Ok, I admit, I purchased a POS but the redeming part is I have always wanted a Pheaton. So what do y'all think? My car is a rustbucket 30 Model A sedan. Go ******* turn into a tub. Add extra support around the edges and put a custom Duval windshield. This is the hard part - I will enjoy the car so much but I will sell or trade it for a Tudor sedan after I finish it. Is this attainable or am I barking up the wrong tree. I mean is there a market? The sedan is for the whole family and the pheaton is beautiful but I want a full rollcage around the children. I trust my driving just no one else! The yellow moon car is just the concept I am going for. But should I try to copy the rear belt line or not? I actually like the 2 door conversions with the original belt line better.
I don't how much you have in that sedan, but regardless you can do a couple of things: S****/sell it and cut losses. Try to take someone else (if you have a lot in it, but I couldn't do that) Make the lemonade out of the lemon! I'd say go for the phaeton, learn metal work, have fun, make it safe, try not to sink a fortune in it and become a great parts scrounger. What do you have to lose? You can't make it worse! The key is to put it in the right frame of mind and not worry about what you can't do anything about now.
I'm a bit confused; You WANT a Phaeton. However you'll only HAVE a caged Sedan for the kids' sfaety. I appreciate that part, but you're going through all the Phaeton conversion metalwork so you can seel/trade into a Sedan body? Wouldn't all the Phaeton conversion metal work be the same as saving the Sedan body? Maybe start the project building the ch***is while you hunt for Sedan panels. Model A Sedan panels do come up for sale and they're usually pretty reasonable. If your doors and cowl are good, look for a Sedan back half.You may also luck into a decent Sedan body and then be able to unload this one.
I have already been taken as far as I know? Don't want to do the same to someone else! I just think it would be actually easier to make the dream car insted of the safer car for the family with what I have. Just want it to be worth it, so I can trade or sell. (Don't want to do it if everybody else thinks its a hoax and curses the car due to it originally being a sedan.) Not that I have a problem with fakes like my truck (M100 clone) I just like the look of them. It is that a pheaton is not safe for the family IMO.
I know I am confused also?? This car is just a lot of metal work for everything. I mean everything! I have now 1500 in this car and it is a piece. I am to honest to turn it around and sell to someone else with out repair/restoring it. I can however repair the bottom part (Belt line down) of the car make a duval type windshield and then smooth out the cowl to fix the problem areas with the windshield frame with out much investment. If I try to keep it a sedan it would be a great investment and a whole lot of work. I believe it is best for me to get this one on the road. Then sell it for a possible profit. Then get a solid body that needs little work and start over.
the beauty of model A frames is that they are all the same....i'd work on the frame and drive train till something better comes along or you can make a final decision ...
Ive cut the roof off a 40 sedan because it was so rusty and the work involved in rolling the top edge would have been about the same as repairing the roof! If you want to learn some body work why not try to repair the car as a sedan? You can't make it any worse and you could end up with a tidy sedan.
No matter what you do, you're going to have to fix the bottom end. Do that first. Then decide if you still have the desire to cut the top off. Too many guys have started hacking on roofs for chop tops or making a convertible before getting the floor solid. Then they ditch the project and the next guy cusses their mess.
As said above, start with the frame, If a Phaeton is your dream car find a Phaeton body,a sedan with the top cut off will never be a Phaeton, build your dream car ! not a oh well it'll do.
This is my thought also, If it comes out to be to difficult to do thats when I will do the phaeton. The only problem is that I will have 2 young children and the wife wants a roof on the car. So if I do the tub it will halfto go. But I will enjoy it while I have it.
Thanks, but I could also add another car in the future and keep the tub, Thats the wish wife would be mad
I also agree with you but I have a lot invested at this point and will not sell this jalopy to anyone to be pissed at me. So if life gives you lemons make lemonade.
let's help this guy.......he's 35,got kid #2 on the way,works as a fireman and doesn't want to p*** on the one in the shorts he got. He needs to build a SEDAN with cage for the precious car but needs something that won't give the kids tet****. Does anyone here in Florida have a deal or freebie to get him going? i'm going to dig in my stash because I want to see him as a hotrodder........besides he lives farther in the woods than i do. How would you like to live in Umatilla?
With all due respect, hacking what you have apart and expecting to turn a profit on it so you can do it all over again, seems strange to say the least. Seeing how you want and need a Sedan, you might consider looking for a better body, or start fixing yours. And some sort of a cage built into a fake tub would not be the way to go if you are going to sell it and expect to make anything out of it. Personally I think you have to move beyond what you might profit on it, and decide if you are willing to live with it if you can't unload it without loosing your shirt. Perhaps you should make it into a modified, and just keep it for your own use and build another one that's in better shape to begin with, for the rest of the family. At least you would learn the ropes if you went down that road. Good Luck!
Why not build a tub that suits you! ( THE **** WITH WHAT OTHERS THINK). put in a cool roll bar. Build a removeable top. for when the family wants to go along! There is always a market for a well built hot rod! If it looks good it'll impress most people. who knows or cares what a real phaeton looks like anyway!
I'm sorry I don't want to turn a profit. I just want to make a fun car that is safe. I purchased this car and believed it was a solid car. Yes I was had my mistake. I love the pheaton look but is it truely safe for a couple of small children to ride in. My family has been in racing for years and have expirence in building race cars. I love the late 20's/early 30's cars. I want to have fun with the whole family. This is a family hobby and I have scrounged up enough money to purchase this car. I can't afford to just sell the car for what it is worth. Or pull one over on someone. I do have the ability to make some kind of car out of it. This car is just not in any real shape to completely restore to original with out spending a lot of money. Too much money. Yes I am stupid for purchasing this car. I was just trying to see if it is feasible to turn it into a tub. I have not completely decieded what to do with it. But I can tell you this I will not sell this POC with out someone knowing what it is. I do believe in karma. I just don't want anyone to think I am looking for a huge profit. As everyone who has built your own cars you never get what you have in a car when you sell it. Thanks Trevor
Mine started as a sedan. I reshaped the body line at the rear to flow into the "ducktail" around the rear. Of course, NO ONE that knows ANYTHING will ever mistake for a real phaeton, but I really don't care.
Search for "tubs" and my posts. There are several of us that have done this or have them in the works. Look for posts by "tub in da dirt".
If you know you will lose money on it when it is done why don't you sell it now even at a loss. You surely will lose less no than after you have thousands into it. I would sell it take the money and start from the ground up with the ch***is as mentioned earlier. Just because you got took doesn't mean that the guy you sell it will be take to. Tell him straight up what the condition is. Then hold out for the right body you want. I have a complete model a ch***is with running banger, tires etc. All complete except for radiator, body and bumpers. All I am doing now is waiting for a body.
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