Would Like Your Opinions....Wild Little Bubble Top..

Thats a krazy find ! cant wait too see that baby nailhead make her run ! do you have the 215 already ?

 

I think that the concensous is that you need to do this car. It's unique and it will be a standout in a croud. Plus when an auto restorer finds out that you customized a factory prototype they'll go friggin berserk and kill themselves.

Remember don't crush 'em, customize 'em...

 

Ron,...I've got one lined up, but do you have an extra one layin' around?

Broman,...I've pretty much decided that I need to build it, instead of just turning it over, I could dig the scene where the concours restorer guy's have fits, foam at the mouth, and pee their pants!

 

Randy that is a pretty bitchin lil peice. it will have to have some very heavy glass flake on it when it's done though. I bet there are a bunch of cool concept cars laying around the detroit. Hopperstad has a guy that all he does is concept cars and just found a 54 biscayne at a wrecking yard up there a few years back. it is a pretty wild car too. they cut it in half and the frame is lost but they are trying to revive her. good luck with the project it should be cool. later

 

That thing would be bitchen. Here's another vote for resurrection.

 

Randy,
Just have fun with and build it way you want to. Besides that, if you get tired of it Donnie will probably be looking for a new ride by then. He likes sloppy seconds ya know

 

Randy,
Just have fun with it and build it way you want to. Besides that, if you get tired of it Donnie will probably be looking for a new ride by then. He likes sloppy seconds ya know

 

Get rid of that crap!! My address is 530 Mac....Oh, you know how to find me!!

 

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Randy the motor isnt mine but its available!! it is out of a 63 buick special wagon ! Let me know if ya want me to go and check it out !!

 

Tim!...that rendering is right on! That's the concept I was lookin' for!

Ron, does it have the 2-speed Dynaflo with it?,...is it a 4-bbl motor?...yeah man, that would be really cool if you could check it out for me and get a price,...thanks man!

 

That's WICKED!

I'd tend to go with dual carb big-bore VW power/tranny. Lots of Fiat-bodied VW drag cars were campaigned successfully in the late '60s-'70s. If you want a jacked-up gasser look, you can use the mount for the transverse front spring to mount a model-A setup... I thought about doing a Fiat 500 this way for wheelie-prone kicks.

Dave

 

I sure hope you do pick it up and redo it. It's very cool looking and the thought of you cruzn in it cracks me up. What are you 6'2", 6'3"?

I'll sew you a new do-rag out of vintage, George Jetson, space age looking material.

 

MrGasser,
I'll voice my opinion, for whatever that's worth. I read all of the posts associated with you asking for an opinion and in between the lines I recall some of the same flavor that I read yesterday, relative to a picture that someome posted of a 50 Plymouth, sitting back in the woods somewhere. I get the impression from reading some of the posts, that the majority seems to think that anything with wheels would make a nice Gasser? I would argue that the 50 Plymouth would not, I grew up in the Gasser Era and there are two things that I know for sure; Not all Gassers had I-Beam front ends, that was certainly not a requirement! And second, the only 50 Plymouth that had any fortune or fame racing in the NHRA Gas class, was one owned and raced by the Ramchargers. It was just as fucking ugly as the one sitting in the woods and very short lived! I lived and raced in both Canada and the U.S. back then, I have seen many varieties of the Canadian manufactured cars but never anything like this. The most unusual cars were the Canadian Pontiacs, they were all built over a Chevrolet chassis with Chevy power, the 62 Pontiacs for example, were pretty unsightly with a big "wide track" U. S. made body mounted over a narrow Chevy chassis. Crazy looking things and now back to the point................bubble top. I have worked in and around the Aerospace Industry most of my adult life. I have worked in numerous aircraft plants where canopys for high performance fighter type aircraft were built. They aren't "blown", they are sucked! This is a neat process; hang a 4'X 8' sheet of lexan on a cable with things that look like cloths pins. The cable is on pullys, so the lexan can be pulled into and out of an oven just like a cloths line goes in and out. Super heat the lexan until it is almost to the stage of becoming liquid. Pull it out of the oven and three guys on each side will grab it with a tool that looks like a vice grip, remember the stuff is hot! They lay it squarely over a buck shaped like the canopy or bubble you want to form. The buck is full of tiny holes which are sucking in air created by a vacuum pump. The lexan will shape itself exactly like the buck as it is being shaped and cooled by the suction, the material will usually remain crystal clear and can be viewed thru without any distortion. It's an expensive, very simplistic process and certainly not cost effective for a one of a kind item! I would think that if you search the world of experimental aircraft, you'll see photos of this process and also get more ideas then from the automotive industry. My opinion.

