I've seen shocks mounted on the axle like this before and always wondered about strength at this point. Has anyone seen, heard or experienced issues with this type of mount? I have always preferred using the perch pin. Warren
I bought an old chrome axle set up with shock mount bolts welded to the same location as the spring perch holes. Made me kinda wonder about it
late 46 to 48 fords with factory tube shocks are mounted off the axle exactly like that. that chassis is pretty dang cool. I feel like end of day it would eat at me and I’d want to make it nicer and “ruin it” so if I was gifted such a chassis I’d probably move it along to a friend who would build a sweaty hot rod with it and I could enjoy it from that perspective.
I went to school and worked as a machinist for many years and there's no way I could leave it alone. To me the decade in which it was built has nothing to do with its crudeness, but rather laziness. You want to tell me that the guy who had access to a cutting torch and welder didn't have at least a file?
gonna bet they had a case of beer on ice and lots of buckets to sit on,,, and told some great storys while hurrying to get done to cruise it on friday night...I'm thinking remote filter back then ment it was still at the auto parts store..
Crude or not, my hope is for whoever finds something like that sees it for what it is and has some restraint and respect for the past.
I don't really see anything that looks dangerous, a little crude in places but agree with fix what needs to be fixed and leave the basics as they are.
Gentlemen, at this point in time these were just "Old Cars". This Chasis and the parts used are all great pieces. It was about getting it on the road. More than likely the tools used are evidenced by the work at hand. Pretty common to see this. The Gas Axe was considered High Tech at a time period for certain. The '54 Chrysler, the Adapters, etc are all pieces people are seeking today to make the Period Correct stuff. There wasn't this spectrum induced overbuilding thread polishing circus arena currently prevalent in this hobby. It was all about making a Bitchin' Hot Rod with the best parts available and affordable for each individual. I do appreciate fine craftsmanship trust me there's people on here that'll blow your mind. I have unwavering respect for this process. I do find it unnecessary for most endeavors of the regular guy. I'm just more into the rewards of driving my Hot Rod, not the Awards because someone else likes it. I'd have to clean that up, shore it up, and add a Body then drive the ever livin' piss out of it. I'm all about bein' safe, that one looks safe enough for me. You can't have it the way it was if you don't accept it the way you get it from that time period. That's the "CORRECT" part of it all. - Tim
I just brought this home in July. Same conversation I had with my youngest son. We decided to keep the body, frame rails and drive train. The chassis was a very dangerous combination of poor fabrication and miles of 1” square tubing. It won’t be HAMB friendly, due to the use of a strong running big block Chevy that it came with. It will be HAMB friendly on the exterior though. I would have been dreaming if it came with an early hemi. I feel honored to own it. The chassis you show would and could be refined and made safe, in my book. There is enough there to keep it period correct.
That guy coulda built my 32 chassis. Here’s how he boxed the frame, then remembered the steering box. Still had the cutoff laying up inside the frame cavity. DUH! Fixed what was needed and drove it! Still have it.
There ya go. TRUTH ^^^ BTW For the record the first chassis I ever bought was hacked up mess. Z'ed front and rear After assessing the work done on it. I drug it out back to rot. Years later a guy gave my Pops $25 for it
Not a thing wrong with it. It looks 10x more safe than a lot of stuff that's been built and driven in the last 10 or 15 years
That looks like a great foundation for a cool build Joey. Something you can fool around with on the side. Finish to perfection or to taste. Neat old hemi and driveline adds to the cool factor, good luck with it
I say clean it up take it to a swap meet make a lot of money and use it for the Model A or another project. Maybe more camera stuff!
