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

This is going to be a very tidy and well detailed build, Tim. Way cool. JW

 

He was "ol skool" before it was cool! LoL
Man...I really like that T. (I agree on the headers being a touch off. I'd run something like Cotton ran on his Roadster myself...but thats just bolt on stuff so it's easy to change.)
Everything is right in proportion and there's no excess spacing between any areas...just as it should be. Tight.
I'm trying to sneak mine back somewhat close to that look without having to do anything major to the frame, but I guess I'm about as far as I can go with last winters springover at 110".
Think I will pull the rad back a couple of inches over the winter and maybe the light stands as well if they look odd.
I have a couple of small light buckets too...very tempting to try them out!
I'm making some big changes to the body this winter so I don't want to stretch my time out doing major frame alterations as well. (Or I'd be slicing the front of the frame clean off! LoL)
Good way to get a late start to next season!

 

Well, today I went to visit Kiwi Tinbender Paul, and he showed me the progress on getting the radiator shell to fit the radiator. WOW. It looks soooooo goooood!





Also, I showed him what I had going on with the panhard bar and got some funny looks. He was concerned with the integrity of the mounting bracket on the rear axle, and the goofyness of the multiple bend bar. Paul had some super great ideas for solving my problem, but I honestly don't think I have the space to do it without really hacking up the floor of the pickup bed, which I need every square nanometer for the fuel tank and storage - he was suggesting I mount the panhard bar on top of the axle using a coil over bracket like this:



......which would give the mounting bracket plenty of stout surface area to the axle housing. That would also get the bar up a bit so I wouldn't have such a ridiculous bend...

But I don't have the room lol. I stared at it for a good hour thinking of how I can make it work and didn't have any solution.

So, I decided that maybe I could do a hybrid idea of sorts. My thought is that if I can gusset my existing mount (and the bends in the bar if necessary), I can have my cake and eat it, too. The problem is, this cake tastes a lot like metal dust....



I have an idea of how to gusset the other side of the bracket, too; but it needs more sanding... and I'm a bit tired.... and the cake just isn't giving me the energy to go on lol.

 

I mount my panhard in small angle from the frame over the pinion and to the axle.
I dont have a real good picture at the moment but this one should give a idea.
When i tested it without the spring i dont get any bindings and it dont tuch anything on the axle.

 

Ok, I apparently got a second wind. Got a small triangular gusset on the opposite side of the bracket and tied it into the top of the ladder bar bracket. My little welder doesn't like to make tacks on thick material lol.

 

The lack of room is one reason that I designed my rear suspension to be a modified triangulated 4 bar.
It mounts the quick change nicely and I don't need a panhard bar which I wouldn't have room for anyway.
Larry

 

Can you clarify which car your tearing down?

There were three posted and it seems like everyone's liking the orange one with the zoomies. Is that the one you hate?

 

There was a time when this thread was one of the few that was worth a ****... Sorry I forgot that time has long since p***ed...unsubscribed.

 

I think it has good bones, but could use a few changes. I REALLY don't like the headlights mounted that far out in front of the grill, but that's easy to fix! It does have a "little" of the broken back look, but it's not nearly as bad as a lot I've seen. Maybe just lower the engine mounts an inch or so and get it parallel to the frame? I like the color, wheels and tires, simple interior, and overall look of the car, but I'm not sure how vintage it is? My guess is the frame is older than the body, because the body, windshield, and top mounts look virtually identical to my Total Performance T, but the frames definitely different. Gary, I respect your opinion (highly), but I'm going to have to disagree on the windshield a little, I agree shorter windshields need to lay back some, but tall windshields look goofy laid back, they need to be perpendicular to the car (unless the car is REALLY raked, then I could see leaning it back till it was basically vertical again).
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I think the comment of not wanting to be near it says that. JW

 

Sorry phrased that a little harsh, I was legitimately curious which car it was.

