Purists beware: hacking ahead! Hello all, starting this thread to do***ent my Sport Coupe progress I have made over the last couple months. I am a VW guy through and through but my late friend had a very clean 31 Pre War Roadster that gave me the itch. After his p***ing the car fell into the wrong hands, unfortunately. That said, he will serve as an inspiration for this build. My main goal was a cool little semi “period” roadster for less than $5000. Two years back I found a pretty clean 30-31 frame for $300. At the time, my mom had a strict rule that I couldn’t have any more project cars so I told her I was off to get some to get some “car parts” which wasn’t completely untrue. I just didn’t clue her in to the fact that these parts would become a car lol. Initially, I grabbed a cheap 27’ Touring basically on a whim hoping I could use its drivetrain. Never buy first and research later! While it was cool, it was rustier than hell and obviously not what I needed. With that gone, I began the search and found a pretty decent 29’ Sport Coupe for $2000 that had been sitting since the 70s. Upon closer inspection, the motor was likely seized, however it still had plenty of parts and a good body to use. Which was my main concern. Once home it was time to start pulling parts to transfer to the 30’ frame. Oh and along the way it seems my cutoff wheel had gotten busy. I know many of you will say I hacked a perfectly good sport coupe body..and I did. But I am big advocate of building the car you want if you cant afford to buy it. And right now, Roadsters are just too damn spendy. For now I just opted to use a el-cheapo ebay aluminum radiator. That is one thing on the list to replace but it works for now. I also stumbled on a good running engine and trans for $500. Grabbed that up and stabbed her in. Amazon cherry-picker for the win! next I rolled the frame back over to the other garage to swap the coupster body onto. Believe me when i say the sawhorse and stack of wood combo was sketchy at best, but it got the job done. now to roll it back over to the other shop where the tools are. I moved on to small things like painting the shroud, wheels, etc. And as it sits today: It looks damn good at first glance. Just Don’t look too close at the tires, or headlights or everything else lol….I will take more progress pics as I go. But for two months of actual hands on work I was pleased with it. As it stands, she runs and drives but there is a grocery list of item left to do. Things like exhaust, breaks, interior, paint, blah blah blah. The list goes on I will do my best to update as I go. Oh and my friends Roadster as inspiration
Nothing wrong with a “coupster”! I would probably do the same. Nice job turning it into a running and driving car. Tell me about the boat with the 6 cylinder Mercury outboard in the shop ( there’s a thread in the “antiquated” forum for vintage boats)…
Yeah its a 58’ Gl***par. My Father bought it from the original owner who used it in 58, 59, and 60. It has basically been sitting since. Original interior and everything else. Same guy who I bought that Model T from rebuilt the 6cyl for us. As long as I have been alive its never been in the water, so atleast 23 years I am hoping this summer or next he can get it out to enjoy it and then we’ll probably list it
Not a lot done, a lazy weekend for sure. This morning I had to extend the radiator brace rods a few inches. I ordered these from Mikes, not SUPER happy with the quality as they were chipped and had some rust but then again so does most the car You can see it was quite a bit short, probably because of the different rad. Opted to splice it in towards the rear, hopefully it wont draw the eye as much. Got the donor piece (cut from a VW seat adjuster handle lol). Just adding a 1.5” section, mocked up into a little angle iron jig for tubing/rod The first welds pulled it to one side slightly, so certainly not perfect but it will be hard to tell when installed. Finish weld it, clean up a bit and repeat for the other side!
Next I had to do the paint. Sure it definitely needs a head gasket but cosmetic stuff is obviously more important grabbed some of this oil based rustoleum from Ace on a whim and brushed it on. Trying to do this how a young hotrodder may have done in the 40s/50s. 30 minutes later and very happy with how it turned out! Found these stanchions for a very reasonable price and begun to get them mocked up. Anyone know the year/model? They look like typical 28/29 roadster posts but the lack of ****** at the top for the convertible top is throwing me off? Cant really find anything similar online. It’s slowly getting there. The doors and windshield seem to be the most distracting part with Coupsters so trying to handle that as best as possible.
Like to see pictures of how you are going to do the top of the door and the dash. My hot rod, aviator, is a 30 coupster. I didn’t build it, I bought it this way.
