Hot Rods Just Another Roadster For Show And Go

I have been back and forth about a build thread for this car. I have some (perhaps) lofty goals of debuting it at a large show in a couple years. I tend to do build threads for multiple reasons. I like to document what I am doing and where my head is at as I go along for my own benefit. I also like to get feedback from folks. There is some incredible talent, history and perspective on this forum. For any of you familiar with my other projects, they will all continue at their own paces however my other roadster will at some point be sold and fund the hefty chrome bill this car will incur. Okay so now that I have indicated my intentions, I will now introduce the subject of the thread.

This is my 1930 model A roadster. It will be built on original 32 rails with a 59ab flathead and a 39 3 speed.

Believe it or not I got this body in trade for something I had no money in simply because the previous owner found this body to be too rusty. Backstory on that...

I bought a hoard of old model A's for a price I was very happy with (see my youtube channel if you really want to know how much) I got a call one day from a guy who wanted some rear fenders for his model a roadster. A few minutes into the conversation he tells me the car might just be too rusty and he thinks he may just cut the back off and make a pickup out of it. It was all I could do to not shout NO into the phone! I told him I had a fairly rust free pickup and would gladly trade him. That is how I came to own this car and it has been a dream of mine to build a model a roadster on 32 rails most of my life! Thats all for now, more stories and pictures to follow.

 

Congrats. Color me jealous.

 

Just do you! Nice score BTW! The chips will fall where they fall.........

 

Oh Boy! I'll be watching.

 

Good Start.

 

Whats your youtube channel?

 

Trad Rod n Customs

 

Thanks guys! Theres a handful of posts I will make before we are caught all the way up. The engine and rear end share a fairly similar story to the body. I did some metal fab for a guy who traded me a panel body to pay for part of the work. I then traded that body to another friend for a huge pile of parts. In that pile was a 36 banjo.

I stripped it down cosmetically and gave it a face lift

Then tucked it up onto my rack for safe keeping.
The engine appeared to be in decent shape. Although being parts I got from a guy who got em from a poor ol fella who had a stroke and was liquidating his dreams. I had quite a hard time of figuring out what was going on.


Plug wires cut and stuffed in the looms, pistons pulled, .060 pistons all with decent looking rings but one that had no rings at all. 8ba pistons and crank so that was a bonus. No lifters however the block had been drilled for adjustable lifter adjustment. I do have an old 8ba that has a full valve train as well as the adjustable lifters which will be a donor for this build. Cylinder walls all look good so I am thinking hone it, check it, new bearings, new rings and I will be chugging right along. As of now leaning toward an Isky max one cam. Won't be anything crazy but should be a nice streetable rod.

I have always had a thing for early evans speed parts. I sourced a decent 2x2 intake and since evans heads are near impossible to find and when you do they are 800-1200 I made a deal with a friend for his edmunds heads. Oh and while at GNRS I grabbed a pair of frog mouths from h&h Mike.
The heads needed some purdying up so I immediately started soda blasting them.


....theres a punchline

 

Okay so to the humor.... although believe me, I wasnt laughing when it happened. So my deal for the edmunds heads, 350 bucks! All I have to do is help my friend list and sell some stuff. Trailers, cpl cars etc. I help, I get the heads, SCORE! I mean Ive been looking for evans heads for 2 years and found zilch....whatre the odds of me REALLY finding some? I even saw this car at GNRS that made me sad about that fact

Looks killer right? Scott Millers roadster! Yeah... so I now have my edmunds heads. Whats this? Someone on the hamb lists a mismatched pair of heads!? And ones an evans!?? 150 bucks!? Sold fast too. Matt Murray (iron trap) picks a hoard of amazing speed parts and I spy 2 sets of evans heads!! (We are talking about the day after I just bought edmunds heads) I reach out quick, they send me a pic of some early block letter evans heads, chipped fins all over but mostly solid looking...ish...how much? 800 bucks? Yeah I was considering it. Couldn't afford it, had a hundred bucks in my pocket but theyre hard to find when you're lookin! I mean look how pretty that setup is above! So I'm scrolling marketplace the same day. Pondering it all. I see some 8ba offenhauser heads for 350! Decent deal! I go look at what else he has....8ba evans heads! Way cool! Annnd....59ab evans heads...350 bucks. I just spent almost all of my money on the edmunds heads and here they are, the heads of my dreams 30 minutes away for the same price. Not funny, no, I wasnt laughing. Luckily for me, I know the guy. Sold him a 21 stud a while back. I go check em out. They're cracked but well repaired and have been run on two cars since with no issues. He lets me put 100 down on em since thats all I have left besides moths and bellybutton lint in my wallet. I owe him a big favor!

Color me happy now though
The weld-
25 min with a bastard file-

I think theyll work out just fine, welds look CLEAN!
Moral? When it rains it pours. 2 years of looking and within 24 hours of buying heads 3 sets of evans heads pop up...God has a funny sense of humor

 

I agree, not too worried about it. My entire life though I have thrived on setting lofty goals. I like to really reach if Im gonna reach at all. Im not afraid to fall short. Will give it hell and enjoy the ride! Regardless of shows this will also be a driver primarily

 

Thanks! I am fairly envious of your avatar!

