Hot Rods Cheap hot rods do exist. Basic banger roadster build.

Picked up this model A banger ch***is on Sunday. It was actually a complete car, a 30 coupe, destined for a 32 frame with a hemi. Took four of us just under 2 hours to blow apart the car.



I brought the ch***is home, and stuck it in the shop.




On tuesday I cut the running board brackets off, and my friend Texas Matt helped me get this 29 roadster body swapped over and bolted on. While he was fiddling with the body blocks I swapped some 5.50x17 and 7.00x17 wheels and tires onto it in place of the stock model A wheels.



You may recognize the body as one i was building as an AV8, but I switched gears and am putting it on this banger ch***is, and putting my nicer 31 body on the AV8 ch***is.

Here it is outside for some better shots. That's Texas Matt's 29 AV8 roadster next to it.



Plans call for a basic beater banger roadster. I have a police head, down draft intake, and will fashion a lakes style header for it out of a 36 driveshaft. Still lots left to do, but with a little wiring and a battery, I should have a runner driver to beat on around town. I still need a good 28-29 radiator for it and need to pick some headlights and a taillight or two.

So far I am about 6300 bucks into it as it sits today. Hopefully I can sell off the stock model A wheels and get that below 6k. Plan is to drive and fix, enjoy it this summer and hopefully find it a new home eventually. I'd like to hit my AV8 hard this winter so I have that for next summer. Either way, roadster summer is on!

 

Looks good Matt!

 

Posted the wheels this morning and already sold them for $500. So we're at $5800 currently

 

Top notch! Joey's going to be jealous!

 

Definitely a cool project indeed!
I bet "PEZ" is pissed that he isn't getting the long deserved attention he needs!

​

​

 

I ***ume the cool red ford got its problem solved and its back on the road?

​

 

I see the 32 you are working on in the back ground of one of your photos, any updates on that project? Any new video’s coming out on the 32? I’ve enjoyed your YouTube channel.

 

Model A Bangers are GREAT!!!

 

Love it.

www.ironandsteele.com​

 

Hell yes .

 

Pez is in the que. Trying to figure out what's going on with the propane system currently. And as you know Pez is not hamb friendly. But there will be a video on him on the channel when I get enough footage.

The red 36 is long gone

 

At some point in the past the car was hit hard on the p***enger side. It's up to an inch out of spec in some spots. Trying to decide if we replace the whole frame, just the rail, or split it apart to straighten the current rail, and rivet it back together. I've had my eye open for a nice original 32 p***enger rail. But so far no luck.

 

I'm not sure what he'd have to be jealous of. His car is way cooler!

Neither can I! Hopefully i can fire it up tomorrow! We'll see how that goes. Gonna be fun to rip around!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Sweet

 

You could always do a Pez thread in off topic area

 

Very cool!

 

Spent all day digging around for missing bits and bobs. I found the wood floor boards. An ebrake handle. Even some headlights and a tail light. I was able to scavenge enough parts to make it a runner. Which was mainly a dash with key and a junction box. Got it all wired as a stock model A. Got far enough that we needed a battery, so went and bought one. We rigged up a temporary tank and she came to life pretty easy! Even moved it a few feet back and forth. I have video but it won't upload. So this lone picture of my working dash light will have to suffice as proof of life.

I need to figure out if the stock tank is remotely usable. I need to scavenge some cloth wiring for the taillight and wire up the headlights. Also need to build headlight mounts. I'm having some issue with the reproduction headlight switch as well. All in good time

 

Way cool Amigo!
"Everything old, is new again"

 

Oh yeah. Texas Matt worked on the doors today as well. I now have 2 doors that open and latch. Considering that before he started the drivers side was stuck closed and the p***enger side wouldn't latch, I consider that a great success! I owe him big time

 

Kick ***!

 

You and me both! That guy's door alignment skills are amazing.

 

Been bolting on stuff to see what i had and store it all in one spot. Hubcaps and windshield posts are starting to bring things together. But If you look closely you can see the radiator and cowl don't line up. Check out that gap at the bottom of the grill shell. This car is kinda an interesting hodge podge. It's an earlier 29 frame with a later 30-31 crossmember installed and a matching 30-31 radiator and now a 29 grill stuck on where a 30 grill once lived. It doesn't really work. It will be fine for running around but it really needs to be fixed. I'm contemplating either having this radiator shortened locally and running a 32 shell or buying a cheap stock style 28-29 aluminum radiator and shell.



I also dug out a set of these smaller headlights, I think these are 903J? BLC/guide and a 30-31 headlight bar. I'll use that to mount them. The taillight was labeled 31 olds and has a cool fluted gl*** lens



I scrounged up half a model A windshield frame and a model T frame. I think we can use both of these to build one 28-29 model A windshield.



Luckily the car came with a lot of extra sheet metal to repair the metal areas of the floor. I was only missing one piece. Luckily a few months ago I was gifted an original from a car that got hot rodded. I always try and save these bits for exactly this reason. Look at the gauge panel below. It looks like its been with the body and together for ages. In fact the screws that hold it on stand out too much and I need to do something about those.



Just kinda set the floorboards in for now.



Over all the whole thing looks like it's been together for a bit.


My plan from here is to make it 100% drivable and 100% stock minus the 33x34 wheels and missing fenders, this is our baseline.




From there, I have a few upgrades in mind. I'd like to do them incrementally and in small steps to keep the car on the road as much as possible. I have a model A dropped axle and original unsplit wishbone ready to go. I'd like to make that work with the stock brakes. I have the choice of several heads, intakes, distributors and so on. Leaning towards a police head i got for free to keep with the theme of cheap. Not really sure how far to take things. Besides the radiator and metal work needed the other big issues is no trunk lid or rain gutters. So I am also looking for those.

 

Kick ***!

 

Cool

 

Awesome project, things like this are what gets me excited these days

 

Thinking on your gauge panel, I've had good luck using regular old bar keepers friend cleaner to remove the rust and leave the remaining nickle plating as is. Might be something to think about if you want to bring the shine back.

Also what's your YouTube channel?

 

Making good progress!