Wow! two updates in a week?!? getting wild! first off, here's a couple photos I found of my car at speedway's cars and coffee event. @TexasSpeed noted this photo was void of cellphones, and new cars, and new parts. It looks like it could have been taken in the late 70's early 80's at a rod run somewhere. STREET IS NEAT BABY! this one shows how much the rear was sagging while hauling a couple hundred pound of paper and an art booth. Last night was a little comical, the mower got at the farthest away point from the shop, and decided running was dumb. it also decided that it didn't like being pushed, so brute force it is. and once its in line, power it out with the T! And once baby girl saw all the fun we were having, she had to partake! so mama and baby girl went for a ride across the yard. Baby girl was less than enthused about the earmuffs. If you wanna chance to see shenanigans such as this, make plans for September 9th! Hollar if you see me this weekend at Greaserama! Also check the speed coupe thread for more about what I brought home from Erik's shop last weekend...
Once a lawn mower guy always a lawn mower guy lol saw Joe talking to you on camera at speedway any idea where that’s gonna land?
The second pic of the fam looks like you about to whip a shittie in the yard! I know “that look” because of the O’Reillys parking lot shenanigans in Texas!
As usual, middle of the week update to a full weekend. I started my weekend on Thursday, with a trip to Speedway Motors "Museum of American Speed" My buddy Ricky was in town from California, so I tagged along with Him and Mike to Lincoln. Seriously, if you've never been here, its worth the trip. some teasers, just a small bit of what is here. I always have to take pictures of my three favorite T's. It runs the whole course of hot rodding here, and they are adding a ton more room (90,000ish SqFt) Relatively new is the art room, full of amazing art and sculpture. I'll leave you with the Burke bellytank! Seriously, GO. anyway, *steps off soapbox* on our way home we stopped by a friends house and checked out a car he was taking to Greaserama. while on the tour of his shop, Mike noticed this triumph in the corner, and above it was pictures of his dads truck from when he was a kid out in California. He still has the hemi from the truck, and has tried to get the truck back to no avail. We headed home and I jacked up my car, the other reason that I went to speed way was to buy new front tires, as mine had cupped really bad on the outsides, and I couldn't figure out why. Turns out with some help from Mike's alignment tool, it was toed in 5/8"! once we corrected it back to 1/8", all I had to do was install new tires. A quick call, found that my bike shop buddy was still there, so me and dad threw the tires in the truck and scooted over to use the tire machine. By 10pm I was back together and ready to go. So after a short sleep, I was up and out the door by 7am, and headed for Tracy. I made it, but not without incident, a ford edge pulled out in front of me as I was going down the two lane, and I wound up half in the ditch and spun around to avoid the idiot. Once I got here all was well, I taped some advertisement to my trunk, And I even got to slide my car in the building for a moment to park under the banner I drew. As I was helping load cars into the main building @JRussell showed up with his Roadster! Soon after, Big Mike showed up in 'the Desert Queen' and showed us how to show car, with polish, and a show sign to boot! on display this year was a smokey and the bandit semi truck for the theme "keep on truckin" so I had to take the picture.. The best part of the weekend by FAR was the couple hours that my wife brought baby girl down for her first experience of Greaserama! she was very excited looking at all the cars. We walked around outside for awhile, and eventually, they went home. After a few more hours of hanging out, once it got dark and cool, I hopped in the T and headed north. Back at it early Saturday morning, A small group gathered at my house and we headed down. Once we got there the show was already hoppin. There were cars, Bikes, And some other familiar hot rods, including @Dan Hay 's old sedan! the rest of my day was spent handing out flyers, and trying to stay hydrated and out of the sun. After helping tear down, and going for mexican food, I finally hit the road around 10:30pm I rolled in about 11:30ish. and sunk into bed. another weekend well spent, with friends, family, and hot rods.
