Doodlebug club

This story just made my day.-Weeks

 

Whoa!! A Worthington!!! We've got one of them...not one of them ^ but one made from a '40 somethin Dodge truck, with a 218 Chrysler six, heavy duty 4 spd, a pretty heavy lookin rear end, and solid cast wheels... It was for gold course mowing, the old guy who owned it said it would do 60mph....kind of cool, not sure what we're going to do with it.

 

Here's the dash as it started out, had already been slightly modified so I didn't feel too bad about doing a few more minor mods.

 

Here it is after some work



With all the mods to the cowl the closed car dash is now too tall and sticks up above the cowl.




Just when I thought I was done with it something came up on the cl***ifieds that I thought would be the perfect touch, so back out came the cut off wheel.


Guess what this shape is for ?

 

One more clue

 

In 91 when I bought the place I'm in now an old Jeep with only front fenders, hood, cowl and floor came with the place. A few years later when I was selling it I put an ad in the paper as a Jeep Doodlebug for sale. I had so many phone calls from people who just wanted to know "what's a Doodlebug" that I wanted to quit answering the phone. Nice to see that it's still a recognizable term.

 

another shot with the wheel in place.

 

Wasn't really looking for one but a friend called today and said he had a nice insert for sale so had to go check it out and of course came home with it, has nice old red paint on it I think it looks better that the old one.



This is the old one.



Here's the new one, disregard the bailing twine I had to glue my stainless trim back on.

 

21 stud flattie, Cyclone heads, Isky cam, bored, Harmon Collins dual coil, twin Winfields.

 

Not a true doodlebug, but a club member just finished a tractor using a 1929 Studebaker President 8 engine for power. Front axle is 1915 Dodge Brothers truck, Oliver tractor differential. Frame is a shortened Studebaker bus.

Here it is at its first outing this week in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at the 45th International Studebaker Drivers Club meet.

http://s98.photobucket.com/albums/l269/gsandes50/?action=view&current=016-2.jpg

 

Sits a little higher than mine, but I'll bet it sounds good.

 

You have some pretty nice parts on that doodlebug...gonna start a new fad with it.

 

That's that mighty fine English weather

 

Had a few of these bugs over the years to plow snow and perform chores and to teach my daughter to drive standard shift.

 

Those are some great looking bugs, do you belong to the club in N.H. ?

 

No doodlebug would be complete without the Doodlebug club plaque on the back.

 

Very cool, but kind of a waste of a quick change.

Anyway, now I guess I know what I am going to do with my spare Dodge p/u 218 flathead and 4 speed ******!

 

My plan is to run it like this for a while until I can come up with some sheet metal to do a back on it, modified or boat tail or who knows what. My previous modified was about the same length only difference was the rear axle tubes were reversed giving it a longer wheelbase.

 

Here's a couple shots of the old mod. one with rear axle spring on top, and the second with the spring ahead of the rear axle, quite a difference. The present doodlrod has the spring behind the axle so I can gain approx. 11" of wheelbase by reversing the axle tubes.

 

This was spotted at the bakersfield swapmeet. Alot of people were interested but the guy took it home with him. I did not ask nor did I want to know how much he wanted for it.-Weeks

 

That's a great Rube Goldberg contraption, would make some nice garage/yard art.

 

How do you double up the transmissions so you can go slow enough? Did they make an adapter box or did you have to fudge your own somehow?

 

Here's a link to a thread with a couple that are setting around my area. Look to post 31 for the second one

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=310715

 

Looks like lots of fun. Mine are not 'fit' for the road. None even have rear suspension! Lots of fun, though.


Ed.........

 

Well I didn't expect it to happen this quickly but I've found some doors and quarters and it looks like the winter project is going to be building a full length car, that's a scary thought never done one. I don't even think a full length one will fit in my garage. I was toying with the idea of doing a car without the doors, here's some pics. of one that really has pulled it off well ( not counting the nose ) but I love it from every other angle.

 

just one???

 

Doodle bugs are pretty cool for what they are. There is a club here in NH and they have their on sleigh for tactor pulling. I worked on one and it had a ford flat head v8 with a 3 speed trans off the motor that went to a 4 speed trans that came out of a one 1/2 ton ford truck. That thing at idle was no faster than a snail. It is amazing what people did back in the day. Very cool.

 

I have this truck that I think came from that club in N.H.









Whoever built it did a pretty nice job, is this the one you worked on ?

 

I need some of those wheels for the front of my doodlebug...
(The artillery wheels on that Worthington.)

 

Some nice machines in this thread. Just came across this pic via google. Get a load of the headlights. Hotrod stuff.