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

chip. what kind of brakes are on the front?

 

I will put it up tomorrow, just heading out in about an hour. But its not flake, its a solid, and the Hot Rod pics are B&W. The paint you are planning sounds COOL, look forward to seeing it.

 

Oh yea, and the bigger tires DO shorten it up a bit.

 

Man, you know, that REALLY looks right!



A 4-71 and some paint, and this thing is gonna ROCK!! I'm really diggin' the windshiled just the way it is. The more I look at it, the more I think dont chop it. And the blower will add more hieght to the engine, which will compliment it. I think leave the windshield alone. Yellow with black diamond pleats would be tasty. All together now, blower, BLOWER, BLOWER!

 

Yea, you got magic happening here. Its reaching that magic point when it all gels, and a rod becomes more than the sum of its parts. Paint, puffer, some period upholstery, done. The windshield helps with the excess front end length, and the blower will as well. Those headers just belong there like bacon on a tomato sandwich.

 

Chip, that looks really good! I can't wait for a ride!

 

Ok, just a thought here, and I realize its a chunk of change, but since the tires need replacing anyway, and you like the look of the taller tires...

http://www.team3wheels.com/vintage_v.html

HURST 30"x10"x16"
$500/pair (blackwall)

And it would go well with the blower theme...

 

Then next time you see her YOU need to explain that to the incredible Miss Judy!!! All I get back from that conversation is a string of vaguely English like words, usually ending in "just rike Grablowskri car"...

 

At least she has some idea what "Grabowski car" means. The gulf between my daughter and wife is widening exponentially on that count. When my daughter saw "the photoshop" she said "daddy, thats Beautiful! Is that our car?" Mommy looked at it, scowled, and said "if you ever get hit in that thing your dead."

 

I haven't calculated the gear ratio yet, but being that the rear is out of a '70s medium sized car, it's something pretty abysmal like a 2.79 or so. With the slicks it's ALOT snappier out of the lights than now, but the Halibrands are temporary on this car anyway. Being 16" instead of 15" puts them in the '48-'54 kinda time frame, and while certainly possible for a car from the early sixties, they would have just been some funky old (at that time) roundy round stuff that someone just stuck on there. And, avoiding just sticking things together was kinda the central message of this whole thread! Now, if I stuck my 322 Nailhead in there, and used up one of my spare banjo rear ends, and ignored the 'glass body...

The body on my car is just standard '23 "T" replica stuff with no stretch at all. I can't remember the measurement off the top of my head, but I think it's 42 or 43" from the top of the dash line to the top back edge of the body. Whatever the measurement, it matches my steel '23 body to a "T", and my 'glass Almquist body too. It's a little tight, but not too bad for me, 'cause I have now sort of tailored it to my size. Easily I could take 3" out of the windshield as I originally planned, but now that I will have to rely on it for daily transpo in the winter, I am going to default to comfort and leave the height in to keep the wind down. Phoenix is one of the hottest cities on the planet, and our winters mild, yet when that dessert sun goes down it'll drop down to as low a about 35 degrees real quick. When your used to 120 degrees, that pretty freakin' cold.

One last quick note on comfort in these. I've taken some heat for the length of the steering column in the past on this car, but note in the last picture with the Halibrands that it has one of my four spoke midget steering wheels snapped on. Just going from the deep dish of my Covico to the flat four spoke, as cool as it looks made this car almost undrivable with my long legs... It's all in the packaging!

 

Taller rear tires make it look a bit cartoony. Throws the whole proportions of the car off
Just my .03

 

On your shift lever. Something to think about. In my Roadster I have a semi long one but not near as long as yours. When I have my Skull knob on it if I hit a hard bump it will bounce and down shift.
Something to think about

 

Hey, Chip;

I actually like the shorter rear tires on your T. Did you mention the dia. of each? It'd be interesting to compare w/a 11.00x16 slick for visuals. The tall tires seem too thin, even for the 60's style, & make the rear seem pushed too far forward. Look seems odd to me, being out of proportion.

&, from the side shot, I'd still like to see the w/s chopped to about where the side mirror is. Even w/a blower, I think the proportion(s) would be good.

& I'm rather partial to (bright) yellow, too. Although I've never seen it done w/big-flake. & would like to. Car is looking good & you're on a roll. .

Also, do you know who made the body, or at least the dash? I haven't seen that variant, but I like it a lot.

BTW: I dropped you a pm awhile ago. Did you have a chance to look at it. If it doesn't work out, that's ok. .

