1928 Model A Chicken Coupe Build

A couple of years back my son Marcus, Shaky "The Crazy Painter" and I bought this 1929 Ford Model A Coupe. A friend spotted the ride through the knot holes in a fence while at an estate sale. After a few visits we got the feeling that the old codger didn't want to part with the coupe because he thought we were going to turn it into a "hot rod" and chop the skiz out of it. He should have followed his intuition and not our line of bull when we said that a restoration was our plan. Regardless, with some negotiation the body was ours for $800 along with a powder coated frame which we sold at a local swap meet for $150 a week later. We loaded this thing in the truck and booked out of there before the prior owner could change his mind. We feel like we got a great deal. Here are a few pictures of the body while still on the original running gear which the prior owner wanted to keep.





Since there was a chicken coupe next door to the prior owners place we decided to call the build the "Chicken Coupe" and the rubber chicken has been somewhere on the build ever since.

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Previously we had never built a rod, but did dabble in finishing off what others had started. Here is our current driver<O
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Here's the initial mock up of the car with the frame rails we made sitting next to it.

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Most kids have cake on their 18th birthday...My son wanted to chop (7.5 inches) the coupe. Here's the 1st cuts under the tutelage of Matt Whitlock from Wrecked Metals here in Boise, ID.
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"Filthy" Phil Bell came along too (he's the one tellin Matt how to weld)<O
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Here I am with the "icing on the cake"


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Here's the chop at about 90% complete.

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Before we went to bed, we had to do a quick mock up...SICK!!!! 7.5 inhes of chop!!!!

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So, most people spend Thanksgiving with family and eat turkey. We prefer CHICKEN, so we spent the better part of the day getting the "chicken coupe" to roll out of the garage.

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<OHere it is the next day. Kind of our version of "leftovers" but better
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My son Marcus took a welding cl*** his senior year of high skool and with the help of his hot roddin teacher, welded up the frame with front and rear crossmembers. I must admit we knew nothing about building a hot rod and we spent countless hours on the HAMB getting ideas, learning from our mistakes, and trying to figure this building stuff out.

I should have taken a few more frame pictures, but here are a few




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<OAll joints with gussets and supports
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<OWe did not realize that the motor would lower the frame so much. We have to do some fixing.</O
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As Mother's Day approaches us this week, let me put out a big shout out to "Mama S" and the other lovely mom's/wifes who put up with grinding slag, no where to park their vehicles, welding smells, and the other side affects from rod build ups. Here is the fox in the "Fink" hat.

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http://www.ratrodbikes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=37909 introducing the chicken coop special! haha. i love the chop and the stance. pleeas tell me its going to sit nearly that low when done.

 

800 for a model a, I say you got a hell of a deal

 

*****en dude!

 

Lookin good.

 

lookin great-any pics of the car from the side after the chop?

 

Looks great! Sweet little car...

 

Very cool! I like your daily driver, too.

 

That coupe has the perfect stance. I would like to see more on the t coupe aswell.

 

Should have moved momma slightly to your left (her right) and she'd have been wearing angel wings... *****in' Model A too!

 

Lookin' killer!!

 

any updates?

 

O.K. why does a chicken coupe only have 2 doors ?