Projects DB/Mopar Roadster Build or... Hodgepodge Dodge

I have one of these grill shells hanging on my garage wall (no radiator cap). Its pretty rough, has cracks in all 4 corners, and is pretty thin, but the Chrysler emblem is still really good, and the crank plug is still hanging on it. It was really rough chrome that I painted with a silver spray can.

Probably wouldn't be worth shipping, but priced accordingly, if your interested... PM me. Gene

 

@HOTRODPRIMER
So you did mean truly underslung. I like that this roadster will be a little different as far as the parts used, but I want the overall proportions and stance to be mainstream hot rod for the era. Lowered a bit from stock, but not a lot. Not a lot of rake. The front tires not a whole lot smaller then the rears.
Definitely chopped. Not yet sure about channeling or not. Maybe a partial channel.

@HJmaniac
You and the others are sharing a lot of good stuff. Thanks.
Wow, you're right... that Graham Brothers grill looks like it's made for this cowl. Not cheap. $150 shipping? But still... it's cool. Would fit right in with my idea for something other than standard radiator support rods. In my eyes, they clutter up the engine compartment. I always thought maybe some heavy duty right angle brackets at the bottom portion of the radiator could eliminate them. But then after looking at the character lines on the top of the cowl for a while, I thought... I could cut a radiator support "rod" from fairly thick sheet stock. Maybe aluminum, so I can polish it. A single piece right down the center. Trim the edges to give it a nice gradual curved shape. The radiator you showed would fit the design perfectly.

@30dodge
Thanks for another grill idea. My decision will depend on what I like, what will fit, but also availability and cost. Looking at all options. And some things can fairly easily be changed later. We'll see how it goes.

@dirt car
I do like bobbed rear fenders with cycle type front fenders. But I can promise you, I won't be painting them with a tread pattern.

@jaxx
Looking forward to your progress!

@gene-koning
Thanks very much, Gene. I won't forget your offer.

 

Leaving shortly to go get that turtle deck. I'll be back.

 

Now I just gotta fiddle in the middle.

 

This gets cooler every day.......
Is there a story to the turtle deck wording, and will you be keeping it as a part of the character of the build ???

 

Thanks, @twenty8
I did ask about the lettering. 80 some year old Frank and his son Sam. Nice guys. I asked if it was painted like that when it was on a car or just garage art. He said it was on one of his friends cars and the guy painted it like that in 1976 to commemorate the USA bicentennial. Pretty cool. I'm tempted to keep it just to show sorely-needed respect. But I probably won't. It'll probably go away when I paint the car.
The coolest part is that this thing is in almost perfect condition. And the price was friendly to boot.

 

Here's something to consider - use a trunk lid for the rear wrap-around on the body. I used a '46 Ford on my tub. I'm sure you could find a similar Mopar if you want.

 

^^^ Here is a really cool version of that. Post #17 by @Chris Casny in this thread
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/home-made-bodys.167844/

Here is mine, 27 Nash cowl 52 ford F1 truck hood everything else home built.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/28-modified-build-downunder.282490/

This is a great build thread that may help. A long read but well worth the time.
Check out the body stuff that starts at post #35.

 

Excellent. Using something from a different era car is definitely a possibility. Yours came out good,
@THE FRENCHTOWN FLYER

But the guy that I bought the cowl from has about a half-dozen old cars. One of them is a pretty darn straight and solid 1926 Dodge 4-door sedan. He offered it to me for a price I almost can't say no to. I'm just concerned about dimensions affecting proportions. Such as the doors being too short front to back. They can be lengthened. Or too tall. They can be shortened. Or the rear portion of the body not being wide enough relative to the width of the cowl. It can be widened. But I'm trying to minimize fabrication needed. I'll also need to look at the frame. But if I determine that it'll work and get it, it would provide a lot of parts.