BUT WAIT! it's a holiday weekend! I got an extra day! I used it getting ready for my Shop Open House! Come see all my junk! That bug with 12 spokes by BigJoeArt posted Sep 6, 2023 at 12:49 PM The Speed Coupe by BigJoeArt posted Sep 6, 2023 at 12:49 PM The Wag Tag special by BigJoeArt posted Sep 6, 2023 at 12:49 PM Just a Big Model T by BigJoeArt posted Sep 6, 2023 at 12:49 PM Ram- blair by BigJoeArt posted Sep 6, 2023 at 12:49 PM Surf bug by BigJoeArt posted Sep 6, 2023 at 12:49 PM Tamale wagon by BigJoeArt posted Sep 6, 2023 at 12:49 PM 8am to 2pm(ish) Come and see the sights! Laugh at my lack of willpower to say no to projects, and have a hot dog on me! Its gonna be a good time with Family, Friends, and Hot rods! (catch a theme here?) .
If I were a little closer I'd be there! Have a great day! - our hot rod club are on a garage crawl that day -
What a weekend! I took Friday off work and finished all the little cleaning I had to do, moved stuff, and set up the parking areas across the street. I was up early on Saturday morning, to pull out cars, and set up signs. Cause its a truck. once I was back at home, We got all the tables, canopies, and the food setup. I caught this cool shot as the sun was rising. And right on time (after a quick phone call) the city showed up with barricades to close the road. My buddy AJ brought my next project (8, for those keeping count) a vintage triumph. So we had to mock it up. The crew from Bethany/Lamoni Area stopped by for a couple hours in the morning. . . And people trickled in as the day went on, peaking around lunch (thanks to the lure of free hot dogs) Even @32fenderless came down. Around 1 pm the South Omaha guys showed up, (@rob lee and co) and @scottyairborne also showed up from kansas! Before AJ left we had to get a picture of me on the new project. But as the day wore on, people had to leave, and it finally was time to clean up and pack it in. And it goes without saying, I couldn't have done any of this without the help and support of my lovely wife. Here is a picture from moving the rambler station wagon around. And much less helpful, but equally cute, here's a shot of baby girl enjoying dads blazer. Of course I had to re-mockup the bike inside the shop, and dad (who had bikes before he had me) had to test it out. Sunday night I took a little breather cruise around town and took this shot at an old dealership in town. and after a rainy day yesterday, I drove it to work today. 6800 miles so far, next week, Bethany, Mo, for the rumble drags.
Bethany Drags! I had hatched a plan with Jason, to cruise over with him and Mindy on Saturday morning. I slid in behind them when they went through Maryville, and after a short detour through the Amish countryside, we made it to Bethany. The drag strip is a cool little 1/8th mile number just east of Bethany, that has been there since 1965. Bo Gray caught this cool picture of my making a test and tune pass. After it rained at 1pm or so, we just hung out for a while and looked at all the cool cars that came out. Bill's roadster: Gregs new roadster, complete with four carb early Cadillac! Nice chevy, originally from the phoenix Arizona area I believe. Robin's very, very nice coupe. playing tow car for the bitchin-est dragster there. But before long, I had to leave, cause I had an important date to keep... See, years ago, I picked up this girl I had met at the college, In a chopped VW with no side windows... in the rain. a few days later I asked her out, and to my surprise, she said yes. 2 years later I married her, which was 6 years ago, on Saturday. She tends to like the quieter rides in my life, but is always up for dinner in a hot rod. So I drove her to the fancy steakhouse in town, and parked right out front. I got a comment from the owner, something about "alot of noise for such a small car!" which, isn't wrong. The next morning I drove the T to church and headed out right after. I followed this truck 3/4 of the way there, a big Toterhome with a full size semi trailer behind him, blasting 70-75 down 136 hwy. felt like some smokey and the bandit type stuff. When I rolled in, Jacob (hotrod_sanctuary) snapped this picture while I stopped to talk with big Mike. I ran in the roadster class, with 3 other cars. I ran 7 passes against Greg (black roadster), one pass against Jeff (red roadster on the other side of Bill's) and one pass against a guy in a T-bucket that was running so bad he put on the trailer after I ran him. Greg, Jeff, and I were all in the mid 9's by the end of the day, leaving like grandmas so we didn't blow our skinny tall tires off the line. I wound up third, losing to Gregs Caddy powered roadster. He wound up beating out Jeff in the final, treeing him and keeping out in front the whole way down. also got to see Harold make passes in Bill's 'alcohaulin' FE powered rail. But again, it was soon time to go home. I caravanned back with Alex and @rob lee , and they split off once we got back to Maryville. I figured since it was so dirty, and I had hit 7100 miles on the trip, I should do an oil change and filter. Happily all checked out and the oil looked oily, and there was no metal on the drain plug. I even gained a couple psi of oil pressure with the new filter! Where will I end up next?
