Features traditional t bucket

Here is your bible. Car Craft April 1957. ebay should have one listed. I wore one out building my roadster and had to buy another.
Gary

 

BLUDICE: I love your bucket...that was a great car...

 

T is the only ones I love.

 

Although Falcongeorge's picture of the orange DeBenidictis roadster is better than mine you couldn't go far wrong taking inspiration from it if you want a traditional early to mid '60s style. I added a few others that are more '50 style.

 

X2. Royalshifters is a knockout.

 

I have been hung up on Debenidictus' T since I first saw it in the Hot Rod Oakland roadster show coverage when I was a kid. I have a fetish for 5.60x15s stretched over 6" americans, its a look that really says "mid-sixties" to me. For a while, Bass had the same combo on the front of his coupe while he was mocking it up. Also built the Monogram "Swee' T" kit around the same time, and it pays more than a passing resemblance to his car. I know the car is an "icon", but for my money, "Leg Show" was the car that really screwed it up for T-buckets.

 

Used to have this T Bucket. Tried to give it a 60's-70's vibe.
Most fun to drive of any car I ever had.

 

You're the only other person I have heard describe 5.60s over 6" Americans as a fetish! Me too! and a big part of early and mid sixties buckets... Oh, and don't forget the 15x8 1/2" on the rear with 8.20 pie crust cheater slicks on the rear!

 

My take on traditional

 

Dennis is still around. He is the keeper of the history of the Bare Area Roadsters. I sent him this link. We go way back. We grew up in the same neighborhood in Oakland in the '50s. Last time I talked to him he said if you mapquest our old neighborhood a skull and crossbones comes up on the screen. I kept a picture of his roadster above my workbench the whole time I was building mine as inspiration. He told me he drove his T from the Bay Area back to Oklahoma for one of the first Nationals. It had a blower on it at the time. His was one of the last really nice traditional T roadsters before they started getting stupid ugly.

Gary

 

The Ivo bucket is my favorite, and so is the Monogram model "Big T" (and the real life clone) for that matter. I think these cars are kinda fad T, but I like them best. IMHO, you can build almost any T style traditional by leaving off the blown motor, the goofy graphics, brass trim and out house shapped window designs. Keep the motor, trans, wheels / tires etc in the same genre as you would with AV8s or 32s... or bob the tail and call it a modified! Or find a modified and add a tail! Gary

 

There is absolutely no reason you can't build a traditional-style rod out of a T body. Just treat it like a body and a frame rather than a "T-bucket" and you'll do fine. I have seen some really beautiful ones, including some of the ones in this thread.

 

T Buckets are like small block chevys they got a bad name because of what has been done with them.

I figure that when in doubt choose a cut off year on your parts and don't use anything that was not available after that year. Now you have a place to stop take what is available and make it look as nice as you can with what you got. That is what they were doing back then anyway.

 

Her'es my take, if you want a traditional style and you have'nt started yet, how about a model A roadster. It's a little bigger than a T and you can find a glass one like I did for pretty cheap. If I had stopped building when I took these pictures I'd be in it for under 10 grand. Glass model A roadster bodies were available in the early 60s as were T bucket bodies. Just an alternative thought. Disregard the cowl scoop, it was my grandaughters contribution that was some how "lost" in the garage

 

Heres another one. One thing that a lot of guys miss when they look at these, alot of the mid-late sixties T-buckets with slicks are actually running 16" rims on the back. The pontiac powered one in my earlier post has 16's on the back.
Building a mid-sixties T-bucket is on my "bucket" list. transverse leafs, chromed smoothback 9" or early olds, drilled I-beam with buick drums, 289 ford(I have a 32,000 mile '67 289 left over from my Falcon) with twin small-neck afbs on an Edelbrock F-28, the small open element Stellings & Hellings air cleaners, open letter cobra valve covers and T pan, white headers, 16" ET five spokes with 10.5x16 pie crusts(or better yet, 10.5x16 Blue Streaks, if Kelsey tire ever re-issues them) and 15x6 with 5.60x15s on the front. I have a few parts accumulated but too many other projects in front of it. I've also heard its now damn near impossible to register a T-bucket here in BC, about the only way is to buy a Model T title.

 

Heres a modern one that hits the spot. The Webers and Cobra intake are cool, but too rich for my blood. Note the orange autolite wires. Cool beans.

 

No Fad T for me !!!

 

Just took this picture of mine after a nice ride into town.

 

I like JimV's....................................

 

And you sir, just posted my favorite T bucket ever... Pretty sure that's Bud Lakeman's car.

 

want to see some scale t buckets

 

i want to make a scale model of this

 

Just finished this one.

 

My Sons and I like traditionally styled cars but aren't slaves to every detail being totally authentic. Our cars have the essence of 50's or 60's cars but with some changes to make them a little different.

My Son Don has a T bucket that is along those lines, it resembles something from the late 50's early 60's but with some modern components like a 306 Ford sb, c4, coil overs, etc. He built it to drive and knew from the day he ordered the first part what it would end up looking like.

Don

 

I'm all about 40's modified when it comes to T RPU's.
This one was built before 1942.
It's been around but I can't stop looking at this one.

 

I really like this!

 

the one they used in the movie "the choppers" is nice. maybe 63-64?

 

Ivo's "outhouse on wheels"





In "Dragstrip Girl"

 

According to the July '64 Car Craft I found those pics in, the car was built by a guy named Chuck Penry. An interesting side note, I'm sure this is the same car that Cal Automotive used in thier T bucket ad that they ran all through the mid-late sixties, so you could call this car the posterchild for mid/late sixties T-buckets.

 

Your right! Lakemen's car was real similar except candy red. Same short wheel base and all and made the mags about the same time. In either case, Perry's is the car that has always turned my crank! Just mixed up the names. And you are absolutely right about the Cal Automotive ads too.