Featured Hot Rods Building my first roadster in Kansas City

@Anderson I just sent you a reply I was just thinking I was do a look through your thread.

There are some “fine details” that some times are easier to find answers to in watching a video of someone doing it or looking threw all the photos in order than trying to find a good way to ask the question. Yours is a good resource

 

Sure, I'll pm you my contact info. No rush.

 

I recall a few years ago returning from the Kansas City Shriners swap meet stopping in St Joe to pick-up a sprint car I bought & saw a complete rear turtledeck laying in the median, assumed it fell from a vendor's vehicle, too much traffic to stop & took the by-pass north towards home but did tell the locals what mile marker it was at.

 

Alright spent a lot of time “speed browsing “ the thread cactus shared. Absolutely fantastic work! Really shows what it takes to clone one of these nut and bolt correctly, my hats off to him!

I did snag a few reference photos from his thread to add here. Dennis Lacey’s old T, thought it showed the back of the bucket/ front of the deck well some of his quarter panel buck and work. really cool slightly channeled car that was shared in his thread that I liked. great shot of how the back goes together and the braces @Mindover really put together a great car and thread, a lot of red X’s where photos should be but it’s still plenty to look at! loving it

 

Or...

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1926-t-roadster-body-with-turtle-deck.1335245/

Just saying...

 

Man that’s such a screaming deal it seems like a scam. Wow!

That being said, after being sent probably 25 T body’s this last week, I have absolutely no interest in saving up some money and buying a nice body. I have absolutely no interest in fixing a roached half a body. I do have a complete obsessive desire to build one from scratch.


Anyhow… moving forward anyone have thoughts on deleting the bead that runs along each side of the trunk opening? Right along the top edge of the quarter?

This roadster doesn’t have it deleted but it does have a LOT of the seam lines and little details smoothed out so there is a historical precedent for a track car having some of this stuff wiped

Im considering leaving this bead out and the. Making all the rest of the beads on the car uniform/the same size.

I’ve noticed the beads on the doors for example aren’t the same width on all four sides

 

@Tim,

It's just my opinion but I think leaving the bead out would not be the right thing to do. I believe that the bead adds a lot of character to the body and without it the car would look like an 80's jellybean street rod.

ymmv

 

@atch yeah I’m really back and forth on it. A model A doesn’t have a bead there and it looks fine but you are right it does add “something” to have it there.

In a related note along with a shortened deck lid, re shaped subrail turned roll pan and back mounted tail lights - I wouldn’t call them frenched, maybe flush mounted?- I think the entire wheel arch bead has been moved back wards.

There should be a a bigger gap between the end of the bead and the very back of the car. It doesn’t appear that the entire back of the car has been shortened an inch or so.

For some reason that quarter top bead keeps popping up in my head.

 

Looks like Pete deleted the bead and the horizontal seams on the back of the green roadster. Just a visual of how if looks sans bead.

I’d still want all the parting/flange lines of the panels meeting though, with or with out the bead. Looking at how they go together stock it seems like those points add a lot of rigidness I would not want to lose.

I’m really trying to keep that sort of thing in mind as I scheme on how the inside of this will be put together

man the more I look, the more that it is smoothed out. Nearly all the beads are gone on that car and the parting lines. Never once noticed!

 

Alright so I think I’ve figured out a way to make that bead that makes my brain happy. Subject to change but figured I’d draw and post it for reference later. you could weld this to the quarter before or after plug welding the gutter/ shelf for the trunk.

If you wanted to you could make that shape round to channel water down and out but for my purposes I think I’ll put some sort of weather strip there and then very bottom of the trunk opening have the horizontal piece have some sort of collection/ draining. I’m not trying to be to fancy here.


