I bought this body from a fellow HAMB'er. I had been looking for one for about 6 months but they are getting hard to come by in the midwest. My dad and I made the 4 hour drive from Indianapolis, IN to Bowling Green, KY and picked it up on November 1. The body is in great shape. It is a south dakota body. The sub rails are awesome and the body rot is manageble. My goal is to have the metal work done over the winter. Any of you guys who have built a T coupe feel free to give me words or wisdom or caution. If you know of any good resources please let me know.
Well my son the time has come for you to join the Hamb T coupe Club . http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=225100&highlight=coupe+club Nice to see another T coupe hot rod project on its way. Let us in on your plans, with respect to chassis and running gear etc. T coupes always look good fenderless & channelled over the chassis rails and a lot of folks chop them, I am not much of a chopper, but I do admire a good chop job.
Here's a couple pics from the pile-up for inspiration... Congrat's I'm not wild about T's... but I liked these. What are your plans for it?
I'm not too far into my planning just yet. I have seen a few cars that i like that i will model my build after. I guess I should bounce some ideas off of you guys. Does anyone know anything about the Speedway motors "T" frame? It would be nice to get a complete package like that to where I would not have to do much work, but on the same hand I could save a lot of money by making my own frame. I think I like the look of the suicide perch t frames rather than the "A" frames. I am not sure how much of a chop I want but I know I want to chop it. I need to see some chops and decide how much i want to remove. I definitely like the body channelled but I do not know how much on this either. Here are some pics of the look I like. If you guys know the cars or owners can you send them this way so I can pick their brains. I need specs on these cars: Thanks,
Thanks for these pics. I like all of those. Do you know if any of the owners of those cars are on the HAMB. I would like to talk to them.
This one is mine. let me know what you need. The car just went off the road and is at a garage in Hanover PA. Makes for a 60 mile drive to work on it
Hey Jared, you sent me a PM but I figured I'd respond here so other people could see it too. The dark gray T in the three pictures above is mine. Me and my dad built it with a lot of help from a few different people. It was the first build we had done. The frame is model A in front of the firewall with 2x4 tubing the rest of the way back. The front is swept up instead of a Z for about 3 or 4 inches of drop. The back has a big Z but I don't remember how much. The whole car was channeled just enough to hide the frame. Front suspension is all model A (axle, spring using all the leaves, and split wishbones). The axle was sent out to be dropped 3 and half inches by the guy at roadsters.com. Rear suspension is a 48 ford front spring with 2 leaves added (that hemi is a heavy bitch!) and home-made triangulated four link. There's tube shocks on all four corners. The way it got chopped was I sat in there with a hat on and we figured out how much we could take out and still leave me an inch or so of headroom. I'm 6 feet tall so anyone taller than that hits their head. It ended up being about 7 and a half inches of chop. We moved the back window down before chopping so it didn't look like a mail slot and you can actually see out of it. The windshield header was also sectioned but not enough. If I were to redo that piece, I would cut it down to about an inch. The unique thing about my T is the 28-29 model A cowl that has been grafted in. We had bought a 28-29 cowl and windshield section at the same auction sale as the T with no intentions of using it on this project but it worked out. I got the idea from one of the Mad Fabricator videos where Keith Weesner is talking about his Cherry Pie painting. Skratch was building a real life Cherry Pie at one time. Does anyone know what ever happened to that? The top is a piece of plywood with oak planks around the edges. It's covered with a piece of fabric glued to the wood and some marine grade vinyl glued to that. Let me know if you have any more questions or if there's anything else I can do. It looks like you have all the major body parts there but I've got an extra T cowl and windshield frame hanging in the garage.
I am building a '23 coupe myself, and these pictures are GREAT inspiration, I don't see many '23/'24's around, the kind with the "goofy looking" rear body !! (maybe THATS why???)
old school 1953, I got a 27 myself, I have pics in my photo album. I'm working on collecting parts for it now. Check out Bubba's hot rod shop on Gasoline alley on Wensday nights, abunch of us get together over there and hang out, lot of good guy's there. Hot rod man 2000, your car is a inspiration for me, I've always loved the way your car looks, nice job.
hey guys-i am sandbaggn the thread to find out the same info- how to/ and how much to chop and channel. I have a 27 t sedan that needs to lay low. I have a speedway frame from another 23 t that i wrecked, so i added 13"s to the frame. i have the perch on the front and a 6" dropped tube axle. the step up is approx 11"s in the rear. i have to find out the best way to channel the body. i noticed that the body is pretty flat, so i am thinkn of taking 7"s outta the top. every ratt i have owned has been topless. this is a new one for me. any help or links would be nice.
Man, the holidays sure did put a damper on my progress! I made a cart to store my body on and get it up high enough to work on. I also started cutting some of the rusty areas out to prepare it for patch panels. Christmas was good to me. I ended up getting cowl patch panels, left door skin, and the rear panel under the decklid. After Christmas I took inventory and ordered the right door skin, a decklid skin, and a new rear crossmember. I have plenty to do now. I will post pics as I progress. But for now, here are some pictures of my lack of progress.
Mines a 7" chop with a 4" channel. Thats too much if your 6' tall. You set flat on the floor on a two" pad. Head hits with every bump
Cool, I can relate. I just got finished repairing some rust issues mine had in the rear. Here's a thread I did....check my others, maybe they'll help you? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=324002
Finally, I got off of my lazy butt and got in the garage. I have been working for a racing team for the last year and it has definitely impeded my progress. When I wasn't travelling I was catching up with stuff around the house. Anyway, I got a new job and renewed enthusiasm. Hopefully I will have some update pics every week now. It's not much but it's a start. I got the passenger side cowl patch put in. The patch is from Howell's so naturally it doesnt fit. I had to cut the front of the patch off because it was about 1/4" too short. I made it work though. I still have to finish welding and make a little patch for the lower leading edge. I am just excited to be working on it again.
I kinda feel like an idiot.... but what are the tab things your using to hold the patch in place so its perfectly even with the rest of the surrounding are? Donnie
OLDSCHOOL...well one thing i would advise, is stay away from the stock T frame. brother their just to narrow, yea my son has a 27T and we can tell you, the tranny and peddles we'r a nightmare. but if your going with a slushbox maby it won't be as bad. but he has a 5 speed TREMIC, and O brother!!! the 29-32 ford frames are wider, or better yet. build your own frame...POP.
I want you to work hard to make a car 26ford plans thans alp Sent from my D6603 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app