Hey...how COOL!!! There was a small two page article in the new Street Rodder about the T-bucket Nationals...and info about a club for "Bucketheads"!!! Yeah, I know...alot of people consider T-buckets to be the "trailer trash" or "bastard children" of the rodding world...but I really kinda dig 'em...I think everyone oughtta build a bucket someday!!! (Mine will be a few years down the road yet...but it'll have a 2.8 Chevy V6 hidden under a full hood!! Plenty o' power for a bucket...and I'll hone my speed tricks on the 2.8 in the 49!!) Here's a link to the MTBA site...... http://www.nationaltbucketalliance.com/
For a long time I was seriously looking at T Model Fords (they've gotta have turtledecks and the related supports, though, IMO) as a viable starter project. Until I actually saw someone riding in one - I'm 6'1" and 205 lbs, I'd look really silly perched on a T-bucket. A's or Deuces for me, I think.
I diggem too! here's a link to an old post: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=36659&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1
I'm driving a t bucket i build 5 yrs ago.I did everything myself, & didn't go with the "Fad" T look.No billet, 2 fours on a highrise or "Munster" exhaust. I scounded swap meets & junkyards for almost everything. Over the last 5 yrs I have about $4500 bucks into it & its not a shit ride. The only regret is that i didn't cut a door in it. And "Bigcheese" i'm 5'11" 190( Have been 206) & I fit ok, its not the most comfortable ride, but hey!!If i lowered mty seat riser i would sit alot lower, i probably will do that someday. The secret to a T bucket being more of a Rod then a go kart is to NOT use a buggy rear spring,whole differant car with coils in the back. JimV
T's are still pretty popular in these parts. There are four T-Roadsters within a two block walk in my subdivision alone. Twenty years ago, I got a ride in a T-Bucket from a guy that was getting some work done at a shop I 'striped at. It had a Hemi in it. I gotta tell ya that was one wild ride. The sheer power in that lightweight was awesome. I was scared to death. T's are Kool!
A T can be done in modified style on the cheap too. An S10, Ranger or evan a Volvo 240 could be used as a super cheap donor car providing a large portion of needed parts. A full hood can hide an ugly engine, or a guy could do his own work and make most of them look good.
t-buckets are how I found the HAMB! Ok, not that I've contributed much except for buying a bunch of junk no one else wanted... I'd trade my leftover special for a gaudy-ass, running, registered fad-T....!
Hack knows how I feel about em... Gotta finda body tho... anyone got a '15 style cowl? I can make the rest, or have MercMan do it!!! Jay
Now that Mod A's in So Cal are not cheap anymore 3 guys I know are building T's right now... one of the guys is in love with JimV's and rightly so, so it will be close to looking like his but in metallic gold... the other one is a touring and the other is a track T...
In 1989, I drove a buddy's T to the streetrod nats in St Paul. I brought my 15 year old son with me and we had a blast! The car had a 400 sbc with a 350 turbo and no front brakes on the 12 spokes! One of the most memorable weekends of my life.
Here's one for ya Hack!This belongs to a friend of mine in Florida who built his first T in 1958(57 Pontiac FI powered):black primer and the onlt chrome on it the rocker covers and the cover over the FI.After that a 27 with a Latham-blown 339cu.in.small block(1st car I ever painted to show up in a magazine;HotRod Nov 63)and way too many after that. This one will probably be his final car(although he's planning a 41 Willys): Glass body widened 6" and lengthened 8",hand-made square tube frame(118"wheelbase),independent front suspension and Currie 9" rear with reinforced axle housings(he's on his third one),all-aluminum 572 cu.in.Merlin motor with 2 Barry Grant carbs and 200HP NOS.The exhaust was hand made 2 3/4"header pipes(with the heads machined so the pipes slip into them with copper O-rings for gaskets)emptying into 6" diameter stainless collectors with baffling.Custom made Bruce Fortier radiator and headlamps.Engine dyno'd at 890 HP without the nitrous.Completely owner built(you ought to see the machine shop he has in his garage)and driven hard. Last time I talked with him he was supposedly selling it to a guy in Connecticut. I went for a ride in this thing and all I can say is,"Bring a change of underwear 'cause you'll need it if he gets on it!"
He did sell it to some guy up in NE I see it at the summer nationals in Worcester& he was at lake george with it.It is a wild looking ride.Its pretty"Pro streeted" now. JimV
[ QUOTE ] Here's one for ya Hack!This belongs to a friend of mine in Florida who built his first T in 1958(57 Pontiac FI powered):black primer and the onlt chrome on it the rocker covers and the cover over the FI.After that a 27 with a Latham-blown 339cu.in.small block(1st car I ever painted to show up in a magazine;HotRod Nov 63)and way too many after that. [/ QUOTE ] Safariknut - This the car?
I was in KC for the NTBA nationals that are in Street Rodder. It was way kewl... everything from billet show cars to traditional T's... almost 200 of them. Nothing kewler than seeing 50 - 100 or more T's going down the street all in a line. Had a blast!!
JimV.........I've always liked your ride.....got that Kookie look to it..........I never saw it standing still, you were always on the move..... CT.
[ QUOTE ] Safariknut - This the car? [/ QUOTE ] That's the bugger!I thought I was the only one had that issue!Don't know where you are in Florida but Ken lives in Rockledge now.His shop was in Merritt Island.Thanks for posting it. Ray
Ive always liked em to, my fisrt car was a t-bucket that i started building(with great help from my dad) when i was twelve, we worked on it here and there when I had money (not very often!!) then it got stuck away in a corner for a couple of years, then when i was 17 or 18 i brought all the parts over to a friends garage and started painting and assebleing it, closer to winter my friends parents said i was going to have to find another palce to put it, so me and a friend rented a 2 car garage and i finished it there, i put about 3000 miles on it and then sold it on the first day of back to the fifties, man i miss it! heres a pic
speaking of JimV, we were going to a local cruise night here somewhere and i let my son drive the coupe while i rode with JimV. i climbed in the bucket and sat down, it seemed like i was looking right over the windshield! he punched that fuckin thing and i said "oh shit - i'm gonna die!!!!!" man you can see everything up front when your sitting in it, all of the suspension and shit, that fan turning a thousand miles an hour, it seemed scary at first then you get settled in and cruisin', it was a blast, he was getting rubber everywhere, he's a hotrodder! and it rides great, very sure-footed.
JimV's bucket rocks! I rode in it over to the Road Agents show. What a blast! We fit in fine and I am 6'-3" 230. I loved how open it is with "doors" down low- the panorama of the scenery is expansive- kinda like riding a motorsickle.
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