Projects Track Roadster 16 yrs in the making

Gosh it's good to hear from you LB+1, I was gettin' concerned as I hadn't heard from you. Yeah that grin from ear to ear is hard to wipe of my ole face.

Thanks once again for all your encouragement.

cactus1,

Sorry to disappoint, but no, the roadster is still at Jack's. I have a very heavy work load right now and no time to travel. The most honest guess is for me to fly to Missoula in early Oct and finalize the deal. By then Jack will have road tested the car and had time to uncover any gremlins.

I may try to drive it back to KC from MT, we'll see; my main concern would be the weather. The other option would be to have it shipped to Denver, where I have close friends, and pick the roadster up there...visit my buddies for a few day and then drive back to KC, which as you know is an easy day's drive.

I'll keep you posted and when the roadster gets to KC we can get together.

Thanks for the interest.

trakrodstr

 

Cool. I'm gonna hold you to it.

 

Just been kicked back down here in the shade. Top down doors open, waiting 2 here about your cool ride.

 

I would like to add my congratulations to you on a job well done. I would also like to thank you for taking the time and energy needed to create such an in depth and detailed thread. I really enjoyed watching the car develop over time and believe this to be one of the best build threads I've ever read on the HAMB.
In response to some criticism about hands on building versus professional I would only say that when an artist is commissioned to build a sculpture the customer is not criticized, nor does he feel guilty about not chiseling the work himself and neither should you. Lets not forget that the Hirohata Merc is not referred to as the Barris Merc.

 

My vote is just like gonzo post tells it!

 

Shall we all start to sing "Well Gather at the River"

 

<o>



HAMBers,

I’ve been waiting for photos, but there have been delays delivering the newly plated shift lever, windshield trim and other assorted parts...so no photos today.

To be honest I twice tried to write a reply to Gonzo and LB+1, the guys who wrote the last two posts, but I couldn’t hit the right note. I wanted to say thank you without sounding superficial. I very much appreciate Gonzo and LB+1’s kind words and all the opinions of the HAMB brotherhood/sisterhood; yours are the finest kind of compliment. Most “civilians” will likely think my roadster is interesting and fun to check out but it’s the opinion of the experts and true believers that matters far, far, more. Why? Because you get it.

The day I posted the first photos I can remember thinking that at most I might get a couple of dozen views. I was flabbergasted by the response to three photos of isolated parts to a car that essentially did not exist. Due to the remarkable response I started to post more photos of various subcomponents the response was even more robust. I had no photos of a finished car, as you know, but I did have photos of earlier “whole-car” mock-ups.

Some of the audience became frustrated with me and appeared to be convinced that I was teasing or playing games with the build; of course such was not the case. One of the doubters was HEBE GB, I don’t know whether he gave up in frustration, or continued to check out the project, I hope he stayed the course.

At the time I was concerned about “debuting” the car on the HAMB, as opposed to a car show, which I now realize was silly. You folks have given me the best gift I could have hoped for. To say that I’m no longer concerned about where the car will debut is an understatement…it has and will continue to appear on this thread until the roadster’s final details are complete. I will also post follow-ups once the roadster is on the road.

One Alliance HAMBer, “Malcom”, urged me to take the roadster to the HAMB Drag Nationals, which was not possible; but I would have attended if the car had been done; next I was hoping for the HAMB Hot Rod Revolution, but my job prevented that option.

I just made airline reservations for the first week in Oct. Keep in mind that I have not seen the car since I started this HAMB project thread. Never seen the green paint in person, none of the interior finish, the windshield, etc, etc. You can rest assured that I will take lots of photos when I visit in Oct.

The plan is for Jack to do some road testing and troubleshooting in the next couple of weeks. As of Friday Sept 11 (sad day), the hooks ups were almost complete to allow starting the engine. If all goes well, by the time I arrive the roadster will be drivable…I sure hope so. I also hope to whip together some floor mats out of ultra heavy #4 cotton canvas coated with a silicone rubber backing and then painted with polyurethane stain commonly used on wood floors. I have made some small 12”x12” samples, using this approach, which came out looking pretty good. The mats won’t last long but will be cheap to make and if I don’t like them…no sweat.

This message has gotten long-winded. Let me end by once more thanking all of you for your kind attention and encouragement; your generosity of spirit has blown me away. By the way Jack has been asking about the thread and is equally astonished by the outstanding response.

Thanks HAMBers,

Trakrodster
aka, Charlie</o><o></o>
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I've been reading War and Peace. Nice hotrod.

 

HAMBers,

It's been a couple of weeks and I have two new photos, but they're not super interesting.

