I saw the car on the facebook Marketplace and called. Bidding was already at $21,000 according the seller so I dropped out. Lot's of possibilities there. Please post pictures of your build progress.
What happened to the original frame? does it have the #'s? maybe you can flog that street rod frame for the cash to build it back to 60's glory...if you're wondering what that chrome thing on the firewall is I believe it was a T-bird power brake booster
Cool beans just to see that someone who has wanted one years on end got it rather than a flipper and then has a solid plan to build it. Selling off the street rod chassis to a street rodder helps with the build budget a ton too.
Original frame is under it, Or at least the rails it was on is under it. The body is covering where the numbers would be so couldn't tell. The plan is to pawn the street rod frame and accy's for money to put it back traditional. It had a Jag rear, so I'll probably keep that for the time being as its "correct" enough for me. The firewall I don't think you can see in the pictures well as its in the same barn as the street rod chassis.
Got it all drug home today. The rear floor is rougher than I thought it was, but I'm still ecstatic. So now for the questions. I'm gonna have to put the front cross member back in as it had jag ifs, is there anywhere that gives dimensions where it should sit? Same question for flathead front engine mounts, is there anywhere to pull dimensions to get it close to factory? The firewall, is this the correct firewall? Just smoothed? What is the metal piece sitting on the cowl, can't put my finger on where it goes. Either way here's picture overload of some of the haul, still haven't went through a lot of boxes and new bob drake stuff!
Piece on the cowl is the front radiator splash pan, mounts below the grille shell. The old frame has all the jag front brackets installed already.
Awesome, thanks. Yeah all the jag stuff for the front is getting cut out. Going back with a solid I beam and spring.
Wow..... I didn't know anyone knew where Linton was! I lived there when I was in the 6th and 7th grades... would be around 1964-65. I broke my arm there !!! Cool score on the coupe !!
If the old Jag rear is what you want, then go for it. But if you are simply using it because you already have it and think it will be cheaper than swaping in a solid axle, you might be digging yourself a hole. Hopefully you have experiance with them and have a good one that doesnt need a lot of new parts.
Boy that's an interesting situation you've gotten yourself into. I don't know if I wouldn't put a glass 3w body on that roller chassis and finish it to at least a driver. Then sell it a complete street rod and focus my attention to the original pieces you have in the other corner. There are two different cars there pick one or the other.
So I have brand new everything for the jag rear. I have a 9" as well, but I'd Like to leave a touch of the original owners element into the build is the reasoning for using the jag, if it turns into a headache I'll throw a 8.8/9" into it
Like above, I'm trying to leave a few little things from it's previous life alive, if it turns into trouble I'll do a solid axle swap.
If the budget allowed, I absolutely would do that. But the way the market is currently, and me not wanting this project to sit for years, it's just not feasible to do it that way. Not understanding your pick one or the other idea here as I will not use this body on a street rod chassis, and have no desire to build a street rod.
Yes, and not yet. Real shame too as solid as this car is. I'm still holding hope they'll turn up when they clean everything out for the auction.
I really don't see much difference between the two chassis at this point. Sure there is a Serial Number stamped on the original, but everything else has been hacked on. And some of it is pretty ugly. If you really want a Jag rear, just use the new chassis and swap the IFS stuff off of it, and install an A front crossmember. Once you start cutting the third generation of bracketry off a frame you will be doing a ton of restoration. From reading your posts here it doesn't seem you are that type of guy. Maybe I'm reading it/you wrong? Don't be ashamed of running that new frame. A little backdating on the front suspension and nobody will know the difference. Well, at least 99.9% won't know the difference.
Great find, I really like the fendered pic. Hope you choose to run them. Make a build plan, choose an era. Track down your parts to get it there. I wouldnt put much conisderation into the "heritage" of the original builders plan - Only if it was a finished well recognized car. - The Jag rear does push it into late 60's at least more like 70's. - details like a 9" from the era you choose make a big difference down the road - I wouldnt sell the fenders even if you dont use them now. Youll probably own this car for a long time, may want to change it up on the next rendition. Sell off the street rod chassis unless you see yourself doing a second car to resell, you do have a lot of stuff towards it.
Nice score. As some mentioned , I for one opt to run fenders and running boards. I know of some guys running fenderless cars and wished they had fenders. Vic
I own my own repair/fab shop, you're reading me wrong I believe, just ZERO experience with anything prewar. I'm cutting all old front bracketry off to install new front crossmember, hanging firewall and Radiator/grill to check hood fitment, in ase I decide to run it, then building old chassis to roller with existing jag rear, for now. As far as everyone saying to ditch the rear and not be concerned with the heritage of the car, I get that aspect, but it's extremely cool to me that this car was hot prodded in the 60s and even though I'm not going back to it's exact late 60s condition, I'd like to keep a little bit of the spirit of the car alive, like that bitc*in interior! That new frame is worth entirely more as a cash sale to me than having to hack the ifs off the brand new one and starting with the same basic frame as I have laying next to it that's still original to the car, albeit already hacked. Was told it's a precision frame, heidts front/rear, so it should move easily to fund the rest. Does anyone make a reproduction front cross member with OEM engine mount boss's? I've searched all morning and will order one without, but would sure like to use original design
I wish the budget allowed to finish the street rod chassis as well, but I want the traditional build done in a timely manner, and unfortunately budget doesn't allow building both, correctly, in the timeline I want to finish.
If I were honoring the heritage of the car, I'd follow the pix you have , sell the new chassis, drop the headlight bar and modify the original chassis to accommodate your choice of drive train. I would probably use a period engine with a manual O/D trans and appropriate rear end. The original chassis looks to be able to accommodate about any combo you wish. For instance, the hot setup in the late 60s through the 70s would have been dropped round Super bell front with 4 bar and mustang steering box. The engine probably sbc with turbo 400 or 350 and some rear end that didn't need narrowed ( mustang, Nova, bronco) and there were a few jags, mostly under T buckets. Flatheads and banjo rears with buggy springs were almost free to haul away. Just something to think about.
Nice find build it how you want. If it was mine it would be hard not to put it together full fendered with the hood. I would guess those pictures were taken before the Jag rear was installed since it still has hair pins in front. If you want a 32 front crossmember with the motor mounts. You will have to find an original 32 front crossmember. No one makes a reproduction 32 front crossmember only Model A front crossmembers are reproduced.
One more thing; we started calling our cars Street Rods to get insurance on them. Same cars ; different name.
^^^ a couple of years in evolution too. Eventually original rodders moved 'back' toward trad. builds.
Your car, your choices. I think it looked great the way it was when the Uncle was putting around in it.
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