Spencer/Bones front: Early ford shocks or 'airplane'

So I've been thinking about the front shocks for my Spencer inspired frame...

The plan has always been to mount the shocks in the frame rails like he did. But the more I try to plan it out and look at it, I start thinking it's kinda a Rube-Goldberg setup compared to tube shocks and I really can't understand why Doane did it...

I do know that the main reason he was able to pull it off so nice in his frame is that he z-d the front and mounted the shocks in the center of the Z which gave him much more room to mount them and allowed him to mount them much farther forward than the Rolling Bonez style of frame with them mounted as far forward as the taper in the frame allowed.

I used to think it looked real clean but now I kinda think it looks cluttered...

So what would you run?

 

I'd go with the Bones style..but then again...I'm alittle biased no? hahaha....kinda curious...spencers looks cluttered..or the rolling bones looks cluttered....

 

Kinda both I guess.

I'd have to say the Bones style, with it's longer arm and farther back shock placement seems a little more awkward than Spencer's, but that's how I would do it...

 

I honestly don't see how you can think this front end looks cluttered...imagine tube shocks here...

 

thank you larry..haha, I didn't wanna say it..hahahah

 

It's a form-follows function thing...

Tube shocks work better, are simpler, probably lighter, and were readily available when Spencer built the car.

Also in that shot the low-***ed headlights would block most of the shock anyway.

I just believe that the simpler solution is usually the more appealing.

Also I love the front end of the Spencer car...
I just wonder why he chose to what he did...
Did tube shocks over-heat in the Panamerica?
Wouldn't Knee-Action Shocks do the same thing?

 

Thanks a lot Ryan!

As to the Spencer front...
Picture a Z in the frame right where my motor mounts are, with the shock mounted in the middle of the Z. That left the shock shaft higher up in the frame and WAY closer to the front.

 

I had to go look at the Spencer car to decide. I think the inboard lever shocks looked great and the front seemed simple. I'd do it like he did if you want the look he found so natural.

 

OK I'm completly confused anybody got pictures of these two types?

 

Ya me too. I just started a new 32 roadster and although I was going with no z and regular shocks for simplicity I like new ideas. I guess ive never checked either the spencer or the bones stuff real close.. Pics Pics.. I dont have to finish this car fast but I am building it to sell which makes it more fun as far as im concerned. Id like to see more options.
Dave

 

Here's the Spencer setup...

It's also nice because it hides behind the wheel this way...

The reason it's possible though is due to the frame being Zd. It wouldn't be possible without the Z and I don't really like the Z personally...

 

If I remember the story correctly, that isn't the Panamericana ch***is.

 

I surprizingly don't have a clear picture of the shock setup in the our(bones) cars...but all you basically see is the shock stub coming out the frame and the shock arm ....it mates to the dogbone thats welded to the spring perch.....similar to spencers car I believe(have only seen it in person one time)....except our shocks are mounted a bit further back...Maybe Larry has a picture or two...

 

Yep you're system is VERY similar and would also be hidden at the angle the Spencer car is.

I'm not really trying to say either is better... I had planned to do something similar to your setup because I like the cleanness of the un-Z'd frame.

My questions/problems with the setup is that it requires a lot of parts/thinking/and modifications to make work for very little improvement if any at all...

Also, on my frame, looking down on the front, I got the frame rails, split bones, the tierod and the shock arms, all going at different angles from various points to the front. I'm just wondering if it wouldn't look cleaner with tube shocks.

On the other hand, the shock system is kinda what MAKES the front 'Spencer-Like'.... It could just be considered another suicide front without it.

I guess I'm trying to get an idea of what people would do?

 

I think we're on the same page now..haha

 

If it's a traditional hot rod, then there should be some 'monkey motion' going on up there.

 

that is an amazing open space with no car bodies or parts lyin around!
TP

 

Exactly

 

Doane Spencer was a man way ahead of his time. He was almost obsessed with the latest and most up to date way of doing things. If he built the front end like that it was for a reason other than aesthetics. What that reason was I wouldn't have the slightest.
Hackerbill's right, thats not the PanAmerica Ch***is. The car was found (well it was in Spencer's shop when the current owner bought it) pulled apart to be re-built for the panAmerica, Doane found something better and it sat there as was half built for more than 20 years.
The re-build of it, is not how the car really looked at any time, just the re-builders (Cant remember his name) idea of how Doane would have built it.
The Spencer Roadster is my all time favorite car, I just cant get enough of it. Kilroy I'd use Doanes way of doing it if your gonna z the frame, otherwise do it with the tube shocks.

 

I like the way the hidden knee shocks clean up the front...they look older...and yeah, I like the monkey motion too.

 

Can you get any cleaner than hiding the shocks inside the frame rails with only a gracefully lengthened tapered shock arm paralleling the Deuce frame? Spencer was not the only one to do it this way.

I had 3 flame cut holes in my roadster rails when I got it. I filled the ugly holes. Later at the Tie rods show I was able to compare the Rolling bones shock location to the filled holes in my frame. They were within a 1/4" of each other. Mine was done this way in the early 50s too and then undone in the 70s.

Pete & Jakes shocks (I believe they were the first to market front shocks just for hot rods) make it look like every other 1-800 hot rod. Just get out a catalog and start ordering.

 

I gotta believe we all enjoy the monkey motion up there otherwise we'd be asking Boyd what he thought we should do for shocks up there. That said, I like the Bones style as to recess the shock housings in there for both fit and function. I'm sure Spencer would have liked that set up as well. *Fun thread!!*

 

Great looking set-ups. Too cool. I feel like an **** for running tube shocks now.

 

Tube shocks have been around forever for hot rods.... I don't know if they were made just for them or what but lots of original hot rods had them... In fact, I think I have a picture of the first existance of the Spencer roadster with tube shocks... I'm not sure about that one though.

Also, unless you have good 33-34 Ford shocks falling out of your bum, you're going to be paying for them... Macs sells all new ones for $159 a piece... I have a good pair of 39 Ford shocks that I was going to use, but I'm pretty sure they will have to be mounted farther back...

Along with the shocks, you have to make the arms (I have some really cool locking ones laid out) and you have to buy the links for the end. It's still a process that costs money. Maybe even a hell of a lot of money...

I agree Larry but I also agree with Ryan that it's about where you end up with clutter.

I also think you're ***uming that I'm going to mount the shocks in the standard store-bought location... In front of the axle... Not at all.

Look at the picture of the front of your car and picture the shock mounted between the spring and the axle (I think there's enough room there) and behind and inbord of the headlights. Sort of the way the upper mounts were done on the Bishop-Tardel AV8...

 

I never meant to imply that tube shocks aren't traditional.

 

Bob McGee wasn't a ****...

I was dead wrong about this...

As far as I can tell Spencers car always ran knee action shocks. At least that's what the tiny, grainy pics I have tell me...

 

But at the same time you did call them a 1-800-Hot-Rod part...

Shocks wear out like tires, brake shoes, clutches etc... It's kinda lame to lump them in with billet wheels and car dusters...

 

Tube shocks could be found on '37 Dodges, maybe even earlier. Definitely trad.
I bought new tube shocks at a auto parts store dealing in antique cars. Shocks had been on the shelf 'forever'. $35 for the pair. That's why I used 'em. Look good too (I think).

 

OK..