One shows the engine mounted with a Edelbrock 4bbl. Jack will get the engine running and the cam broken in with the carb. Once things are stabilized he will then change over to the EFI system&#8230;one task at a time.
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The other photo shows the glove compartment cover, no knob mounted, but it is a cut down knob similar to the door release knobs I described earlier, which came from an old Dodge Bros car.
<o></o>
The main reason I wanted to post a message is to let the interested HAMBers know that I fly to Missoula on Thursday to spend four days. Jack and I will do the final check list and I hope make some trial road tests&#8230;we&#8217;ll see; Murphy&#8217;s law may raise its ugly head.
<o></o>
Assuming all goes well I&#8217;ll take delivery later in Oct, probably the track roadster will be shipped to Denver. I can fly there from KC cheaply, hang out with several good friends and then drive back to KC in my new ride&#8230;at least that&#8217;s the plan.
<o></o>
I will take lots of photos in Missoula. I may even have a chance to post some images from there, but Jack doesn&#8217;t have Internet service and he lives a long way from any town&#8230;so it won&#8217;t be easy. I will have plenty of photos to post upon my return though.
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This will be my first time seeing the painted sheet metal and the whole car assembled&#8230;HOORAY!! So you folks will see it &#8220;complete&#8221; almost at soon as I will.
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My good buddy Richard, who lives in Arlington VA, requested that I have photos made of me by the car with a big shit-eat&#8217;n grin; I&#8217;ll see what I can do.
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More soon.
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Trakrodstr
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Forget flying out to Denver to pick it up.
Jump in my roadster and we'll drive out and then drive back!
r

 

raven 61

Hey man what a gracious offer. I will keep you in mind as this deal unfolds. As a Midwesterner you know that October weather could be beautiful or really suck.

In any case we'll have to meet this fall and compare notes, I should get over to Independence more often anyway. I haven't been to the Truman Museum for some time.

stay cool
trakrodstr

 

ARRRRR! on the photo -
http://www.uswings.com/avcap.asp#BRNSTMR Needed gear for the ride

 

LB+1 and other faithful HAMBer:

OK, I'm finally back home and had a chance to download my Montana photos.

I'm too tired to write much text....which I suspect will not disappoint anyone.

Here are some of the images I took over the three day period.

Notice that when a person is in the photo to calibrate the size of the roadster it seems to shrink.

The bald dude is yours truly and Jack, the consummate craftsman, is the good lookin' guy sitting on the front tire. Do you folks agree that the car looks much smaller when one of us is in the photo?

I'll post more over the next few days.

 

OOOPs

I don't know what happened but the photos did not appear when I uploaded the new post.

????

 

Congratulations! Great lookin' roadster!

 

trkrdstr, The car and owner are lookin' GREAT ! Is the car in running condition yet ? Was hoping that you might make it out for the Walt James Classic Thanksgiving weeken. But it is great to know you will soon be getting to drive your 14 year dream !

Talk to you soon !

41 Dave

 

I dig the wheel chock

 

Very impressive, get it on the road, man you have a lotta patience.

 

Thank you, thank you. I can't wait to drive it but I guess I'll have to...

Dave the car is not running, Jack is building the structure for the rag top, he told me the car will be completed by the end of the month. I will certainly give the Walt James Classic REAL consideration. Can we speak about this by phone? I would really like to participate.

LB+1

Yeah that's a cool Montana wheel chock, kinda goes with the sage brush...

By the way thanks for the "fashion tips" I might just have to get a pair of the ole timey goggles.

Hank, thanks for the kind words, I am anxious to get my hands on the wheel; but in my line of work you learn early on that life seldoms delivers quick gratification.



Hello All,

Tonight I'll post a few more photos, and try to cover some new ground in no particular order.

The first photo shows the Milleresque shift lever after plating and pickling, note the bosses for the fasteners that Jack carved in the base. The knob is old plain black plastic.

Here is the shift lever in place with some new switches for lighting. The steering reduction gear can be seen where it mounts to a small hidden column drop. The fasteners in the foreground are some of the early NASA parts. This is a pretty good view of the brake pedal, which is covered with running board rubber matting.

The next photo shows that the suicide hinges allow the door to open really widely, with such small doors this is a real bonus. Any HAMBer considering building a stock-sized Model A should think carefully about ingress and egress, if they plan to drive their rod.

This image also shows the roll bar clearly. Sorry about the newspaper, but Jack doesn't want to deliver a dinged-up roadster. The seat riser and height of the bottom seat cushion is visible. Also, note the wire cloth heat shield on the exhaust pipe/muffler.

The direct front view is pretty much self explanatory, this view emphasizes that the front suspension is pretty hard to spot, no springs no coils. The shocks are partially hidden as are the lower locating arms (parallel bars). The Hemi valve covers are just barely visible. I think the roadster looks very old timey, which is the look I wanted.

The rear view is dominated by the Halibrand quick change, which will run the #3 gear set [23 and 25 teeth/gear]. The Ford ring and pinion is a 3.78; so the highway ratio will be 3.48 — swap the two spur gears and the ratio will be 4.11. The Tremec fifth gear is a 0.75 overdrive, so if I use the 3.48 quick change ratio, the final drive ratio will be 2.61. That should work out to about 2200rpm at 70mph. The Dodge Hemi should have an easy 325 ft lb of torque; thus mileage should be pretty good with a 2,300 lb car running electronic port injection. I'll surely find out.

