I don’t want to scare them!!! But you asked... Some of the fabrication methods from 45 years ago aren’t quite up to today’s standards. So I’m going to make it a little, make that a lot, safer and user friendly. So some things have to go. Here are some pics from a few weeks ago. Notice the 4 bolts in the square pattern on the wooden front drivers floorboard? That’s the master cylinder mount. The brake pedal was in the slot just in front of it and it too was mounted to the plywood floor. At least the rear floor is nice and solid. Maybe tonight I’ll take some pics of its current state.
Wow! Shows what a well padded interior can hide. I especially like the rustic firewall and galvanized trans bulster. I still can't wait to see it brought "back" to as "then".
OK here’s a little more in depth of what’s been going on. The guy I bought the car from only had it a few months and didn’t know much of its history. He gave me the name of who he bought it from (Don) as well as the name of who he thought may have built it or had a hand in helping build it (Ed). I called the previous owner Don and tried to get some info from him. That was an awkward conversation. He didn’t offer up anything and acted like he didn’t know much at all about the car. I don’t know if it caught him off guard/struck a nerve that the car got resold, or if he really just couldn’t remember. So that was no help. I’m still trying to track down the other guy (Ed) to see if he can shed any light on the history. I was hoping the upholstery was done by Jim McFall, but after contacting Jim and sending him pictures, he doesn’t think he did it. Which is a shame, because whoever did it knew what they were doing and I’d like to be able to give them credit. With some detective work and knowledge from one of my 60-70’s Ford fanatic friends, we were able to determine that the front seats originally came out of either a ‘69 Mach I or a ‘70 Mustang. So that sets a no earlier than date for the final trim work. There is evidence in the plywood floorboards as well as leftover motor mount scars on the front frame that the car had some other engine in it besides the original 4 Cyl and current 327. I’m thinking it might have been a flathead. Now if it was a hot rod at that time or simply an upgrade over the 4 banger it’s impossible to tell. This has turned out to have an excellent body on it. I can’t find a lick of rust or damage anywhere. The subfloor and frame don’t have any pits whatsoever, so it’s been very well taken care of. Stamped on the front subfloor cross brace is the code TC226, which means it was the 226th Coupe body to be manufactured at the Twin Cities (St Paul Minnesota) factory. Which is really cool because that is the same factory my ‘32 Truck came from. Both the Coupe and its brother are early production models probably made within a month of each other. I wonder if any of the same factory workers had a hand in building both? This Coupe needs some chassis work that trying to do upside down underneath would just be insane. So I’m pulling the body off to allow access to do it right. That will make it so much easier and I won’t have to worry about damaging the body paint or interior. Right now all the fenders and boards are off and all but 4 body bolts have been removed. It won’t take much more before the body can come off. I have also removed the plywood firewall which will be replaced with a steel one so I can hang a pair of Ansen swing pedals. In one of the pics attached you can see how the hairpin mount has cracked the bottom frame-rail. The frame also has cracks along the top near where the steering box was. Both reasons to pull the body & fix it right. Alchemy is currently building a new shop that would be a great place to do the chassis work. But I think I’ll have the Coupe stripped down and ready to go before the shop is ready. So pretty soon work on the Coupe will come to a standstill until the shop is buttoned up and wired.
the repairs you are making only make sense,at the very least you are saving an old hot rod, which from some of the work that was performed I am surprised it made it, good luck and have fun Tom
Look at the cracks all the way around that hairpin mount! I think you still have time to order up a new frame with Heidts independent all around.
I have managed to capture several old builds over the years and yes yesterdays methods were not always up to par. Hell I remember a new build in '68 that showed at my place @ 3:00 AM. Think about this a MOPAR B motor sitting on 4x4s and chained down in an original T like in pulled out of a field '23 T. He was proud and wanted to take me for a ride which I took because everyone needs to get scared really bad every once in a while. @Corn Fed you are doing the right thing my friend, give 'er some well earned love.
Its really cool!!..love the interior!!..wouldnt touch a thing (unless its a safety thing of course)..a piece of hotrodding history!!...good luck on finding out more of its origin/history..I'm still looking for info on mine too!!
This is so weird to me as a guy that was like a big brother to me years ago had and drag raced a coupe that was almost identical to that one and his name was Don. When I saw this I thought it was his but knew it couldn't be because he had redone his before he died.
Wow, that is a lot of daylight around that hairpin mount! Great score, I am digging your path! I won't comments on the idgits that took the bait
Incredible find! I'm glad you're taking your time and doing it right. I'm excited to see how this one turns out!
Got home a few hours ago looking like I had rolled in coal dust. Spent the afternoon wire brushing gunk off the frame of this coupe so we can make some well-needed repairs. There were a few cracks, some poorly designed brackets, and a transmission mount to replace (4-speed going in to replace the automatic). Big things to come this summer! Gotta add though that this is the cleanest (other than paint and grease) old frame I've ever seen. There were about three square inches with a few rust pits, on the bottoms of the side rails where the runningboards trapped a little moisture. Totally unlike any other midwest cars found these days. Hard to believe this car was built in the Twin Cities and lived in eastern Iowa or western Illinois it's whole life.
As Alchemy said, we have slowly been working on the Coupe. Here’s the latest. The body has been removed from the frame and the frame has been stripped bare. After some measuring, it was determined that the rails were twisted such that the bottom was too narrow and the top too far apart. The only way to remedy this was to cut the heavy center cross-member out and twist the rails back to shape. When the cross-member was cut out, the frame kind of remembered where it was supposed to be, but needed some extra persuading. We bolted in a stock center cross-member and made cross bars to bolt in across the upper body bolt holes as well as the lower running board holes. These will be left in place until the front and rear boxing plates and a new center cross-member can be installed. We have straightened out all the edges of the rails, made a patch for one of the cracked out areas, and begun welding in nuts that will be hidden by the boxing plates. Since I am replacing the TH400 with a Muncie 4spd, the tail mounting would have needed to be changed anyway due to differences in length, so making a new cross-member is really no big deal. Plus it will give me the chance to add some K or X legs to beef it up as well as correct some alignment issues with the front ladder-bar mounts. The fabrication of this is probably what we will be doing next weekend. Here’s some pics of the body off the frame and frame stripped bare. (No fab shots yet).
If it was the 70's, it may be that "jelly stuff" that was in "Stretch Armstrong". You'll remember him if you're a child of the 70's!
The pillow dash is hanging on the wall right now. No original parts were used in it's construction. He has a replacement ready for drilling and chroming, but I know he'd be interested if anybody has an old-chrome original for sale.
I know you can get the UPAC 5 window window moldings already chromed. Can you get the dashboards in chrome? It may save a little time and $$$$
I think he checked and they weren't. Plus we'd probably scratch it boring the gauge holes (I think he's using eight gauges).
95 percent of the frame mods are done, but things have slowed down for the summer. He's also replacing the tube front axle with an old chromed '32 axle, and split wishbones. Research on the rear axle that came with the car shows it as a Posi, and probably out of an early (1960?) Vette. If there are any experts that know about the numbers on the center chunk, and the different brake sizes, please speak up. Kinda cool to think they scavenged a Vette for parts.
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