O/T Car Done Right

1977 MGB modified with Early Ford Sheet Metal and 1934 Ford Frame....great craftsmanship.

This




To this




To this





And more

http://www.britishv8.org/MG/DanRoot.htm

 

front fenders 34, rear fenders 37? hood 38? the grill on the back wall is 34

 

Nice work! My uncle has an MG that he's going to be styling off of some sort of vintage Ferrari but I don't remember wich one. He showed me pic's though and it actually looks pretty cool. He said those cars are performers with the 6 cylinder in them.

 

I have to admit I thought this was gonna be an awful post, but I LIKE that a lot.

It feels wrong, but I still dig it.

 

I expected an abortion bu that thing looks pretty nice.

 

huh... I'm with the last two guys... I saw the first two pics and was thinkin "oh, please, no" but it doesn't look too bad... I actually kinda like it.

 

now that is different, bet it has a lot of folks wondering what it is when they roll into a car show....

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That is a nice build, actually a great looking roadster! I bet it takes most people a long time, if ever, to figure out what it started as!

 

More shots of it with paint...

 

I've got to give you a big thumbs up on your creation. I love it when folks think out side the box.

 

It looked better in red primer but it's still very cool.

 

I like it

 

I'm impressed! That took some serious imagination and skill to come off as nice as that did. This car, ladies and gentleman, is a true custom!

 

Man, I'm impressed! Great sense of design and excellent craftsmanship.

 

Well I'll be. Nice job.

 

I love the way the builder described the use of these parts...

"Before I started ***embling this car, I had already collected a number of vintage Ford body parts: the front half of a 1934 frame, fenders, and running boards, 1936 rear fenders, a 1938 hood, 1939 side panels. I was looking for a way to get all of these parts to fly in formation!

 

i like it , but im with Nads it looked better in primer ..

 

I really wanted to hate this car (I really expected to see it get bashed), but it looks right from every angle. Not real wild about the curved windshield or the final paint though.

 

WOW! Not bad...I also liked a solid color, (the red primer shot), but I also really liked the rear skirts. Well done...somebody's got a good eye!

EW

 

Wow it looks pretty sweet! Too bad its a 77', still has to get smoged

 

At first look, I thought this will have the makings of a good old fashion beat down. But, got to say, that is a damn good looking car in paint. Pretty sweet.

 

What a vision. It would certainly have me wandering around it at a show, trying to figure it out, and there are a lot of production cars that never had those nice proportions and lines.

 

The car was built by Dan Root in Kansas City. He raced @ the HAMB drags a couple of years back in his white Model A roadster before he had his lung transplant. His son Randy had his Model A coupe @ the Drags also that year. I have some pix around here on a disc that I will post. Here is the email that he sent me about his car.

Chris

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The car was representative of a 1930’s French automobile. When people ask me what it is, I say a Racine. Racine is Root in French.

I started with a 1977 MGB that was in excellent condition. (figure #1) Before I started the project I had a front ½ of a 1934 Ford frame and then purchased a 1938 Ford hood, 1939 Ford side panels, 1934 Ford fenders and running boards and 1936 Ford rear fenders with the idea of getting all of these parts to fly in formation.

The first thing I did was cut the sheet metal behind the seats free and move it 5 inches forward and tilt it up at the front 1 inch. Then I placed the hood behind the piece I moved for a mock up to see if it would work. (figure #2) I cut out the rear sheet metal to fit the leading edge of the rear fender then attached the ’34 running board to the rear fender and under the quarter panel. (figure #3) I straddled the original MG frame with the boxed ’34 frame and welded them together in the process extending the wheel base 19 inches. (figure #4) I then cut and spread the original cross member 6 inches thus increasing the width of the car by 6 inches (to maintain the proper Ackerman with the extended wheel base.) I then built the new mounts for the cross members that amazingly fit the ’34 frame. I attached the cross members to the frame with six 8-grade ¾ inch bolts. (figure #5,6)

With the ’34 frame in place, the ’34 fenders and running boards bolted right up. I set the ’38 hood and ’39 side panels on fenders for mock up. (figure #7) The ’39 side panels fit the ’34 fenders amazingly well in the front position. The bottom ½ of the grill had to be redesigned to fit the ’34 fenders. (figures #8,9) With this done I had to remove part of the door hinge towers (and later reinforce them) to maintain contour. (figure #10) This exposed the hinges and additional sheet metal was used to fill the gaps. (figures #11,12) The ’38 hood was attached to the original MG hood and hood hinge mechanism and the gap between the ’38 hood and MG hood was filled with sheet metal as shown in figures 13 and 14.

