Hot Rods The Race To Bonneville 2012

Hello all,
My name is Jon Waterfall and me and a small group of guys have decided to build some Hot Rods to Drive to Bonneville Speed Week this year... My Friend Brandon P. Has a Large Pile of parts he has acquired over a few years and finnally decided to put it all together, and he gave me a 1923 Fibergl*** T-Bucket Body to use and he is using a cowl and doors from a Model A(?) and building a custom Roadster out of it. another friend Brandon S. has a 20's Complete Tall T, which was an old drag car, and its going to get a new custom frame also to get it on the ground... Adam G. has a 32' Chevy Truck and he just jumped on board with us too.

All of us share the same goal and that is to drive our cars to and back from Bonneville Speed Week this Year. For us thats a 800 mile trip one way and we cant wait to get going!

So the Cars-
Jons 23' T-Bucket
The plan is Low Low Low. I built the Frame myself and am planing on doing as much fabrication as possible to try and keep it cheap... its going to be a Small Block 350 chevy with a Powerglide to keep the interior a little more roomy, and a 56 chevy front axle and a gm truck 12 bolt rear, so WIDE too...

Brandon P's Roadster
almost completely custom bodied, this car is going to be a short roadster with a lot of work in it. the frame is built and most of the big pieces are around it just needs the cab built

Brandon S's Tall T
this was a mostly complete car when it showed up and its now in pieces, the original frame was sckechy to say the least, so its going to get a custom frame as well to drop it down, the body is in Amazing shape and will go untouched as much as possible, even the fadded paint is awesome!

Adam's 32' Chevy Truck
This is a mostly complete truck as well and i know the least about this one as it has not yet showed up, but i know its going to be similar to the rest as in low and loud!

This whole Bonneville idea started about 2 weeks ago now and more and more people are getting interested and involved, i already built a frame and am currently mocking in a motor for the T-Bucket so i am the farthest along yet but its a long road to Bonneville so im sure things will be Interesting and complicated, but we all have one thing in common -

SALT FEVER!

 

here are some pics of my T-Bucket and the Frame I Built

 

hope things work out for everyone. likely going to need some tall gears for lots of highway cruising & big gas tanks for long stretches of empty Highways & enough ground clearance for the sometimes very rough roads & read up on somewhat protecting cars from too much salt corrosion later.

 

This is very cool! I'm looking forward to follow this story! See you guys there!
Klaus

 

Speedweek is like summer camp for the HAMB. I'd say that it's the largest gathering of HAMBer's from all over the world. For a whole week. See you there, bring beer.

 

im brandon P. my cowl and doors are from a 1928 chevy pu, and im going to make a rear pannel for it, goin for kinda a modified roadster look.
and brandon s. has a 1927 Tall T that he is going to leave unchopped but is going to sit low.

 

You guys have a good friend in Paso in Ron Jolliffe. Ron is a 200 MPH club member, hot rod builder and Bonneville inspector. If you are interested PM me and I can p*** Ron's contact info on.

Ron is trad rod kinda guy and has about all the equipment you may need at his home.

Good luck,
DW

 

Just in case some of you might be thinking that these guys are not up to the projects let me offer this example. These guys working together transformed my Avanti Bonneville car from this:

To this:

in 9 short months. Not only did they save this unique piece of Bonneville history they made it race ready. Ran 159 MPH with a stock Studebaker 289 Golden Hawk engine. So following this post should be informative and fun.

By the way Jon was my crew chief and even drove the car at El Mirage in May of last year.
Dan

 

Thanks dan for the credit, That studebaker project was really awesome and definetly helped me discover the fun bonneville can be!

as an update on my bucket, finaly got some more steel and built the front frame crossmember and motor mounts last night, and tonite im hoping to finish mounting the transmission crosmember and move one to hanging the axles...

ill post some more pics tonite!

 

yea man send me is info, u can never know too many hot rod guys.
how it goin dan u going to Speed Week this year?

