Anybody tried driving a mail-slot chopped car on the street? I have always loved this car. .....and Ryan's 200 mph post has got me thinkin'
I have thought about that a lot. The Chrisman Coupe is one of my 3 Favourite Hot Rods of all time... I think it can be done with a Radiator in the back, or by using a Aircooled engine. Aircooled production engines that could be made to work are Corvair, Tatra, VW ( all to small or not powerfull enough ), Porsche ( better but expensive ), or buid one using SBC and aftermarket parts, or maybe use a Airplane engine...
On the subject of cooling I don't see why you couldn't open up the underside of the nose and add a chin spoiler back by the axle to force air up into the radiator like late model cars do. I liked Ewing's '34 but it went from BBC to SBC to Buick V6 in an effort to stay cool with the narrow slot for a grille.
Cooling on the street involves getting cool air in,and hot air out. As good as the SuperBell Coupe looks,it comes up short on both ends. Creating a grill opening in the nose would be easy,leave the front of the belly pan off to let the hot air out on the street.Install the belly pan and block off the grill for racing.
[ QUOTE ] hold the phone. are the Dobbie Gillis car and the Chrisman coupe one and the same?? [/ QUOTE ]YES!!
[ QUOTE ] hold the phone. are the Dobbie Gillis car and the Chrisman coupe one and the same?? [/ QUOTE ] Yup,the same car. Art then restored the car back to the way it was. Its now sitting in Joe McPhersons Garage/museum in Tuston,Cali. I got to sit in the car when we visited Arts place. Its INSANE! You sit in the car,your nose is like two inches from the windshield and your spine is like two inches from the HEMI. Then you just sit there and think....ART DID 200 PLUS MPH IN THIS THING!****in krazy. I have some pics of it I took a few years ago.I'll scan em tonight and put em up. Its by far one of my favorite cars of all time.I'd love to clone it too.....Shiny
I agree, the street clone is kind of mixed up looking. I thought about a pierson coupe style car for the street. You could have a little track nose and it would look cool, and you could louver the hood to let heat out and the car would still look right. Another thing to think about are headlites. I don't know how it would look, but I thought of flip up headlights mounted on the sides of the nose. When closed they would just look like access plates or something because it's race inspired, but when it's dark out they would flip out and point forward.
I'm struggling with the same issue as I plan my altered project. Headlights on a race car clone are just difficult to make work. I visited Winfield the other day and saw one of his cars has slide out headlights. I think that's probably the best idea to make it work, but then again there's always the question of the radiator...There's just not much room for lights and a radiator inside a narrow shell.
It's almost impossible to fully recreate a compe***ion car for street use. The equipment needed for legal street operation almost always impact the visual statement and that dilutes the package. Frank
On Early Costin designed Lotus' ( I beleve Mk 8 or 10 ) the head lights could swivel up after you popped the hood. It was a light weight and simple sollution and the headlights were not visible or in the airstream when down. That would work just as well on a Hot Rod. Or I wonder if it would be legal to have removeble headlights ( compete with stands ) in the trunk of the car...
you do all know that things got a hemi in the back right? alot of the replies have mentione stuff about the grill and louvering the hood, but if the motors in the back that isnt realy going to do anything? then again if its a streetable car your probably goingto put the motor in the front instead of usingit for a backrest never mind lol tim
The Jalopy Journal