So let’s switch gears a moment and get a parts story.
This gauge pod I’ve come to find came from a late 50’s F truck cab over. The pickups have a similar surround but it’s part of the dash. The cab overs it is removable like this one.

equipped with a sun tach it has most of the sending units tied to the back side. I was gifted this by my Aunt as a wedding present, along with a giant roll of butcher paper. Completely off topic but that stuff is extremely handy whether it’s for a garage project or for the kids drawing something enormous. I’m no where near running out of it over a decade later.

anyhow she saw it and knew I needed it. And I’ve always thought it would be cool suspended off a dash rail in little race roadster or similar. it has this nice scoop shape in the side that’s got me thinking I might just run a dash bar tube at the right height and tuck it right in there.

I have considered mounting it up side down and twisting all the gauges 180 deg. Also looking at the broad sides and the sizable top I could see putting my switches in those locations depending on how it is orientated in the car. That’s gonna be more of a mock it up and see what it looks like thing I think.

I’ve a host of little details in mind for that project but I’ll leave that for latter. Just thought we were due a parts story.

 

@winduptoy man that sure looks a lot like the “sweet tea” roadster build I posted early on. I’m not sure where it went after he sold it but you’re on the correct coast. It could be…

 

Thats because its a glass bodied car. Body by Anderson Industries (no relation!).

 

It was at the Denver Timing Association 70 year anniversary show 5 years ago....
I love the Big F Ford dash and scoop....it looks like you are digesting what you need to do to form the metal pieces without heartburn....
Carry on

 

That green T is Tom’s from Colorado. He’s pals with @PINEAPPLE who also has a fantastic T roadster!

 

likely story

 

Hi Mike! Thanks so much for the kind words.. @Tim , If you need any info on Toms T , I can help you out with that.. Here is a link to my T build https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/27-roadster-on-deuce-rails.952566/ I know you saw it years ago, but if you want any info on what I did, I am happy to share anything with you.

 

Thanks man

 

@PINEAPPLE blasted through your thread again, what a killer build. So many little details I didn’t notice the first go round.


I’m curious what you made your front wishbone mounts from, the frame rail side? or how thick they are? Really like it. also stole this photo of how you took the hump out of the lower section of the back panel. Also shows the overall shape of that panel pretty well

 

Thanks Tim! Those mounts are model A front body mounts that are usually riveted to the frame rails.. I mirrored them with 1/4" angle behind then to make them 3/8" thick. This also gave wings going both directions to weld to the frame. I machined a barrel with the 7 degree taper inside for the tie rod ball- then welded the barrel in to the mount. Thanks for noticing that, I love all the weird little places to make something cool. Getting rid of that inner hump at the seat riser is mandatory.
Matt

 

Awesome, I have some pieces in my “left overs” bucket with a similar gusset so it got me thinking. I think they are remains of some model A running board brackets. I’ll have to go snoop

 

Great thread. Enjoying it.
My first thought when I read the title was what other towns have you built roadsters in.

 

Haha, love it.

I’m just making reference/ poking fun at @J.Ukrop building a roadster in San Francisco thread

 

Just louver the deck lid…no one will notice the missing beads

 

Just a thought on those T strip bead thingees.. They are spot welded in with the rain gutters, they are thick and heavy duty.. If you could source a pair of those, they would give you an accurate profile pattern for the quarters where they meet the decklid. I actually used them to draw the profile on the floor to re-shape the model A decklid for my T.. So if you find an old A decklid with the bottom all rusty etc.. dont pass on it.

 

@PINEAPPLE i can’t believe I was right in thinking they were a seperate piece lol I’ll keep an eye out good tip!

 

probably unlikely to find them alone in the world without quarters, but who knows. Any 26-27 turtle deck parts have value, so always grab em up.

 

I’ve got a deck to measure and template til the cows come home just down the road so I can measure off that one but it’s good information to have either way.

 

@Bass used a dash like that in the Texas Playboy roadster, little different approach than what you’re describing though. Hopefully the link below works

"The Texas Playboy"... '32 Ford Street Roadster...1959 style.

 

Here's a pic from @Bass' post.



That's so cool; something I'd never have thought of. I have one of those dash panels that has a vacuum gauge in the "other" big hole where Tim's tach is. Bass' dash just might have given me an idea for a dash in my '31 sedan project. I'm guessing Bass had to procure another of those dashes to cut the 2nd cross/star from.