The last Grasp Special '34 3 window build

Wow!!! You have been busy

How are Tony and Rita?

 

Hey Brant, good to see you back.
They are well, although Tony is still recovering from a serious car accident he and Rita were involved in.
Yeah I have been flat out on my 3W, but we haven't got much done on our 3W in the last couple of years.
I set out for Port Fairy early this morning, but only got 30 minutes from home and my alternator died. As it was still a few hours before daylight and I was still 4 hours from Port Fairy. I turned around and came home.
I have got the alternator sorted by the local Auto Elec. So I will set out again tomorrow.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

That sucks mate, hope tomorrow's attempt is a bit more successful.

 

Huh. Knowing Pete as I do,(or used to) I am sure there is a long story to tell. I helped him years ago straighten the body out when he lived down in Orange County. We had it chained to a tree, and pulled it straight with the truck. Man that was a long time ago......

 

Ah ha Tinbender. That explains a lot about the door jams and doors. I could tell from the welded up holes in the quarter panels, where obviously guards were once bolted on. That the body was once channeled. Also the fact that it has a none of the original floor, points to the channeled theory. But none of that worries me, because it is just a neat old hot rod with a lot of stories to tell.
In the time I have had it home I have refined it a lot,making it more user friendly. But doing so, have still retained it's "raw hot rod'' character and characteristics.
Tinbender it is good that I have learnt a bit more history from you about the 3W. I met Squeak when Tony and I were in New Zealand and he told me a little about his involvement.
All really neat stuff. Thankyou

Geoff aka whodaky.

 

OK, just spent nearly a week away. The 3W performed well, with only a couple of niiggles.
Over the course of the next few days I hope to do a number of posts telling about my lil hot rod magical mystery tour.
Just as a teaser shot, here is an image of Tony's roadster and my 3W; just showing a little of the roadster's new roof.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Well after my failed Monday attempt to get to Port Fairy. I had my alternator repaired, it turned out to be worn brushes and a broken brush holder.
I left at 9.30 a.m. on Tuesday, a lot later than I would normally leave, because Rita and Tony would be out all day. The plan would be to meet up at Renee' and Sam's home in Koroit.
My first stop was for fuel at Bunyip, with my next fuel stop on the Hamilton highway at Inverleigh, which is west of Geelong.
It was a very wet drive from my first fuel stop to here.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

My next stop would be in Derinallum for lunch, however the place where I usually get food to eat was being renovated. So I decided to head for Darlington to the Elephant Bridge hotel. A magnificent blue stone building that has over the last couple of years been renovated and converted in a great cafe.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Before I hit the road again I gave Renee' a call to let her know I would be there in around an hour.
Around 3/4 of an hour with it still raining I stopped at a road side hardware store called George Taylor's, where I bought a couple of things. There is also an amazing collection of old motorcycles displayed here all around the store.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

So I pulled into Renee's and Sam's almost right on 3.00 p.m. as planned. It was good to see everyone after so many months. Renee' and Rita made us all a coffee and we talked about all that has been happening since we had all been together. All the while being entertained by Mabel Rose, Jude and Spencer T ( who are just a few of Rita and Tony's grandchildren )..
A while later a couple of friends ( John and Rick ) dropped in. We had planned to go around to John's and check the progress on his '47 Chev delivery. As John lives just around the corner we would do this on our way to Rita and Tony's.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

After spending some time checking out the delivery, Rita, Tony, myself and Spencer T headed for Port Fairy. Spencer T ( Renee'and Sam's oldest son ) would be having a sleep over.
It was till cold and wet, but hey it was neat rolling down the road in the 3W.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

As can be seen from the previous post I got to Rita and Tony's. Sam had been heading home from work and met us there. I told Sam what I had been up to, which was mainly working on the 3W since I got it home in November. Whilst we were looking at the 3W window , I was getting tarps out to cover the engine as it still raining and would continue to do so, on and off for the next few days. The little aluminium rain bonnet I made a couple weeks ago, had worked a treat when I was rolling down the road.
Of course I had to slip into the garage and check out the new roof on Tony's roadster.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent catching up with Rita, Tony and SpencerT.
I went to bed around 11.00 p.m. I slept well, especially so with the rain softly beating on the roof. I probably woke around 4.00 a.m., the rain was still falling and I thought to myself I wont get to go for my usual walk on the beach. However a few hours later the rain had ceased, so I got up had a shower and went for my walk, with Lucy walking with me on her lead. I was away around an hour and when I returned everyone was up and Rita was making breakfast. After breakfast was eaten, Spencer T, Tony and myself did some work on a model car, Spencer T and Tony have had on the go for a while. So for the next couple of hours we glued and painted on the AMT 1/25th Spinner ( shoebox ) Coupe.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Looks like you had a good drive down despite the rain. I've been meaning to check out the Darlington pub, haven't been in there since the renos.

