Technical Buying a T-bucket..what could go wrong?

I admit my knees are bent but I give up a bit with the seat position and thickness. I'm 5'11" and without the seat I could sit in there flat on floor completely stretched out no problem, I even thought about only using the seat bottom with my back against the curved tapered back of the body. Not sure how you could go about it otherwise with the pedals being 4 inches from the firewall allowing for travel.

 

Gave the guy a shout, let’s see what happens.



Bones

 

Keith MacIntyre has his red one for sale. Super incredible pro build, 324 Olds with a '39 trans. 6x2 and perfect wheels for around $8700.00. This is a super traditional magazine featured car. He's on Facebook with it listed. I'd guess it is worth 3 times this. By the way, This is a steel car!

 

In reference to the v6 bucket , when I was building I had access to a 4 cyl Chev 'll , a 250 Chev 6 ,a 4.3 Chev v6 , and of course a sbc , 2 of my longtime car friends said the same thing ," you'll never be happy with anything but a v8 , I'm really glad I listened ...

 

That's the first thing I thought of too, but since it's called the "90" Death Trap" I'm guessing the OP is going to shy away.

BTW, Keith owns Binbrook Speed and Custom, he does very nice work...

 

I was ready to call BS on you and then I looked it up and sure enough, there it is for that price. This is a crazy good deal, well worth the trip. I see homogenous 350 fiberglass T buckets all the time in my area and they're all $15K, this thing in comparison is so much better, I'm having a hard time believing it.

 

That is a pretty good price considering what it is.
Looks like motorcycle front wheels and no front brakes No wonder it's nicknamed death trap.

I wonder what else it needs although for the price you could afford to fix the deficiencies.

 

At that price you can afford to make a lot of changes to get it to fit your vision!

 

KOZ---I really like the look of your gas tank fitted around the rear cross member. My question is do you have 1 gas line, on 1 side only? I guess there wouldn't be very much left on the other side when pick up side is empty. Sure looks good, give the car another custom built/perpose built look. Bill Rinaldi

 

In Santa Clara (CA) where I grew up, an older kid (clean cut, San Jose State athlete) was hot rod crazy, as were the guys that hung out at my Grandma's ('my house')
This guy John had bought Hank Silva's '40 Coupe, (331" Chrysler Hemi powered, fast)
He came over, the guys were impressed...but John was studying "Hemi Henry"s '17 Dodge bucket. (Grabowski style, 96" wheelbase, '37 front tube, suicide, and 392" hemi w/LaSalle box.)
The bucket was 'roughly THERE', good welds, etc., but there was some 'hokiness'...Henry was 16.
John mentioned that he had secured a job with the Santa Clara Police Dep't., we were 'stunned'...
For some years John pulled us over, usually 'warnings'. I grew up and moved away with an exotic beauty...life went on. Saw John in '64, he had a superb '58 Impala.
In 1974, the 'Over the Hill Gang' was sponsoring a weekly '50s Nite, A&W, San Jose.
I took 3 of my sons in my nice '53 Vicky...There was this pale yellow 'T' bucket? No, no! It was a Dodge...with the formed rails around the bottom of the cowl...'37 tube axle, this bucket was clean! Detail plus! The engine was a Chrysler Hemi, a guy about my age was in a lawn chair behind it, "Hello, Mike..." It was John!
He had BOUGHT Hemi Henry's Dodge after 16 years...(he always wanted it!) The finish was like all John's stuff...Clean, and finished.
He said he moved to Clear Lake, and came down for '50s Nite! Clear lake is more than a casual trip...120 miles? Or more...
Wish I had a pic. (some are picturing something 'out of proportion'...but it would have sat comfortably between Norm's and Tommy Ivo's. THAT clean.

 

Wow this is much nicer than the one I posted. I'd damn sure check this one if I was in the market!

 

Depends what you want. My yellow 27 had an "iron duke" 4 cyl Pontiac w/ turbo 350.
Was a ball to drive and didn't use much gas
I'd have it back in a heartbeat but I don't want to boil the tires off!

 

Guys that T bucket is temping, even though only the color and stance , are what I want on my T. But steel and price can change a mans priorities! Does anybody know what’s intailed in buying a car in Canada and bringing into the US?