And I suppose out side of this thread your post would be considered tearing it apart but inside of this thread it it's more " discussing the finer details"


That being said I think the car works as is and that's why I asked which of the three cars your were talking about

 

Mike, ALL opinions and advice are welcome. I did have that gap between the water pump and radiator and it bugged the **** out of me. It got worse when I had to use a 2 1/2" spacer to move the fan closer to the radiator. This time around, I'll be moving the radiator brackets back a few inches. I'll wait until I have an engine and body for mock.

I hadn't thought about the kick up issue with radius rod clearance, but when you guys see how I'm mounting the ladder bars, I'm sure it will make sense to you. The problem was mounting position and shape. I think the ladder bars will cure that. It's going to look BAD AZZ! Like I said earlier, I learned a lot from that first build. Some lessons were hard, but they are the ones I'll never forget.

Again, thanks for the heads up.

 

Any extra clearance between the front crossmember and radiator is not very aesthetic either. IMHO

 

I'm on it.

Rebel, 110" with a standard body would look odd. The body I'm going to use is 8" longer than a standard body. In order to fit a longer body, I'll HAVE to add 8" to the frame. That's where my 110" comes from. 102" + 8"= 110". My calculator does not lie.

 

My reason for a inch or two more kick up is because I only have a couple inches between my axle tube and frame rail.

 

For whatever reason, I spent the last 15 minutes or so looking back at this threads heyday about a year ago, back when you and Chip and Kiwi and I, and others, were bouncing **** off each other and bantering back and forth hourly. Man, we had a lot of fun, and there was a lot of good info posted as well, and we covered most of the cl***ic T-buckets in detail. The party has been over for quite a while now. I gotta give you credit. Last man standing, still trying to fight the good fight, and still tilting at windmills.
Starting next spring, I'll be doing a couple build threads via my albums, I changed the privacy settings the other day in preparation for that, hope you drop in on that regularly, I may not always agree, but I do always value your input.

 

All personal opinion and everyone has one.
I'd much rather the orange car than yours Gary...sorry if that truth hurts!
It looks like the Roadsters I've seen in the mags from the late 50's/early 60's...the ones that lit the fire under my *** way back in the 4th or 5th grade!
Sure it has its little warts and blemishes, it certainly isn't perfect, but it certainly isn't as horrible as you make it out to be either.
I really don't like the path of self-righteousness you're attempting to guide this thread down.

You can laugh at my car if you want though.
I know it isn't era correct for the HAMB, although I'm doing what I can to get it closer to the early 60's at least...so go ahead...pick on mine if you like.

You simply don't have the "look" nailed down well enough yourself to laugh or ***** about the orange one though.
Sorry.

 

Sorry I hurt your feelings Gary!
I didn't say I didn't like it at all...just that I like the orange one better.
Yours looks MUCH better than mine!!! Seriously.
Mines too long...has cowl dimension issues...has the body back just a touch too far...my hairpins are on a wonky angle...rad shell a little low...the wheels ****...and I could go on and on and on! Damn...it even has a 454 for cryin' out loud!!!
I make no pretense that my car is in any way superior to yours or anyone elses.
I'm trying...and making some slow progress...but its gonna take forever to get it right where I'd like it.

I really don't think you nailed it though. But thats not a huge deal.
YOU like it and your friends like it!
My preference if I were going for the Grabowski look would be the Lightning Bug version. That has more of a Modified look to it which is the style I like most.
You see...it isn't about an exact look for a T. That was in a constant state of flux since the first Gow Job.
You simply picked a look different than I like most.
It isn't that either of us is wrong...just that there is more than one 'definitive" look to choose from.
You prefer one...I prefer another and on and on for everyone really, and nobody is wrong.
It's personal taste...so you really shouldn't be acting superior because you got pretty close on one particular look.

That orange car looks pretty damn good and you don't have the right to bad mouth it like you did. Point out its flaws...absolutely.
Throw it and anyone who liked it under the bus?
NO.