I often struggle with how much to leave and how much to improve on with old stuff. I also wonder what the original owner would think about it. I patched the floor pans of my first car in my parents driveway with metal I found and the cheapest fluxcore mig available. At the time it was just a used car and I was a kid with no talent or money. If I had that car today I’d cut out the patched floor and replace it now that the car is collectable and replacement floor pans are available and I have the skill, money and tools to do a better job. It would seem silly to me to want to leave the floors as is because “that was how it was done several decades ago” On the other hand I’d be pissed if someone pulled out the 302 with period correct parts and replaced it with an LS, that would change the whole character of the car.
looks like modified mopar front shock mounts, nicely done engine mounts, only part I might change would be to devise a remote oil filter and repair the notch, the frame needs both flanges intact.. edit: looking at the notch at the oil filter again, I don't think it's so drastic that it needs to be repaired, it looks like there should be enough flange left to not be too much of a structural issue, and it does lend some character. I like it, the whole chassis, or what we see of it, looks very well done.
Trust me, I've went back and forth thinking about this stuff with the frame for the speed coupe. Its Just hacked enough I don't mind changing things, but I've determined I want it to be as close to period as I can. But there are some holes that need filled. For those that haven't heard the story, this chassis was supposedly a 33-34 frame that went under a small car and drove at b-ville. it has been cut, fixed, hacked, boogered, and hacked more. I'm gonna keep the rails as they are, and fill the little holes in it. Then I'll have to build a bunch of support IN the rails so I can keep the big holes without it being a flexi flyer.
@BigJoeArt that chassis ran a hemi under quite a few different bodies! I actually found video of it drag racing in Kansas outside of the city with I think an Austin Healy or a Morris minor body on it. Super cool!
As welder fabricator and the son of an oval track chassis builder I would only repair anything that was affecting the structure of the frame and leave the rest alone! Now I would never build anything like this, but I think people have lost track or are completely out of touch with what guys is in the early days had to work with particularly in small towns. My family is from a small town in upstate NY (population of 800) dairy farming was industry it's about 3 to 5 miles of pastureland between towns. If someone was the son of a farmer, that wanted to build a car farm work came first! The cows have to be milked two or three times a day not to mention the farm chores, and it is completely possible they might only to a torch, a buzz box and a few basic hand tools. I have heard stories from old time oval tracker of the early days of guys taking car to a friend's service station after hours to use a welder with the understanding they had to be out by morning, and you got done what you could My dad built his first race car in 1970 when he was 20, he built it in three different garages! He started out after hours at the service station where he was working. As they got busy in the summer, he had to move to the garage at the service station owner's house, and he finally finished at a Friend's parent's house when he left the service station to work for the local Chevrolet dealer. A couple other things to keep in mind these guys were trying to copy what they saw in magazines very few people ever saw a hot rod in person outside of cities or suburbs, and at that they were a rare sight. Somewhere along the line people have decided that every car needs to be of Grand National Roadster Show quality or it isn't worthy, or the owner is unskilled or lazy! I want a nice car a that look good, with nice welds and on slag on the cuts, but this craziness of hour and hours of lining panel checking body gaps with caliper. Hot rods were utilitarian cars build by blue collar people for transportation during the week and to go fast on the weekends, now were there people who had fancy back then too. Now if someone wants a super fancy car that's cool it's their car however to assume (we all know what happens when you do that) that someone for doesn't share that idea it lazy is ridiculous and this cutthroat your car isn't like my car and there for it's wrong B.S. needs to stop!!
I think that frame is a great starting point. There really isn't a whole lot to fix/update -- and some of it you'd have to do anyway (if starting with a perfect frame). Things like shock mounts, motor mounts, hydraulic brake setup to work with the original pedals, front frame boxing, etc.. you'd have to do all of this. Now as far as "preservation" goes - I wouldn't care one bit about how it was done in the past - I'd fix/update it to the best of my abilities with the parts, tools/equipment I have on hand. This is no different than what the original builder probably would have done - if they had the choice, money and time. The fact that some things were done with the tools they had, who cares - you have better tools/equipment today, so use them. What would one be trying to preserve? For what reason? If I was in the museum business and just wanted to park it inside as a representation for the past - then cool. But I don't think you're in the museum business. So, I'd fix it, update a few things, change a few things and be proud of my work and hopefully find a good body to put on it.
The Jalopy Journal