Bones

 

I believe Bill of Sale and a Title are all that's needed when a car is heading out of Canada. I've bought a few in the US and brought them up here, haven't gone the other way. Do a little research, dot your i's and cross your t's there won't be any problems. The US dollar stretches a long way up here these days too.

 

Actually the crossmember just fits in a notch so most of the tank is retained. I get 15.5 gallons in there with a standard DOT pickup as is required in Pa. for inspection. It looks pretty hoggish but is pretty neat up close. I tigged the patch in and just because I never trust myself I soldered the joints for extra leak protection. You don't se any of this when the tank is on. This is a standard Tanks Inc. '34 Dodge tank. I flipped it upside down and moved the fill and sender base to what used to be the bottom to lose the seam. I then replace the ends with some I rolled to lose the embossing. With the Tanks pickup flipped I meet DOT. The bung in the pic is just a drain plug. The pickup comes out the backside.

 

You should look into it, it’s not a hard thing to do, you just need to get the proper paperwork lined up before you get to the border and do the actual physical importing of the car.

We don’t have titles in Canada, we have registration documents that serve that purpose.
So usually the registration will be signed over to the new owner and or some provinces also have official bill of sale forms.

Your US dollar has good buying power here in Canada with the exchange rate right now .

 

My suggestion is sit in it for awhile, see how hard it is to get in/out, the power to weight is great, only rode in a few, not comfy or smooth, but Fast/ Kool. I would use the comparison, chopper versus bagger, chopper short ice cream run, bagger if you want to go somewhere.( rode 74-2010, quit riding, arthritis, safety factor, cell phones most dangerous invention ever for bikers ) Safety wise a T bucket is like a motorcycle, 0 safety features, your awareness of your surroundings is all you get IMO. See many for sale these days, appears around 15K+ or so for something decent. I think they still have a T bucket nationals, went to one years ago just for fun (looking for the one I built in 60's) I did not know there was that many, take a trip with some cash, get an education, maybe purchase. Free advice from 1 senior to another, Enjoy ! The clock is ticking.

 

I've seen lots of buckets, & most look safe "enough", but, a few years ago at back to fifties, i was looking at one that kind of rough around the edges. It got even worse when i looked at the steering arm. The home made type, it was missing one of two bolts holding it to the spindle, & the other end was cracked. I waited around to point this out to whoever owned it, but after so long, you get tired of waiting.

 

Mine is an early glass bucket with cut down Model A bed. To address your questions -- a few things I did:

1. The bucket has no doors. Since I have 56 year old hamstrings, that leg swing to get in and out can be a real bitch -- getting out can be harder than getting in. So we welded some supports to the frame and mounted some steps. Makes a big difference. Keep this in mind if you can't find one with doors.
2. The tall windshield is a good idea. No bugs in the face. I am 6'0" and fit in pretty well.
3. The seating position (built a new seat) is not bad -- I included a pic from a trial run with mocked-up seat and no windshield, so you can see where my legs are. It is not uncomfortable.
4. It was originally built with 4 leaf springs across the front. But it took bumps so hard, I would almost be ejected from the vehicle at higher speeds. So we removed one of the leaf springs -- now it has 3, and is much better over bumps. Also, running the front tires with less air (20-ish lbs) helps reduce the basketball effect.

I drive this car a lot, and it is a blast. Running a mild 350, and it is more than fast enough.

 

I feel the need to mention, crappy work and bad design is not limited to T buckets, although they seem to get the most press on it. I've seen about every other car, including some big dollar ones, with stuff that borders on a suicide pact.

Just sayin'!

 

Joe, your T is basically what I’m looking for, but I would change everything Lol. When I first saw your T , I said that’s what I’m looking for!...but, I would change the color to red, I need a Ford engine,automatic transmission, leaf rear spring, dud... but it caught my eye! I think it was it’s stance and simplicity. Some Ts set weird, some set right, your sets right, I think. I’m in no hurry, nobody is beating my house down to buy my 65 wagon, will sit on it till it sells, will keep my eye peeled as to price and quality and availability, then with cash in hand will make a purchase. If I find the Holy Grail of Ts ,in my mind, before I sell the wagon, my bank account may take a hit! Lol




Bones