yea man, I drove by after the storm and you were gone! little rain scare ya outa the house and off to Heidi's I guess.. haha.. maybe I'll stop by tonight or tomorrow
the rain did scare me....i assembled this thing from parts in the shed in 35 minutes!!! and it rained 10 minutes later! i was beat after that!! took heidi out for dinner since shes starting a new job today your welcome to stop by....not too exciting looking right now though
I take it the cast aluminum skulls with Maltese Cross shaped LED's in the eye sockets have already been rejected??
yeah bruce....i dont think they would go well the the skull shaped track nose ive been secretly planning dont want that "three headed monster" look to it
Have you considered small bulges a la Edsel speedster/Mormon Meteor tipped with just rims and lenses from E&J?? Just a thought...a way to radically shrink the bulges, still have headlights, still be all early stuff... A later but still period small headlight source: The small headlights used on GPW Fords and similar size ones on Ford N tractors...again. I am thinking just rim and lens faired in. These lights were frequently used on Gas/Street roadster drag cars as the smallest answer to the headlight rule, and the tractor version goes back to '39 or so...
...And another... Seems like if you wanted lights on your track nose, it was just a case of drilling two holes!
kinda blows the notion some have that track roadsters back in the day were purpose built and thus would 'never' have had headlights... just as today, guys back then did what they had to do, depending on location and use of the vehicle... IMHO, as long as your using old technology to acomplish the issue, then it'll look right, it comes down to technology and of course, proportion... cheers!
thanks guys bruce, the E&J idea faired in like the edsel car in the B&W pic i posted might be a good one...i'll have to play around with that clark, it does look like at the time...if you need lights....just put-em-on but in my opinion...both of those cars look odd i always compare them to lizards or frogs or something....its so hard to actually think how to improve them...but they just look "off" but thanks for the pics...they're going in the file for sure andy, your right...proportion is a big player...throw in some good old fashion style...and we'll have a dandy track nosed roadster i think i'll just make an aluminum 32 grill and be done with it.........with skull lights!
Two more off-the-wall pulls from the high tech of the 1930's: One--the big Simca of the '30's-40's, used to be pretty common, but I don't know model designation or years...maybe Cosmo or Bluto?? Anyhow, the model I am thinking of had styling VERY similar to the tiny Topolino (Fiat, also made under license by Simca), but was a full-sized car. The headlights were normal '30's headlights, but mounted behind the grill. Two...CORD! Likely your local junkyards are all out of Cords, but how about hammerforming replicas of Cord headlight flaps, keeping them as authentic as possible so it is damn well period, and finding a contour point in grill shell or pods that would take them, quite possibly mounted sideways. It would be almost streetrodderish...but right out of 1936. Naturally, actuators would be a rat's nest of carburetor linkage or a screw and crank...maybe even imitate the Cord controls.
Blasted Frogs all look alike...Peugeot it is, not Simca...models 202, 302, 402. Here's the smallest of the litter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeo...peugeot+202+OR+302+OR+402&svnum=10&hl=en&sa=G http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...peugeot+202+OR+302+OR+402&svnum=10&hl=en&sa=G
After reading the whole thread it occured to me that one could possibly just forget about the lights and design the car as though they didn't exist. then, when your through, design and build a hideaway system that would only be used after dark and not compromise the overall design. When flying down the highway at night the lights are functional (and legal) in a situation where asthetics are least important. Then, even when pulling into a gas station at night a flip of a lever or switch and the offending appendages go away. Just a thought, you guys are light years ahead of me when it comes to design. My focus has always been making it go faster and handle better, screw how it looks.
bruce, clark (4ever4) actually posted one of them on another thread...seems like an alright idea....but blocking the air to a flathead seems like it might not be a good idea....its gona be breathing through a straw as it is with the nose on there i spent the past while trying to figure out which Simca you were speaking of fab32...the problem is....im too picky!! even if the lights are just a night time deal...i think it'd bug me that they werent how i like them but again...its still an option im not writing off! i just drew a picture here at work...i'll have to scan it when i get home... kinda like the one cory drew...and closer to my original picture i had in my head....i'll post it in a bit and see how it goes over im glad white paper and erasers are cheaper then aluminum....ive burned through alot lately if i draw these at work when im on the clock...does that make me a professional car designer??
Bruce - if you look way, way back in this thread, the Peugot light treatment was mentioned... Hot Damn! actually beat out Bruce on an arcane subject once! I can die happy...
You even knew the Simca was a Peugeot... France had some great junkyards way back when...but they absolutely could NOT figure out why a furrin tourist would want to wander through. I once saw there a super rare '35-6 four main Ford V8 60...a big yard with a dozen or so guard dogs housed in early Renault hoods...and one yard containing nothing but WWII Us military vehicles and their Hotchkiss descendants!
I think that's the point of many of the thread suggestions...A returning WWII vet would have his head filled with alternate ideas on how to execute a car - it's the reason we had MG TC's and TD's hit our shores, along with lots of other 'odd' cars.
I designed and built a system that will retract the headlights into the nose of my street-legal sprint car. If you're interested I can take a picture of it to give you an idea of how it all works. Here's a shot of the nose....I probably have more room to work with than you might have in a hot rod.
ok heres the idea that "I" like the best so far the hedlights behind grills on the sides of the main grill have the small grills removable to pass inspection..the lights would be slightly tunneled it the nose as to sit upright while the grill could be layed down to match the angle of the nose im still kicking around a half dozen other ideas and working on drawing pictures of each one i tried to draw this out but its not perfect by any means the line on the nose and hood side is just to represent where the curve would be blending the shapes...no actual line or seam would be there
johnny, i doubt i would make retractable headlights. i think in the case of this car...i wont have room for them to be retracted but i would love to see the picture anyways if you dont mind heres another idea i was playing with at work just to use normal headlights and mount them on the sides but i would have the belly pan tie into the frame and front axle cover...this car will have a "suicide" type front mount so i could hide all of that behind a rolled piece of aluminum also covering the end of the frame then tuck the headlights down beside the nose and make them easily removable just another idea sure wish i could draw better!
FWIW Check the laws in PA for lighting. A friend got a ticket in Carlisle a few weeks back for head light covers and the wording of the law specified in the infraction was nothing shall be in front of the light as to diminish the lighting, so grilles may be an issue. It was obvious to my friend that they were looking to score cash and didn't care about the covers which although he said he would remove them right there. it was no dice they ticketed him anyway.
Axle cover...how about a Model A axle, for a straighter shape, and aerofoil cover as far out as possible like 1935 Miller Ford?? When static, the outer part would be a straight continuation of central cover shape, with gap to allow movement on road...
yeah...I'm likin' that idea. For some reason, I have a mental pic of one of those Thimble Drome tether cars in my head...
thanks everyone i played with some wire and boards and whatever else.... trying to get the proportions correct and get an idea of what i want this thing to look like im really leaning towards the nose with the buldged sides and grills for the lights....i know it wont be 100% legal on the road....but, i think it'll look pretty good we'll see what happens as time goes on now i have to sit at work all day and think about it.....i could be home making cardboard cutouts!!....oh well thanks Zach
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