 

Gary...I'm not a spiteful person.
I've said my piece...stand behind it...and I have no intention of fanning this silly fire any longer. I'm done that discussion.
Lets just let this get back on track OK?

 

Just stopped by for a friendly read and DAMN every body here is off
there meds, See ya

 

Holy ****, when did this turn into Desperate Housewives of the Jalopy Journal?

Quit *****in' about each other's cars and appreciate them for what they are. Got something ****ty to say? Say it to yourself please. No wonder Chip is MIA!

 

Safe to say that Gary is probably in closer contact with Chip at this point than anyone else on this thread, including me. Just sayin'...
And IT WAS Chips intent that this thread WAS going to be exactly what Gary is saying. I know that for a fact, I was in on the series of pm's that springboarded this thread, it started before Chip even had the car, with an ongoing off-forum exchange between him and I about the Penry and **** Thompson t-buckets, how good they looked, and how what came later shaped the lousy reputation that t-buckets had. In fact, Chip set out to come as close as he could to cloning the look of the Penry car, without having to build an entirely new ch***is. The whole purpose of this deal was to show how a well built t-bucket with an eye on proportion didn't have to be ugly.

 

Chips words, first page of this thread...
"Oh, another thing, Go back and look at the front three quarters view of the car that I posted in the original post. See how high that radiator sits? That right there is the biggest "why does my T-Bucket look awkward" mistake on the planet! yet another reason why it' will be replaced in the very near future. We'll get it right this time!"
Garys words one page ago...
"It is not all bad It COULD have a good look if the windshield was leaned back some. Maybe shortened some. The engine was lowered a couple of inches in front. The radiator/grill was lowered a couple of inches. The headlights moved back a few inches. Do you NOT think these things are important? If you don't you are on the wrong thread."

Clear? yea, I know, There goes that obnoxious ******* Falcongeorge again, ruining everyones fun, stating a bunch of stupid boring facts ...

 

It's perfectly clear, always has been, but picking each other's cars apart and insulting others has NOT happened much on this thread until now. I just don't see any reason for it.

Maybe one car or another doesn't belong here, so what? That doesn't have to bring out the elitists, does it?Actually, I guess it does.

Drama ruining another great thread!

 

From page 4, just in case anyone figures I am playing fast and loose with the history behind this thread.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...e-uglifying-thread.824491/page-4#post-9152547

 

I still like this thread even if you all have sand in your collective #*^%@#$ 's

 

Thanks, Gary. There is probably (definitely) more I don't like about my car than anyone realizes, but far to many people (including Chip) have said don't screw with it, it's a time capsule just the way it is. I have another I'm going to build in a mid 60's style, it'll be the blank canvas to try out some of the knowledge gleaned here! I like your car also, but just don't have room or money to build a third one! I debated even putting the pics up today, but thought it might lighten the mood! And I thought WTH, I've got thick skin!

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well said Gary, and that sums up why I stopped posting on this thread months ago. Until yesterday. I just wasn't about to stand around while you got ********ed for being true to the original intent ( coulda maybe been a hair more tactful, but hey, we are hot rodders, diplomacy isn't always foremost in our minds) of the thread, or let them re-write Chips original intent. But yea, they want it to take a different direction, that's their business I guess.
I am a trans and bellhousing away from having enough parts to start mocking mine up, I wont be posting it on the open forum because of, well you know why, but I expect you to stick around long enough to be there, I may not always TAKE your advice (like on the windshield for instant) but I will listen, and I wont stomp and have a hissy fit when you offer advice. You have already turned my head on steering box/column location.

 

I suppose being overly opinionated and critical of others cars is traditional too...

My point is only that this thread had been as Chip intended it, a bunch of T guy's hanging out in a garage. Which it had been.

Then it gets late, someone has a few too many drinks and gets beligerent, then everyone leaves thinking, "That was a great night until..."