Projects Anderegg Roadster TRIBUTE-MEMORIAL build and info, AMBR 1955

Thanks Jimmy, I wish I could capture in a photo the pop this color has. That color (at least on my comp screen) is very washed out and not nearly "lime" enough compared to the actual panel. The more I look at the panels I have sprayed the more I like the color. (and the wife and I were never yellow car people.....guess we are now....LOL) The color, to my eyes, is nearly a vintage version of yellow chartreuse. But that said photographically it matches perfectly with Buicks that I see on the internet. I think we did good as well, I can wait to see it sitting in my garage all painted up.

 

I am super diggin' the Condor Yellow! This is lookin' so good, I can't wait to see it in person!

 

REALLY neat to see a car that is homebuilt LOOK homebuilt. That's NOT a slam. It's just that this car has a purity to it. Very clean and tidy...lotsa soul! I love it!

 

LOVE the panel, this thing is gonna look GREAT!! I have always loved both pale yellow and light blue on fifties hot rods. Both colors are "gay" according to all the "paint it black" bad-ass types. Me thinks they doth protest too much...

 

Thanks guys I really appreciate your time and continued support. HAHA George, funny you should say that as I have a pic of the father-in-laws 50-ish 2dr fastback sedan that was light blue he had around '55 its pretty cool.

Jeem, I take no offense at all to this, matter of fact its quite the compliment. I want the car to look home built (after all it is). I am no pro at this, and I never wanted it to look professionally built. Granted I am trying to keep the hack factor to a minimum, but still when I tell folks I built it all, I wont be stretching the truth at all. I have been told by several in the know that if you looked under the original it was FAR from pristine under there. As far as soul....there is tons of soul in this, both mine and Uncle Ray's. I have tried to stay true to the spirit of the original, but also wanted it to be a part of me as well.....I believe VF did the same on his and rightfully so and he did it tastefully as well. Thanks man!

PS, at the rate I am building this, its is going to be nearly identical to the time frame that Uncle Ray took to build his......thats huge for me, because I feel like its taking forever. He was given the body shell and purchased the Merc somewhere between '49 and '50 and the pinstriping was put on the car just prior (literally) to the '55 GNRS.

 

are you flippin kidding me, I can build a hot rod but cant manage an imbedded youtube video....aaaarrrrrrggggg it used to work for me

 

Ok, so major thrashing over the long weekend. So far it actually works. And sounds so sweet closing. Lots of fabbing, and lots of cussing, but i whipped it. I havent welded up the door yet. After all the jambs and structure were in place the door was pretty taut, and I need to figure out how to put some crown into the center of the outer door skin. I still need to fab the top portion of the inner door yet, but man it works sweet. It does hang down about 3/4" and has a bit of free fall its first bit of opening, but I can live with that, I have a door and hidden hinges!!!




This was earlier.....
but now with all the structure in the door its nice and solid not so tinny






This is a bit better for the color....but still not as striking as in the flesh....

 

Looking great,with paneling and all should be real nice.
Now ya got a door that works cool,could mean ya can think about a folding top some day for rain,that folds up small and can be stashed away,if not at lest a car cover to hide in the trunk or behind seat

 

Already in the noodle Dana...trying to figure out whats the best route, a removable hard top or fold away rag top. Not a bunch of trunk in this thing, and getting less by the moment if i want to carry more than 6 gallons of gas and a spare tire.

 

cool ,I have never had a spair tire in any of my roadsters,just a plug kit and some fix-a-flat also now days,but always small tool bag,nut/blots bag and a fireEXting along with carcover,most has been able to fit behind seat[but I always use homebuilt bench seats],I madev my own top bows and sew my top my self,this next time I'm gon-a do a tech on folding homemade tops.
My son's T that he and I built,take a ride to get ya going even better;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9TR7EolDC-o

 

Awesome vid Dana.....what are you guys doing for headlights...they look hella bright. Cant wait to see a tech on building a folding top. My biggest prob is the windshield and stancions that I have dont really lend itself to what needs to go on up front to secure it. Will certainly have to get creative on that area. We have a Sunbeam Alpine and its top is pretty slick the way it folds up, so I can take some ideas from that. Not that your vid didnt work, but, I may take tonight off, kinda burnt out and forgot my dead-blow at work to "finesse" the passenger door skin. But damn I am so ready for this thing to be done and on the road. Not discouraged, just impatient....

