Well I guess I’ll start a build thread on this one as I’ve made quite a bit of progress over the past year and I’m trying to get it back on the road this spring. A few years ago we pulled this car out of a small little garage a town over. I’ve found quite a bit of history and old photos since then. If anyone else has anything let me know! This was Ronnie Robinsons “voodoo” roadster. It started life as a ‘33 3 window. The roof was cut off and the body was channeled over a ‘32 frame back in the day. The original version of the car looked really cool to me. It was rebuilt a number of times over the years. When we got it it had been redone again probably in the early 2000s. Lots of scary work and parts. I got the car running and driving. It ran really well until the rear end let go due to someone half *** fixing it at some point in time. I really started digging into it then and well here it is. The oldest photo I have (found on here). Man I wish it still had that blower on it. Second oldest picture and the only one when it was painted yellow Stafford speedway I believe The Big E Spec Pond Ronnie with the car 1979 The day we pulled it out of Ronnies old garage The smile on my old mans face says it all Yup. It was quite ugly when we got it.
It will be interesting where this goes. Today it would be sacrilege to cut up a three window, but that ship was sailed long ago.
Unloaded and it didn’t take long for me to get rid of some of that gold paint A tune up and a little carb cleaning and it fired up. (Can’t figure out how to upload a video)
The day it stopped moving. Many issues to address. Pulled it into the shop to tear it all down. It was obvious that all the suspension needed to be addressed if this thing was ever going to be back on the road and looking decent. Really the whole car needed to be gone through. It has a c4 trans which I don’t really like but it does make it easier to drive with the channel. The shifter wasn’t bolted to the trans so finding a gear was near impossible. The seat was so high that your head was a foot above the window. The throttle pedal was mounted on the p***enger side of the car and the brake pedal was about a foot off the floor… no idea. The pinion shaft had fallen out the front of the axle because there wasn’t anything holding it in other than the driveshaft and some rtv. Now it needs oversized bearings and a whole rebuild.
I remember Ronnie and his roadster from many years ago. I liked the roadster best when it was painted black with flames. He was "The Man" back in the day. I remember being in Ronnie's garage and seeing a Harmon-Collins cam display hanging on the wall. The background was green, and it had a chromed partial camshaft that had several different grinds on it. I always wanted to know what happened to the display. I am not a flathead person, but if I had the display, I would want to keep it in rememberance of Ronnie.
Started with the rear. This would have been much easier if the body wasn’t welded to the frame! Oh well, can’t get too deep into it. I cut out the scabbed in “crossmember” and put a model a crossmember and new frame horns in its place. Also cut off the big roll pan. Much better stance in the rear. New tires came in from towel city. Started looking for some new wheels as the mags were different bolt patterns front and rear with big adapters.
Sounds like he was “the man” from what I’ve gathered. I never did see that display. His wife kept the display he had for the car shows.
The front end was even worse. Started by cutting it back to where it looked like the square tube extensions stopped. These were spot welded in a couple spots and filled with bondo… Took quite a while to get those pieces removed. I installed a model a crossmember but couldn’t get my hands on any ‘32 front horns so I used some model a ones I had on the shelf. Ordered a drop axle from roadster supply and got some headlight mounts at the Stafford swap. Put the chrome reverse eye spring I picked up at Hershey a while ago to use too. The chrome parts I’d been hunting down started rolling in. If I remember correctly the wheel was about 120”. It is now 109”. Right in between a 32 and a 33. Much better. Of course owning an upholstery shop, I had to make a seat too. More on interior later.
Totally unrelated to your car but the car in the background of this pic (appears to be a 34 four door all "muralled" up) is familiar looking to me from magazine coverage back in the day. I might be way off but for some reason the name Skip Wall or Skip Wallis comes to mind. If I remember correctly, it may have had an early hemi in it. Anywho, back to the regularly scheduled program. Edit: Apparently Skip Walls owns Lokar so that ain't the guy.
With the new crossmembers in I started working on getting the ride height just right and tacked on some wishbone mounts to roll it around. Also got real sick of looking at those flames. The car will be getting painted soon but I think I’ve decided on no flames this time. I then started doing some little things like drilling out the door and deck lid handle holes. They were just filled with coat hangers luckily and I was able to just drill them out from the inside out. Rolled it outside to take a look. I also redid the fuel system and rebuilt the carbs this day and got it fired up again.
After looking for about a year for original chrome slots I ended up ordering some new ones from Phillips on here. Then I found some original fronts a few weeks later digging through an old barn of course. Came across these old chrome ladder bars on eBay and put some new ends on them. Back to work on the rear making new ladder bar brackets, crossmember, and shock mounts. The Springfield quick change that still needs to be saved There was nothing holding the shaft in on this side so it slid right out the front. Chewed up the end of the shaft a bit, ate some bearings, and wobbled out others. It will need to be machine for slightly over sized bearings now.
When it got really cold in my shop where the car is I started doing some interior stuff at my upholstery shop. The old seat Old vs new foam All rebuilt New cover s***ched up and installed and moved on to making some kick panels and firewall panel. My inspiration for the interior. These old interiors were so damn cool.
Got some chrome wishbones to replace the 4 bar setup. Was not easy cutting off those big molded 4 bar mounts but well worth it.
That brings it to where I am right now. With the crossmember back where it should be the tie rod was hitting the engine. When they installed the c4 trans it looks like they moved the motor mounts forward instead of moving the trans mount back. So in order to clear the fan and the steering everything had to move back 3”. Plenty of room with that big goofy gap between the engine and firewall. Cracked motor mount and the engine was too far forward so they torched the bottom of the frame to clear the headers. Both will be fixed of course. Doing some wheelies in the shop Looks like it only took a few tries to get the trans mount in the right spot… Old motor mounts cut off and a little cleaning up on the old k member it fit perfectly where it should be. Closed up the gap, clears the steering, headers clear the frame, fan clears the radiator.
You are doing a great job of updating Ronnie's old roadster. What you have shown in your pictures was how many old hot rods were really built, "rough and tough", or "rude and crude," but pretty, if you don't look too close.
I believe you mean Skip Readio. He put a lot of miles on that sedan. He also wrote one of Tex Smith's How to do Electrical Systems books (good how to book). I'll keep the book image small as it's not particularly HAMB friendly...and no interest in derailing the thread.
This is an interesting archeological dig into what used to p*** for fabrication. There is something to be said for 1-800 bolt on parts.
Cool car with some neat history, but the frame butchery definitely was not some great artifact worth preserving, glad it's being corrected. And at least some of the frame from the original build is being saved, which I like, rather than just pulling the body and engine off and starting over from scratch. The previous wacky wheelbase was none too attractive, but it's still clearly the same car. I didn't mind the flames, but I look forward to seeing what this car ends up looking like in the end.
Thanks. I really like that it’s not your typical 33 too. Thanks! Ya I definitely want to drive this car quite a bit. That just wouldn’t have been possible without going through everything. Thank you. Ya it was much different than today’s fabrication and safety standards.
Pretty wild what used to p***. I guess if it worked it worked though. Thanks. Ya I don’t think the frame would have lasted much longer than another weekend on the road the way it was. Trying to keep it looking like the same car somewhat, but also make it look good. To me it would be a totally different car and none of the history would really even matter if the body was cut off the frame and started over from scratch. That’s why I’m leaving some of the weird stuff like the windshield. I have some other ideas for paint right now. We’ll see how it looks without the flames first.
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