Awe ****... That image doesn't belong in this batch. I must have added it to the gallery by mistake. That's an early mockup of Tom's roadster. In any case, I believe it was taken at Tom's parent's house in the late 1940's. You can tell it was a pretty nice joint.
I wonder exactly what frame was used. Look closely and you can see that there is a weld seam in front of the rear kick up.
I think it’s a 34 ford frame with a fabricated section to get the rear stepped up. It’s way more “step” than the Chevy and other early cars that got used for the rear step up. What a fantastic journal entry! That T roadster is fantastic in every way and has me wondering if they still make those rear tires and if so can I get a 750/16. You could print those out poster size and stare at them for an entire Christmas break that’s for sure. The second/ third car is a head scratcher. Reading the parts list, seeing the torsion bars, it was giving me pikes peak special. But seeing the photos, something about the mid fifties time stamp, the short wheel base, the wire wheels and the doors mocked up make it feel closer to the home made sports cars of the era. Very cool whatever is or was.
Yeah, that's a '34 Ford frame for sure... As for the head scratcher, I wonder if it wasn't something Tom was preparing for local hill climbs? He had a history not only with pikes peak, but: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=62597
I’d say it’s definitely the freudiger roadster, not just the cowl cut but wishbone placement, channel etc all tally up aswell as the need for a wide nose on the car because of the straight 34 rails, rear wheels/caps look like the ones he sometime ran on his A roadster too accessory wide 5 maybe? I like the lower part of an edelbrock slingshot used on the manifold, if you look at his later set ups when he made the log manifold he’s still using that intake flange with the same shape and bolt pattern. in the archive is there any more in depth photos of the blower mount? It looks to be welded to a timing cover. And also the drive he used? Or does whoever that own’s the motor now have some? It would be helpful for us and our coupe endeavours.
I'm posting the archive as I open it... pretty much in real time... You can see everything I've seen thus far here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/?s="Tom+Cobbs" Tardel recently acquired what we think might be the first blower Tom used on his roadster. I plan on shooting it at some point. But man, if there is anything I've learned from the archive it's that Tom spent a lot of time on blower setups and used a variety of intake setups, mounts, pulleys, etc...
Travis over at rhode alliance customs has one of the 4-71? Blowers and carb set ups from Tom as well. Got it off Joe a few years ago.
What possible reason for such a short wheel base in the last build? Must of been a hand full in the handling department?
That's why I think this car was probably envisioned as a hill climb car. Early hill climbers put an emphasis on shorter wheel bases for a few reasons: 1. Agility. 2. Lower Turn Inertia... basically, you can rotate the car easier. 3. Lighter and stiffer. I'm not a huge hill climb guy, but as I understand it this was sort of over-emphasized until the later 1960's or so...
Could that be the ch***is for the aluminum body there was a single Pic. In one post, an a receipt in another post ??
So flex pipe headers are a detail everyone seems to be blind to. Crack open any, I mean ANY book on hot rodding in the post war era and you will find flex pipe headers. Extremely common. it’s one of those details that people never notice until they look for it, and then it’s everywhere. one for me was cross steer ford steering box’s ( 1946 type) turned side ways with the sector pointing out under the frame rail with the pit man arm pointed up to use it for side steer. I saw one car, and then I saw twenty lol. hot rodding details are very easy to miss if you weren’t looking for that specific thing
That short wheelbase car is interesting. I would like to see the completed project if any photos of it exist.
The short wheel base car photos were developed in October of 1956. I ***ume the roadster shots were around the same time or a little earlier, but I have no way of knowing. So true... Particularly at Bonneville and on non-traditional layouts of motors to frames, etc... Flex pipe was everywhere. I think we ignore it because it garnered such a bad reputation afterwards... I don't know that the car was ever finished. I guess we will see as we continue through the archive.
So I’ve been having abit more of in-depth think about this, drifting away into nostalgia whilst trying to work, with the blower set up in a semi finished state and knowing it was finished and ran in the so cal coupe in 53 and then again in 54’ when he ran it in the ex Pierson coupe. I think he was building this T maybe 52/53? Aiming to run this car and then the coupe came up for sale, an already proven race car in which he did some modifications and threw his blown flathead in. this shot of the roadster is apparently from 56’ when Cobbs was then campaigning the small block in the coupe, so with the surplus flathead sitting there, here it is back in the T in the hands of Freudiger, so wether it was his car all along and Tom just built it or he bought it when the coupe came along. I think it’s neat he was pushing several records at the same time. or I could be totally talking ****, It’s been known to happen!
No, that was exactly my line of thinking too. I am almost certain Tom bought the car in 1951, because I have a bill of sale that lines up perfectly with that timeline I think... The plan, at least at first, seems to have been to get it sorted and ready to race. That makes sense. Then the coupe opportunity came along and all bets were off. You do not say no to something like that. So the roadster gets sold to Freudiger with a promise attached, that Tom would circle back and help him with it once the coupe projected was lived. That feels right. That feels like how those decisions actually got made...
The Jalopy Journal
