I hesitate to post another painfully slow build thread but I’ll do it anyways… no guarantees on the speed of this build.. I fully plan to keep forging ahead on my RPU build, I want that on the road by next summer. I’m going to call it the Cinderella aka the glass slipper… like the 80s rock band haha. My own rags to riches metaphor. I basically want to build my head nod version of this version of Andy Kassa’s coupe. I even dig the coral/pink color. There is something punk rock about it that just drives me crazy. I inherited a glass 3 window project from Paperdog here in the Hamb. Grateful to Nadine who made this happen. Honored to have the damn thIng it’s so cool! He bought it at the roadster swap here in Minnesota back in 2008. The body isn’t a Westscott, I’m not sure which brand it is but it’s decent enough to make this work. It came in a rolling chassis. Deuce heavy with round backs and disks with a 8 3/4 mopar rear with disk brakes. Psi radius rods. It has internal hinges for the door but I think this is the one thing I'll change over to the Westscott hinges so it looks correct. I basically have all the parts to put this together. Drivetrain will be as follows. A 1953 331 that’s been bored to 354 that I bought from the late Bob K. It survived my shop fire… just need to tear it down clean it and rebuild the heads. It was a rebuilt motor. 4x2 Horne Manifold with 4 strombergs and a Flamethrower ignition. The Horne manfold belonged to a kid that fought in the viet nam war and never made it home. His dad kept it and the hemi until about twelve years ago when I bought it. I've always wanted to run it on something and not hang it on the wall where most Horne manifolds end up. The Spalding I got from Bob Bleed about five years ago. Cragar adapter to a Lincoln Zephyr Overdrive… with a 3 on the tree. Overdrive cable pull off the dash. I pulled the transmission out of a 48 zephyr. The brakes from that car are on my roadster. Closed drive to a 42-48 ford rear, should be wide enough to clear the channeled body. The rear I got with a 39/40 chassis... I drug it out in the weeds and kept it for a situation like this. I'll use the X member and pedals out of the same chassis. F1 steering and column Model A rear crossmember and spring… I’ll prob c-notch the frame. I'll see where I can get height wise. 32 heavy front axle and bones with round back spindles and hubs- 40 backing plates/hubs. The drop axle is neat i'll get pics and post later. I’m going to start with the 40 wheels I have as rollers on my pickup with 600 16's up front and 7.50 16's out back with 46 caps and rings. The loyd balkin coupe is another one I LOVE, I could go this route and not channel it. I have rear fenders… BUT I’ve alway been drawn to low channeled coupes so I think “this is the way”… and I just need to cut it up. Fuck it. - think about all the 32 coupes that were “un channeled” in the seventies and eighties… nobody in the traditional scene cares about glass cars… and in my mind I’d never thought I’d own a 32 but… this is like a stepping stone for me. So I build this thing and maybe down the road find a real steel body- or maybe not, maybe this thing turns out so bad ass it won’t matter- haha I’m just going to have fun with this Thank you Dan Mueller and thank you Nadine. Love you guys. The chassis building part of hot rods is my favorite. This should be fun to build a deuce chassis with these parts.
Ok I’ll be the first yayhoo to say it. I hear Glass Slipper and I immediately think Cortopassi. Love the Balkan coupe but your pink inspiration is pretty cool also. Good luck!
@BrerHair i fixed it- thanks dude. more inspiration- Dean from dice owns this one and it’s getting restored as we speak- Love this one as well, got to see it in person in Detroit.
Cool build! '55 Chevy coral would look really period correct for a channeled coupe. Maybe add some pearl to make it pop?
Fantastic plan, and great pile of parts already. I’m a sucker for a channeled 32, you’ve got my vote.
Nice build that I'll be following. I like the fact that every part has some history and meaning to you. Bob
YES!! I'm on board for a Tuck build thread any day. cant wait to see it all mocked up... are you done channeling it yet? are you gonna chrome a 32 shell for it?
That July 1961 issue of Hot Rod was the very first issue I bought, and though this coupe was always red. Good luck with the build. Bob
Dude, that is going to rule. Can't wait to see it come together. I always liked this one back when when I found the HAMB in the early 2000s:
IIRC, the purple coupe, with the Cadillac engine, with 6 carburetors, was owned by Christian Gerard from New Jersey, and was chopped by Dave Simard of Leominster, Massachusetts.
I will hop on for the long ride. Your plan sounds very similar to how I want to build my 32 3W except mine isn't going to be chopped. I dig the channeled East coast look.
After all these years, I just noticed how far back the headlights are mounted, really like the look. Bob
I love that coral color, I’m gonna study some of these colors from the late fifties era- there are some really cool colors from all of the big 3 in 58/9 not going to chrome the grill, BUT the channeling thing is going to happen fast- I need to lob the rear frame rails off first! I got that book too! Thanks man me too! We call it Midwest low haha Isn’t that wild? You dont notice them and when you do it’s like woah- like the short grill on the American graffiti coupe from some angles it looks awesome and then others it pops out at ya- it’s one of those goofy things they did that make you smile- charm of what makes early cars so good- This is how I feel too… I’m excited. ok at the swap I scored these Buick drums from Mark Webber and I pulled out some hubs I got from my buddy Nate when they closed down Hooked on Classics. I was thinking about starting with early ford rollers off my truck but I have a full set of chrome reverse and I’m just going to do the Buick conversion on the front with 40 backing plates and machine it to the small ford 4.5 bolt circle along with the banjo rear and get it over with! these chrome reverse are old made from 49-55 centers with 55 chev hoops I believe. The chrome is driver quality. Dug the trans out of a hole in the back room!
I'm so excited for this. Looks like a great project. I hear you loud and clear on the charm of yesteryear. Can't wait to see this one come together!
Glass or steel does not affect how much fun you will have with it. I think those are old guy hang ups, like 4 doors. Looking forward to updates as you get around to them.
I'm here, looking forward to seeing this come together, you have a great eye for detail & a positive attitude that I appreciate, This will be a cool hot rod,
I’m just going to leave this here. I got this grill shell which I’m turning into a plug to make more from one of the Kary brothers in Mn- stance of the pink car with this… would be neat…
The Jalopy Journal