Shoe

 

Hey John... (Sorry Randy, not trying to Hijack post here), I'm the one that found the 50? plymouth, and I TOTALLY agree. I don't have any interest in making that a gasser at all, I plan on doing that with my 55 chevy (and there's nothing you can say to stop me! ). But for the plymouth I was thinkin' BB NOpar, with a 4 speed, and a set of floors and seat covers and drive that bitch! Even a stock BB/4 speed combo should make ALL KINDS of tire smoke with stock size tires on that thing! Sounds like fun to me!!!

 

I brought up the gasser suspension because it'd been mentioned before.

If you want to REALLY blow peoples' minds, install a small APU gas turbine generator out back off to obe side, with an electric motor hooked to the trans. Use the front to store batteries and the charge controller.

The batteries will carry the load during start-up and such, and the APU should more than make enough juice to run the car at cruising speed and recharge the battery pack. The turbine can run at a very efficient constant speed, and the electric motor will propel the car - no need for a clutch, since the motor doesn't spin at a stop. Usually, a DC motor has enough torque to start the car in second, then match loads and shift without the clutch.

For giggles, hook up a flamethrower/afterburner on the exhaust and really give them a jet-age show at night.

Candy/pearl paint and some 13" narrow-white 5.20's would really set it off.

Dave

 

Probably wouldn't do the APU thing, JP-4 jet fuel is hard to find while traveling. I can imagine the 50 Plymouth slammed hard on the ground with a blown Hemi!

Shoe

 

You supply the Hemi and I'm all over that!!!

 

[ QUOTE ]
Poster: John Copeland
Subject: Re: Would Like Your Opinions....Wild Little Bubble Top..

Probably wouldn't do the APU thing, JP-4 jet fuel is hard to find while traveling.


[/ QUOTE ] Turbines can be made to run on just about anything... I was actually thinking propane...

Dave

 

John....thanks for the comments, the idea of a gasser was never on the table as far as this car is concerned, I have a couple already, but they're, "traditional" gassers...the first time I saw it, I just figured that an angel-haired, candied, chromed, "traditional", early-'60's show rod, was the ONLY path to go...

Denise...actually, I'm 6'5", so, yeah, it's gonna be a tight squeeze, but, if it ain't tight, it ain't right!
...and, if and when the car gets done, and maybe makes it to the show circuit, I was thinkin' about a turntable with a beehived-'do little girlie in a silver, mini-skirt space suit and go-go boots as the "traditional" show car eye-candy!

 

[ QUOTE ]
I was thinkin' about a turntable with a beehived-'do little girlie in a silver, mini-skirt space suit and go-go boots as the "traditional" show car eye-candy!

[/ QUOTE ]

Well that leaves both me and Martha out doesn't it!

 

[ QUOTE ]
back to the point................bubble top. I have worked in and around the Aerospace Industry most of my adult life. I have worked in numerous aircraft plants where canopys for high performance fighter type aircraft were built. They aren't "blown", they are sucked!

[/ QUOTE ]


Not to be arguementative here, but Daryl Starbird used the "blow" technique to make something like nine bubbletop cars, and he went on the show circuit with Big Daddy and taught him how to do it as well. And as far as I know Mark Moriarity used the "blow" technique to make the bubble for his Futurian and to restore Ed Roths damaged Orbitron.

My guess is that the aerospace builders need exactly the same shape every time, and the car customizers are just doing one offs. The "blow" method is cheap and easy (relatively speaking) because no buck is necesssary.

