Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Thank ya!

It's my favorite. I'm so grateful to be able to drive a real-deal, H.A.M.B.-era machine when I'm home. I love the four-speed and the Crystal Green paint. Back in 2020, I shared the truck's—and my mom's—story on Mother's Day. It makes me smile every time I look back on that.

 

Now that I'm back in town, it's time for a small update. Yesterday was a fun and productive day. In the early afternoon, my friend Jason swung by on his freshly finished Shovelhead chopper.
We cut through the Richmond to my favorite, Arguello Market, for some world famous Turkey sandwiches.

Back at the garage, our friend Dave came by to buy some 'banger Model A pieces.

As luck would have it, he was driving an early-'60s Chevy pickup, much like my mom's! With Jason's help, we loaded up the engine, transmission, and axles into the bed. Dave has a 1930 Model A roadster, which will be getting Version 1.5's driveline. "The story continues," he said. I can't wait to see it in action later in the year.

 

Leaving the Midwest can be tough, but San Francisco has an innate ability to put a smile on my face. When I arrived on the terrace after my flight, I found this flier taped to my front door at toddler height. What an honor to have my car featured! More details to come. That's all for tonight!

 

Thanks, everyone! For the past two afternoons, I've been dialing in the roadster's wood blocks with my new-to-me bandsaw and finalizing the body mounting points. Seeing that the Model A and 1932 Ford mount somewhat differently due to their footprint, I had to drill some extra holes in the frame.
My FB Marketplace Ryobi seems to be up to the task.

Wood(work) in progress.

Those wonderful subrails, now painted!

 

Tomorrow, I'll be picking up hardware and bolting the body into place. Once the two are solidly united, I'll remove the bracing and check the door fitment. If all goes to plan, I'll set the seat back in so I can start thinking about steering column angle, pedal placement, and gas tank positioning.

Last night, I grabbed the floor panels from the other garage and dropped them into place. Like a kid on the jungle gym, I swung into the space where the seat should be. All the work with the body placement has been a little tricky as of late, but seeing this view is definitely motivating.

Speaking of motivating, check out the ignition button that @Hitchhiker sent my way. It's old chrome and perfect. I'll install it in the cluster soon here. Thanks again, Matt!

 

I have lots of updates, both from this project and the Northern California Roadster Run. In the meantime, here are a few photos from the Terrace and out on the road.

 

Thank you! I couldn't be more excited. The pieces are really coming together.

Thanks, Tim! It's funny that you mention the sidewalls. To be honest, they don't bother me. Scrubbing them will be a sign that we're actually getting close to hitting the road.

Thank you, Nobey. It's crazy to think that it's been a little more than a month since we put the body on the frame, and two of those weeks were spent back in Michigan. We're really cooking now!

Come through! I really really want to have my car ready for next year's run.

 

Picking right back up. After my trip to Michigan, I spent my first days in the garage cutting and adjusting the wood blocks. Once I had everything in position, I focused my attention on actually bolting the body to the frame. This sounds extremely simple, right? Well me being me, I did a ton of measuring before finally drilling through the subrails and the frame.

David gave me some great advice: use a piece of pipe so that you don't crush the subrail when bolting everything down. So the process went:

1) Drill a pilot hole
2) Drill all the way through the subrail and the frame with the 3/16 bit.
3) Use the 3/4-inch holesaw through the top of the subrail, but not the bottom
3) Cut a piece of 3/4 OD pipe to fit
4) File everything so it sits flush
5) Finish with a Grade 8 bolt and a fender washer


This may be common knowledge, but it was a new process to me. As I worked, I felt like I was frenching an antenna (which I've also never done).

The end result is clean, sturdy, and will probably never be seen by anyone except for me.

 

Once the body was bolted in place, I was able to remove the bracing and see how the doors closed. Much to my surprise, they both open and close as they should. Looks like the wood blocks and wood shims worked!

As I returned the brace to the other garage, I picked up the windshield and the seat. It didn't take long for me to bolt them back in place and finally have the car looking like a car. Right before midnight, I rolled the roadster out into the driveway. I couldn't believe what I was looking at.

I may take pictures for a living, but pictures don't do it justice. Underneath the glow of the street lamps, I saw the car I've been dreaming of since I was a little kid sitting in my driveway.
I went upstairs, grabbed a Coors Banquet, and walked down the steps just like I did when I first put Version 1.0 together. I sat in the neighbor's driveway, savoring everything about the moment I was in.
There's no denying that we still have a long ways to go, but it was an amazing feeling to see all the pieces finally come together. The whole thing was nothing sort of surreal.

 

From there, I knew I had to keep the momentum going. I looked at my checklist. Next up, steering. There was one problem: in order to figure out the steering column angle, I had to have my seat finalized.

Longtime readers will know that I had many great miles in my modified school bus seat. That said, I wanted to have more leg room and a slightly lower seating position for Version 2.0 (I figured my post-op knee would thank me). I weighed my options, and I decided I needed a Dodge Caravan seat. Fifteen minutes of FB Marketplace searching later, I came across one in San Jose. The ad was simply labeled "Car chair."

The seat itself is in mint condition. I wasted no time stripping off all the plastic pieces as well as the metal base. When each component came loose, I chucked it on the ground as if I were on Monster Garage. (They ended up in the recycling bin!)

I like the shape of the new seat compared to the old. Since it's a little shorter than the last, I pulled the old package tray out of storage in the top garage. I've since painted it semi-gloss black to match my Harbor Freight moving blanket upholstery.

I have much more to report, but it's getting late. More updates happening soon!