Hey, I'm Ryan. If you frequent IH8MUD or Pirate4x4 I go by GarageRat there. I'm a youngin' at 20 but I've been around the right kind of cars since day one and do it all from chassis fabrication to final paint. I'm still learning as I go but I'd like to think I've improved over the years. Once I'm done with my current round of stuff I'm planning on really testing my skills and building a 40's style sprint car from scratch since I absolutely love old racers. I currently don't have a more traditionally accepted rod since I haven't found the right base vehicle to go nuts on but I'm currently building a pair of FJ40 Landcruisers with one (a '63) being my eventual daily driver and getting as many subtle body mods as possible. It's powered by a fairly stout 400 Pontiac while still retaining manual steering, manual 4 wheel drums, and a 3 speed so that I can have all the fun of a hot rod but still drive it in all weather conditions as needed. The other (a '69) is currently a stripped body and frame with more parts than I care to count sitting around waiting to eventually be a rockcrawler with the body redone to be a clone of a '58 FJ25. I figure they're too new for your guys' tastes so I'll just forgo posting pics. Anyways, figure I should wrap this up by saying "hey" and I look forward to learning a lot from you guys.
Ryan - Welcome from just up the block in southwest corner of Denver. The '63 FJ40 sounds interesting, I'll have to keep an eye out for it once it's in daily driver mode. The sprint car project should be an interesting experience! I'm a Newbie too, but no longer a youngin' Mike
Thanks for the warm welcome! Mike, it'll be satin black and white with red chevy truck rallyes and chrome trim rings (I know I know it's cliche!). Doubt there's any other 40s around that'll be breathing through a single 3 inch chambered exhaust or that color so I'll be easy to spot. I'm finishing up the bodywork on it so hopefully by the end of spring or start of summer it should be tearing up the streets. My dad raced midgets before I was born so dirt track racing has been a major influence for me. I'm a little nervous about the prospect of trying to do such a historic type of car and hope I can do it justice! The Shaw Special has a lot of the look I'd like but I want to try to hammer form it out of steel or aluminum, something I already know is going to be a giant amount of work and a huge learning experience. I'm thinking the best path would be to make a full size wood frame buck for various parts like the grille, hood, rear, etc and form off of that. Luckily these current cars along with my dad's various projects are helping me improve my sheetmetal skills since I've had to make and splice various panels so I won't be a total fish out of water.
....Ryan....congrats on joining the H.A.M.B.... good to see some young blood here...instead of us old farts.....enjoy the ride....Big Bad John.
The Jalopy Journal