 

Just ideas 4 ya;
The windshield post can be done a lot of ways,but I too like stuff that has tricky nearly invisible way of hook up for a folding top header,a small pin hole on back side of upper post can hold very well if the header topper fits well like a cap coming down and mostly around on to post top , spring or screw pin just locks it at each side of windshield. If windshield is designed too low[=your eyes don't see through glaas/but over it,[not good,but lots of rods are that way]=fix is to make folding top header also have glass in it as well,needs that "H" rubber strip used in spilt "T" windshields. That don't look real sexy but works for rain.

Headlights;
To get the parts for my son's hotrod build and some for mine I didn't have,I looked around for projects that someone had gave up on ,with new or near new parts already payed for that my son and I had made a wish list of,+would sell cheep,that took about a year to find two piles =[failed builds]. So it worked out we only payed like $1 for parts that cost $20+ and sold off stuff we could not use.
In the parts was a nice set of headlights[Deitz-type 7" headlights chrome ,12 volt "Halogen bulbs" with both high & low beams and one very very tiny dent in one of them] They work great,way better then any I have had in the passed.

 

Thanks for the headlight tip, are those halogen sealed beams or bulbs and reflectors? Crowned the pass door last night. As well revamped my trunk layout designed a new 13 gallon fuel tank, that i have to build, and now i have to get creative about a compartment for the battery under the car. Solving one problem seems to create 3 others.....oh well....keeps things interesting, or so i keep telling myself.

 

That sound like some good work done.
Yes, they are 7in. Halogen sealbeams, I never have had much luck with getting older reflectors types with a small bulb inside to actully be very brite on to the road.
Now and them it is nessasairy to make a battery drop down mount vs one that you can drop bat in from the top,gels are so care free now that drop down designs are better then they were years ago.

 

Chip, chip, chipping away...
Layed out, bent up, and welded a new fuel tank. Much better looking than that monstrosity that I had come up with before. I am thinking it should be about 15 gallons with any luck. Still need to figure out its mounting and weld the bungs and filler on. My welds are kinda crappy, for whatever reason my spoolgun at work seems to work much better than the one I have here at home....dont know why...


Fuel tank sitting in its spot, and the spare. So far everything fits nicely under the trunk lid. Not much in the way of room left over, but theres probably enough for a couple small duffle bags.

And a bit of work on the floor pan and trans tunnel.

 

All weekend on the floor and revamping the clutch linkage.

 

Sounds good,How'd clutch link come out,are ya happy with? I did new design on my own rod just last month,cuz I moved my pedals too under floor vs old swings I never really liked.

 

Not 100% happy, but its the best its been so far. I have more things working against me than for me down there.....no room, that stupid canted Camaro bell housing, exhaust that i didn't want below the frame, an ubber stiff pressure plate, and fabbing my own under floor pedal set up. So at this point if the clutch and brake still work correctly after i finish the floor around it i will live with a slightly stiff pedal. More work in the foot wells and in the trunk area tonight. PS the Mustang cable is gone....back to linkage.

 

This may give ya a clutch idea? I designed my new clutch pedal so it was also the Z-bar and pulls back on bellhousing arm vs goes with a rod forward into a Z-bar and from that back into bellhousing arm.
So that way I don't need room for extra Z-bar and rods.
The brake pivoit is vary close but a little infront of clutch piviot,so that clutch tube has pedal at one end and a arm at other for a rod to pull back on bellhousing arm[smaller package,less space]

 

Crap photo didn't load so try again. Anyway this could of been made not as tall by moving poviots closer to floor than I did. I use about 6 to 1 seems to feel OK on stock Ford Y-block clutch. There is a tiny little drawing of how clutch pedal works just under pedal box. If ya get any ideas from that good.