 

We didn't do a lot a lot on Wednesday as Tony can't stand for long and has a lot of pain from time to time.
I had bought a few new books down for him to borrow ( the new Rolling Bones Book, a book I got recently from Stance and Speed on the SoCal coupe; as well as the new HopUp ). After flicking through these we watched some of the new DVD,' The Making Of The Deuce Of Spades.. Around lunch time Renee', Mabel Rose and Jude came over to pick up Spencer T. I got to show Renee' all that I have done to the 3W.
Around mid afternoon Renee' and the children went home.
I said to Tony I would go into the garage and check things out. Tony had done quite a lot to the Nappa coupe, before he and Rita had had the car accident.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Hey FB.
Yes I had a great time away, it stretched into nearly a week, as it turned out to be a bit of a magical mystery hot rod tour.
I am sorry I didn't get to catch up with you. However I did bring the Veed windscreen frame I told you about. I have left it at Tony's for you.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

No worries mate, I figured you would probably be busy after leaving a day late. Thanks I'll go round and see Tony when I get a chance.

 

I got up Thursday morning around 6.30 a.m, Lucy and I went for a walk around the lake and along the beach. Arriving back from our walk, everyone was up including Gia ( another of Rita and Tony's grand children ) who had stayed the night.
The morning was spent sitting around talking hot rods. In the afternoon Rita would be taking Tony to physio and I would be going out to John's to do a little job on his delivery for him. When I was finished at John's I went to the main street of Koroit to look around the shops. I found a little gift shop and bought a gift for my sister Margaret. I probably won't live the images of the gift down from Tony, but what the heck. When little Zoe stayed over night later in the week, I showed her the gift I had bought Margaret. I asked her what she would name it, she said Cottonball, the same name as her cat. Margaret loved the gift and the name.
From here I headed to Carol and Frank's, where I would be meeting up with Rita and Tony. We would be having dinner there and spending the evening with Carol and Frank.
I got there before everyone else, so I got to talk to Carol about all that has been going on in our respective lives. Rita and Tony arrived around an hour later, then Frank got home from work. After us all having a coffee together Frank took me out to show me his finished coupe, all I can say is whoa. It is one neat old hot rod.
After a lovely dinner that Carol had prepared we all sat and talked for a couple of hours. I got to hear some of the great stories Frank had about his coupe.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Great pics whodaky love the fact you drive that three window rain hail or shine.
Fnjunk[emoji106]

 

Thanks Fnjunk. For those that know well, they know I am not adverse to using my vehicles in any weather or terrain! Enough said.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

So a few weeks back when I showed how I had added the polished aluminium cover to my windscreen frame, Tony got to thinking. He asked if I thought that could done to the rear window frame for his new top on the roadster. I said I can't think why not. So I said when I come down we could have a go at it.
Well Friday was the day for it to happen. After my walk on the beach with Lucy and after that having had breakfast, I headed out into the garage. Tony stayed inside as he was in a lot of pain.
Rita came out to assist me in taking the frame off the roadster. Then over the course of the next few hours, I turned the dull painted frame into a full on BLING piece and we all know Tony is into bling.
I am not going into a long winded description, I will let the images do the taking!