The worm's eye rear view also show that there is good ground clearance with the oil pan being the lowest point. The Pete & Jake's ladder bars are visible. Here again no springs or coils are visible.

There is a spring loaded trunk lid release, which is accessible from the cabin, so no handle is needed. I will mount a 1929 Kansas "year of manufacture license plate", which is sunflower yellow [school bus yellow] with black numerals. The plate will be mounted with its top edge level with the upper edge of the tail lights. Here you can see the step in the windshield which allows taller glass without the mass of taller windshield posts.

That's it for now....as Patsy said...."sweet dreams"...

 

What an amazing car and journey.....
Many ideas from your well written posts, thanks for sharing.
I hope you enjoy the heck out of that car. '22

 

Thanks Dodge man, your ride looks fabulous, how often are you able to return home? I would really, really like to see you car in "person".

Cheers,

trakrodstr

 

Your car is simply bitchin. Jack is the best. Love the E-brake in front of the right tire!

 

Charlie, your roadster has turned out great! I look forward to hopefully checking it out in person at an event next year...

 

What an amazing roadster. Hopefully I'll get to see it for real next year. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Later,
Dick

 

It's so gratifying to have experts praise the roadster. I agree Jack is the best. By the way Jack sells those cool Montana emergency brakes, a signed, select edition is only $100.00 plus shipping!!

Thanks man, I promise you will have a chance to check out the roadster were are too close geographically to miss out on a mutual car event.

I'm sure we can arrange a meeting. Eddie Mefford the owner of the Texaco service station where I worked as a teenager lives in Springfield...I owe Eddie a visit...so perhaps I can give you a heads-up when I visit Eddie, I'll drive the roadster.

You guys stay warm and leave the light on...

 

I’m running out of new details to show you folks. Here are a three of photos from last week with slightly different perspectives.

The first photo shows good detail of the front suspension. The yellow arrow is pointing to a spherical rod-end link between the front torsion bar arm and a fixture on the axle tube. The lever arm is behind the tube. The tie rod is wrapped in newspaper. The Perlux headlight bucket on the passenger side has its front lens in place, whereas the driver side bucket does not; but not to worry, I have four spares as I’m sure the lens will eventually get badly chipped or broken.

The second photo show both of my “babies” I just had my 1956 Custom Royal Lancer D500 hauled to Jack’s for some wiring restoration, power steering work and some other odds and ends. The engine was recently rebuilt by a shop in Raytown Missouri and runs sweet. It has an aluminum Torque-flight (3 speed instead of the original 2 speed Power-flight), and a refurbished 8 3/4 limited slip differential running a 2.76 ring and pinion. The car is equipped with PS, PB, four-way power seat and factory AC. It’s a very rare four door hardtop, and the only D500 4dr Ht I have ever seen or heard of.

Next are the first photos of the roadster with the painted floorboard sitting in place. Yeah there’s lots of electronics beneath the seat riser. Moving from the passenger door there are two control modules for the seat heaters (what can I say I don’t like being cold, and this is a true roadster with no side windows). Next are a bunch of relays for the turn indicators and stop lights. There is a relay for a battery shut-off switch

The funny looking lever by the driver's door sill actuates a hydraulic brake lock. Hydraulic locks are often found on forklifts, industrial trucks, and utility vehicles. The roadster has no standard parking brake; however this gizmo contains a valve that holds pedal pressure against the rear brake cylinders. The pressure prevents the rear wheels from rotating. Thus, upon parking I will throw the lever and then push strongly on the brake pedal. Whatever pedal pressure I generate will be held until I release the hydraulic lock. The wiring is for a warning/indicator light included with the assembly.

This arrangement allows me to have a parking brake and still use the 50s Mopar Lockheed-style center-plane drum brake system. Mopars of that era had a drum parking brake on the transmission tail shaft instead of actuating the rear service brakes via a cable.

In my estimation the hydraulic lock will also serve as an anti-theft device as it is somewhat hidden and completely unclear to thieves that it is a parking brake lock…of course all you HAMBers now know one of my “security” secrets. The other two “security” features are the detachable steering wheel and the battery shut off switch. Of course if a crook really wants to steal the car there’s not much one can do.

It’s getting cold here in KC, you other cold weather HAMBers stay warm.

 

Charlie, I can't help it, just look it is crying " nerf bar " with the pickled finish!

 

Charlie, The car is looking great as all the last details are worked out. Would really like to see this work of art you have spent so long bringing to life. Might be neat to get a cruise in it also !

41 Dave

 

OK LB+1, I'll bite, where and what shape nerf bar? You know this rod ain't done 'till I kick the bucket.

 

Dave,

You're really close to I-15, and if one drives from KC to SoCal it's easy to swing by your neck of the woods; so I think there's a good chance I'll be in your neighborhood before too long. I will be in the Pasadena and Escondido areas this spring at the latest.

charlie