 

The Frame:

The frame was tricky, let me preface by clarifying an important point. I am NOT wealthy. I fund my builds by bartering, trading, buying and selling parts and cars. A 32 frame isn't a cheap date. I found an original locally for 600 bucks, sold so fast I think the guy was still typing the ad for it. Another ad a ways away showed a set of repop rails for 1k. Probably doable but would take some saving. I have a model a frame but that just isn't "the dream" if we are being honest with each other, repop 32 rails aren't the dream. I'm not knocking em or anyone who uses em. I just want as many original parts as I can muster. My buddy Scott decided to take pity on me. He offered to trade me his original 32 rails for the value he paid for them and let me tell you, it wasn't a mountain of cash. So I race the winter snow storms and go see Scott. He lives 6.5 hours away. I need to go see him anyway, I have a whole pile of parts that're his and need to go home. The trip is also chronicled on my youtube channel. 15 hours of driving later and I am home with an original set of 32 rails. Thats the good part. The harder part? I'll show you...

The street rod these were on was hit...HARD. They are pitted and just need lots of help. A daunting task but I am not one easily daunted. Only problem I can see is that I need a frame table and here we go again. Steel is EXPENSIVE!!! The cost for materials for me to build a frame table rivals the cost of nicer rails! Well I start digging. I spot a frame table an hour away 100 bucks... I was first on it and aggressive, polite but firm on the fact that I was coming not wanting to appear wishy washy as so many others in the world of marketplace and craigslist appear. It wasn't convenient but I got it done. Frame table, CHECK! I may very well be building one of the least expensive roadsters in the last 20 years although I will gladly credit that to luck and great friends!

 

Looking forward to following your build.

 

Thanks Kev!

 

The Dash:

In my opinion, and my opinion may not add up to a hill of beans. I think one of the big areas a traditional model a roadster needs to shine in is the dash. A 40 dash retro fitted, a slick polished insert. There are so many wow factor points each and every car I see with a wicked dash treatment gets. I have to find the right amount of cool, period correct with a little cleverness for good measure. In my hoard I have a 36 packard. The thing is rough in every direction but one. It has one helluva dash in it. With a slick 120 mph speedo.

I do a little measuring and the things perfect! So? I hack it out! I prop it up in the body just so I can see what it'll look like.

I send some pics to Scott and he says "that dash needs a waterfall in the center like a zephyr." Dude has an eye! So thats the plan. 36 packard dash with a narrow waterfall to the floor. Will take some figuring and a whole lot of mocking up and measuring but will look real slick if I can pull it off!

I will also have to source some kind of a clock for the glove box and address the missing ashtray area.
I pulled the cluster and took each guage apart for a gentle cleaning. Will likely strip the paint and polish parts of the insert for a more flashy look

 

You got those heads from Kellison didn't you?

 

Hey Jon, I did, he's my hero haha

 

Oliver you really are, indeed an inspiration. I dig the way you go after your goal.
Best efforts for making straight rails.
Thank you for the pics

 

Very

 

Dreamy and unreal combination of parts.

 

Very kind of you Tom! I really appreciate the kind words! Those rails will be a task but with a torch and some patience and tons of measuring I have faith I can put em right. They will be fully reverse c boxed as well to make sure they are safe and I will be using a 37 ford x member I have to further reinforce them

 

Thanks, I am feeling like a kid on christmas eve as things seem to be coming together! Can't wait to dive in!

 

The Wheels:

I draw inspiration from lots of other cars as I am sure many of you do. Some old ones some newer traditional builds. One car specifically that I really dig is this one
I will do some things differently but I dig the vibe on this sweet little rod! One of the ways it influenced me was on wheels but not in the way you might think. Please do not take this as a dig on his car. I love his roadster! By my eye he is running 16's front and rear and big n little tires. It just bugs me! Im sorry to point it out because I fear once I do, some of you who might love this car as I do will be annoyed as well haha but the bigs and littles make the front wheels look bigger than the rears. In an effort to avoid this I decided to run 15's on the front and 16's on the rear. Since I will also be running bigs and littles (likely 7.50-16 rears and 5.50-15 or 6.00-15 fronts) I dont want to run the risk of the same illusion. I do know many are already aware of this and hundreds if not thousands of rods have been run with offset wheel sizes, just explaining the "why" for me. I bought a model a i beam axle for cheap that came with a decent pair of 15" smoothies on it and a friend of mine had a sweet set of 16" lincoln I think? (Clips for hubcaps) smoothies to match. I need center caps but its another item checked off the list!
Picture may look odd, its because the 15's have taller tires on em than the 16's. Just havn't changed the tires yet.

 

Looking good!

 

Thanks!

 

What's not to like? Looking forward to watching your progress. See you around town sometime.

 

I will be deviating in a handful of subtle ways. Mine will get a 32 firewall (maybe chrome). I like a chrome or stainless grill insert. I will likely ditch the package tray and tuck the seat back in for added leg room. I am going to chrome my spindles and backing plates. I am leaning toward black though, block will be red. MIGHT run the 36 packard headlights if they don't look goofy (love the chrome strip down the center). I am still very undecided on interior color. I am also not sure if I want to run stock 32 fuel tank location or build a custom tank behind the seat (it will retain the functional rumble seat) I know these builds change and morph over time but I have a picture in my head on most of this thing! I am sure I will see you around!

 

Color me tickled! Today the grill fell into place. I had previously planned on using a repop shell and insert. 1k-1200 that it seems these are going for these days was out of my price range. Well I was able to convert my 350 dollar edmunds heads into an original 32 shell and insert. Happy days!

 

lead into gold -no ,,but alum into steel!