 

In recent times, racking my brain, thinking about how I could make a handmade body. Trying to figure out how I could just "make it happen"... as Anthony said. I had been thinking about a boat tail. I actually started looking at aluminum V-hull boats and canoes LOL. Wooden ones, too. Turn some of those things upside down and they're beautiful. But I've got the turtle deck now and I won't be doing that.

 

One of the interesting things about finding these panels, is that both of the ads were oddly listed. It may have kept very many people from seeing the ads. Both ads were up for quite a while.
The cowl was listed as
26 roadster cowling
The turtle deck was listed as
22 to 26 turtle back
So as I've seen said here before, be sure to use all the search terms you can think of.

 

Whoa. Awesome, twenty8.
That's some real sheet metal work. And a fun looking Roadster. Totally unique. No one would ever dare steal it. Cuz everybody knows whose it is.

 

Rick, give some thought to using a old VW for sheet metal. HRP

 

I read that one of our hamb members took a course with Ron Covell. At some point, said member blurted out... You know, if you just bought a bunch of Volkswagen bodies, we wouldn't have to do all this!
I guess he made Ron laugh pretty good.

 

Cool build you have going on. Im also building a 1929 chrysler roadster, full fendered with a 270 baby hemi

 

Thanks, Doug.
Hey... You have a whole body!
YOU'VE got a cool build going there.
Good luck with it.

 

Maybe just sticking my nose in your plans; but it seems to me that the T turtle deck is too old fashioned for the '29 cowl. Full quarters like the other '29 Chrysler posted seem to be more appropriate.

 

Yes i got lucky and found a whole car to work with. Only thing i am missing is the windshield. Good luck with your build, im looking forward to see it come alive!

 

Stick your nose in all you want,
@RICH B
I listen to you guys.

I like to consider all perspectives. Especially when creating something. Consider one extreme, then the other, then decide on something in the middle, or... decide to bias toward the extreme.
So let's do that.
I've given some thought to exactly what you're saying.

- To have a complete body would be good. But I don't. And I probably won't. At least in my case, gotta do something else.
- As far as I'm aware, the alternate choices are a turtle deck, pickup bed or nothing at all. Or maybe some quarter panels from a 59 Buick or something... cool... crazy, man... but too extreme for me to even consider.
- I appreciate a lot of the mechanical components being exposed and presented as part of the design and character of a stripped-down hot rod, including the abbreviated cars that show the rear axle & suspension. But I want something back there for some style and to have just a little more room for whatever I need room for.
- I guess I could be happy with a pickup bed. Long, short, steel or wood. But then it's a pickup truck... or starts to resemble a T Bucket. I prefer some kind of a bustle butt... something with a little bit of style.
- That leaves a turtle deck.

It happened that this cowl and turtle deck both became available, in very good condition and for reasonable prices. A low price is never a good reason to throw just anything together, but I pretty much knew what I want and don't want and what I can do and can't do as far as skills and finances long before I located these parts. I just had to do a lot of searching for a long time before I found them.

So is the turtle deck too small? Granted, the difference in proportion between this cowel and turtle deck is greater than if the cowl was from an earlier model. But I actually don't care for the smallness of the pre-'26 cowls, to do with style and foot room. So this car is going to be husky in the front with maybe a later bigger grill rather than an earlier smaller one, the big engine, the "medium"-sized cowel, the fairly minimal doors and bucket body and finally tapering down to the small turtle deck. Kind of like a bodybuilder with a small ass. Or as I heard one woman say about a slim man... "like driving a spike with a tack hammer."
LOL

We know proportions are important. None of that is lost on me. But as we've seen, hot rods can have different proportions. Different can be good, but too different can look... ummm... too different... maybe not so good. I don't want that. It's amazing how a couple of inches one way or the other can really affect the looks of these early stripped-down cars. I'll be spending lots of time in mock-up stage, moving stuff around to get everything looking right... at least in my eyes. The rear tires and other things will add some heft to the rear. And then I think we'll see that the turtle deck will work fine.

