The Family Hot Rod, or a Poor Man's Deuce Tudor

I built my first hotrod with my Dad and drove it all over the place last year. I have 2 beautiful kids (Mary age 5, Cole age 2) and I wasn't happy that I couldn't take both of them for a ride at the same time. Not to mention the wife, father-in-law, and all the other folks who wanted to go for a ride. So back in November I sold the Manx so I could buy a sedan of some sort:



I was planning to buy a stock Model A tudor sedan to cruise around in, but I scored a bunch of nice parts at the Reynolds auction later that fall and my plans began to change.

I am not building anything unique or creative, but I wanted to start a build thread for a couple reasons. For one, I learned so much from the HAMB and from building my first car that I would be honored if I could help anybody else out. So here is my story and hopefully it will be useful to somebody. Second, a build thread will keep me focused on my goal and will challenge me to keep making progress.

Before I start, I want to say thanks to Dirtyest Devil. Mel posted pics of a Model A sedan on a '32 frame that he built and it was a big inspiration to me. Here is a shot of that car to get us started:



Mel also answered lots of questions as I was gathering parts for my build. Thanks for your support my friend.

I have a couple goals for the new car. It has to hold my whole family comfortably - a rumbleseat won't cut it. I have to feel good about carrying my whole family SAFELY. Have to have oil pressure & insert bearings. And it has to have comparable performance to the Manx - not fast necessarily, but peppy at the least. Finally, I want to use old Ford parts as much as possible, instead of relying so heavily on reproduction parts like I did the first time around.

So here goes my build - a '30 tudor sedan body on a '32 frame.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

 

I have a lot of things in the works, but the first assembly I have completed is the front end:





Nothing unusual here: undropped '32 axle & wishbone, square back spindles, Model A reversed eye spring, F-100 brakes, steel wheels from a '47 Ford and 6.00x16 Firestones. Took a while to get everything together to my satisfaction, though. I like the lower shock mounts welded to the axle a la the Bishop/Tardel book.

This will sit a bit higher than Mel's car, hopefully I can still get a nice stance.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

 

The only other assembly that is finished at the moment is the transmission:







I have learned so much about these transmissions from Mac VanPelt over the last couple of months. He has a lot of hard earned knowledge and I am grateful that he is sharing it with me. He is also a meticulous craftsman, we are lucky that he is involved in our hobby.

I put this together with a lot of help and direction from Mac. I started with a pretty nice old '39 transmission and tightened things up as best I could with new bearings, thrust washers, shafts and synchros. It has a '32 clutch arm and '32 rear bearing retainer, and a nice hand brake bracket from Richard at the Early V8 Garage. I am gonna try to use the single bend '37 shift lever if it is a good fit in my car.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

 

I have all of my frame bits in a pile over at the Strunk's shop - ASC rails, Model A front crossmember, '32 rear crossmember, '32 K-member. My rearend is also over there - '40 shortened for a '32 frame, short ('46-48) rear bones, '46-48 rear brakes. Rear tires will be 7.00x16 Firestones.

Here is a shot of the body, no dents and not a speck of rust:



I will shoot some pics of the frame as it goes together. I am planning to bring home a roller - body mounted, frame painted black, brakes plumbed, front and rearend in place. Jack & Drew Strunk have been building hot rods here in Cincinnati for a LONG time and I am excited to work with them on the frame.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

 

Will........Looks like your off to an excellent start . Please keep us posted..........Z

 

Great start man! Keep us posted!

 

looks nice so far!

 

Looks like youre off to a good start! Saw your RPU at Columbus Goodguys, thats a cool little truck! Good to see youre building something to get the family involved in. That is cool!

 

Hey Z, that is the clutch arm that I got from you! Looks happy there, doesn't it?

Will

 

Will.........Glad to see that it went to good use , looks perfect !..........Z

 

Looks like a great start! You did such a nice job on the Manx I can't wait to see how this turns out. If you dont mind I have a question about the Manx. What carb. and air cleaner did you use?

 

gonna be following this one Will as got a very similar one underway....worked this weekend cutting out the rear subrails to fit over the 32 frame kickup. believe i now need to cut off the rear structual lower body brace.