 

I just want it to be done!!!
Ok...now that Ive gotten that out....
Yup Dana thats very similar to what I have going on, just on 1 pivot and I made my pedals in the shape of old style Ford pedals. No room for a z-bar, so I hung an arm below the pivot similar to yours and put a link with two heims from there to the clutch fork. Its by no means the optimum angle to be pulling on that fork, but I think I have found a good compromise.
With all the sheet metal work going on, I need to take time to thank a silent and certainly unsung hero of this build and everything I have built since I was old enough to turn anything and everything into some form of a car.
MY DAD....
He has taught me everything I know, pretend to know, and have faked my way through building this roadster. Granted I am no where near the body and fender man he is, he at least, in his own way has made sure I had the basics. (lets face it, body and fender work you either have it or ya dont). I freely admit I dont, but thats where the faking it has come into play. He is supposed to be around for a visit sometime in July......just in time for some major block sanding of the body (provided he doesnt make me take the whole thing down to metal and start all over because I faked it that bad).
Anyway, he retired from a body shop in Central Cal that he started at just before I was born and stuck it out for 42 years.....same place. I have major respect for him for that, I owe he (and my mother, of course) big for all the support they have given my hobbies all my life.....and for an education that I owe completely to my dad, especially when he probably didnt even realize what, when or how he was teaching me. Takes a special man to teach that way, and much of it while never saying a single word.........Thanks Dad!
More done on the floor boards and foot wells tonight, hopefully all of that will be done by the end of the week.

By the way.....does anybody have an exact one of these they would like to part with???

 

Well the from the back of the seat bottom forward, the floor is done. A few little items to finish up (some flanges on the sides to mount the side upholstery to, but other than that, fine'. Pretty happy with it, not too shabby I think and all the access panels are bolted down with 1/4" big head phillips machine screws and clip-on fender nuts. Except the crowned master cylinder cover, its just held down with a couple of sheet metal screws. Next up is mounting the gas tank and finishing up the rear firewall, then the gas pedal.

 

Another somewhat productive few hours. Built the bottom supports for the fuel tank and made some straps. Need to find some 1/8" thick rubber to cut into strips to keep it from rubbing on all the mount areas and straps. Also built a little box around the original hole in the firewall for, I believe, the T heater hoses. I wanted to keep the hole as in the original car, but wanted it blocked off. And need to do some grinding on those ugly aluminum welds

 

Wow nice work on floor and tank.
Maybe idea for rubber strips for tank?; I got mine at ACE=Campermount Tape closed cell 3/16inx1.1/4inx30ft. pvc foam,even came with sticky on one side/peel-off and press. It's not something that shows anyway but needs to do its job.
On another door note,the new door hinges in photo,it maybe I'm seeing wrong,but it dose kind of look like hinges pins do not line-up with each other=meaning if you ran one very long pin through both hinge mounts it should go,but dose not look in photo like it would/if it will not do that then it makes door swing bind up/twist.? Just asking cuz photos can be werid at seeing stuff right at times.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the foam tape. Yup what you are seeing is correct. They dont align perfectly, when i tried to do that the door hit somewhere on the cowl. Its not perfect, its a compromise, and so far it opens and closes. And none of it encroached into the passenger compartment. There is just enough flex in the door to compensate for it.

 

Hey Louie,

I know your not heading to roadster show, but is anybody in your local group heading down that I could pass this battery cover off to take back home to you?

 

Nope, not that I know of, thanks for asking.

 

Well got a bunch done the past few days. Fabbed the go pedal, finished the rear firewall, and took the seat bottom back apart, added some mount points for the floor and narrowed the front edge to better follow the contour of the body.



A few more pics to follow

 

Wow, its come a long way....












Thought I would have some fun with the Photoshop program....like I have nothing better to do at 1am....

I think while its back on the ground I will go ahead and take a stab at doing the wiring in the hopes that after its painted I wont be building brackets and drilling holes for grommets and clamps.
Thanks for all the looks, I think I see a light up yonder

 

Damn nice work ! I'm just lovin' the way this is progressing. The wheel and tire combo is just so perfect. The original is one of my all time favorites and this one isn't far behind. Keep bangin'. You're almost there.

As a side note.... I use 1" wide nylon webbing under my tanks. It gets glued in place with 3M trim cement. I've had a couple cars where the foam stuff deteriorated pretty quickly and allowed metal to metal contact. Always run a decent ground strap, I use the braided metal type, to your tank for both safety and grounding of your sender. I use the 2" webbing under my bodies as well. It is available at most hardwares.

Too bad your so far away. I'd love to get a bit of road time in with you with my roadster!