I have added te original posts so the progress starts from the beginning. Thanks for viewing and for comments. Well I have spent a bit of time in the last couple days on my 1929 Willys Whippet Coupe. I have about 10 hours involved and think Im doing pretty good as I have never done anything like this before. First couple hours was bracing for a chop. I chopped it 3" as it only gives 6" left on the front windshield. Next I bent some 1" tubing to conform to the trunk and then cut out one side to make a channel around the trunk. My car had no gutter around where the trunk would be . I tacked these pieces in and then bent some 1/2" tubing to match the contour of the trunk opening , then cut my trunk skin out of 20 gauge steel and tacked the top edge and rolled it down the 1/2" tubing while tacking it with my mig. After I got it all tacked, I set it in the trunk opening, it was close but needed a couple quick bends to fit exact. My next part was to try and make a roof that I had laying outside for yard art before I bought the Whippet to fit. I dont know what it was from but after cutting 2" in length and adding 1" in width, cutting the window and chopping the sides down, it fit good. It still had the hole in the roof so the left over steel from the trunk, I used by dropping it on the roof, using a felt marker and scribing and tracing the underside of the steel that mated with the roof . I then added 1/4" to the original scribe, cut and dropped it over the hole. Man it fit!!!!!! I like this stuff. Its really looking like a car now!!! I only dropped a molten piece of metal on my hand and watched it melt into my flesh once. I do construction and a ton of other stuff so this actually really seems pretty easy. I also formed the 1" pieces at the window by hand and my vice with a small chunk of 1/2" tube to form around. Like I said, you are looking at about 10 hrs. Im likin this hotrod stuff. Heres some pics. Direct front view p***enger front This is the top that came off of ? dont know what but after setting it into the p***enger compartment and then establishing height scribing at belt line cutting and then adding one inch to the width, it fit perfect. Rear drivers side. Another front view with fenders off. And the mess I am working in!! Actually I cleaned house after tripping over this **** while doing the fabrication work so I will have a sort of clean slate to start with while welding the panels all solid. The engine will be the 1952 hemi thats shown in the picture complete with a 12 volt gen and power steering from 1956 Imperial. Before After This is the begining of the front support.
pictures of when I bought it. I rolled some tires against the ones that were on it just to see what the spoke rims would look like. Also I put a top on it that I had kicking around. <HR style="COLOR: #e5e5e5; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #e5e5e5" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and ***le --><!-- message --> This is the front end under the new Z'd frame. I will cut the frame so the spring will clear. This is the stance Im after. I have about 6" from the bottom of the frame to the ground. I used a roof from a car that is unknown but it was about 6" short at the back of the door so I made a patch with my vise to keep the door flush with the panel. After a 3" chop and a 4" channel I only have 6" of vision out the front window but the side windows are still like 10" . I like how the top of the side and front are even. Even with the chop and channel I still have 4" above my head with a stock 1968 Firebird seat inside. My friend who is 6'-4" still had about an inch clearance. Glad my neck wont get sore trying to fit under the roof. Im thinking its looking like a hotrod. Heres what Im thinking of using for my pedals, what do you think?
This is the 1957 Oldsmobile gauge cluster I will use. I have 1" clearance by using a 1965 Ford full size 9" Truck rear end. Talk about a wide ***ed car!!! Heres my helper from the beginning. I don't know where the hell it came from but it appeared one day in front of the Whippet. And here is another one. This must be her friend as it also showed up one day? So until I'm done, they will monitor my progress .
You look like you are having a ball there. I'm surprised I don't see more guys use those as pedals. I forget what they are called. I have some I had planned to use until I decided to go with some horseshoes. Any plans for a window there behind the doors for a 5 window look?
Yeah, those first pics had me heading for a tet**** shot! I couldn't imagine welding in there. EEK! The car looks great in the later pictures though. It'll be an awesome ride when finished, a testament to your talent.
I'm running a real cool thermostat to keep the temperature in check but thanks for the concern. ****. LOL.
Well building a 2600 sf Barn alleviated alot of stuff but behind where I am taking the pictures, you can't walk!! I need a bigger shop!!!.
This is my first Hotrod build and I'm loving it. I have a few Musclecars and have bought and sold quite a few of them but you cant really let your imagination run wild. With these cars, what ever flows, is cool in my book. Also the rear of the car is adjustable in height so it will ride about 3" higher in the back. The tires will be about 1" down from the top of the rear panel and follow its contour.
No I am not putting a window in there. Theres already too many 5 window coupes around. LOL!!. Also I think I may use the shoe pedal idea on something else like bumpers or.....maybe not. I will be using the old Ludwig b*** pedal as the gas pedal though. Hey its a Speed king pedal!!!. I really don't want too many gimmicks or it becomes gaudy. A few well thought out pieces are great but you can go overboard.
I've got a 27 T roadster pick up that I'm working on that has a Desoto Hemi in it. Can't ever get enough of those engines! Yours looks m***ive compared to mine. I guess I've got a touch of Hemi-envy!
I like this car. Its always nice to be different. Now if I could only get my Pontiac body to that state I would be happy.
The way the Hemi sits is mostly due to foot room. If I pushed it back another 3" it probably would have looked better but the way the transmission flairs out, I figured leave it alone or lose a big bunch of floor space. Also I sort of like these cars stretched a bit and when I built the frame, I ended up a bit longer than expected so due to my eye liking evenness, the engine is sitting centered inbetween the cowl and grill. The area where your seat goes is super wide and inside it feels huge. Unusual to say the least if you compare it to a Model A.
My uncle had a 28 or 29 Whippet and I always thought the thing was tiny inside; even smaller than a model A. Love the look and stance but ya might have some issues with the pvc zoomies. I'm not sure they're 50 state compliant.
Hudson's were bigger than Model A's, I don't recall Whippets being larger, I thought they were smaller than Model A's...weird...
I think that the Model A's don't have as much of a wedge shape. The trunk on my Whippet is way wider than a Model A and the rear end I used is 63 1/2" wide with no more than an inch of extra space on each side. As far as foot room, I think they may be close.
I will coat the PVC piping with high temp paint and run a couple pieces of rebar in each one to hold their shape. I also have an old 50s water injection that I will use to keep the heat cooled. As far as my sate being compliant, well, thats tough as most people think Im a little goofy.
Hi, Nice looking project you got. I have a 29 sedan with a little bit of everything in it. Did you roll that rear trunk lid? Keep up the good work!
Yes but I'll have to clean up the shop and then take a few pictures. I have the engine completed, working on the steering and framing for the floor. My shop got out of hand again from not putting stuff away !!!! Ugh!! I was up till 1:30 last night talking with a new friend about all the geometry issues and placement of my steering gear box on my car and misc other details.
I built the trunk gutter out of 1" square tubing and cut the top portion off first and then bent 1/2" square tubing to the same contour. I duplicated 6 of them and then joined them with an upper and lower horizontal tube. I then tacked the sheet metal to the bottom of the skeleton and just kept tacking all the way up. Thanks!
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