Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

And to add to all this excellent information and the lesson for me today is, if one is getting up in the years, invest in a self darkening welding weld that is spec. for both Tig and Mig welding. I have also been told that one can now purchase self tinting helmets with a special magnifrying lenses that sounds just like what this old geriatric needs. Oh another lesson I have learnt today is, practice, practice practice, practice and practice on scrape steel if like me one hasn't used a mig or tig for several years, now that is being honest.

 

Looking at your photo's Gary, is that the body you used for your Roadster ? Why I ask is I noticed the doors ain't the opening kind and wondered if you had to make them so ?

 

Just thought I would chip in here (no pun intended) and tell everyone that I am back from New Zealand. It was a hard trip, but my wife and I had a huge amount of help while we were there, and the Funeral was well attended and really well done. I think Mum would have been O.K. with it. In any case, the T will have to be put on the back burner for a while. I am so far behind with work in the shop that I am going to have to work my butt off. I`ll still go to our Meet and Greet at the Portland Swap meet, though, but other stuff will have to take a back seat. Man, I am pooped. Four flights and 27 plus hours to get back..........Thanks for all your well wishes everyone.......now back to it...

 

Yes whip that is the body I used. U.S. '25 and earlier T roadster only had one opening front door and that was on the passenger side. It was welded shut when I got it but happily it was just a few short beads on the inside.
Glad to hear your back Pall and all went well. Hope to see you in Portland next week.
Gary

 

Want to see plenty of pics from Portland meet and greet....oh and you can include a few of the cars as well

 

I'm about to go to bed but whiplash that tub has mopar power if I remember correctly! A few minor changes and itd be more to my taste but it's got a few neat things going on and the guy that drives the wheels off it is a nice guy as well so I'll let it be

I'll see if I have a better photo tomorrow

 

Her chip, where is the pic of that early gow job from FB?

How many project cars do you have in the wings?

I think I remember a Falcon delivery (Jody), a RPU, a roadster and the Gow job?

 

Ok found them, they include that late model you like as well.

 

You know guys I am having "second thoughts" about my frame building "second thoughts." I am in a better finantial place now than when I was poor, raising a family and building my roadster. Where a few hundred $ seemed like a bunch for to buy a built frame back then I'm sure a thousand $ or more seem like a lot to you. If I was back where I was then and a lot of you are now "more time that money" I'd probably build my own frame again too. And then their is the satisfaction of "I did it myself." Anyway the Speedway frame option is still there.
Gary

 

Another candidate for deuglification. Great bones defiled by a number of really bad decisions, the most obvious of which is that huge deuce grille shell hung 'way out front. Sure, everybody gets to do it the way they please, but what about proportions? This car would be world class with a recessed firewll, a shorter motor and a T radiator shell sucked back a few feet. I like T tubs...a lot!...and could certainly learn to love this one, with changes...

 

Hi Dick.Ever notice that when fabrication starts,Mr Murphy shows up?
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

Yeah it's not far off, Im not sure what if anything I'd do with the grill situation. It's tall but the top lines up with the cowl. But it does have a certian visual weight to it.

I've walked around that car a few times and never really noticed how far forward the whole group was. So if probably leave it as is. Feel free to photo shop and prove me wrong but I think it looks fine where it is given the length of a tub.

A smaller motor is just crazy talk and a receded firewall that would be deep enough to let the grill come back a few inches would make the car a lot less drive able. You should hear the stories about them driving it hundreds of miles to the mountains and then to the top! They found snow and on the way back it hailed on them! Lol so I'm pro leaving it driveable.

If it were mine id throw those mirrors away, that air cleaner, the handful of stickers, and throw some Mexican blankets over those seats and call it good.

Probably nix the spider web pinstriping and some other little stiff we don't see in photos as well but over all I think it's close.

