Projects Shade Tree Model A Speedster Kind of Thing

Here's a video, just for kicks.

 

It's as if it's growing out of the woods!
Hood looks great. Good craftsmanship.

 

More great solutions!
Thanks for the video.
The racer is absolutely beautiful overall; I'm really looking forward to your first ride.
Cheers, Harald

 

Well, here you go, Mike. Against my better judgement, but... Actually, it's not that bad to get into and out of. I think I'll eventually add a step on each side so I don't have to grab my knee like that. Getting old ain't for sissies.

 

I want to paint all that aluminum, but we are having a little rainy spell here. I did get the underside of the hood scuffed up, acetoned, and primed.



That dried enough before the rain came that I could put it back on . Since the weather isn't cooperating with my painting plans, I shifted to working on mounting the headlights. Here is what they look like just as they were on the old car:



That's not bad, and the feet of the stands line up with the frame just right, but I built that car imagining that I was back in about 1930 or so, converting a 1928 Model A. I like pretending that way, using the right parts and tools and methods as much as I can. Since I'm using a bunch of 1937 parts here, I had to shift my imaginary time-frame up to about 1939 or so, and something about those lights just doesn't fit for me on this version of the car. I wanted them to be closer to the centerline, so I chopped a few inches out of that crossbar and clamped them back on.



That spoke to me. The only problem is that there isn't room on my diagonal crossmember braces for the long oval feet of the headlight stands. I briefly thought of heating and twisting them to line everything up, but I remembered from modifying them way back when that the uprights are solid, so I decided to drill and tap for 3/8" studs and bolt them through the crossmember.





I drilled the ch***is, bolted them on, and did a little torch bending to line everything up.



That's an in-progress picture. I got them closer. Then I marked and cut the crosspieces and turned a little plug to join them.



That little ridge centers it. I also marked the pads on the bottoms of the stands, hacksawed them to rough shape, and sanded them down.





Then I bolted it all up.







You might have noticed I put the whole suppot ***embly on backwards, which moves the lights in tighter with the radiator, and puts them right in line with the axle. Looks better to me that way. I think my imaginary builder might wish he had some more "modern" looking lights than those old Model T units, but I really like them, so there you go. Also, I'll adjust that grill mesh so that it's plumb with the crossbar. It's just wired in, so easy money there.

 

Really digging the new version! Glad its coming back together!