That body must have looked a lot worse up close cause I would kill for one that nice.......................................
Oh man. If you could have seen the condition of her after the sandblasting! I felt like the groom finding out on his honeymoon that his bride used to be a man! I was sick. I also felt like I got screwed out of alot of $$$. But, the upside was that only the drivers side was toast. The rest of the car was really nice cause the car was found sitting in the creek bed on its roof and drivers side so that's where all the damage was contained. Now... either God likes me, or he's really fond of 3W coupes, cause every single piece of metal that was needed to put her back together...appeared! It's wierd. I needed a complete cowl for a 3W. Where the hell ya gonna find one? And especially one that has at least 6 inches of "A" pillar still attached? Next thing I know, there's one on ebay. And wouldn't you know it, all the normal '32 parts hoarders were bidding on it. I thought there's no way I can compete with these guys $$$. I figured it would go for at least $1500.00. I guess the auction ended at a strange hour, cause I won it for $479.00!! The guy I won it from says: "There's no way to ship it to you cause it's oversized, you'll have to come get it." I said: "Cut the ****er in half and send it UPS." I was only going to use the drivers side anyway. Everything has just fallen in place like that. One more sidebar: Skalniks Rod Shop had two customers cars ahead of me and he said he couldn't get to mine for several months. Good Car-ma musta stepped in cause both customers had financial problems within 2 weeks of each other! Yup. God likes 3W coupes. Larry
( I felt like the groom finding out on his honeymoon that his bride used to be a man! ) ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!! You must have the 3w gods looking out for you alright!! Car looks real sharp,keep up the greatv work.
Looks *****in! Bummer on the aircraft stuff though. Are you still going to pu the B-26 hatch in? Couldn't still proceed, and replace the seats later? I think that would be better than having to redo it all later. Don't compromise your vision. Make the best of the situation and keep at it. You can do it.
Chad. I guaranfrikintee the vision ain't lost on the WWII Bomber theme. Just some minor setbacks. Workin' around other's schedules don'tcha know. Whaddaya mean "replace the aircraft seats later?" They're being fitted this week. The escape hatch has become a logistics nightmare. Compound curves and all. We'll probably have to scratch build a new one to match the original only with the curves of the '32 roof. All this is going to take time and I want to drive it NOW!! The A&P mechanic I hired ***ures me all will happen eventually. I'm just as disappointed as you, but I know that in the end it will be *****IN'!! I promise you she will fly. Larry
FWIW, the guy you bought your cowl from is full of ****. I shipped a 32 cowl to SanFran via bus! Looking good Larry.
Hey Larry, Man, the car is looking good man. Damn, I'm gonna have to make a trip out to see it soon. Carl keeps telling me to come on out there. Myers went out a week or so ago and said it was pretty kick ***. I broke down in my 41 last night. Nothing major just more little problems. Alternator this time. Anywho, let me know some night your heading out and I will try and make it. later on man, monkey
Now you tell me. I paid this ***hole $130.00 freight. But ay least I got him to cut it in half for me. Larry
Sorry 'bout your truck Ryan. Here's some news: The guy that sold me the coupe wants to see it. Says he's been hearing from everyone how we brought it back to life. He's coming up to T-town for the Nostalgia Drags, July 23rd. Karl said I could bring him out between 8-9am that morning. CathyH might be there also. If you want to come, let me know. Or just show up and we can head to the drags after. Sidebar: When I went to look at this coupe last June, the owner said he would not under any cir***stances sell me the car unless I would make a traditional hotrod out of it. Seems he had some goldchainers from L.A. try to buy it before I got there and were making plans to turn it into another Californicated Billet Bomb. He politely told them to go **** themselves. When I showed him a pic of Ken Schmidts' coupe and told him this is what I'm building, he sold it to me. True story. Later. Larry
Now what does California have to do with Billet ? Ok, so maybe it was invented in Southern California but so was the traditional hot rod.
I sincerley apologize to Cali Hamb'rs, but those were HIS words, not mine. And I know what he meant. He simply wanted his car to become what he would have built himself. Didn't mean to step on anyones toes. Larry
Quick question,does anyone repo a full Coupe/Roadster quarter for the 33/34?????????? Thinking about buying a sedan to make a Coupe out of............
