Hello fellow H.A.M.B.ers! With the roadster almost done (I know I am just kidding myself saying that), I thought I would post on my next project. In 1952, My Grandfather, Thor Sanden, bought a '29 A-V8 roadster from a friend and fellow high school cl*** mate named "Lefty" Howell who had built the car in 1946 or 47. Thor had a dark blue '38 Plymouth Convertible in high school but after a trip to Los Angeles, CA in 1951 to the "Hot Rod" exhibit at the GM "Motorama" he just had to have a roadster. Thor bought Lefty's old roadster in 1952 or 53 and began making it his own. Thor turned to the top "hot rod" engine builder in the city of Portland, Bill Schnell Sr, to build up the Merc flathead V8. The end result was a full race 296 ci "stroker" 59A series Merc flathead with Jhans pistons, an Isky full race cam, Edlebrock heads and a Navarro 2x2 intake topped with 2 "97's". The Navarro intake was later replaced with a 4x2 full race intake designed and cast by Bill Schnell himself topped with 4 "97's". The Merc flathead was backed up by a '39 Ford top loader and a '40 Ford rear axle with hydraulic brakes on all 4 wheels. The roadster sported an full fendered body with unique features such as a chopped and leaned windshield, filled cowl, fenders, hood and radiator shell as well as "dipped" front doors. This was popular in the 1930's and 40's in an attempt to make their cars look more like Euro "sports cars" of the period. This feature was unique to Thor's car and was the only one with that styling feature that anyone in the early local drag scene remembers. The car also sported independent, fender mounted headlights and a 2 inch drop along with it's black interior and metallic "plum" paint job. The fate of Thor's roadster is unknown, but I believe that he may have had the roadster as late as the early 1960's when it was apparently dismantled. Thor took the roadster and his '40 Ford coupe with him when he moved into his new apartment following his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1958. Only the Schnell 4x2 induction setup and the original Dash from the car survive today in my possesion. I am currently working (and gathering parts) to build an exact replica of my grandfather's old '29 A. I have been able to gather a large amount of info on the car including running gear and engine specs, many photos of the car from all angles and even color samples of the original paint! The engine in the first step in the project which I am currently working on. I was VERY fortunate when it came to aquiring the engine. My good friend Chris (powerwagonmaniac) came across the engine while visiting a friends farm. The old barn was being torn down and this old flathead was sitting outside. Chris asked him what he was going to do with it, he replied "take it to the s****pers..unless you know someone that wants it?" Chris was back that afternoon with the truck to get it As the story goes, the motor is a '53 8BA industrial engine that was perchased new by Chris's firend's grandparents to be used as an irigation pump for the family farm. The ol' flatty was fired JUST ONCE when it was installed....to test it. It was determined that flathead pump was a bit much for the system and not really needed, so it was kept as a backup. It would spend the next 30 years in the heated shop...serviced, maintained and cooling system drained untill it was fired up again when Chris's friend was but a small child (he remembers this) in the early 1980's. After this it was moved to the unheated portion of the barn untill just recently. As far as we can tell the engine has only be run TWICE (aqumulating no more then 10 hours) and has never been in a car. The engine in completely original down to the hoses, thermostats, fanbelts, oil filter, spark plugs, gaskets and all ignition parts! I am the first open it up since 1953! I pulled the heads and pan to check it all out and it looked as if it had never been run at all! So far I have cleaned up and re-lapped all the valves as well as a full gasket change. I should be able to fire it very soon....then I get to start on the ch***is! Some photos: First couple are of my Flatty coming together and the old B&W's are of my grandpa's car...and my target. I also took a pic of my engine with grandpa's original intake and have an old shot of it on the original car in my Great Grandma's driveway! Stay tuned for more. MrModelT
BTW this car reminds me very much Mel Paisleys 29 roadster from Portland/Oregon. Full fendered, chopped leaned wind shield, fender mounted headlights. I dont have a scanner, but its in the Montgomery book "hot rod memorys" p. 143 I personally like tis style of full fendered model A very much.
Madmen!!! I am super stoked for you and this car. I can't wait to see it come together and I know it'll be perfect because you T is damn near pure heaven.
Hey Clayton did you get the valves lapped in yet? Engine looking a whole lot better then when Big Ed gave it to me! Chris
Almost got 'em all done, gotta split my time up between you and your Dad's '13 White stuff, the T and the Flatty! It does look 100% better!
Chris- good to see you on the HAMB! Hope all is well, Bill Clayton- Looks like another great project/build- best of luck and keep us in the loop.
Hi Mac, everything going good. finally stated back on the speedster again. Clayton's helping me out when I what little free time I got. I think he's got some pictures of it as I never have my camera and always to busy working on it to remember. Chris
Hey Clay, When are we firing it?! Hope fully not around midnight like when we were lapping the valves the other night!! Chris
Chris, I think the neighbors would just "love" that...lol! CoupeHEAD, Grandpa did cut the air horns down (hacksaw I think), but not sure exactly why? I have heard a few times that this was some what common for clearence issues with full hooded cars with engines higher in the frames or smaller cars with just not enough room. Grandpa did run a hood on his A-V8, so that may be why. I have seen a few cars from this period with the carbs cut down like this (I think one was a belly tank lakester that ran at Bonneville), but not many.
Do you have any idea how many of the Schnell manifolds were produced? Probably no more than a hand full.
Rich Venza, I am not sure exactly. I have been told by the Bill Schnell Sr's 2 sons (who still run Schnell Automotive) that they were a special order manifold (cast up per order) and no more than a hand full were ever cast...possibly around 6 to 10 of which very few, if any besides mine, survive today. When I visited the Schnell boys a year or 2 ago to see what I could learn on my manifold, they also showed me Bill Sr's original patterns.
Probably one of the coolest looking flathead manifolds for sure. I guess I'll probably never see on in person seeing how they are so rare.....that is unless you were to be a solid dude and give me that one.....just kidding.
sounds like an awesome plan to me! cant wait to see it all come together, i know youll do it like it should be.
this will be great to follow. your T is the best example ive ever seen so this roadster will be a goodie.
Here are a few more shots of the original car. My grandpa (standing) and a friend working on the clutch and break setup in My Great Grandma's grarage. Another shot of the motor, this time sporting a Navarro 2x2. Not sure if this came before or after the Schnell set up. The only known photo of the interior. Sadly it is a double exposure so details are hard to make out, but I have been able to deduce quite a bit from it.
I know a guy in vancouver,wa that has a schnell 4 carb intake. I seen in a car magazine a guy with some flathead stuff with the last name schnell no relation to the guys in portland and he had one on his desk in his office.
Couverkid, Really!? I wonder if his is an original same as mine? Do you know where he got it and what he has it on? The Schnells also told me that they had re-cast a few of these manifolds for a few people as special orders over several years ago so there are a couple of re-pops out there, but not many...6 or 8 perhaps. Not a whole lot of demand from what they said.
Now all I need to find is a '39 trans. I have my frame and the correct '37-'40 axle, but have been strugglin' with finding a '39 ****** (in reality, I have not been looking THAT hard because I have been focusing on the engine) I am also struggling with what flywheel and clutch parts to use between my 8BA and the '39 trans (I have seen a few posts on this, but I am still a bit confused)?
The manifold was owned by Doug lauzon who p***ed away a few years ago and it now is owned by another guy not on a car right now.
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