Looking to Get Started...

F-One - I hear ya. I guess I need to weigh practical with hot rod. I have daily drivers. I would consider this more like taking an old Harley out for a cruise. I’m not really into sedans as my hot rod base.


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I guess the easiest would be that older restored model A.
Locate a decent car, estate sale, market place......
Have the axle dropped, lower springs, modify x members add juice brakes.
Add a flatbed v8 or hop up the banger.

 

Sounds good to me. You make is sound pretty simple and easy. Ha!

 

Yep

yep, that’s how kids did it in the beginning.
prices were a lot better on the initial investment though.

 

..........I've seen that happen. Sometimes it's unavoidable, but you want to minimize it as much as possible. One key thing to remember, no matter which car (or truck) you wind up with, is to have a vision for what you want the end result to be and stick with it. Don't go getting deep into a build-up and then decide to change course. You need a plan from the start, even a sketch of how you want the finished product to look like.

 

I will even go so far as to hire one of the great artists we have on the HAMB for some concept art. It will help with the motivation. Guys like @Jeff Norwell and others. Take a look at the Friday art show threads.

 

Anthony Myrick - Yeah. Please send me the links to those 5 windows when you get a chance and I will do some follow-up. They just showed up as pics for me.

 

Cool. Didn’t know about that.

 

lothiandon- I have a rough idea now. I think once I decide on a car I will definitely take your advice to make a plan and try to stick to it.

 

It’s a FB marketplace add.

 

I would rather sell my jeep and just deal with cash but if I could find a good “even trade” then I would still consider that. Trying not to get impatient but it is hard when I start seeing things I want and I don’t have the cash free’d up yet.

 

I can’t find them. I guess they are just too far out of my area.

 

The white/red one is in Ky
The green one is Tn
I think the red oxide looking one is Ga

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^This is the gospel. Learn it. Practice it. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I have build notebooks on my desk at work. I collect information I run across and print it. My memory is crap, so I can always go back to my notebook for reference.

I even go as far as to pick out colors I like and I keep a notebook on my phone. I look up the color code, what car it was on and the basic shade. I try and keep a consistent them for the era I am building. My era tends to be 59-62. I just like the builds from this era. I buy old magazines and study the details of the cars in the magazines.

Don't change horses in midstream. That's where things go awry.

 

Roothawg - Good advice. Got it! This discussion has been helping me solidify what I think I would be most happy with. So far it seems a Model A coupe will get me pointed in the right direction. I can drive it and enjoy it while I am working on it. Then I don’t think I would feel like I am in a hurry and rush things. I’m looking at pics to help me decide on what my ideal end-state would look like. Thinking... removed fenders, drop axle, rumble seat, chopped top, lower springs, juice brakes, flathead V8, loud, black... I would like to try to stick with doing a mainly tradition hot rod. Not sure of my target year yet. Late 40s? Early-Mid 50s?

 

I love fenderless but would like to offer up these examples

These are simple, well done hot rods. I have never seen these in person but they just “have the look”
This is what I referred to when I mentioned a dropped axle, juice brakes and enjoy. I know that’s over simplified, but there is no reason to overthink either.
Stance is everything. Wheel choice is next to everything. A simple set of steel or wire wheels, correct tire size and a great stance. And note, these are not chopped. I love chopped but its not mandatory to be cool.

 

Very nice.


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Another quick question. If I end up finding a Tudor can I body swap later for a coupe or roadster?


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They all share the same chassis.
But tudors are cool

 

Who would ever build a Tudor?

 

Ha!


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Don’t buy a complete basket case. I did that and regretted it when I first started out. It was too much work, missing a lot of parts, a lot of what was there was no good. You will be way ahead if you can start with as good as you can buy from the beginning. I gave up on that project, lost a bunch of money and had to move on.

 

Gregm1 - Thanks. I agree ‘now’. initially I was looking to take on some else’s project just to get started. I wanted to have something in my shop and get to work. The advice I’ve received from this thread has changed my mind. My plan now is to get something I can drive and enjoy right away.


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What's wrong with a 2 door?
Love this one (formerly Ron Brown's car).
IMHO this is very cool!

 

Nothing is wrong with it. Does look very cool. It’s just not what I am interested in “building”.


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I know this is going to sound stupid, but back in the day, they used to say you had to build 3 cars before you really got the car you wanted. The 1st car you really have no idea what your really want, the 2nd car is one you build from that perfect image in your mind, and the 3rd car is the one where you have figured out things that don't really work for you, and now you have an understanding of the car you really want.

Maybe a good plan may be to find a nice 2 door, or a truck, or a slightly newer coupe. That could get you into the hobby and give you something to drive a bunch. Then maybe with some hot rod wrenching experience, and some hot rod driving time experience, you can find a decent shape project A coupe for a good price that doesn't have a bunch of stuff you don't want, and build the car you do want. Gene

 

Thanks Gene - Good advice. I’ve restored/built a few old Jeeps mainly CJ7s. I still have one that I plan to keep. This will be my first hot rod project but hopefully not my last.

 

A lot of us - including me say buy the best complete car you can buy, but how many of us actually do that? I bought a body for $300 and built a chassis to fit it. Because it was a Ford, it was easy enough to source the missing bits for the body with the little pieces being reproduction. Looks like TM is after a fenderless hiboy. That means he doesn't need a lot of the original bits. The idea that you can drive it while doing work on it doesn't really work since you are basically dealing with a parade car. Maybe the way to go would be to just find the best body alone without the other pieces.

 

Goldmountain - not sure I understand the “that doesn’t really work since you are basically dealing with a parade car”. Can I not drive it without fenders unless it is in a parade???


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A running Model A is a parade car for restorer folks or people just too scared to drive em.
Fenders only matter if state laws don’t like em and an officer feels like Barney Fife that day.
You can modify that ride and still cruise it as long as you got the pieces needed for the mods.