Maybe play with the rake via tire size, I think tubs are a hard one to get right in that regard

 

I really like that lil tub, and think the proportions are pretty good. And I bet it goes like stink, looks like a Mopar big block

 

Yup it's mopar powered and has some other mopar stuff on it here and there as well

 

Exactly, that's why I said, measure twice and cut once

 

Ok my turn, I really like the Tub except the flames and the ground clearance of the grille shell. I don't think the grille is too far out front but the front axle is too far back as on my RPU the chassis horns don't protrude past the tires.
Jeremy

 

Dick, I always like the saying ''I cut it twice and its still too short''
Jeremy

 

Like the hubcaps? Can't tell for sure with my tired ol' eyes, but I think so

 

I love Tubs, my best friend had one in the process of building, it was driveable just not finished before he got drafted and shipped to Nam. I thought it looked so good with plenty of rake and a T shell in front of a Desoto hemi. unfortunately it never got completed, he tore it apart and sold off the pieces before Uncle Sam took him.

 

Well the only ugly that screams to me if it was mine to alter is the front tyre width which would improve the rake / look. The mirrors, the grille shell to be cut down, and then a full tank of fuel to waste enjoying driving the tread off those new tyres.
Now as for that "Modern Car " beside it, that would take a wee bit more time slicing an inch or three out of the roof line, air bags to enable that drop her on the ground look and then call her done as I just couldn't bring myself to cover that historic looking paint with new shiny stuff.
Thanks Tim for the added photo's and in toatl agreement, we can all find changes in the guys Tub that we would do but we should also appreciate that he adores it and more importantly, drives it and not scared to get wet,cold or sunburnt while fixing that mile wide smile on his face.

 

We don't agree on much Dad BUT I think we do on this.

 

I do woodworking for a living, I've said this a time or three.

 

Got it, I've had that happen to me........................................................more than once, unfortunately

 

If all works according to plan, I should start with a 24 touring car that is supposed to come to the swap meet, a Tub of Ugly?? only if it meets Gary's approval..

 

A new project! How cool! Don't forget to bring your camera and take some "before" photos to share, okay? Might not seem important now but later on those photos will be among your most cherished. Trust me on this.

 

And the pressure is on. A lot of ugly can be fixed see Chips ride. Looking forward to the weekend.
Gary

 

Doesn't hurt a thing if it currently is a tub of ugly, as Chip has shown, the ugly can be exorcised out of it with some good planning and following the guidelines used on the bucket of ugly.

 

As a first time builder i am a bit over a year in the building on my frame.
I have sometimes kind of regret that i building it myself when i see the price on frames here.
But when i look at them and compere with my i am sure i do it the right way.
I have to add steps in front and rear, build crossmembers, hang up the rearaxle, build motomounts
and some really have horrible weldings. So how much time would i spare to lay out two rails
side by side, taper the frontrails and put in two crossmembers? Maybe two weeks, its all the rest
that take time to get right. At least for me.
The advantage is that you can get your frame exactly as you want.
The disadvantage is that you cant blame some other if it look horrible.
In sweden they want you to use 2X4 with 5/32 wall if you build a frame for a V8.
I build my in some kind of model-A style but get some really good tips and trix
in Youngsters T-bucket plan.http://www.netquickposse.org/tbucketeers/Youngsters_T_Bucket_Frame_Plans_V1_0.pdf

 

Anders; Another front detail, if you find an A frame handy, you can lay a sheet of thin cardboard against the inside front horn (either one). Then tap the profile into the cardboard. It gives the exact line; to cut from the 2x4 tube, then hammer the top plate down and weld/finish it. This frame looks great, by-the-way!

 

All this talk on frames has prompted me to dig back into my archives and dig up a few shots of my RPUs frame early on in the build.
I used 2" x 6" x 1/8" rectangular tubing on the side rails, and 2" x 3" x 1/8" on the rear kick up. Tapered the rails down for the front cross member and put in 32 style reveals into the outside of the rails.
Curved to follow the shape of the T body and then added the center members fabbed from 1 1/4" tubing.
You can't order a frame like this from Speedway
Larry.