The last Grasp Special '34 3 window build

The other weekend when we worked on Frank's coupe, I organised with Tony that I would get down to Port Fairy the next weekend.
During the week prior to me going down, I thought about what we would get done on that weekend!
My thoughts were that we could get the 3W body off the wooden pallet that Jason had mounted it to, for shipping to us in Australia. With the body off the pallet we could then mount it to our chassis. With it sitting on the chassis we could look at door gaps etc. After which we could remove the 'butchered' cowl and fit the 'good' cowl that Jason supplied when we purchased the 3W body from him. Once this was done I wanted to make some sought of wheel system to allow us to roll that chassis and body around.
Geoff aKa whodaky

 

So I headed down to Port Fairy at my usual 4 a.m. start time on the Friday. It was a very cold and wet 5 hour drive this time. As usual Rita, Tony and I spent about an hour 'catching up' over a coffee.
I had taken the new Rodder's Journal Scrapbook down for Tony to see. I suggested to Rita that it would make a good gift for someone. I had also made a gift for Rita's red room. It was just a small thing that I had striped, but I forgot to photograph it; so no image of it to show.
Next Tony and I headed out into the garage and discussed what we could get done over the course of the next 2 1/2 days!
With a plan formulated we dragged the chassis out that we had prepared the last time we worked on The Last Grasp Special. With the chassis out in the open, we assembled the engine hoist and picked up the 3W body and lowered it onto the chassis.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

It was good to get the body on the chassis and finally open the doors. They opened nicely and there were no hidden surprises.
I had taken the dash down, so we took the opportunity to mock it up in the body, to see how it looked. Tony and I both agreed it looks real good. Kind of factory, but with a big twist!
For the time being it will mount up on th wall of Tony's garage, under the lead light window that Tony's nephew Dave ( Frank's brother ) had made at school, many years ago.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

cool!!! I love lakes style '33/'34' 3ws!!!

Joe

 

Having put the body on the chassis, we took a bit of a backward step. We removed it to allow us to fit the replacment cowl! To ensure that this cowl located in the correct position on the chassis. It did, so we removed it and then placed the 3w body back on the chassis.

For most of the day we spent measuring and seeing how the door gaps were. Doing this we found that the right door 'B' pillar had been knocked around a fair bit. It looks like the door may have flung open at some time!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

The hinges on this pillar had actually been brazed on. There were also spacers in there as well. So a couple of hours were spent in this area, to get the door gaps to a point we were happy with for now.
A lot of work will be done on both 'B' pillars, eventually
Geoff aka whoday

 

Through all of this we had left the frame in the lower section of the body, that it had come with from the USA. I would say this frame has been in the body for a long long time. But it had served it's purpose, because it had allowed this body with no floor to maintain it's shape. However we did have to fine tune this frame a bit to get the door gaps to a point we were happy with at this stage.
Once this was done we braced the body in preparation for the removal of the cowl. The parts of this bracing that located to the cowl area were bolted for easy removal of the cowl and to serve as the reference points when the 'new' cowl was fitted to the body!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Whilst we were working on the coupe Pete Winnen dropped by to see what we were up to and to lend a hand.
It's always good to see Pete's deuce 3W.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

So the next step was to make the cuts in the 'A' pillars on both cowls in the same places, to allow the replacement cowl to fit up to the body!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

We then positioned the replacement cowl on the chassis and brought it onto the body. It was slightly out of alignment and will require a bit of tweeking, before the cowl is tacked to the body. But overall it is very close, but this final fitting will happen the next time I go down to Port Fairy.
Tony and I both agreed that it looks so much better even with just this cowl and it's unmolested firewall adjoined to the body. The whole thing is almost resembling a car.





Before I left this time we still wanted to get the wheel system on the chassis.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

On the Sunday morning we made up some brackets to fit trolley wheels to the chassis. This will allow us to roll the body and chassis to anywhere in Tony's garage. but primarily to move it into a corner, out of the way when it is not being worked on!.
So as usual, with camera in hand I just took a bunch of random shots. Many of which I will post, just to bore you all to tears!
Geoff aka whodaky

That's Spencer T's lil push car with The Last Grasp Special.

 

Rita came out into the garage and said she should take some shots of Tony and I. She reckons I never get into the shots because I am always behind the camera. Ah what the hell, here are a number of shots of a couple of old hot rod guys and their joint project!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

And a few more random shots!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Before I left to come home on the Sunday we went out to Rita and Tony's daughter Renees' home and we had a lovely fathers day lunch. It is always good to catch up with Renee, her husband, Sam and their 2 young sons; Spencer T and Jude.
We even got the chance to hang out a while in the garage, looking at lots of neat hot rod stuff
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Nice pics Geoff and nice progress!

HC.

 

x2

 

Here is a bit of a belated post from a few weekends ago.
I had spent a few days down at Port Fairy then. It was the weekend of Sam's ( Rita and Tony's son inlaw) 30th birthday . Renee' and Sam's youngest son ( Jude ) was being christened on the Sunday.
So I rolled out the coupe and headed for Port Fairy and got there around 9 a.m. ( although Rita thought I was about 9 minutes late)
As usual Rita, Tony and I had a catch up chat over a cup of coffee. But this time I got to meet their new dog, Lucy.



Tony and I then headed out to the garage. Our plan was to get Spencer T's lil push car ready for the Chopped run, a couple of weeks later.
.
Basically Tony wanted to get the body work done and get it painted for the Chopped run and I was going to fit the wheel covers I had made for it about 6 month previous. And of course Tony wanted this to be a surprise for Spencer T and Renee'.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Whilst Tony worked on the body of the lil push car, I worked on the wheels. We just chatted about all sorts of stuff.