Finally back in town to where i can put some work in on the Coupe. I Started on the p***enger door and pillar. Removed the inner structure and narrowed the profile a bit. Then added what will be the top panel. With some square stock for structure. It's not quite as narrow as i would like, still resembles a shelf imo but it's a lot better for now. Gonna pause on the door for now until I get the latches in the mail. Once those come in I can finish up the inner structure and B pillar. Next is the A Pillar situation. Hacked up a bunch of the old pillar corner and got some steel in there to start mocking up how the stanchion will mount up. My big goal was getting the profile correct. Used some s**** steel to start modeling what 28-29 roadsters have. Once it was all welded up, i made sure it actually fit in the stanchion and the holes lined up. Holes drilled and some nuts welded to the back. Mount tacked in place Stanchion mocked up, pleased with how it sits. All welded in place. Just the finishing work left to do, filling gaps, and grinding smooth. Repeat. Excuse the messy shop. Misted the door to see how it may turn out and bolted up the stanchion. Now the tricky parts comes, making the left look like the right
More of the same today...measured and cut driver a pillar Trying to do this side a little cleaner. Testing fitment...not bad Clean up the edges and tacked in the new "footer" Next just profiled the inside of the stanchion for the mount and cut out the origami pieces. Had to fix a little ****oo. first check went ok.. Fully welded, still some cleaning to do Drilled the holes and welded up nuts on the backside. Stanchion fitment to the body was decent so tacked everything in its final place. Finished product! Two Roadster-like windshield posts. And they are about as square as I will ever be able to make them. Eventually, we'll make an actual windshield frame, maybe next weekend
Jumped back in bright and early this morning. Started on the drivers door. You’ll have to bare with me, still getting used to taking pics throughout the day. Found my groove with this side, which means I will have to redo the p***enger side. Ending up using the original top section I cut off the door to match the curve. New door top is 1.5” (roadster door width) vs the p***enger side 1 3/4”. Much happier with how this one looks. This is about when i dodged disaster. Cutting the inside of the door structure, my diamond cutoff wheel kicked back and knicked just below my middle knuckle! I will spare you the gore but it sure is gnarly. Safe to safe full PPE will be utilized going forward got the driver top tacked in, will finish off the rest tomorrow. Need to pull the door off to get the rest done, or build a bigger shop haha. On the way to get liquid bandage for my hand i found myself at the hardware store. Next thing I knew 10’ of conduit followed me home Cut the top section at ~43” and began notching the left and right sides. left and right sides tacked in. i failed to take many pictures but the rest of the work was essentially me slicing small lines in the lower section and then staring at it until the curve looked decent still bouncing around some ideas on how I’ll get the piece of custom gl*** in there…but in the interest of budget it may end up being plexigl***…we’ll see. But that should bring you guys up to date.
Dont forget to make the top or bottom of your frame removable to get the gl*** inside! I used L shaped bits, welded inside the top, drilled and tapped and a small screw through each of the verticals. Neat build!
Yeah, I used to hate wearing gloves too. A couple of weeks ago, I tore some hide off of my fingers with one of those abrasive paint stripping discs on a 4.5" grinder. I'm gonna learn to love gloves. The car looks fun!
yes! I think I will end up doing some similar. Essentially sleeve the verticals and add a set screw or something. Not a lot done today. Just fixed the p***enger door. Still debating on how i want the structure to look. Before: Carefully cut the tack welds and flattened some of them out. New piece prepped, use the same method as the other side to template the curve. All clamped in place And tacked in, WAY happier with this than the previous two piece disaster Was feeling demotivated so I rolled her out to get some fresh air and a new perspective. The windshield shrunk a bit during the final welding, so it will need some further adjustment to mimic the firewall curve a bit better. Really liking how its is coming along, but the work isnt done yet! Once the government decides to provide me with a paycheck we’ll get back to work on the engine. Stay tuned.
Back to it this weekend. Lets get this door to close. Pulled out the old b pillar wood. Grabbed some dirt cheap hinges, amazon once again for the win. Tried to get the pin right about to the stock location. Jaw just tacked into place. More tacks in after testing how it closed. this is where i decided to finish off the top of the b pillar. Didn’t take many pics but just got it cleaned up more how i imagine it might have looked if done originally. Next up was the door structure. I went round and round trying to figure out how to make it look OK. Mind you it will be covered by a door panel but wanted to make it look half decent and have some strength. Decided the easiest was just to use the original inner door structure for a semi “factory” look. What im starting with: Eye balled some cuts and offered it up to the door starting to fill in the gaps.. kind of like a jigsaw puzzle. You’ll notice im not taking this thing too seriously. Its no show car. Just having fun and letting the creativity flow, if you will. Plus, bondo can cover anything More puzzle pieces Door closes pretty decent Some of the donor metal was a little junky so spliced some new in final fitment: tacked in: And this is where I will leave it this weekend. Next weekend looking at finishing out the welding/grinding and figure out a door latch. finally starting to look like a door
Nice work. There are a bunch of cool machines lurking in the background. That Toyota... Tell mom to be more appreciative.
Plugging away this weekend on some more bodywork while i wait for some engine parts in the mail. Getting rid of some of the rust on the quarter. Pulled off the door to do the rest of the welding Got it back up and primed/painted, still some things i need to touch up. Still working on the p***enger door jam, got the inner bpillar capped off. Did some thinking and ended up removing the old package tray. It is a good piece but with the way im taking this something custom will be easier and look better imo. Just a simple piece of angle iron across the quarters will make the body more rigid, while helping to locate the backrest and package tray panel. Caught mom trying to get rid of an old couch, but i had a eureka moment and knew it would be perfect. Cut that bad boy up and now I have a stack of Model A Coupster material Interior will come last but here is a teaser. The quarter panel body line being lower than the door was kind of bothering me, and it looked somewhat unfinished. I have been playing around with the thought of it and some conduit seemed like it could do the trick... The next few hours was me walking back and forth between the grinder and the cutoff wheel. I never wanna do any pie cuts ever again lol. Not pictured, but i split the pipe along the bottom seam and then crushed one side of the tube 1/4", that way it does not sit on top of the quarter but rather falls down over it to make the transition a little easier on the eyes. Shaping up.
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