Let the fun begin. As outlaw guessed, I do have plans. The second week in October is 'The Gathering at the ROC" in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. I had started to deep clean the car Monday night, just putting eyes on everything, and found some stuff that needed fixed, and decided to take the front of the car apart to clean and do some repair. So after tearing the headlights off, I removed the headlight bar. If you look closely (@Tim I'm looking at you) you should be able to figure out how the whole thing goes together. If you look at the curved part on the passenger side, you can see some rusty cracking, not totally surprising with the hell I've put this thing through and the kinda shoddy way I stuck it together so I could go to Texas. So I added a 1/8 steel rod to the side of the cantilever part, all the way out to the headlight mount, and welded up the gaps. then I ground most of it off... and repeat... then again.. all night. (photos stolen from my Instagram stories) eventually I was happy enough that I called it good for now. With primer: and I had to stop for a snack. Cold leftover hot dogs and vanilla coke. food of champions. While the bar was drying I moved onto the shell. Can you tell where the license plate was? Oof. she's dirty. lotso bugs and some grass from doing field doughnuts at Greaserama... after some soaking and light brushing, I got most of them removed. I may need a bug screen... Onto the shell. If you recall, I roughly fixed the bottom of the driver side before a show on fathers day weekend, and honestly I hadn't even looked at it since then.. Well it broke again. It's supposed to look kinda like this... minus the cracking, where this one is also failing. this is what it looks like... eww. The plan is to make an 1/8th" thick plate with a 90 degree bend in it, making it the new foot and going up the side of the shell and attaching in multiple places along the inside. but by this time it was already late, and so I called it a night. Its the first time since I finished the reorganization that I've been able to work in the shop area. It was nice to have the shop garage door open, watch the rain as I ground on parts, then go into the other side of the shop and install a gauge into a clean car while in AC. feels like luxury. oh and the gauge is one I picked up a week or so ago, another vacuum gauge to placehold till mine gets back from repair. hopefully I can get some more work done tonight. .
The A. Got the starter sorted back out and it's back to running, although I'm chicken to drive it and screw it up before heading to OK. Once I get there, @winduptoy is going to give me a lesson on how to set all the levers and what not to actually drive this thing rather than me continuing to fumble through on trial and error (heavy on error lol) and make sure it's half adjusted right.
@drdave ill pack a tow strap haha. Keep on truckin joey. I like the beefier mount running up the shell. Should take the vibration/ work hardening right out of it
boy was last night a roller coaster. Got an email from the Hilton, cancelling my reservation that I've had for the gathering for almost a year. that set me (and 50 others who had the same fate) scrambling for a room. Luckily I found one, on the other end of town. So I took my frustrations out on metal for a bit. Got two legs cut out, Bent, Fit, Clamped, And welded! It should hold together a bit better now. I think I may have scratched my paint though... I'm gonna try and get it fit and cleaned up to be painted again today. I also need to prep and shoot glossy white on the headlight bar / shock mount combo. Should look classy all stuck together.
Lookin good, so the Hilton realized they had some stinkin hoodlum hot Rodders booked in & went looking for a 'nicer' clientele?? Hahaha Glad you got another room & another job out of the way!
