Last night I headed out to my friend's shop where they are finishing up a 4 month thrash to get his car roadworthy for the Turkey Run in Daytona. The mechanicals are done - or at least they will be by the time they hit the road tomorrow evening - and the cosmetic stuff is as done as it will be until after the trip. Nonetheless, the car is slicker than whale snot and I figured you guys would get a kick out of seeing some in-progress shots. It is a 1933 Rockne powered by a 348 that the Pat, the owner, pulled out of an old school bus that wound up being towed into his lot several years ago. The bone stock (and complete, fenders and all) car was bought at a Studebaker show a few years back. Apparently Rockne was a company that was started by two engineers that split from Studebaker in the early '30's. It was named after Knute Rockne and they only produced cars from late 1931 (1932 model) to July of 1933 when the depression finally killed the company. There are a lot of neat touches on the car...the tri-carbed 348 being one of the neatest (although those three deuces will soon be replaced by a 348/409 injection unit that Pat bought from a guy that found it on a boat motor). By the time the car leaves tomorrow night it will be in spray-bomb black, so look out for it on the way to or in Daytona this weekend.
The car was a foot in the air, so you can't really tell but the stance is really cool on this thing when it's on the ground...
These taillights were just thrown on for the weekend...check out the rolled "W" shaped feature line that rolls up the trunk and around the car...
The alt was hidden pretty well. There was really NO room for much else up front...that's about 1/8" between the fan and the radiator. Luckily there's no flex anywhere...
Way kool! Great combination; Rockne with a 348. Two oddballs make it right. Is that the original grill? Are you saying he is driving this to the Turkey Run? If so, he's got balls bigger than a Turkey.
Yep, that's the original grille. He's got the insert for it, too...it just wasn't in it last night. And yeah, he's driving it to the Turkey Run! Those guys go down there in a pack every year...and it's usually in something that they throw together to drive down last minute like this. The motor was just gone through and dropped in a few nights ago, and the dirt on the frame was from the first shake-down, which was taken yesterday morning. They should be good by tomorrow night...and if not, you guys off of I-95 know who to look for on the side of the road this weekend!
That looks like it's going to be a great car. I lik seeing stuff that isn't all Ford and Chevy... That Art Deco Grill is as cool as the tower on the empire state building! I just have one question, how much is another radiator going to cost you when youfind out the fan flexes mor than 1/8" and the readiator moves more than that when the ladder frame flexes more than that going over uneven roads? I remember going out the I-10 riding side by side with Samiyam (at around 90# according to C9, who was right behind me) and the rough-ass road we have here in So.Cal. was bouncing his spring mounted radiator (as they all are fromFord) back and forth about 3". Can you elongate or move some holes to get the bottom of it further forward? That sure is a purty radiator....
I asked the same question when I saw the tight fit. I didn't eyeball it too long, so I couldn't tell you the exact arrangement off the top of my head, but I seem to recall there being a piece of round rod tabbed in just behind the lower rear edge of the radiator keeping it spaced forward of the fan. Pat, the owner, swears the fan won't flex enough to catch the radiator. It looked like a close fit to me, but I'm usually wrong about stuff so I kept my mouth shut. I'll keep you posted on how it all works out! Curt
It sits nice. He's bustin' his hump. This picture was only about a month ago at the Mobtown grease ball show. It's a neat piece.
Yeah, he's definitely busting his hump. The update as of last night when I left there was that it was almost done being wired, we had the glass in it, and the whole thing was spray bombed black. It's amazing what a difference it makes when a car is all one color! The coolest thing about it was that when we were re-installing the rear glass, we found a copy of R&C from 1959 stuffed in the rear window molding, presumably to keep the back glass from rattling! Oh, Dr. J - I asked about the frame flex that you mentioned, but that entire frame is boxed and has additional crossmembers strengthening it up...so we'll see. Good luck to everyone heading down there tonight! Curt
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