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Well Tony was pretty pleased with the results of covering the rear window frame.
Earlier in the afternoon Jodie ( Rita and Tony's eldest daughter ) came around, her girls Gia and Zoe would be having a sleep over; Zac her son was also with them. Zac came out into the garage to say hello and see what I was doing.
That evening we were entertained by Zoe as Tony and I talked hot rods.
The next morning ( Saturday ), I had my last walk on the beach with Lucy for this trip. After breakfast I said to Tony I would go out into the garage to get his roadster going and back it out into the sun ( yes we at last had a beautiful sunny Autumn day ). I messed around with roadster for a while, without out any success. Tony then came out and between the two of us, some fuel down the carbs and a battery jump pack we got it running, then backed it outside.
It's the first time I had seen it outside since the roof had been done.
Tony when he is fit works one day a week at a trim shop in Warrnambool. A while back Tony and I had made a profile template of how he would like the roof to look. He had some old hood bows he had collected over the years. He spent many hours modifying these to make them suitable for this roof. He also made the wooden header piece from wood. As well as the laminated timber piece that runs around the base of the roof at the back. Something we thought would be a bit different was to not have the roof attached with pressed studs and thus overlapping the body pressing the runs around the back of the body behind the seat. What we did will make more sense by studying the images.
It was then up to Mark the guy who owns the trim shop to cover and stitch it, along with Tony's help. All I can say is these guys make a great team and did an amazing job.
Tony you need to give Mark's business a plug.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Later in the morning Peter ( the guy I bought my 3W off ) dropped around. It was the first time he has seen it since I took it home in November. He hadn't come around in his '34 3W. I said I want to see it with it's new wheels, so we jumped in my 3W and drove to Peter's.
There I showed and told Peter all I had done on my 3W.
Of course I had to get pictures of these 2 hot rods together.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

I didn't stay around at Peter's for to long as I wanted to get on the road to my next destination by 1.00 p.m. at the latest.
Back at Tony's we all talked outside for a while. The time rolled around to leave. I went inside to say my goodbyes to Rita and Zoe. Rita had made me some lunch to take with me to have on the road. So with all the goodbyes and thankyous made I jumped in the 3W and headed off. Only to return around 10 minutes later, as I had forgotten a pair of my glasses.
So take 2 and I was off once more. About an hour and a half later I stopped for lunch at a place called Smythesdale. The sandwiches Rita had made hit the spot and were yummy, washed down with a coke from my little cooler.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

After lunch I made it to where I would spend the night at a friend's place.
The coupe actually got to spend the night under cover. My friend Kym introduced me to his partner Vicki and they graciously welcomed me into their home, which they are in the midst of renovating.
I probably hadn't seen Kym in over 10 years, but after a few minutes talking together it was as if we'd seen each other the day before. After a coffee and more talking Kym took me out into his garage. He is piecing together parts to build a '32 3W. But the center piece of his garage is his Vincent Lightening, which he has built from a collection of parts and hand made pieces from all over the world. It is a project nearing completion, one that many people said was not possible, with the majority of work done by Kym. I am still shaking my head at that amazing motorcycle.
When we went inside Kym showed a whole bunch of stuff on the computer and then I showed him this thread on the HAMB.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

The next morning, Vicki had to work. Kym had told me that there was an event called coffee and cars that was on, as it was just around the corner we jumped in the coupe and attended. Unfortunately the weather was a bit ordinary. But there was a reasonable turn out of cars.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

From Vicki and Kym's place I was headed for Bendigo where the Gymnastic National championships were being held. My niece Zoe was competing and had travelled over from Perth with Pat ( her mother/my sister ), my other niece Nikki had brought them up from Melbourne. It was really great to spend time with them and see Zoe compete. She actually placed second in one of her events and was presented with a national achievement award for 2015. Her dad Peter who had passed away earlier in the year would be so proud. It was a very emotional afternoon for us all and a lot of tears were shed as well by all of us.
I parked the coupe out the front of the old Bendigo gaol that has now been converted to an entertainment complex. This is where the gymnastics event was held!

Geoff aka whodaky

 

So having said and shown all that, how did the coupe go? For the most part it went well.I broke a left front fender bracket, as well as the bracket that remounted the front of my radiator support rods and my speedo died. I also had an ongoing issue with the thrust bearing ( which I had replaced when I rebuilt the Muncie a number of months ago ). I set off around 9.00 p.m. hoping I would make it home. I did make a few stops for road side repairs and a couple of times I thought I would be spending the night on the side of road in the 3W waiting for daylight. But I did make it home and rolled into my driveway at 12.45 a.m. I had spend nearly a week away touring in the 3W and spending time with dear friends. I don't think it gets much better than that.
I would like to thank everyone that made me so welcome along the way and let be a part of their lives for a little while.
It's always an adventure when we get out in these old hot rods, I think it is one of the things I love about them!

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Great story, trip and pictures Geoff, glad to hear all went well.
Tony's roof on the roadster roof looks perfect...


Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Thakyou GaryD. I have spent most of today on it, I needed to do it when it was fresh in my mind.
Here's a couple of quick photochops.
The first will never happen.



The next is something that may happen, as Frank is talking of lowering the 5W just a touch! Just looking at the image of Carol and Frank's coupe I think I may need to drop it just a bit more at the front. I may do that another time.

Geoff aka whodaky