She's getting there....

Thanks King, nice of you to say.
Mark

 

I knew I had seen that pic before. I live near the Hotrod shop that Sam owns and is now for sale. Well the building and property anyway the Rodshop will be closed for ever soon. Sam and I are pretty good friends, although I am much younger than him, probably closer to your age.

That car is a very important part of our history, it is the real deal. Many of us are recreating cars to look like they were from that era but that one is the REAL DEAL.

It is so rare that it stayed the same for all these years, it was so common to keep upgrading and changing those cars that most of them were lost forever.

Thanks sooooooo much for preserving such a piece of hotrodding history.

 

congrationlations cool car

 

I'd swear this car was in an early Trend annual or a magazine readers' cars photo ... the windshield is one of a kind.
If it runs half as good as it looks, you must grin a lot ! NICE WORK !
302

 

A huge pat on the back Sir for keeping it right I have 2 survivors and kept them that way.

 

Coolest car and story I have heard, No words to describe how freakin cool your car is.. BAD*** !!!

 

Roadstar,
Yes, it's sad to see the Rod shop closing up. Sam is agreat guy, helped me out pretty good when I was stuck with a few things.
He couldnt believe when I walked in there, told him who I was, and pulle dout the pic of the flattie and him with my dad. He went in the back of the shop, came out a minute later with a blowup of the same pic!

302, if it was in magazine, it was way back, the car hasn't been driven in a long time, and Pop died in 1980. Would love to see if you have copy

Thanks again for all the encouragment, it keeps me out in the garage working on it.
Keep checking back, it's making progress.

Mark

 

Wow! I'll bet a lot of folks just rubbed one out in 2006 too, over this same car! It's a beauty!

 

That is so cool that you are making just like your dad liked. Gonna be so cool to cruise knowing your pops would be happy .. Congrats

 

Glad to see you puttin' the ole ride together! I love the history of hotrods - I wish my Pop had saved some of his old hotrods. Enjoy!!!

 

I love it.

 

I would love to see that at the Pile Up too.

 

Wow! I wished I was half as lucky as you. My dad was into Chevelles......and the one and only 58 Chevy.

I can't wait to see it finished......CERTAINLY one of the MUST see's on my trip to Detroit!!

What sort of caps are they? Do you have a better pic??

 

Wow! Very nice indeed.

Id say the windshield looks like a VW Bug also.

 

The hubcaps you're looking for are not actually '57 Plymouths... they're aftermarkets. Came in 15" I've been after a set for a couple years now. I found ONE at a swapmeet a few years ago, but since they were aftermarkets, they were chrome rather than stainless. I priced it and the guy wanted $35 for a very rusty ol cap...

 

Thanks for all the great responses. Pop would ahve loved hearing it.

I look everywhere for those damn caps, I like them better than the flippers that are on it. The closest I ahve found were very colse, but has a turbine type ring around the edge. I will get a pic of the caps on it tonight for you .

Heading out to continue stripping old paint. I looked like I blew a Smurf to bits last time, blue dust all over everything!

Mark

 

Mark,

The picstures are great. It looks like the car ran around in black primer for a while.

I wonder how long he drove it before putting paint on it?

Tex

 

I like the upside-down manifolds. It's funny how many of them were done like that. Something most people wouldn't do now.

 

That's the first thing I thought of too. Very cool time capsule!

 

Great car and great story.
I love all those old pictures.
I hope to see it at Billetproof.

 

FWIW dept: The old pics are a little fuzzy but the hubcaps look like customized 55/56 Olds Fiestas with 3 bar flipper removed and 57/58 Dodge Royal Lancer 4 bar flippers with bullets added.
Is the car ***led as a 29? The cowl looks to be a 30/31.
Glad to see you are staying with the original look and mods, dont change that theme!! To many of the "Old Hot Rods" have been "restored" with all modern componants, wrong way to go say us old farts.
Its tough today to find all the orig style parts. When I built my 40 coupe in 74/75, I ensured everything was 57 or earlier, have taken a lot of **** about the "Dinousar" ****, need to update it, but I wouldnt have it any other way.
The wife and I love it as do most of the old timers and we have ball.
Great Job!! Dave

 

That isn't a VW windshield - too wide on the ends. '37-8 MoPar maybe ? I'll dig thru magazines tonite. Better go check the hubcap pile while I'm at it ...
Thanks for all you've done - history on the HAMB at it's best !!!
302

 

Re the Upside Down exhaust, I think that was the only way they could clear the frame with that huge Olds in there.They would ahve dumped right down into the frame otherwise. Back yard thinking that worked.

Yes, I DO hope to get it to billetproof, I like the sound of that gathering.

The caps: I think you are right. The pointer on the spinners, when removed by one nut, show the KNight figurehead. I think they are Lancer spinners on top of '56 Olds 88 Super Deluxe hubcaps. The back part of the cap looks to have three "Saturn" type stampings.

Re the resto. I plan to keep the external car exactly as it was, hokey parts and all. Thats the way it was done. I could "improve" some things, but I prefer to keep it as it was, with the exception of those things being changed for safety reasons.

Re the ***le. Yes, ***le as 1929 Ford Convertable. I believe the cowl IS 30-31, unless there is something I have missed the '29's had a cutout type cowl. Frame is '29 for sure, though it was Z'ed in the back and has coil springs on trailing arms with a panhard rod. Pretty high tech stuff for '59.

If you can identify the dash, go for ir. I think it's Mercury. The gauge panel is custom, and I think the dash had been cut in the center and chopped width wise.

Mark

 

Very nice job keeping a survivor nice and original. Keep up the good work. The car is a great piece of history.

 

This story is AWESOME...I working on getting together with mark to cover it
for MFS 4...Thanks Mark for sharing this fine piece of Hot Rod history.

evel

 

You're welcome. You guys are great encouragement that I am on the right track.
I realize the car looks a bit like hell right now, but it's gettin there. Once the paint is doen it'll be a looker as it was.
I went crazy with a DA and airfile again tonight, so I am making progress. Like i said before, the thing is 25 miles from where I live, so I work 10 hours, then drive out to work on it. I think it'll all be worth it though

Mark

 

The speedo and surround is 52/53 Merc with SW style guages added to the lower right. I felt pretty sure about the hubcaps, we did alot of stange things to be different in those days. Another popular thing was to take 54 olds Feistas and add extra flippers to them for more effect. Another was to take 55/56 Feista flippers and mount them on 55/56 Buick caps. Gennie 55/56 Feistas would not fit all rims as Olds had a deep rim.

 

Thats what I was thinking. It had an old SUN Tach on it years ago, but I must have removed it when I was a teenager and tossed. I need to find one, or at least a new one that I can make look right. It was mounted to the left of the speedo.
At one time, there was an ancient AM radio under the dash, but I don't know what happened to it. Since there was no radio, I removed and filled the antennae for a cleaner look. I was thinking of maybe putting an old radio under the dash, and wiring a real, new radio, inside the glove box door , as there is nothing in there, it's just a door on the dash.

Any leads on those old pointed hubcaps is appreciated.

Mark

 

These were found on a website for hubcaps. I forget what make, but they are '54. Close maybe?

 

6 more hours of filler and sanding today
It's getting there though. Have the cowl stripped down to bare metal, and one door is ready for primer. Rear of one side is close to being ready, and the other needs very little. Biggest part will be the rear top section, as it needs to be REALLY straight.
Tail lights are ready, as are rear 1/4 covers. I'm one tired dude ....

Mark