Projects One for Daddy-0, Model A Coupe Build

Well as most of you started, I grew up working on cars and building hot rods with my dad as a kid. Money was always tight, and my mother p***ed away when I was about 9 years old. Dad made a lot of sacrifices for us and raised us up pretty good.

Well, my dad has always wanted a ford coupe, but was always more concerned with taking care of us and getting us through than getting something for himself.

I got this car from an old man who’s wife wanted him to get rid of it because he wasn’t in great health and had tons of old mustangs and pick ups around. I found it through word of mouth from a guy at a motorcycle shop with a hot rod Model T out side. I was actually on my way to look at a 4 door model A, that I planned on building a bobber out of.

Well, after I found the guys house and spent a good hour digging it out, there it was. The guy said that he had “a lot of money in it,” but it was a running driving almost complete coupe-ster. The car appeared to have rolled and the old man had cut the top off it and was planning on making it a soft top car out of it. Sadly he had already thrown away the top, quarter windows and rear window section.

But for $2000, it was mine. And for $50.00, the old mad hauled it back to my house for me on his trailer. Terrifying, seeing that old man and his huge trailer and my new baby on the back, but he didn’t want me to borrow his trailer, and u-haul wouldn’t rent me one because my truck “wasn’t large enough.”

 

The day we took it appart-

 

Sold off all of the stock running gear, then cleaned the body up-

 

nice start

 

Pic

 

Some people have all the luck....good find.

 

i think it's great what your doing for your dad, not something you see often in this day and age, most people are all about me me me. looks like a great start for a father son project, good luck and keep us posted on the progress.

 

<<<<<<<<<
Really, you don't have to go through all that trouble just for me!!!
Let me know when it's done and I'll come pick it up!!!


Very cool that your doing this. Looks the build is off to a great start!!!

Good luck,

Daddy O

 

Thanks guys, Dadd-O, that is funny, sorry for Hy-jacking your username.

Well, I realized what the guy ment by "I have a lot of money in this" I think he ment I have a lot of money in bondo invested in this. After days of wire-wheeling I was able to get through the up to 1/4" of bondo and finaly see what I had invested in.

It looked decent, but man it was going to be some work. The right rear of the car looked like it had been beat with a baseball bat, or maybe the car had rolled? The frame did have a bend in it where something crazy had happened.

 

That is a great thing you are doing for the man who sacrificed for you. He must be a great dad. Good luck on your project and keep us posted.

 

Its great to hear you're doing this for your Dad, Dad's always seem to be unappreciated until they are gone. Great start on a worthwile project, .....subscribed..

 

So I ended up ordering these two quarter sections on ebay from somewhere in Wisconsin and paid a ton for them. Then about a week later I found a set about 1 mile from my house for less than half, and I even got the rear window section.

 

The metal was pretty thick, so I m***aged it back to as normal as I could. One side (yellow) I had to hook to the oak tree and come-a-long, the dent out of it.

 

Nice job.keep us up to date on the progress.

 

I went ahead and purchased an aftermarket frame from LRS Inc. in Mt Vernon Mo. I met Randy at the big swap meet in Springfield Mo and he cut me a pretty good deal on it.

Also, the frame is set up of all Pete and Jake components, so that was nice.

Next time I may try to build my own, but this is a pretty steap learning experience for me anyways.

But, so far the everything has worked out great with this fame. It is supper stout and all the body mouts lined up, so it squared up the body very well.

 

Nice score... Looks like a good start...

 

Thanks again for checking out the thread.

Yeah, they don't come much better than my dad, great guy that would do anything for just about anyone.

 

Trial fit of the quarter window sections.

 

I got a rear window section from a guy down the street. He had a fixed up model a truck in his drive way and some other curious cars in the bushes by his house, so I left him a note asking if he had any model a parts. As it turns out he had this rear window section.

This piece had been through a fire (all the support wood was burned), so it was pretty thin and annealed. But it was some place to start. It also had a sweet exit wound bullet hole.

 

Started putting the top back on it.

 

As usual, the car needed patch panels. Someone els had already attempted this, but they just welded the panels in from the back and made up the difference with bondo.

 

So I picked up this set of 14" cragar wheels and tires from the u-pull-it for $9.00 each. Since they were "steel" wheels they didn't care about them.

So I took them home belt-sanded the letters off of them, taped them off and shot them with Crylon Plasti-coat.

I think they truned out pretty sweet for painted white walls.

 

Well, got the quarter windows on, and it is sitting pretty again.

 

The rear window section I had was pretty ate up, since it went though a fire.

I fould this sedan section at a swap meet for $20.00 and spliced it in there.

Now the section is a lot more stought.

 

More pics

 

looking good. the roof is coming together well

 

Thanks a lot madpole, I just hope it all smooths out well. It's looking pretty "rat-i-cal" right now.

 

Nice work, but I'd have keep the Sport Coupe, always liked that body style, but that is me. Good luck with the build.

 

Yeah, I thought about it a lot. I was also thinking about building a removable top. There is a local guy who builds fibergl*** model A coupes, and I talked to him about it, but it was going to cost quite a bit. Wold have been pretty nice having the convertable option.

 

It is good to have friends!!!! A buddy of mine from work donated a 350 small block to the cause. It needs a set of bearing and rings, but it has a performer intake, holley carb, a mild cam, and some sweet M/T valve covers.

It should make this thing go about 400 mph!!! Na!!!