Elrod Model A Coupe Thrash - Flathead V8 time

Well, I got the news I was hoping not to receive for a while longer. Ed Sissom passed away this past Sunday. I had heard that his health was declining. Just this past weekend I got the coupe driving well enough to take it by his place an hour away from my house to hopefully show him the car. I'm sad that I missed him.

His funeral is tomorrow morning so I asked off work and plan to drive the car over there to pay my respects to the family and show them that the Question Mark still lives on. His son Buddy was also a dirt track racer and I think he will appreciate seeing it.

RIP Ed Sissom.

 

sorry to hear of his passing. that will be a fitting rememberance.

 

RIP. Didn't know the guy but he contributed to one of the baddest A coupes around. He had great taste.

 

That's too bad man. I hate to hear that but I'm sure he'll be smiling down seeing the coupe paying tribute!

 

sorry to hear of Ed's passing.....

 

Hey the car sounds great and looks cool too. Congrats man.

 

Thanks for the comments guys. I really appreciate it. Got to hear some nice stories today about Ed, one being how he taught his wife to dirt track race in the 40s by crouching behind her and tapping her on the sides while yelling "floor it! Now let off the gas and turn left". She actually won a few championships back in the day.
The family was surprised and appreciative to see the car. It was a HOT two hour round trip and the car performed pretty well. Found a few more things that need adjustment, but I was happy they got to see it.

 

Glad they got to see it too. Wish I would have gotten to meet Ed, rest in peace.

 

A little update to the coupe.

Look on the internet for a rear pan for a Model A with a slant window. Make sure you do what I did and answer an add for an "excellent condition" one that has no pictures and then have the fun of opening the box to find something that was used by a drummer as a musical instrument in a redneck rockband at some point in it's life.

Cut it in half. Don't worry. They don't reproduce them and they are very hard to find. It's just metal, right?!



Fit it to the back of the car and measure how much you have to remove. Don't forget to also take a piece of rail road track and use that as an anvil to beat it back into shape.



Clamp the two halves to the rear of the body and weld up the large crack you just purposely made in the center.



Then grind down the weld and roll the car into the sunlight so you can see the freaking thing...



(before)



Drill and tap a bunch of holes in the bottom subrail, bolt the thing on, and then take it for a drive and do an impromptu photo shoot at a construction site. (Pat yourself on the back for the obvious metaphor of "Under Construction" you have just immortalized in pixels)


Drive back home, sit back, drink some beer and stare at it as the sun goes down.


I recommend Devil's backbone by Real Ale out of Blanco, TX. It goes hand in hand with a good flathead. (Product Endorsement Real Ale. Please contact me for my shipping address to send more.)



Now jump back in the car and go pick up more beer at the store when you realize you drank the last one. Everyone loves an 81 year old grocery getter.

 

nice work! and I agree on the beer choice, it's pretty tasty!

 

hey elrod actually that rear apron is off a vicky
a slant actually bolts to the back of the body not the bottom
looks good
tk

 

Youve got a great eye! I own a restored vicky. . That's where I got the idea. I was being vague (Vickys have slant windows also, right) I wanna keep the idea original for at least a few weeks!

 

Great build I'm in.

 

It's black and it's chopped! What's not to like? Nice Job!

 

I sure like the looks of that rear apron, versus one of those old and boring rolled pans. I wonder why no one has repoped them? Gary

 

Really like'n your car man.........

 

This is a great photo.
One kick ass little coupe....and a bunch of other crap that all looks the same.

 

Thanks everybody!

Jack - I'm a big fan of your deuce 5 window also!

 

it looks small compared to the other cars

 

Killer car and work. I really like what you have done to it. It just keeps getting better.

 

AWESOME thread!

Kudos to ya man, what an awesome ride!

HC.

 

I was satisfied your headlights are now both pointing in the same direction

Looks great Jason!

 

Ouch!! Yeah. I had stripped out one of the bolts trying to remove the buckets but couldn't break it free so one light would flop around when it had the banger engine in it. That's embarrassing that you noticed!

We rebuilt the buckets and now they both stay in place.

 

Anything new?

 

I love this dash!! very nice

 

What a period perfect A you've built here, I thought
I had just opened a Hot Rod from '53. Can't wait to see
it in person, maybe LSRU '13......

Are you planning on painting it this winter?

 

Thank you very much for the cool comment! Hoping to get the body work done this winter, and if it gets into paint before LSRU, that would be excellent! I've got my room reserved for 2013 though, so it will be there with paint on or no paint.

I brought it down to the Hot Rod Revolution a few weeks ago and ran it all over town. Damn I'm going to hate tearing it apart, but it's time for the next phase. I've got a few weeks off in December, so I think I'll be patching and sanding this Christmas!

 

Here are a few shots from the Revolution...

 

Awww, I should have made the trip to the HRR, looks good man,

Are you going Black on the "New" paint job or undecided?

Washington Blue with Black fenders would be cool too......

 

really nice build!....i like how the car looks with fenders.....