Now for the rear. The original rear end was left in place with 3 inch offset wheels making up the 6 inch width extension. The hood of the MG was modified to fit the original beefed-up trunk lid hinges. The front fender sheet metal with rain gutters was cut off the MG and contoured to fit the new deck lid. (figures #15,16) Believe it or not, the original MG deck lid was inverted and used as a splash apron and tunnels boxed out for exhaust pipes. (figures #17,18) Figure 18 shows the original trunk latch still in service and the bottom edge of the MG trunk matched the compound curve of the original MG hood. Am I lucky or what? All that was left to build were bumper mounts and fill in the sheet metal between the hood and fenders. (figures 19,20,21,22)

As already stated, the ****pit had been closed up 5 inches and I took the similar piece of sheet metal off the donor car to build a removable steel type of rear tonneau cover. (figures 23,24) Next the headlights: while trying to capture the Figoni Falaschi designed Delahaye concept, I needed bullet shaped headlights and taillights. I used ’37 Chevy headlight buckets which normally mount sideways. I reduced the overall diameter 2 inches by carefully pie cutting, then welding solid and using 1934 Ford shorty headlight mounts welded to headlight buckets. (figure #25) Taillights are stock ’38 Olds and ’36 rear fenders were extended 10 inches as shown in figure 26.

Then it’s off to see the Wizard. The Wizard being Bruce Curry’s Body Shop in Clinton, Missouri. (figures #27,28) Bruce painstakingly corrected my lumpy body work and we put it in primer then and put it on the road for 6 months before final tear down and paint. (figures #29,30) The original MG dash was used with a wood grain addition (figure #31) and a ’48 Plymouth steering wheel was adapted to the original MG steering column. The front suspension is MG with modified racing springs, rack and pinion steering extended 3 inches on each side. Because the rise of the ’34 fender, the front suspension is sometimes visible so I modified the exceptionally ugly lower control arms by tapering them towards the wheel then boxing them and recessing the bolt holes for lower spring mount. I also beefed up the attachment point at the spindle. (figure #32a,32b) The engine is a 3.4 liter V-6 bored and stroked with fuel injection. (figure #33) T-5 transmission, original rear end with new springs and racing shocks and yes, the original MG top still works with the use of the old style collapsible top bows. A new MG radiator cools the car just fine. The engine and transmission easily dropped in using original MG motor mounts and transmission mounts with slight alterations. The shorten shifter comes through the original hole in the tunnel. The front bumper is a slightly modified ’61 Jaguar bumper and the rear bumper is a suspected ‘60’s Rover sedan bumper. The car has 15 inch wheels, wide white radials, 205’s and 225’s. With bigger wheels, tires, and the ’34 frame, the scrub line has been raised approximately 4 inches. The hood is approximately 36 inches from the ground.

The idea to build this car was for style, comfort and reliability. The car has appeared in 2 books. The first one is Radical Hot Rods by Larry O’Toole by Graffiti Publications in Victoria, Australia and the second one is Wheels of Dreams by Tom Strongman, Kansas City Star Books, Kansas City, Missouri. You said you wanted a picture of the builder. (figure #34) I have in the past done 6 other conversions starting with a fiber-fab Jamaican, 2 ’31 Fords (Coupe and Roadster), a ’59 Jag, a ’33 Ford Roadster and a ’34 Ford Roadster. Two of these are nostalgic drag cars, but when built, it was not nostalgia. These are cars I drive when I want to go really fast. (figure #35) The car was accepted at the LA Roadster Show 4 years ago and won First in Cl*** at the Grand National Roadster Show 3 years ago. The car has been on the road for 5 years. It took 4 years from concept to finish not counting painting. There has already been a clone professionally built of the car by a gentleman in Pennsylvania with my blessing. I’ve got lots of pictures and drawings.
Sincerely,


Dan Root

 

I dig it!

 

it's interesting. and very cool. very nice work.

 

Nice, and a hell of a lot better looking than an MGB!

 

I am seriously digging that car! Built with an artful touch. That'll leave 99% of people looking at it with a giant "?" over their heads! I would definitely drive that!

Brilliantly executed!

 

Quite a tallent to be able to look at the MG and visualize the finished product and then to actually build it!

 

very cl***y,gives off that art deco vibe that is So hard to capture.......a true 10