 

Hey Firerod,

I used a Stromberg 97 and a small 4 barrel size Stelling & Hellings style air cleaner with a 2 5/8" neck. I am pretty sure I got the air cleaner from Eric at Riley. I thought it looked nice, most of the usual hot rod air cleaners looked small with just one carb.

I had a productive day yesterday, the tudor body is stripped to bare bones and ready to lift off the frame. Gonna try to keep my head down and make mandolins until my slot at Strunks comes up! Then I will take some more pictures.

Will Kimble
www.kimblemandolins.com

 

Man that is the best looking front end and tranny I've seen in a while! Good luck with the build Will!!!

Mike

 

A little bit of progress today, body ready to come off:



Body off and stashed in the shed, chassis on the trailer:



I wasn't sure what to do with the chassis and it was bugging me... I wanted to keep it for a future project but I don't have much room and don't have the resources to work on more than one car at a time. Then some buddies in my local Model A Club asked if they could use the chassis for a youth activity at the MARC National Meet and I said "Hell yeah!"

It is a perfect solution for me - it gets the chassis out of my hair and it will get TLC from a lot of folks to get it ready for the National youth event. It is also nice karma considering I am cutting up a really nice Model A body to go on a '32 frame, it balances things out nicely.

So we spent the afternoon tidying things up on the chassis and making a list of parts needed to make it safe. What they do at the National Meet is disassemble the chassis to a bare frame the night before, and then the kids at the Meet have 3-4 hours the next day to work together and get it back to a running, driving Model A. Will have a bare cowl, plywood floors and seats, and they will drive it around the parking lot. Of course there is plenty of geezer supervision and I am sure the kids learn a lot along the way. I watched this activity at the National Model T meet last year in Richmond and it was fascinating.

The chassis is very nice, we peeked in the oil fill hole and you can tell it is a fresh engine that has never been fired - assembly lube everywhere. But the story goes that the original restorer passed away, and it appears everything has been haphazardly assembled since then: front motor mount was missing all the springs, no cotters in any of the brake rod clevises, stuff like that.

Anyway, that is all I will say about the Model A chassis for now. Hopefully we will start building a '32 frame soon!

Will Kimble

 

Here we go, the frame is tacked together:





I should have some more pictures over the next week.

Will Kimble

 

What a great start! This will be fun.

 

I really like that frame jig!! If the tudor is as nice as your RPU, I can't wait to see it done.

 

I will be watching....cool

 

Looks great.

I like it that you let the Model-A club use the old chasis. No tellin' what kind of young hot rodder will get hooked workin on it!

 

Looks damn nice Will!.. I was gonna post some pics of mine, but they don't hold a candle to your......lol Ryan

 

nice

 

Damn, that's a nice K-member.

Looks awesome Will, keep up the progress bud!!

 

Subscribed!

Great build.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. I am having some trouble with the idea of cutting up such a clean old sedan body to fit the '32 frame, but I know it has to be done.

Hey Fidgiter, I loved your modified and can't wait to see what you do with your roadster!

C'mon Ryan, let's see some pics!

And I love the thought that my chassis might inspire some junior hotrodders at the MARC National Meet, LOL! I have some 17" wires with Excelsiors sitting here, I am lobbying for those to go on but I expect it will stay on 19s with junk tires until it is back in my posession. Will be dead stock for the National Meet - 6V generator, stock distributor, etc...

Will Kimble

 

I will post up some pics once I make some good progress Will. I am in the mock up stages of the front-end.. And then on to boxing, nothing special just your everyday Model A build...lol.. I need to see if i can get the strunks to ream my spindles since I put new bushings in them...

 

Looks like your doing a really clean build. If the rest of the car is like the start on the chassis you'll have a home run. Be sure to keep the progress reports com;ng.

Frank

 

This is going to be a build to keep close tabs on, keep the updates coming.

 

Project is off to a great start. I think 2nd generation A sedans look awesome on '32 rails. The front end and trans look very nicely done. If they're a representation of the quality of the rest of the build you should have a really clean rod when it hits the road.

Does VanPelt take any extra measures to keep the transmissions from leaking?

Oh, and that handbrake handle adaptor on your trans is totally bitchin! (although my opinion may be a little biased since the hands I'm typing this message with made it, haha.)

 

i like this already! Cant wait to see more