Traditional shocks w/ Non-Traditional mounts. Opinions/pics?

Hi guys,

Again im making decisions on the design of my chassis and suspension, like everything on the car I want my shock absorbers to have a little unique flavour
So I have a pair of '39 ford units, and im considering mounting them up infront of my grill.

The inspiration behind this, is that i dont want to fill up the space between the outside of the rails and the hairpins.

Opinions welcome and id like to pick your photo collections of how other individuals have done it before.

Heres my CAD chassis with shocks mounted to scale.

 

cool idea

 

You need to read this thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=336494

Here's what he did..flawless..not the same but different for sure

 

I like your approach. Lever shocks are hard to hide and basically conflict with ornate rails and radius rods like yours. To move them out front and showcase them somewhat takes the obvious and turns it in your favor. Clearly, that wouldn't work with a conventional front spring mount, but it could be made to fit with the suicide perch. Exploit the machine like appearance and integrate it into the overall design. It will look right.

 

If the real things look like your drawing they are NOT Ford Houdaille shocks at all as all 28-48 Ford Houdaille lever-arm shocks have a round body and the arms have tapered holes in the ends for the shock links.

They are likely GM Delco shocks or perhaps whatever make Mopar used. The GM shocks have hoops in the ends of the arms for rubber bushings and pins for attaching the shock links.

 

Perhaps You can help me identify my shocks then? They are Delco.

 

Best bet for ID is to contact the guy in Oregon or Washington that rebuilds most all the early Houdaille and Delco lever arm shocks. Sorry, I don't have the info but a search here would probably turn it up.

There really is no difference in action I think just appearance. The other shocks shown above are English sports car shocks used through the early 60s on MG, A-H, and other English cars.

As for mounting them sideways, that was common on modified cars as early as the 30s.
I've even seen them mounted in pairs on either side, mostly in the back.
So, it IS a traditional way to mount them after all.

 

Very nice!!! Five points has tons of them for OEM and rebuilt to new... www.classicautoshocks.com

I have the 1940-1940 mounted similarly and they work great!