Great ol' pics! Power o' the HAMB for sure. I bet you'll get more pics, that's a unique lookin' car, can't mistake it! Hope you got 'er goin' by the Roundup, lookin' forward to checkin' that one out. Hang in there.......
That Heap of the month article was from 1963, he tore it down and stored everything the next year when he went to the Army, and it was never together again.
Ron was my uncle.I hated to see this car leave the family but it looks like it landed in good hands.Ron and his brother Roger were well known around here for the cars they built. They will both be deeply missed forever by many. Good luck to ya and cant wait to see this car as you complete it. Take care and as uncle Ron use to say "if it ain't blown , it ain't no fun!!"
Welcome TBETTIN, your approval means a lot! OK another update.... Got my seats. Hand made by none other than "Irishpol" Paul Wright. He squared the top off of these for me so they would look more like what we could see in one of the pictures. As they should be.. The engine delay really made me loose my MOJO. I decided to tear it down and mic everything out. Cleaned up the pistons and took the rings off. It's a shame, cause they were brand new, but I have no idea how old they are so I will replace them. Looks like Ron was ready to put this thing back together and go with it. This made me smile. I guess this may have been right after Ron came home from Vietnam and the same month that I was celebrating my fourth birthday and in love with the Batmobile. The bearings showed little wear but to be safe, I will fork over the money for new. Crank is standard but had two little rust/pitting places on the mains. You can see it on the rear main. It may be able to be polished out, if not I'll turn it 10. Same with the cylinders. Pulled the freeze plugs and clean it out. Amazing but everything mic'd out within tolerance. Then I got a call from a friend (who I had given a Ford 9" last year) and he offered to do the machine work for free. Good friends! Good thing cause the quickchange rear end blew my budget! Danny's pretty welds Mine, not so much. I welded up the ladder bar brackets. Even though Danny had them hanging loose on the axle tube, I ended up having to cut them off and give them some more bevel/angle to match up with the previous installed ladder bars. Finally Might as well.. Seeing this less and less = What has happend to us? Some more mock up before I take the engine to machinest.. Time to put the body back on. I want to roll it back outside again and make sure I have a little more rake. That's all for now!
Wow! That rolling chassis has me so stoked for ya!!!! I would have never expected bomber type seats in a car like this. I would have figured a bench seat with t&r. Damn it all damn it I love this thing!
cool kathy.... Paul did a real nice job on those seats. i see you have a hoist but keep me in mind for heavy lifting... I have gone by "Forklift" by more then a few bosses in my past....
What he had in it, was seats out of a Corvette. Since it was out of a death car I didn't offer to send them along, I'm a bit weird that way, they have bad mojo and I won't pass that along. They will be destroyed when I can get to them.
Love looking at your progress Kathy. Wish I could weld like you! Keep going the way you are on the car looks great.
Jeffrey, according to the high school newspaper the seats were roll and pleated black and white, like the top! Forklift - I believe it! Levi, maybe we can tie a rope to you and a tree and I can drive off to get you out -If we can ever get you in it! I'm with you on this one Kay - time for new seats. I remember you telling me that. Did he run other seats, because when you look at these pictures you can see the top of what I thought was a bomber seat? All help appreciated! I want hair like yours Robert!
Looks like you have been a busy girl! Now that Sam's car is on the road, I may be able to come lend a hand.
Ron changed things all the time, it was always a work in progress, he was always trying different things and something new. That's why he was so good, he thought out of the box and pushed the envalope. If they said it couldn't be done, he'd do it. The Corvette seats are still here, and he used them at one time. Could be he used something different when the pictures were taken. Those seats give me the willies, but truth is, they never bothered Ron a bit.
These build threads have been amazing. That car is very, very cool. The wife, and the nephew being involved is just too amazing. Very nice work and a very inspiring build, Kisam.
Not Tuffy! The Corvette seats were from a death car - if I remember right, Ron's Mother either picked them up and/or cleaned them up - that's a Mother's love! Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Kathy you have really made great progress. I envy all the information and history you have on your build to begin with and to date it's amazing how it's taking shape. Having had many street rods I was glad you made the decision to go carburated. This is one change you wont regret when you start to drive it on a regular basis. I have a survivor also but not the old pictures to go with it so my restoration was just go with the flow and hope it came out. I did get some written information which was more history but better than nothing. I wish you all the luck in the completion of your car and hope to see it at some point since we are not to far apart. If you get it finished in time there is the Lucky Rod Run to Bryan/CS every January and would be a good break in for both you and the car.
Not much of an update but I am getting some things finalized (even if I have to do it twice)! You can see in this picture the modifications I made to some original engine mounts. It might have been ok with headers but I don't think Ron ran them. Richard D came though with some freebie exhaust manifolds that fit. The problem was clearance between the manifolds and engine mounts. They were acutally touching. I am not sure at what temp vulcanized rubber melts but decided I needed a redo! The only melting rubber that I want to smell should come from the cheater slicks! New engine mounts Used my little plasma cutter, cleaned them up, and tacked together. Plenty of clearance now! Luckily I had only tacked the frame mount and was able to move them slighty forward . With that done I moved onto the transmission mount. I wanted to make sure the shifter linkage was not going to hit the mount. After some internet research, I got the linkage hooked up correctly and adjusted. Of course I did some imaginery speed shifting. I modified a Chevy tranny mount to fit the trans and welded up the frame plate. When I get the frame turned over I will weld in some shoulder bolts for the mounting plate.
The Jalopy Journal