 

Dan,

How are things at SCTA? Getting geared up for a new year of racing I'm sure. In case I didn't have an opportunity to tell you in person, Thank You for all the help the last two years on the Bucket List Dream project. What else should I expect from a guy with such a great name.

If you don't mind I would also like Ron's contact info. I have been talking to a few guys in the Paso area and we could use another good Land Speed guy for input. See you at El Mirage or Gas Up if your coming.
Dan Sallia

 

This weekend so far there has been a fair amout of progress for everyone, on my t-bucket i got the front frame Crossmember and motor mounts built and welded in, as well as the transmission crossmember.

On Brandon P's Roadster he got the doors hinge plates cut off and welded the door to the cowl and its finnaly looking like somewhat of a car! he also just got a cowl pannel from a "MG" and is going to use it to top the rear of the cab for a cool different look, he also is going to strech the rear of the cab about 6 inches back for a little more space....

Brandon S got everything salvaged off the old frame that was usable and cut the rear wheel weels for the axle clearance to mock it up and build the frame this weekend

lots to do tomorrow! ill take more pics then
Jon

 

I should have more Pics Tomorrow

 

damn, my pile looks alot worse in the pics, alot of body work to do before paint

 

Ya i hope to have my frame tack together tomarrow. I know what i want now.

 

ya i think i might change up some stuff, ill show u tomorrow

 

Everyone Made some Real Progress this weekend, especialy for not being able to get steel... on My t-Bucket i got both the Engine and Transmission Crossmembers Complete, cut the spring pecrches and shock mounts off the rear axle housing and ground them smooth, and mounted my vega steering box to the frame. Yes It Is on the Right side because im going right Hand drive with it... just a little different

Brandon S got the body notched for the rear axle and mocked up on some 6in Blocks to measure for his frame. he had it all cut and was tacking it together late Sunday night...

Brandon P once again changed his mind and is going to use a different cab, a 36 plymouth truck cab, which the frame was actually built for making the build simpler somewhat. he also cut the spring perches off his rearend and preped it for his ladder bars, tomorrow he is ging to get a 350, 350 combo that im using the engine off of and he is getting another 350 for his car also...

tomorrow i plan on getting some steel for my radius rods and sheetmetal for my bed, but were leaving wednesday for famoso march meet and hoping to pick uo some pieces at the swap meet for sure!

 

It was a long weekend. So glad ii got thea frame welded up. Thanks for the help guys And Are truck stopping breakfast really gets the days going haha

 

You seem to be making great progress, and even though Speed Week is 5 1/2 months out, it'll still be a thrash. Good Luck with the build. I hope to be there again myself this year.

BOutlaw

 

Good luck with it! We'll all be looking for you guys at the bend.

 

here is a quick drawing of what the bucket is going to look like...

 

well its been a while since i posted any progress, but we have been all moving along somewhat. on my t-Bucket it now has complete rear suspension, and was sitting on the wheels yesterday... im hoping to have the front built and sitting on all four wheels this weekend... ill poset more as soon as i can

 

we need to talk pierson in to getting his PU goin

 

Yeah his Is the farthest done and the least motivated... i hope i get off work early today, ill go cut out my stuff for my front axle...

 

let me know if u do, ill go finish up my rear

 

well we have another person joining the race, Mitch T. with his 39' Ford Cabover custom. this thing is going to be radical for sure! he cut the bottom of the cab off at the lower door hinge and now it looks super sectioned... he already built the frame and just finnished mocking up his motor and meking the motor mounts, so he is going to catch up quickly! im on my way over to pat's house to cut out the brackets for my front axle on the bucket, so hopefully i will have some pics up later tonight...

Jon

 

Read this and get to work! The salt needs help or it will disappear forever.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=681912

 

well i got alot done last night, i cut out most of the front radius rod brackets to hold the front end, and i fit up the sleeves to the brackets and tacked one together to get a look at it and man i like it! i think i can have it all together on sat or sunday, i cant wait!

 

Boy howdy, I've had that same thought about the pieces I am building a boat tail body out of a few times along the way. It looks pretty good sitting there but doesn't photograph well.

That looks like it will be fun.