Projects How not to build a hotrod - My '33 Plymouth

I must confess, I sometimes watch Ken Burns Jazz and WW2 documentaries too. Carl would understand

 

I literally just learned that the Stude meet was going on about 2 hours ago. I'm planning on going to Davenport for Torquefest the week before it, I don't think I'll have the time to do both shows. I'd love to at least hit the swap meet, but it's not looking good.

 

I've never heard of a Studebaker Broadmoor before. And here I thought I knew everything. Neat old wagon, looks like a pretty well preserved original car.

 

The "Sparklebaker" wagon...nice!

 

I got rid of the T.V. in my garage because I found myself just sitting in the car watching, and not working. Now I am getting way too much work done, need to get another T.V.

 

The "Broadmoor" was the name for the President station wagon. The station wagon version version of the Commander was the "Provincial".

 

Had any coupe time lately?

 

I like that your going to go something different than a sbc. Love your work and the effort your putting in.

 

Love what your doing with the dash. Most people just open a catalogue for something. This is way cool.

 

Nope, been working on the Stude wagon and painting my girlfriend's son's 240SX the last few months. He wants to be a drifter and whatnot. I just want functional brakes in the wagon.

Hopefully I'll wrap up the wagon pretty soon and get the coupe back in the garage in the next few weeks. I've been itching to get it ready for maybe the Lonestar Roundup. We'll see. I'm going to post my purple Stude truck for sale and probably some other speed parts and whatnot to generate some cash to throw around and get the coupe done faster.

 

I see the problem here.
You filled the hole with the coupe then got a girl to fill that hole. She needs to break your heart so you can hit things with hammers again.
One of the best threads here(and the works looking great as well).

 

awful lot of hole filling going on here!

 

Lol

 

Hey Casanova, any updates?

 

It would be a nice Christmas gift to all of us, getting an update on the build.

 

Awww, I popped in to see if Johnny got back to bacon.

 

...just now catching this thread; an awesome build going on and a great save of the old coupe.
I have a 32 DeSoto 3 window that's better than what you started with but still needs a bunch of work; mite get to it eventually.
good luck with yours.

Love that Rambler! and that Stude p.u.!

 

Sorta! It's been so long since I've posted an actual update I'm not even sure where I left off.

So, I did get the '57 Stude wrapped up enough to get it out of the garage. I installed front disc brakes, mounted a power brake setup on the firewall (stock is under the floor), got a Vintage Air unit mounted under the dash, and rewired the whole thing. I cut the springs and went through all kinds of pain and suffering to get proper wheels and tires to fit, and slapped on some '53 hubcaps. I'm happy with it for now, but I do need to finish the A/C install.

Also got that 240SX painted. It was nice practice, it's been 15 years since I've sprayed anything, now I'm a bit more confident to do bodywork on the coupe.

 

Step 1,042:

Get the driver's side door handle to actually work. Make a Rube Goldberg device to link everything together.

I used repro '32 Ford door handles, so I had to weld up the old handle hole since it has different spacing.

 

Nice, That should help turn pants into shorts. Merry Christmas.

Almost forgot, The Studebaker wagon looks great!

Bob

 

Haha, yeah probably.

glad your still Chipping away at it

 

Stude looks nice.
Acceptable temp diversion... .
Marcus...

 

It all looks great!!

 

Step 1043:

Bend some repro '32 Ford drip rails. Spend a lot of time cursing your decisions and question your abilities. Those damn things do not like to be bent.

Slather some Elmer's glue on there and clamp it on. Tasty tasty Elmer's glue...

 

Step 1044:

Now that you have the drip rails on, you can finally finish the tops of the doors. I ended up cutting quite a bit off the top since they were doors from a sedan and welded the lip. I also did the same on the front and back of the doors to make the gaps right. Lots and lots of welding.

Also, I finished up the quarter window and the area around the back window. Welded up the last 10 bullet holes in the car. So that's nice.

Notice the piece of MDF, I used that to make sure the quarter glass will sit flat. I plan to do the same to the doors once I buy the window fuzzies. Doors are basically done now other than that.

 

Step 1045:

Figure out where the driver's position is gonna be. The pedals are causing trouble, everything is too close. The seat is a cut down VW beetle, seems like it'll work nice.

This is where I'm currently at.

If anybody has some helpful rules of thumb or measurements for setting up driver position, I'm open to suggestions. I'm short and generally don't worry about it being tight, but I'd like to make sure you tall freaks can fit.

 

I custom fit a Falcon to my wife. What I did was leave the pedals loose, the seat loose, and just gave her a steering wheel (no column) and had her hold it where she'd like it. From there I mounted the pedals, and checked, then the seat and checked, annnnd then the column finally. It was a tilt jobby, and the seat was some bit of fancy electric thing that had 8 million settings so her tiny self and I both fit. You need an assistant for a lot of it, or at least, it helps.

Or just hit things with hammers. If it were me, I'd hit one of those drip rails first, just because.

 

Oh hey, a distraction!

 

Good lookin pile you found !

 

STAY ON TARGET!​