No worries Larry, I understand and I think the term Californicate is actually pretty funny and quite often right on the money. Just had to get a dig in on the Cali reference. By the way your car project is very, very cool. Your doing a great job.........just don't Californicate it, ok ? Ric
No problem Ric. Okay guys... now that I'm really close to paint... what the hell color do I chose? I want it a flat or semi-gloss, but I'm not sure which one. The frame and suspension will be gloss black with a few pieces nickel plated for effect.I've thought about an Olive Drab green to go along with the aircraft theme, but I haven't ruled out a really cool hotrod color combo either. Any thoughts? Larry
Very nice! I've got some questions for you though, Larry: Would you use all aluminum 1/8 '' inner door panels? That's what I'm thinking of doing on my ex-Bonneville race coupe. But I'm looking for ideas, so share them if you got some specific thoughts on aluminum interior panels, would you? I dig the Roadster floor. looks real good. What about the wheel base --- is it the same as Ken schmidt's? Who did the louvers for you? Did you louver a new deck lid panel and then re***emble?
Hey Southfork. Thanks for the kind words. As for the aluminum being 1/8", I don't know but the guy said something about .060" 5032. I've also been told to NOT use Dzus fasteners but to use screws to attach it cause Dzus have a tendency to come loose on street driven vehicles. He also said to spray the backside of the panels with Lizard-Skin insulation to cut down on the tin effect and vibration noise, and to also use rubber washers between the aluminum and the sheet metal where the screws p*** thru. The entire car interior sheet metal will also be sprayed, then a good insulation blanket will be glued over that for more sound deadening. The roadster floor was Dave Simards idea. He told me it looked better than the repo 3W type that Brookville made, and he was right. It just required a little t******* at the rear to fit the 3W body. The wheelbase is the same as Kens at 108". The Rolling Bones guys built the perimeter frame and setup the front suspension for me and brought it down. The louvers are a thing of beauty. They were done by an old-time louver king here in Tulsa named Doc Parsons. He's got a set of the real cool old-time dies that are taller and more rounded than the stuff you see today. I told him I wanted the same look that Ken had with the 98 louvers in his decklid, and Doc said "Nope", and did 113 in mine. He added 3 louvers to each row and he was right! It looks even better. Never tell an old-timer what YOU think you want, just let them do what they know how to. As for the decklid, when we stripped my original panel, we found a 1/2" of bondo covering 14 bullet holes! It was a mess so we ordered a new skin from Brookville. I can't say enough about their quality. Hope I helped. Larry
Look about 3/4 of the way down this page........... http://www.geneshotrodparts.com/new_products.htm JH
You want a paint scheme suggestion? Do a P-40 shark, but not a LAME one. Make it mean, make it close to what was on the planes. I've seen so many try, but VERY few can pull it off. That wicked top chop and an angry shark on the nose would be so incredibly *****in.
I would go with a semi-gloss ODish color, only with a touch more green. That way it looks "vintage hot rod" but still aludes to the aircraft nature.
I don't think the shark mouth will work with a stock grille, IMO. It will look too over the top and cheesy. On the otherhand, this art I did for a buddy's shop with the modified '40 hoods for a nose looks kick *** with the shark mouth. You need that point of the hood which is similar to the P-40 nose for it to look right. For the record, I don't like radial engine'd aircraft with the shark mouth nearly as well.
Try Donny Smart, I believe he's in South Carolina. Sorry I don't have his number on me at the moment but there was a whole thread on his work a few weeks ago. you could try doing a search. his work is awesome.
Gotgas, that bottom P-40 Warhawk is evil-wicked-mean-and nasty! I like the color of it too. Wonder if I could pull it off with smooth hood side panels? I've got 6 rows of louvers on the top of the hood for cooling. Then fab up some killer exhaust stacks comin' out the sides like a Merlin V12. Maybe paint the lower portion of the body and frame that gray color and finish it off with some Spun Aero Discs from Grimlok for the wheels to give it that aircraft look. I've already got a gunsight like the one in the pic! Maybe even some rivets in the windsheild frame? Man, last nights Coronas are making me say crazy ****! Larry
Whaddaya think about that color with a black frame and suspesion? My wheels are black with '46 caps and rings now, but I kinda like the look of those Spun Aero Discs. Opinions? Larry
I think black Spun discs with satin stainless caps would look really really nice. I like the black frame too. If EVERYTHING is OD, it will get monotonous. I don't think I would do the gray under belly on the bottom either. It doesn't really serve a purpose on a car, and I don't think you need it to get the idea across. You could use the gray on the frame, but I think the black will look better... meaner. I am a huge ****er for black wheels. Firestones?
HELL YES blackwall Firestones!! Got 4.50x16's front with 7.50 rears. I wouldn't paint the frame gray either, I was just pullin' Gotgas' chain. I am thinkin' about nickel plating the windsheild though. Or paint it body color? Larry
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