Marcus...

 

I have F-1 drums on the front for now, and a pair of finned aluminum Buick drums and F-2 backing plates for the very near future. To run the Halibrands on the front for now I'll I'd have to do is knock the studs out of the 4 1/2" pattern, and knock them into the 5 1/2" pattern. Might do it, but the Halibrands are for my Roadster pickup and I don't want them to get to comfortable on the bucket...

 

Orange with huge amounts of gold pearl.....

 

Good call on the tires... The Hurst 29x8.50x15 are what's on it now! no money to go to the 16" in the budget at the moment, and truth be told, after seeing it on the 16" Halibrands, I'm pretty happy sticking with the 15" Americans and another pair of cheaters...

I'm kicking this up a size so that everybody sees it and reads this. Yes, the tires that I have had on the back ARE indeed Hurst recap slicks, and yes indeed they do have a separation and are bad at this point. That in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM is the fault of the current HURST ownership or craftsmanship!!! I purchased these about ten years ago from the short timed second owner of Hurst racing tires before Cody and Steve purchased the business that they have to this day. The interm owner really wasn't much of a tire builder and was not too choosy about cores at that time. Even barring that, these tires have been on about five different cars as I have loaned them to friends and put them on my Plymouth off and on, and have worn like iron. After ten years I expect them to be done.

I just wanted to make this note simply because there have been threads questioning the validity of Hurst's recap product, and I didn't want ANYBODY to think that these were brand new stuff that went bad. 'Matter of fact. I met Cody and Steve just weeks after they purchased the business about 8 years ago and told them that my pair had some minor cracking where the cap met the casing, and even though THEY DIDN'T BUILD THIS PAIR, Cody offered to replace them if I paid the shipping both ways... I never took him up on it, but that is some damn good business practice on display right there!!! I have about ten Hot Rod Central customers in the Phoenix area running around on Hurst recap slicks at this time, and NONE have had a problem even in our extreme heat. These guys do one hell of a product and stand behind them 100%!!!

Okay, editorial over...

 

Honey......Do these tires make my butt look big?

 

I would suggest that what improves the profile with the bigger tires is how it closes the visual "gap" to the tuck in of the bucket portion of the body. Moving the rear axle forward (or the body back) with shorter tires would have the same effect without the rake, as an example.

It might be worth mentioning to the viewers less familiar that the Hals are mounted inside out. Did you do that for the sake of offset?

 

Hey Marcus,

I'm sorry, I thought I P.M.'d ya back a couple of weeks ago. Guess I didn't. I was super young at the time my family's business was cranking out aluminum T-Bucket frames, so I can't really be of too much help as far stress analysis and such. I would have to believe that under something as light as a Volks rod type car there couldn't be too much negative stresses to be dealt with that a substantially built aluminum frame wouldn't do the job well. Hell, the U-Haul trailer I just towed this car on the other day had to have dated from the sixties and has had to have had a half million miles on it loaded and it was 100% percent aluminum. If you would like to talk via Skype though, just add me on your friends list via e-mail at louverguyquinn@yahoo.com or, use some minutes at 602 881 0175. I speak fluent VW too!!!

I too much prefer the Americans on the back with the slicks, if for no other reason than the Halibrands are from an earlier era than the car is representing. The 16" no holes I have are from about '48-'53 or 4, and were common on roundy round stuff and semi common at the lakes and Bonneville in that era. I am sort of curious though as to how it would look if I put the matching fronts on the car flipped the "right" way out. I think the proportions would come back pretty quickly, but again, it catapults the car into an earlier era that the engine, tube axle, 9" rear, hairpins, 'glass body, tube frame and such just wouldn't support. I was musing a bit earlier on a post that if I left the wheels, slid my 322 Nail head in, threw my '23 touring front half body together and put it on, and used up one of my banjo rears on this, and did the planned '39 type front axle, I'd have a damn near perfect period '55 T-bucket...

Thinkin' color? THINK BRIGHT ORANGE!!! No flake, no panels, no pearl, just bright! Naples Orange would be good, but truth be told My favorite orange EVER is AMC "Big Bad Orange" which is just a shade or two "oranger" than any other I have seen. It seems my good buddy Ron Olmstead has a gallon and a half in acrylic enamel that he bought for a paint job he was going to do for a friend that never happened. He even consulted with me knowing I was an orange freak before he bought it on behalf of the other friend about five years ago. He has offered to give me the paint and paint the car for me if I break it down for him to do so, so this spring it might happen. Being as retentive as I am in all things, I really want the paint to represent a certain era,(within reason) and I'm shooting for about '62 or so, just before Metalflake and panel paints and stuff really started happening.