We made good progress over the next few days with the limited time we had. I got the wheel caps fitted to the wheels. But Tony still had a bit to do in the next week or so, to get the lil push car into paint!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Tony had recently had the compact Fairlane inspected for limited historical registration, had done all the paper work and paid the money at the RTA to get the license plates.
Rita suggested that Tony and I should take the Fairlane to Sam's party, in case it was needed to taxi anyone home that may not be in a condition to drive. So Tony and I fitted to new plates in the afternoon!



Around 4 p.m. we headed to Renee' and Sam's for a surprize 'Mexican' themed party.
It was a good night and I got to catch up with a number of people I only seldom see. One being Justin ( Rita's younger brother, aka Kuda Z ), Justin is an artist and striper. So we talked a while about his art and both our striping experiences.
All in all it was a great night. Although I don't think it was a total surpize to Sam.

 

Sunday morning we all arose around 8 a.m. There was a lot of relatives staying at Rita and Tony's. This morning I spent a lot of time talking to Rita's father ( Reno ) about his early life and how he and his father came to Australia from Malta. It was really interesting because he had spent his first couple of years here in Australia living and working here in the Latrobe Valley. Where I have lived all my life.
There were also a lot of similarities of Reno's emigration to that of my own parents emigration to here from Ireland.
This is all stuff that has come to light many years after Tony and I had met and became good friends.
Around mid morning we all went to one of the many magnificent blue stone churches in the area for Jude's christening.
After the christening service we all went to a local pub for lunch. A while after eating lunch we all enjoyed some cakes Renee'and Rita had made.
I think the cake Spencer T and I shared was the best!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

When we got back to Rita and Tony's, Tony and I checked out the internet; as well as looking at some of the images Tony has saved in his 'research' files.
Later in the afternoon we went out into the garage, where we just hung out and just talked the hot rod talk. I also suggested to Tony a couple of things we could perhaps do the next day ( Monday) before I left that afternoon.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Monday morning we rearranged a few things in the garage, that made things a bit more space efficient. We even had to get Rita out to help with the lifting of the front clip of her Spinner onto the pallet that the 3w body came from the USA on. She also re-swept some areas of the floor we had done, but she wasn't happy with.
Below is a shot of Rita's spinner, that Tony has been working on.

After this we attacked the lower seat mount in Tony's roadster, to get the squab a bit lower. After about an hour's work, we had it suitably lowered. This has been a job Tony has been going to do for about 18 months. So I gave him the big push and we got it done.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

We had spent a very productive couple of hours in the garage and achieved everything we had wanted to get done. This is when Rita came in and said lunch was ready.
After lunch I went out into the garage to just snap shots, as I tend to do. I also just grabbed a couple of wheels that were easy to get at and did a few mockups with the Last Grasp.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

My plan was to leave at 4 p.m., so I went inside and got my things ready and brought them out and loaded them into the coupe. Whilst we were sitting inside having a drink; Carol, Frank and Rachael arrived ( they would be visiting with Rita and Tony for a few days) .
We all had a bit of a catch up and then went out into the garage to show Frank what we had been up to. Around this time Renee', Spencer T and Jude; showed up to see me off ( thanks guys, that was so nice) . So we got some more shots.





Well at around 4.15 p.m. I said my goodbyes and headed for home. It had been a great few days spent with great friends and doing it in my trusty well travelled coupe.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Well Tony did get Spencer T's lil push car painted for the Chopped run. I didn't attend the run, but I did find an image of the painted lil push car on one of the Chopped threads. I think this shot was taken by Spoggie, who I am sure won't mind me showing it here.

Next time I am down at Port Fairy I will be putting some striping on it and Tony wants to clear over it. Then I guess it will be done. It's almost getting to small for Spencer T, so maybe Jude will be the next driver.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Loving this thread and your posts Geoff! Tony's family is a great bunch of people that you don't come across everyday. Thanks again for taking the time to post on here.

Also well done on pushing Tony to work on the roadster... Need to get that thing on the road! He always said that if I came for a weekend and helped wrench on it that we would fire it up... Hmmm might just have to do that!

HC. Alex.

 

Thanks Alex, for your reply.
I do enjoy putting this stuff together. Although these last threads took me a while to get motivated to do.
As you know, it takes quite a bit of effort and sometimes when there is little or no reponse; one wonders why one bothers. But at the end of the day this really is a bit of a diary of my friendship with some very dear friends and if anyone else gets anything out of it or not, then so be it.
I do know I tend to over-do it with the images. But hey the images are the best part!
As to Tony's roadster. Well Tony and Rita are having a couple of very special people from the USA coming to visit in December and I said to Tony he has to have one of his hot rods going. At the moment the coupe has a dead engine and the Spinner is close, but the roadster is the closest.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Great update Geoff.
I always like seeing what Tony is getting up to, but I'm hanging out to see The Last Grasp getting chopped.

 

Hey Geoff keep bothering with the thread ,always great pics and stories ,as you say one of the best things about it is the friendship ,with the cars as the common interest its great,i can reflect on my own family involvement and lifelong friendships i have made over the years with one in particular chance meeting with a Kiwi at a Ballarat swap meet 35 years ago that has seen a lot of good times spent with both our families ,,,

 

I completely get you Geoff. It is a drag attaching all the pics and writing up the post but I, like you, really enjoy it. A diary is probably the best way to put it. Pictures are the best part, no doubt! This is probably the 3rd time I've gone through this whole thread. Been a hile since I've spoken to Tony, I may give him a call today and tell him to pencil in a date to get the roadster fired!

Oh and here's a thread I put up a while back from the Pt Fairy campout.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549835

Thanks again,

HC, Alex.