Nice job Rocket. I like your cable design for the steering. I built or restored a variety of riding toys for my kids and in the last 10 years my 3 Grandsons. Sad part is they seem to grow up too fast leaving behind some wonderful memories.
well time to dig this old thread back up. my son had been happily strolling around in his hot rod for the past 3 years. in that time the only thing I added was a steering wheel. Unfortunately this will be the last year to use the stroller as pretty soon his but will be to big to fit in the seat so I decided to finally finish it up for one last cruising season. I started by blowing the whole thing apart it had been getting pretty ratty anyways and the steering quit working the last time I used it from the cable getting pinched inside the handle next I stripped the paint of which did not go quietly:x many coats of 2 different brands of stripper later I had most of it off. then it was days of wire brushing and sanding to get it really clean one of the few mods I did was to get rid of the factory rivets that held the original frame in place. then I cut the tac welds holding the inner fenders on and removed them so I could finish TIG welding the seam they finished out real nice and didn't even require filler. then I spot welded them back in. After looking at it I may just leave it that way. Next it's paint!
Ok now it's time for paint. I had been tossing this idea around for a while for my 1:1 car and decided to try it on this car first to see if I like it. I started with satin black Then after masking some flames off, I fogged on some silver then some candy purple and finally a little clear to seal it up. I think it worked pretty well and produced a ghost flame that is bairly noticeable in low light but pops when in direct light. you may have noticed that the edges of the flames did not come out to good. I had trouble with the paint sticking to the black. I was using rattle cans to paint it so it's expected. besides it's just for fun, not for show. Now I needed a wheel to compliment the color so I took the original chrome one, polished the center spokes, then masked them off and blasted the ring so I could paint it. This time no black, just the silver and candy with clear. the wheels were next to get painted but first I wanted to get rid of the ugly bolts and found some nice acorn nuts that fit the bill nicely. I ran out of the candy purple and could not find any locally to I grabbed a metallic purple that I think will work just as good now being a 50's custom it's gotta have wide whitewalls! I think they look good together and the acorn nuts make it complete moving on to the chassis I had a few changes that needed to be made. my boy's legs are long enough that he can push on the tires making it nard to push and steer. lucky enough I had kept the scrap pieces from the floor. after I cut them to match and gave them a little bend I had the perfect foot pads to keep his feet out of the rolling stock now the steering. I mentioned earlier that the cables got pinched while running them through the tube so I decided to add slots in the sides of the handle and run the cables around the bolt. it works great now!
To finish up the body I masked off the grill and bumpers and painted them silver then added the steering wheel and trim next i installed the wheels on the chassis the final item to be refinished was the seat pad then i put the body on the chassis and slid the seat in place and it's done! and today i got to take it out and get some shots outside. My son loves it! now he is ready to cruise the boardwalk this week while we are on vacation. Thanks for looking!
Well i spent the last week at the beach and the stroller worked flawlessly the whole time and i got dozens of compliments from random folks and it put nothing but smiles on those that saw it. We stopped at the NSRA nats east on the way to the beach for it's first car show in the new trim He was really happy with the new look! Then at the beach i couldn't keep his cousins from wanting to push him! I hope to get to as many car shows as i can since this will be the last year he fits in the car and he is the youngest so this will be it's last hurrah. Thanks for following along!
The Jalopy Journal