As I mentioned earlier, especially with an off-brand hot rod... other than a Ford... I kind of like the archaic unrefined look of parallel leaf springs and long frame rails front and rear. A lot of guys cut off the rear portion of an original frame and suspension and fabricate their own so that it's tucked away and mostly out of sight. I might do the opposite... let it be seen... similar to what you'd see with a boat tailed roadster. I'm looking at a Packard chassis. Thick, strong rails with leaf springs front and rear. The relatively narrow turtle deck may even facilitate the arched rear portion of the Packard frame rails and leaf springs being exposed, able to be situated just outboard of the turtle deck. I'm also considering the possibility of building a horizontal panel to cover both frame rails and the space between them... again, as we've seen on some boat-tailed cars. Same thing in front... as we've seen on some European cars of the same era. Oh, what the hell... maybe I'll just let the guts all hang out. We gladly expose the front frame rails and suspension, why not the back, too.

Or I could just buy that 1926 Dodge 4dr and use as much of it as I can, including the chassis. Or the 1929 Hupmobile 4dr that's available.

It's all up in the air. Lots to think about. I enjoy every stage of the process. And I appreciate everybody's input. Don't be shy.

Edit:
@RICH B
I had a brain fart and wrongly thought you had said the turtle deck is too small. Sorry. You actually said it's too old-fashioned. I guess I would just say that I like it. Maybe you will too, once you see it together. Or maybe I won't once I see it together. Now that would suck LOL. But I'm starting to think that I might like it even better with the abbreviated butt.

 

@Doug Sonnenberg
Don't mean to interrupt, and maybe not HAMB specific, but
Take the sickly evergreen down before whatever it has spreads.
Our neighborhood lost many that looked like that.

 

Yeah, Doug... or before it falls on your roadster. (now it's hamb specific LOL) Evergreens don't have deep root systems to begin with. If the tree is dead, so are the roots.

 

Ha ha too funny, the pics are old. The tree is down now.

 

Haha. Good.

 

Yesterday, Judy, who owns the farm here where I live and work, referred to my project as "the dragster".
I didn't mind a bit, and didn't correct her. LOL

 

Haha! That’s rich. Ok then to be slim, I guess, as long as you have a spike! Beautiful.
I’m in Rick, love your vision ….. badass roadster! With that mill it certainly should be. I look at it as you’re building a roadster around a badass mill, and that’s cool.

 

@Rickybop is that back deck your using fiberglass? If its metal and doesnt look right you could just widen to give the look you want. Personally id use the pieces you are currently working with and make it your own custom roadster.

 

Thanks, @Doug Sonnenberg
The turtle deck is original steel. That's funny. Just today, sitting here looking at my pile, I thought... the white paint might get somebody thinking that turtle deck is fiberglass. LOL
I'm thinking modifications won't be needed. But we'll do our best, one way or the other.

Hey, @BrerHair !!!
Good to see you!
"Just call me Spike."
Hahahaha...
I hope you're doing well.
Thanks for the support.
Badass. Yes. Old school badass.
My 11-year old buddy, Zander has learned about power to weight ratio in recent times. I completely rebuilt his mini bike. New motor and hot rodded it from 6.5 HP to about 10 HP. And a bunch of other stuff. First time he took it for a ride after the changes, he was whooping and hollering. Later, he said... "Mr. Rick, 3 or 4 more horsepower in a car wouldn't make a lot of difference... but it does with a mini bike!" He was here yesterday and saw my project. He's familiar with the engine. He knows I was going to put it in the big Chrysler. He said... "You mean you're going to put this big engine in this little car?"
"Yup"... with a smile.
His eyes got big and he said...
"It's gonna be fast!"
"Yup"... with a smile.
Suddenly, it was as if a hot rod demon had entered his body... and he started gyrating and making crazy engine sounds and air-banging gears.
"WHAAA! WHAAA! WHAAA!"
And I joined in.
LOL

 

^^^

 

@Rickybop, @Paul fit a turtledeck to his Hulk Build...I'm sure that might be helpful for some inspiration with other helpful methods of making the blend/attaching the deck to a curved back panel and more...