fiberglass 27T?

[kustomkoupe]

im just looking for an opinion here...im thinking of buying a fiberglass 27T body to use to build my bucks to start on the aluminum one...what im wondering is...do you think i could unload the fiberglass body when im done for what i paid for it atleast?..say i paint it flat black and pinstripe it and stuff...so someone could basically bolt it on and go?...am i diggin myself into a hole i don'tt want to?...are the fiberglass ones much different then a steel one to copy?...please let me know what you think...its going to be a track T with a post war hiligas sprint nose...full bellypan and full hood all aluminum body...but steel frame and what not...basically i want what someone might have done with the skills to cheat in 48...the rules say standard size stock unaltered body...but the minimum weight limit is 1200 lbs..which seems low for a steel car...so i wana try to get one close to that with a flathead v8

thanks
zach

[jalopy43]

I don't know the diffrences of dimentions beetween a steel, and a glass body. It would depend on the maker of the glass one. If you dont damage the glass body,and stripe it and such,you could probibly get what you paid for it in return. sounds like a cool project. Glenn

[The37Kid]

Are you planning on having working doors? Will the finished car be painted or polished aluminum like a Lotus 11? I think you'd get a far better model using an original steel body. Do you plan on having the deck removable like the original, with a working trunk? The original will give you patterns for the internal brackets, glass won't. Good luck with the project.

[cornfieldrodder]

So.. you're thinking of making a copy of a copy that maybe that may have been patterned off a copy. Depending on the accuracy of the 'glass car, you could get pretty far off IMHO.

[kustomkoupe]

yes i would be making it have working doors...painted also not polished as i donlt want it to look like aluminum...just be light...i wasn't sure how accurate the fiberglass ones are..thats why i asked...never had enough interest in having one to look into it much....ive wanted to build something with an aluminum body to learn more of how to do it and i figured if i had something to copy it would be good..and what better then something i want..a 27 T....i would really like to do a streamliner body but designing it and whatnot and not building from an actual copy might be harder for my first big project...this is not a defonite of when its going to happen but i am working on the nose now...i got a buck from someone from a 1951 hiligas sprint car...so if that turns out well im gona move on to the body...i guess maybe i should hunt down a real ratty steel body that i can grab cheap...just so enough is there to copy i should be good

thanks for the advice
zach

[cornfieldrodder]

High quality, dimensionally correct bodies such as Lion's Hot Rods or Zipper's first series bodies (I believe both molds came from Strand) are not cheap. Yuo can probably recoup most of your investment, though. It seems that you could make money after using a steel body that you refurbished.

[willowbilly3]

Original T bodies don't seem to be that hard to come by in many areas. I have seen several that a grand would buy and I don't think you could save a whole lot on a glass one by the time you had it ready to use. I have never built a glss bodied car but att the bodies I have seen looked like they needed a shitload of work to get ready.

[cornfieldrodder]

[ QUOTE ]
Original T bodies don't seem to be that hard to come by in many areas. I have seen several that a grand would buy and I don't think you could save a whole lot on a glass one by the time you had it ready to use. I have never built a glss bodied car but att the bodies I have seen looked like they needed a shitload of work to get ready.

[/ QUOTE ]
Thats the truth! Even the good bodies are a bunch of work with opening doors!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[old beet]

This glass T, originaly a drag car,completely striped weighed a tad under 1600#. Ran C/Altered at 10.03 with a 327 SBC...........OLDBEET