I've been a lurker here for a while and thought it might be time to sign up for a forum account. I've been into nostalgia drag racing and off roading for quite some time. I started off with a street strip 1968 Mercury Cougar. The car was 100% rust free so I decided to make it my first restoration (resto-mod) project. In the fall of 2006 my dad and I slapped it on a rotisserie and had it sand blasted by a local friend. We then shot the entire car in primer and the undercarriage and the engine bay in a beautiful semi gloss black. Soon after I got the car back in the shop (barn at the time) my dad unexpectedly p***ed away. After that I lost interest in the project for some time. I would still like to see that car restored that way we wanted to, but working out of a one and a half stall garage that is already filled to the brim is cramping my style. Hopefully in the next few years I can build a real shop so I can give that little project the attention it deserves. Just for your information, the car was going to be painted the original dark forest green metallic (I cant remember the exact name of the paint). I like that color much more than the British racing green that my dad had in a 1969 Mustang Mach 1 flavor. I was thinking about putting some stupid large 500 plus cubic inch big block in it (but with stock appearing valve covers and air cleaner) with a jerico 4-speed and some old school ET mag wheels. Theres something about a 1000 horsepower car that isnt tubbed, banging gears with a clutchless 4 speed, and not having a noticeable modern speed part on that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling in my pants. In the summer of 2007 I started on my Jeep off roading craze. Ive had a few different jeeps and I get a kick out of fabricating my own parts for them. I dont get my rocks off mudding like most of the Midwest guys. I have fallen in love with some of the more technical rock crawling trails in the mountains of Colorado. This turned out to be a great hobby for me because my second p***ion is primitive camping a****st some of the most beautiful scenery this country has to offer. Needless to say, I believe my serious off road days are over. It is very hard for me to spend all of that time and money on a rig only to go beat on it, sometimes trail fix it, and hope it holds up for the drive home. There will always be a spot in the corner of my shop for a more reasonable jeep build that is shoe-horned full of my camping gear ready for a trip to the Rocky Mountains. This winter I started thinking long a hard about what my next project lifestyle should be. The Cougar was not going to go by the wayside, but I just dont want to start on that without a new shop. The Jeep/camping hobby will stay at a close reach on the back burner so I can take scratch that itch during the summer and fall when I feel the need. I decided that I would start thinking long and hard about building a 1960s period correct front engine dragster. It would of course have to have the modern safety updates and would run on alcohol instead of a healthy dose of nitro. I acquired a 354 hemi a few years back. It was a freebie and is kind of a neat story, but I will leave that for my build thread. My best friend owns a blown pro mod and a top alcohol dragster (that he bracket races) and he was going to help me build a blown 392 (with 354 heads) and I was going to build that ch***is from some old plans that I found from Don Long. I got my tube bender all warmed up, ch***is blueprints in hand, and decided that I should rethink this idea. I ended up scratching the idea due to the cost of racing a full schedule and the danger of going 200 mph in a slingshot. My tail was now fully tucked between my legs when I came up with the idea of building a traditional 1934 Ford coupe. Ive always wanted one, but I never really rolled the idea around with any seriousness. I dont have much of a hot rodding background. I have no clue which vendors are better than others when I see the names. I have an idea of what I want as a final product, now I just have to figure out how to get there. This week I tore down my 354 hemi and started piecing some parts together for it. Im going to take my time building it while I research ch***is and bodies this summer (and wait around on e-bay for a 6x2 stromberg intake. Im going to make a build thread later this week when I get started on the hemi. I will be asking a TON of questions about how to build a traditional hot rod from s****, so bare with me. I look forwards to having you guys chime in with your advice, because this learning curve is a little bit steeper that I thought it was going to be! Sorry for the longest introduction in HAMB history . I had some time on my hands tonight!
Welcome from Texas and I know what you mean after my Dad p***ed well let's just say I had a couple of really bad years.If I can be of help Please ask
The Jalopy Journal
