds are the same so I milled the mounting bosses down on both sides of the front of my manifold. This way, I can set the front part of the other manifold on top of the front of my manifold. I will weld these two parts together but I don't want to do that until I have the engine here so I can bolt both of these pieces together on the engine to help keep it from warping when I do the welding. Part of the edges on the generator mount are broken off. So I cut that area off of the manifold. Then I machined out a block of aluminum. This fits snugly onto the back of generator mount. The block of aluminum will be welded onto the front of the manifold. And the generator mount will fasten onto it. I still have to drill and tap the hole in the center for the mounting bolt. Later, I intend to modify this generator bracket so it will hold an alternator above it, on center in line with the intake manifold. I'm not going to do any of the welding until I can get the engine down off the rack at my son's garage and bring it home. I know ... this seems like a lot of work but these two manifolds aren't worth anything as is and a new one can cost anywhere from $300 to over $1,000 depending on who manufactured it, what style it is and how rare it is. Besides, this gives me something interesting to work on and when I'm finished, it will look like it came from the factory this way.
Very clever figuring out that manifold. Fred Sibley; I visited his place about 3 years ago with some club members. He's getting on in years but still has a lot of stuff.
I have an Edelbrock super dual for my 59A with a front generator mount and I'm going to mock it up to see if I can get an alternator to clear the front carb.
He's still alive ? He seamed like an old man when I bought this engine from him back in the 70's. Course back then, anyone over 40 seamed like they were old to me. Now anyone that age is still just a kid. I haven't checked because I don't have an alternator laying around, but I'm guessing your not going to have enough room with the two carbs sitting over the intake ports. That's no problem though because I already have plans to move the carbs closer together. The way the manifold is now, both carbs have to be synchronized and both have to run all the time and they have to be closely monitored so they stay in sink. I plan on building a plenum chamber on top of the manifold. The carbs will be set closer together on top of the plenum chamber and hooked up with progressive linkage. This way I can run one primary carb with the other carb as a secondary. The two carbs will operate the same way as a 4-barrel carb works. There were ( and still are ) several companies that built manifolds with a plenum chamber where the air - fuel from both carbs mixed together before it entered the main manifold.
The Jalopy Journal
