Projects Survivor Hotrod Found!

Hi guys! Still working here! Channeled the floor 7 inches! I think it turned out well.

 

That’s deep man.

 

Yeah, real deep.

Been watching the vids on YouTube also.

 

Yes sir! The truck was originally 7 1/2 channeled, I thought 7 looked better

 

Hey thank you for watching!

 

I was looking around the garage for some kind of dash, came up with this! Kind of bulky, but after cleaning it up and adding some gauges I think it’ll look good and not like a ratrod! Going to cut the tip of the bullet out and put in my 1947 speedo, then hide some smaller gauges just above the grill bar

 

Props to that, pretty beefy structure to securely pull things together AND it's shiny...the fun of stepping back...

 

Zack,
I'm not sure if I told you before, but when Mickey Hose first built this roadster, it had a 39 Ford dash, motor, transmission and rear end. I have been following your you tube channel with great interest. Keep up the good work.
Oh, by the way , Mickey and George were the same guy.

Ron

 

Feel like it needs a filler for that gap between the 53 grill and the top... unless im missing something

 

What you need to do is build a center console dash like what was used on the '39 Lincoln Zephyr, that would give you desperately needed leg room

 

Hah,hah, he said legroom in a channeled model A .Cool car.

 

Great progress

 

It's pretty early in the going...I'm sure that would be part of the plan...that's were all the goodies go so it's a good thing they were bare bones in the accessory dept...

 

In my 29 myself I am 5'11", it's unchanneled and have considered moving my spoon pedal over more towards the center...having something there would take away in that small space...

LLC is going to have to get crafty with the interior as he's fills that cabin up his knee is inches from the proposed chrome dash...this has been mentioned regarding pickups which I suspect RPs are in the same family as

@Wired Customs LLC are you able to sink the seat into the floor between the frame...you actually still sit pretty low in it now considering it is channeled...which is nice...I see it had a bench seat and your Artwork shows one so I suspect it will be pretty minimal...challenging really...

 

Thank you for clarifying that Ron! I thought they were two people and related. I’ve been talking to Mark Hose on a regular basis, he has been helping a lot. I wish the car still had the 39 dash I would’ve used that instead.

 

I actually plan to have a filler above the grill, it’ll be white pleated leather and that is where I am going to put the rest of my gauges

 

I’m going to use the top of the transmission tunnel to put my let and the gas pedal, the only thing that can give me leg room at this point would be to extend the whole cab

 

Yes sir! That gap is where the gauges are going, maybe a couple switches for lights and coil b+ power

 

I’ve tried a couple different seating positions, I have my brake pedal all figured out and have my column placement finalized, so far being 2 1/2 inches up off the floor has been most comfortable, or at least as comfortable as a 7 inch channelled RPU can be considered

 

With my pedals all figured out, steering column finalized, it’s time to come back apart and do the final welding and painting of the frame!

 

I really wanted a 55 T bird dash, but this is the only shape I had that I liked, it had a flat dash in it when I got it and I did not like it, I always like a really pretty dash in all my rods, I’m going to run with this for now, hopefully I can find a 55 bird dash eventually

 

Or, find a 39 dash and recreate what it started off with!

 

I have a 39 dash in my roadster

 

I figured as much but hoped he would explain it a little more and paint me a picture which he did. Its gonna be really neat!

 

I’m pulling the truck apart to paint the frame, and I have to say it does look pretty cool without the fenders too!

 

I like the truck.
I don't like the dashboard.
IMHO you are going to have to do a lot of work to make it look like it is meant to be there.
When I originally started following this thread I thought that you were going to rebuild a survivor. But enough things have changed now that I don't think that is true anymore.
Will you be replacing the front hairpins as well?

 

When I first saw the truck I wanted to bring it back as a survivor, and when I got all the back story of the truck the plan was to build it back to exactly how they built it and put it back on the road the way it last was in 1972. When I finally had the time to work on it and take it apart then I realized it was too rough to leave it as is, as in it is pretty rusty, no floor boards lower door and lower cowl are all pretty rough. Also after disassembling it down to bare frame I realized the frame was also unsafe. I could’ve spent hour and hours trying to bring that frame up to being safe, but I build 4-5 cars a year, and spending that much time on a frame just wasn’t realistic for me, so I made a frame from a stock A frame in respect to the original build instead of buying new or the easiest option of building a frame from scratch (which is the fastest option) after that the rest of the truck is pretty close to how it was in the mid 1960s, which is confirmed by the original builder Mark Hose as we talk regularly and I keep him updated on the build, he says I’ve really done the truck justice and that to me is a huge accomplishment. As far as the dash I can understand, it’s a little odd, but since it’s a 1960s rod and not a 50s rod that really opens up the custom aspect, the dash is from a 1953 car, so that keeps it in the timeframe, they were really doing some cool custom stuff to roadsters in the 60s. I didn’t have any dashes laying around and I’ve been investing financially in the truck pretty hard with all the new mechanical parts, so buying a complete dash was out of the question, so I was digging through my stuff to see what I have, this is what I found and came up with, it was free and looked “spacey” since this is the “Blue Martian” also I’m not done with it yet, it will get a 1947 ford speedo where the bullet is, and I want to get some Stuart Warner gauges for the rest. For the front hair pins I have to replace them, if you could see these ones up close you wouldn’t trust them to drive 60mph down the highway and I plan to drive this truck a lot, I got new hairpins from Millworks Hotrod that still fit the time period. This comment isn’t me arguing with anyone, I respect your opinions, this is me just explaining my train of thought and to let you guys know I can’t waste time with a project sitting in the corner at my shop, everything has to keep moving, also since the truck is so rusty I do plan to eventually fix all the rust and paint the truck, it’ll be the same shade blue but metal flake and have a white frame to keep with the 1960s white wall tire roadster look.

 

I think the dash is a super cool choice. It's different but it looks right and fits the theme.

 

I too feel you are following the Jetsons/Martian theme and giving the Ole Hotrod a heartfelt Vintage massage...and the divisiveness in mods and direction are likely as Traditional as apple pie...Martians fly in spaceships...Their Cosmic visions in Hotrod would be wild I'm sure...I'm surprised the narrow the grill camp hasn't chimed in...I think you are having a great time walking in the shoes of 1957 or so even if there are modern methods being employed...enjoy the non cookie experience...many here are...