Maybe somebody added them later. They look like square pipe with the ends smashed down and a mounting hole drilled. Notice the firewall looks like it was cut for clearance also. Might of been a hot rod a long time ago.
Ya know, looking closely at the photo, it strikes me as sort of odd. See, the thread that I referenced about the '22 that's current here revealed something a bit odd about his car. It had steel subframes or subframe covers. A bunch of us all commented at the same time about that, and surmised it was an Australian or New Zeeland thing, but he said that the body came from the states.... If you look closely at this one, it looks almost as though it might be the same sort of deal. Look down low by the cowl, I might be seeing things, but I'm seeing steel where I should see wood or nothing left. kinda explains why it's all together at this late stage in the game too. Gwad I'd love to see this go together as a full fendered car... I have one in right now based on a '25 that we are doing a VERY loose copy of Grabowski's tub with. Unfortunately it's jag rear end will preclude me from logging too much of it here.
id leave the body as is and build from there i have ideas for one like this down the road sadly i mite have to go with 2 fiberglass tubs and make them one
I have a 26 ford coupe I wouldn't take a million bucks for-a million and one bucks I mite consider it- build it as a tub and I don't think you will regret it. Looks like you have a good start there..........................
You guys do need to check out my "Full fendered "T"s , official maybe?" thread! I realy dig that little '26-'27, and I will be building soon a an early version of sort of the same. Although I have decided to use my roadster body instead of my touring...
Well said! OP, you have aroused the interest of the mighty T-heads...please post more pics; we want to see what's going on with this one!!!
I think you may get away with a Jag rear if you get one from an E type instead of late model. They were available in our time frame and who's to say that some schlub from San Francisco didn't use one. Certainly not common until the later '60s or early '70s but ya just never know. I guess you could post the entire build and photoshop a banjo in there. or an 8.75 Ford from say a '57 or '58 Ford. Oh getting back on track here to the OP, making a T bucket out of a touring is work. A bucket T didn't have a relief behind the seat and a touring with the back half removed does have a relief where the quarters roll around the back side of the bucket. That is why I originally suggested a lakester, they were commonly made from touring bodies and the relief where the quarters would roll into the back side of the tub is common for a lakes modified.
I don't think Canadian/Australian. As far as I know, Canadian T bodies of this period came with 4 opening doors, presumably because so many were sent out to Australia, Soth africa, etc. with RHD. Since it's a T, one front door was always pretty much useless...
I used to laugh at people who told me that a camel was a mule designed by a committee. After reading all the posts about what everyone would do to this nice old body with the fenders intact, it amazes me how little there would be left of it when this crowd got through. And, before y'all get out the rope and start lookin' for the nearest tree, let me have my say. If you have something with as many good pieces as this one seems to have, and knowing how good these cars look when they're grunted up only enough to have later parts under 'em, and not turned into whiz bang clones of what's already been done and turned into show cars no one really drives except from the trailer to the coliseum floor, remember that with fenders and later (here we can arm wrestle over what we mean by that) drive train parts, the beauty of what was a 'T', if preserved, makes a pretty damn good impression when it's built well enough to get out of its own way. How much steam you want to put in it is a matter of taste. I would opt for drive-ability. Of course a builder could could go ape-shit and make it all strip-down, gow-job qua hot rod and throw everything but the body in the scrap pile and put slicks on it and wires on front. Then what? It would look like every other hot rod T-bucket built out of glass or more with a shrinker-stretcher, hammer-welded, English wheel, cum whatever planishing orbital gizmo that made a fragment into the whole gob. I mean it's already a car and the consensus it to make it into a bar of soap? How come on a traditional level everyone wants to turn their backs on what Henry hath wrought and add layers to a cake that has already had more strippers pop out of it than fire ants in the South? Be gentle with this beauty and save as much of the old lady as you can, and remember it's also our roots we're talking here. If you want to go fast, build a dragster. If you want a show car, this rusty but majestic survivor would rather be put back into some semblance of her once regal nature. Don't whack it up like a dead buffalo. It deserves to look more like the last picture of the black and modern version of what these great cars once were. Ah. I know I'm pissin' in the wind. But, bein' old, I tend to understand old better than I did when I was fulla piss and vinegar. All hot rods don't have to look alike. They just have to have balls and go fast enough to scare the bejesus out of you. You can have that and still have class.
...Amazingly cool! And, the reason I suggested looking at the full fendered thread first. You have a cool opportunity that doesn't come along everyday with these today. They haven't been popular in the last couple of decades as full fendered cars, but if you go back to the sixties and early seventies they were quite a big deal. Lots of cool full fendered "T"s built in the early sixties too.
Jethro,,If you go look at the thread,"Interesting photos in old magazines" Page 28 thread #833..top photo shows Norms full fendered "T'Tub...same body as yours..A very neat old car thats not all fugged up. BUILD YOURS LIKE IT
That is a very cool car!!! I do like that look, I will have to find a hood. (among lots of other parts)
I'm building this one now, for the ROG: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/the-sachem-special-a-little-t-and-a-for-the-rog.933959/ and if the body I got a hold of was any better, I would have kept it a full touring instead of a modified. But, I am also picking up another late teens touring body tomorrow, so I may have my chance to build a full tub after all. Yours is pretty special with all the fenders in tact. I love some of the inspirational full fendered pics. Really neat cars.
Nail down your chassis & body placement before buying a hood...the T hood is only 24-25" long and will really only accommodate a T motor comfortably. If you end up putting an A motor in it, you'll probably want to set the body back, so you'll need a longer hood (don't ask me how I know this) Best of luck...looking forward to more updates!
Jethro,Thanks for looking ar my suggestion for building your Tub...very few ever built like it as opposed to unfendered ones AND Please use the "stock length "hood to keep proportion correct, sink engine into firewall like Norm did
The gist of what he is saying is go full on '70s resto rod with it. I think that most of us suggested that it not be stripped completely down but that a car that intact would make a nice full fender car. I did throw out the option of making a lakes modified out of it but I think that options are always good when one has no idea what they want to do.
After I posted my replies about options, I looked at the car again and I have to agree. A full fendered car would be the way to go since the fenders are all there, don't see them often enough. I like the car in post #43, a little on the street rod styling but that could be modified to look more traditional.
Nice T body. I love the red example above, although I'd be tempted to swap the back half off for a turtle deck and let someone build a whole 'nuther body out of the back doors and panel using a second cowl. Either way, would make a great rod (or two!)
That's kinda a problem Squablow, you really can't just swap out the back half of a touring and build a roadster out of it. The "bucket of a roadster and the front half of a touring are two VERY different animals any way you cut it. And the back half of a touring and the back half of a roadster are quite dimensionally different too. Now what did swap back and forth on later "T"s was a turtle deck for a pickup bed after the beds became an accessory. That was roughly '23-'25, and on all the '26-'27 cars.
Actually, the hood is super easy and not very expensive. Just call Rootlieb, or any of the companies that handle Rootlieb stuff like Snyders and order one new. The other cool thing is that the grill shells for early low cowl cars are repro'd fairly inexpensively as well. Looks like you have most everything else you'll need but a pair of windshield frames and hinges, and guess what? They are repro'd and not expensive either. Another great "T" reference is Logan's out of Massachusetts.
Why hash a perfectly good touring body ? T tubs are cool. Always wanted one myself. Stuff a built banger or flatty in that thing and run it full fendered.
Perfect! Thank you! I'm so embarrassed that I couldn't remember his screen name. Oh, one more to add, again it's a roadster, but think of it as a touring.
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