I have been researching this stuff for a long time (a couple years now) because I am collecting parts to make my own bubble top show car. I am also trying to develope a more high-tech way to make a buck for fiberglass car that is lighter and easier to work with than the "spit-wad" method that Ed Roth used.

In this situation, blow is not just an expression.
I like to be sucked, blown, licked and rubbed regardless of how a bubble is made.
Sorry for the vulgarity Denise.

 

First thing I thought of when I saw the photo is "George Jetson's car!"
I'd have to use a little 8-RC toyota 4 cylinder hemi with it's 4 speed tranny and rear axle. I'd use a narrow little skinny front axle [maybe a drilled crosley?] and scrawl "George Jetson" at the base of the driver's window on the door skin... I'd also keep the original top and windows....

 

I too have been researching the Bubble-blowing methods, and I think I'll probably do mine by hanging it upside-down at an angle and blowing - that should get me the taper I'm looking for for my single-seater bubbletop car.

My car is a little different, in that it's a more modern take on the bubble-top, even though there are traditional influences. This thing will be a study in contrasts when it's done - I didn't want mine to look like a roth car from 1964, but a retro-future racecar. Our construction methods are a little more high-tech too... monocoque tub, marine/aircraft foam bucks for composite bodywork and high-tech coatings.

It's in a semi-secret stage right now, so no pics. Once the chassis is a roller and bodywork has begun, maybe I can convince my co-builder to let me post some snapshots.

Think of a 1:1 Hot Wheel, and you'll get it.

Dave

 

You bastard,
The foam method is what I was talking about. I was trying to keep that a little hush-hush. Though I think that it is how many industrial designers are sculpting these days. I know I saw an ID guy carving a video game controller with the foam. I guess it's just better than plaster, clay or wood. Plus if you make a mistake, just cut off the bad piece and wood-glue a new piece of foam on.

Ohh and incase you hadn't learned yet. The foam comes in different densities. There is 3-5 lbs/cu.ft; 12-15; and 30+ or something close to that. Anyways you want the 15 lb stuff. It is easy to cut yet is as tough as a soft wood. You can make your own hot-wire cutter to get the basic shape, then regular wood tools for the finish. Sand, paint/gelcoat, 'glass.

I am goint to have to wait to start mine, the wife wants to move, and I agree. So until I get my shop in another garage I will wait. I am sketching out my design all of the time. I have an awesome group of ideas. I hope to get into a magazine with it. I think it will be show up first at the Goodguys show or BTT50's, but thats a long way off.

 

...but to get an actual, "shape", to the bubble, and not just a "bubble" bubble, you have to build a complete buck right? Doesn't the Futurian have like a "crease" in the back, so it appears from the rear to almost be 2 bubble halves joined? Know what I mean?

 

So Randy, after seeing that rendering is there any question in your mind? I didn't think so.
i'm sure i can help out on any of the glass work. And maybe Tom Holden could help with the bouble. It wouldn't be his first now would it. .

Dude I can see it now front row autorama with the silver mini skirt hottie.

 

[ QUOTE ]

In this situation, blow is not just an expression.
I like to be sucked, blown, licked and rubbed regardless of how a bubble is made.
Sorry for the vulgarity Denise.

[/ QUOTE ]

No offense taken on this end....I like all those things too

 

[ QUOTE ]
...but to get an actual, "shape", to the bubble, and not just a "bubble" bubble, you have to build a complete buck right? Doesn't the Futurian have like a "crease" in the back, so it appears from the rear to almost be 2 bubble halves joined? Know what I mean?

[/ QUOTE ]

From what I understand the rib in the Predicta's roof was just a plywood rib cut into the curved shape... it bisected the bubble when it expanded past that size. Air pressure and gravity did all the cool curves.

Dave

 

Rudy, I actually talked to Tom about the bubbles, he had a place in Mt. Clemens do his, (Cadillac Plastics?), but that was in 1960! Did you know that he still has an extra pair of bubbles for the "Ultimus" out back of his shop?...they're still inside the 2x4 wooden fixtures!