1930 Model A Roadster (What to Look For)

That is is pretty much the norm for a driver and describes a lot of cars on this board. For me the fun of owning a driver is continually improving it and making it my own - and I try not to sweat the wear and tear unless it is a part that involves safety or reliability.

I agree with the others - that A just looks off in far too many ways and you would most likely end up using it as a collection of parts for a brand new build.

Edit - just read your trip report. Looks like it all turned out for the best.

 

History has no price tag!!!

 

There were no usable parts on this car everything was ruined

 

Let me preface this statement by saying I wouldn't trade that 56 for the roadster...

But you guys that are calling this car junk are ****ing nuts or stupid. It's an original old 60's built hot rod roadster channeled over a deuce frame with cool old patina chrome suspension and a y block in it... Yea it's currently ugly and needs work, (those flat black spinner hubcaps would be frisbee'd right into the can) but it's perfect raw material for a *****in' hot rod. I don't know what the current owner is asking for it but it WAS dirt cheap the last time it was up for sale.

 

Quote " It had bits of a Model A frame but most of it was a late model truck frame that was bent and ****ed. Every inch of the body was ruined."

Perhaps it is not the same car you are thinking of?


Bash

 

I went and looked at it a couple days ago.
Here's the real deal with it,

First off, it's a real 1931 Ford roadster. Cut a cut up coupe or any kind of coupster.
Real deal Henry Ford steel through and through. It's had new quarters put on because the originals were damaged in a fire years ago. The current owner might still have some pieces of them kicking around. He added a weird thick sheet metal band between the tulip panel and the seats so it looks like it was messed with but he did it because of the quarters being swapped. It has a brand new Brookville trunk lid and panel below that.
All the back end body work is great and only the cowl needs work but that's to be expected after 82 years. It's all very workable metal and it's not rotten or missing.
The cowl has a portion cut off on the bottom because it follows the curve of the frame up and looks pretty good.

It has a REAL 1932 FORD frame under it. A little hacked up from years of people adding what they thought would work best on the car. The frame looked solid and still had the stock rear crossmember in it. The front frame horns back about 2'ish is Model A rails grafted into the '32 frame and well done and holding up great for it's age. Yeah they're not blended in as much as we'd build it these day but that's how it was done then and it worked and doesn't look terrible now. The front crossmember looks like it's a mid '40's stock style piece that matches the '46-'47 axle that's been under the car since 1961.
AND it's all chrome! The spring, the axle, the split bones, the backing plates it's all pretty decent old chrome that will polish up nicely.

The wishbones were split the "olde fashion" way with cut up tierod parts welded into the cut off ends of the bones. They're giving up now and need to be fixed before it's driven on the street. If they were tig welded you'd only mess up the very end of the chromed bone.
It needs wheels bearings badly and the kingpin bushings need to be replaced.
But all the work it needs is minor maintenance stuff that needs to be done with any used old car with a straight axle under it.

The motor is a 272 Yblock with 312 heads and a chrome oil pan and a ton of other chrome parts including the valve covers and stock intake it has on it.
It started right up and idled great right off. He didn't warm it up before hand and it didn't make any terrible noises.
It sounded like a real deal pissed off HotRod motor!
3 speed trans with an unknown floor shifter.

That checker plate firewall is just stuck on there and the old one is still behind it.
The lip for the hood to sit on it still there too. I had thought it had been cut off.
Some one along the way welded the body to the frame so that would need to be fixed..
It wasn't welded well, haha. It'll be easy to fix and square the body back up.
The rad shell is in amazing shape for being widened back in the very early 60's. It's not too full of bondo or too weird at all. It has a thunderbird rad in it with the remote expansion and the tank is chromed.

Someone welded the the gas tank to some supports on the rear of the frame at some point in the cars life.

Geez, what else...

It comes with all the old historical stuff too, pictures, trophies, ect.

It looks like someone changed the upper column and it's got a ****ty ujoint in it now with a little steering wheel. It's got some cool old sun gauges in the dash that work.
The dash is about twice as tall in the car as it was in the old pictures.
Ricky sat in it and his shins almost touched the bottom edge of the dash, hahaha.

SO, it's not destroyed or RUINED in any way at all.

It really just needs the last 40 years of "up grades" removed.

BUT, with all that being said.

I wouldn't trade Mitch's 56 for it at all. This roadster isn't a driver at all, it's a project and will need months of work to get it back where it should be.

 

I'm really bummed that I had to cancel out of coming with you and Ricky that night. I really wanted to see this thing first hand!

 

Well, it's a really cool car that's full of history and you would've dug it a bunch!

 

Anyone know how much cash the owner is looking to get for it?

 

...about 7 large...

 

Ahhh Yea, I mistake old hot rods that I almost buy an hour from my house all the time... See Norton's post above: It ain't cute, but it is a cobbed up Z'd deuce frame under there.

 

Well, it's safely at it's new home now.

The new owner even drove it today.

It runs, drives and stops!

 

So, who bought it? And where's the pics and video??! Glad someone pulled the trigger.

 

GOod news Norton! More pics please, so I can re-kick myself for dragging my feet to call on it the first time.

 

Can we get some new pictures on here? I've only seen the three that Mitch posted and I want to see more!

 

Thanks Andy!

 

Oh yeah, steal my thunder Andy...

Hahaha!



Don't forget this..

CU***UP53chevy on here owns it now and he's been making good changes already.

 

The s**** pile is growing.


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It is the same car Andy was talking about. The description from earlier in this thread is not quite accurate...

CU***UP53chevy bought it. Here's the link to the thread on it: Old Hot rod Find 30 roadster

And since you asked...

<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/69750703" width="500" height="889" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/69750703">Ricky and AJ in the roadster</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/speedycanuck">Speedy Canuck</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

 

AJ is the huskier one by the way...

hahaha!

HOTRODS!