Absolutely NO idea who built this body on this car. I too really like the dash in it, but it is far from straight, and not super "crisp" as some I have seen. It came from the L.A.R.S. swap two years ago and was CHEAP!


Oh, and the rear tires, on the slicks they stand at 28 1/2" tall, and the dirts at 31" tall.

 

I knew someone would ask! Quick answer, yes. See, the P.O. of this car until just weeks ago was using a measurement that drives me nuts, and that is a "backing plate to backing plate" rear end width measurement. I told him when I was pinning the chassis together that he needed a 56-58" wide rear end, figuring he knew I meant hub to hub, as that is pretty much the standard in shops. He dropped off this thing that is about 61", then told me to "just use it" when I suggested he find something narrower. Thuth be told it doesn't look TOO BAD when the Americans and slicks are direct mounted and in place, and I will live with it as is. With the Halibrands though, they are a 5 on 5 1/2' pattern, and to fit the 'Bucket I had to use my set of old PSI adaptors. With the adaptor and the wheels right side out, it probably wouldn't have fit through the curbs at the end of my driveway! Flipping them solves that issue, and keeps the less informed wondering... I kinda forget that not everybody is a magnesium addict like me!

 

Absolutely on both counts! The Halibrands are temporary until some money arrives for a new pair of slicks, and are pretty much just a mean to an end - but a damn nice one!

The shifter is still under the realm of influence of the incredible Miss Judy who thinks it's cool as hell and is a 50% partner in this deal. I laughed my ass off when I first showed her the Rodder's Journal articles on the two Grabowski clones, as the first thing she said was "rook, sticker (shifter stick, in Judyese) is same as ours!!! We need big dice too"!

When money is a little less tight it might just get "shorter" in the middle of the day when she is at work, and I'll bet she doesn't notice it at all. Unfortunately it's a Lokar unit (freakin HATE that push button!) so I can't just hack it down and be done with it with out her knowledge.

I have never told her the story about when I had a manual valve body auto in my '48 Plymouth, a tall Genie Shifter, and a cuter than hell but not very bright red head girlfriend who rode in the center of the seat next to me. One evening I pulled out of a light in a "spirited manner" just as she reached forward to turn the heat down a click... Piston shift handle met beautiful green eye in a spectacularly bad way. The only mildly amusing part was when her father quietly took me aside and said that "although she probably deserved it, it wasn't okay to hit his daughter that hard..." Without a smile on his face, I might add.

 

You reminded me of when I got ready to measure for a column and a steering wheel in my T Bucket. I measured for the column and forgot I was using a deep dish wheel. So, the column comes, I bolt it in, then attached the steering wheel. Man, after I stopped yelling, I laughed my ass off. That column and wheel made my car look crazy as hell. Steering wheel ended up a foot above the dash!

Lucky for me, Speedway didn't mind swapping it out.

 

Get the slicks fixed and put the americans back on then let go drving around all weekend.

 

Driving this weekend we will do! But, I still say that if I can get the slicks deal worked out before deuce day that we put the full set of Halis on your car for the day!

 

Yes, now that I have seen you in it again, I tend to agree that the screen height is right. I am interested in the blower idea too as I have had a dream, no, not about the country either, I have studied the small B&M Street Blower 144 for my T with the triples on top but not sure if I would be jumping construction dates from mid 60's to 70's. I like the V belt drive as I'm certainly not into loud blower belt whine and especially I intend to drive mine all around NZ when the time is right.

 

I love the Halibrands on there!

 

UUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHh I hate you since I had a chance to buy them and did not man up. I tell you what if you get the americans back on the bucket then we can mount up the halis on the coupe and watch the old guys have a heart attack with those wheels on my coupe.

 

Where is Art Himsel (sp?) when you need him!

 

Oh, and BTW, Chip.
I realize those Halibrand's are worth more than the car, but I really like the bigger wheel/tire combo. And yeah, I graduated high school in 66, and I would have rocked a bucket with Torque Thrusts and a belt driven blower in a minute! Torque Thrusts will look good on a wheelbarrow!

 

Funny, I never really got into a lot of his ribbons and panels. For me, Art was hit or miss on a lot of his paint jobs.