Well, got some more stuff painted last night, Sanded on the grille for awhile, and got it mostly there, still a few bumps and rock chip spots that I missed, but once its splattered with bugs again, you'll never know. Also shot some of my favorite "appliance enamel" on the headlight bar/ shock mounts. and right before it got dark, I shot a couple coats of the purple on the grille. Ready for another 7000 miles. while paint was drying I tackled a couple other tasks, and finally swapped out my horn for one that worked. my hope is to get it buttoned up enough to drive this weekend.
I sure dig that color! Also, my bug is gone, I left it with the new owner in Des Moines after GG.... but I did enjoy the practicality of a bug roof rack for garage storage. Kinda miss that now.
Look's like I gotta catch you guys up a little! When I got home from work on Friday, I started piecing the front end back together. It was pretty easy once I got some of the wiring how I wanted it. I'm really happy with how the headlight bar turned out this time. I also moved my turn signals back, and mounted the grille with these little spring things. hopefully they help put less stress on the grille. Once it was all buttoned up I went to bed to the sound of rain. When I got up Saturday morning, It was pretty nice outside and I decided that even though the weather forecast looked ... Not great, I would head out in the roadster anyway. I made the hour drive over to Austin's without issue, but when I arrived, it became obvious that it was gonna rain soon. So we set out to get his Coupe inside, and I parked my T in the other side of his shed. If you're wondering, "why didn't you back it in more?" The ground in front of the shed has a small ditch in front of it where the water runs, and it bottomed out on the frame ... right there. so I parked it and went back to helping Austin, move his coupe. After a hell of a fight, including one wild ride when the strap broke and the four wheeler threw Austin off, we got it in. I started wiring up a simple circuit to try and get it started, and well, it didn't go to good. the motor wouldn't turn over. @Austin kays also Coined it as a new phrase, To be "Ukrop'ed" Definition: the act of getting a motor running, then installing it in a car, only to have said motor not rotate once in car for an unknown reason, therefore increasing stress and bad vibes for said owner of car. @J.Ukrop should enjoy that. eventually, the rain stopped, and it was time to go home, so off I went, into a little more rain. After a stop to re-tighten my headlight, I made it home. There was a weird sound I couldn't figure out while I was on the way home, but I dismissed it as due to the two large totes of wiring stuff, and random tools I had scattered in the car. The next morning I drove it to church, and went on a little cruise after sunday school, and hearing that noise again (this time without my vision impeded by totes) I noticed the bottom of my passenger side wind wing had come loose. So I started back home ( the long way) and well, I didn't make it. Looks nice don't it? Well I ran out of gas. E, on my gauge, somewhat unsurprisingly, still means Empty. After getting a ride (using my gallon can stashed in the trunk @stanlow69 ) I got some gas in it, only for me to fire it up, and it flood the carb with fuel, dumping some out the passenger header and lighting it on fire. After a stressful minute of two of putting the fire in my header out, I got the needle to go back home and after waiting it out for a little bit, started it right up and drove it home ( via a gas station) I mostly worked on dad's bug in the afternoon, but made a break to pull the wind wings off for repair. (I welded up the driver side better too while I had the other one off) They have been on there so long that the car looks weird to me without them. I also climbed under the car and raised the rear end about an inch, so now maybe it won't bottom out when I have two people (or a full load of parts) riding in it. Enter terrible pictures of wind wings: Re-welded, and slightly stronger, and repainted. Flat on the inside, Satin on the front side. And I drove it to the doctors for a check-up and then to work this fine morning. . . . Still want more?? . . . Here's bonus photos my buddy Bo sent me from the rumble drags last weekend! feeling like you overdosed on purple? Need to sit down? Ok I'll stop. Till next time...
Nah, they need stripped and re-shot. not gonna happen in the 10 days before I leave. I've got a short list of stuff to accomplish before I leave, and I figure on getting called to help somebody else with something in that time as well.
Fair enough. I’m likely taking work off to chop my list down. I planned an extra week in the schedule and I think I’ve gone past what I can fit in that comfortably
The Jalopy Journal
