Miracle Makeover - A Road to Revival

[Gaters]

I thought I'd share my car's history with a bit of family history intertwined. My car, a 1928 Ford Model A Roadster, was graciously given to me by my dad who purchased the car in 1964 for $500 from his cousin, Ray Pyle. Ray was a member of the car club the Gaters out of South Gate, CA. and raced the car at the SCTA El Mirage Dry Lakes racing events from the early 40's into the early 50's. I haven't figured out how this happened yet but the car plaque is spelled different than the actual car club name "Gaters". This is also a picture of my dad (Ken) and myself (Chris) when we brought the car out of mothballs after 25 years or so.





At the time, the roadster was a typical driver during the week and a race car on the weekends. One story in particular takes Ray and his bride-to-be in the roadster to Yuma, AZ (about 280 miles) to get married. From what I understand Yuma, AZ was the Las Vegas of the day for same day weddings.

My dad has been around this roadster since he was a young teenager. Thanks to Don Montgomery's "Hot Rod's in the Forties" publication, I found a photo of my roadster at a 1947 El Mirage race event with my dad standing at the front hood and Ray behind the driver's seat.



The Roadster
I'll let many of the pictures tell a bit of the story but here is a break down of the car's assembly.

The motor:
4-banger with a red-head Winfield
Drilled for pressure
Bronze timing gear
Dual 97's

Transmission
32 trans with Zephyer gears

[IMG]

Tires and Rims
16" bent spoke Kelsey-Hayes. These are the original Firestone on the front and Dunlops on the rear. The tubes still hold air can you believe it!


Front End
The front end is a 2-1/2" 32 dropped axle with stock shocks, heated and reversed eyes on the spring to lower the car. This car was still running rear mechanical brakes only. For saftey sake, I am upgrading to hydraulics they'd have used during that time. Check out the drivers side spring perch. The portion of the spring perch where the mechanical brakes would have attached was in the way of the steering arm, so they just cut it of.


Rear End
Doesn't get much more simple than this banjo rearend. They did remove some leaves from the rear spring to lower the rear. They also heated the rear spring eylettes. These sit right on top of the rear axle housings.


To work in the 32 trans with the model rear end, they had to put in a 32 cross member into an A frame. This was crudely welded into the frame.


This pushed the motor and trans 1" forward. This was to compensate for cutting the drive shaft and housing. From what I understand, cutting this type of drive shaft is not or was not an easy undertaking at the time. Instead they cut the front crosss member with a cutting torch and welded in two side motor mounts. This was also very crudely done but it worked for what they needed and could afford at the time.


They also used split wishbones. Check out the bend in the wishbone and the crudely torch cut brackets they made to hang then from the frame. They made it work on a tight budget and it was readyto race from weekend to weekend.

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...ne-Bracket.jpg

The Steering
I could use some help here. My dad doesn't know what steering box they used or the identity of the steering wheel. If you happen to know, drop me a PM or post a response. The only identifying mark is DOT B3550.



The Dash
If you didn't notice in the last set of pictures. My roadster has an original full Auburn dash. I love the look of this dash in a roadster and I am fortunate it was never dismantled, sold or altered. Ray traded a motor he had in the raodster for this dash and a 2-port Riley Head.
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/j...urn-Dash-1.jpg

A couple of other features on the dash is a hand pump to pressurize the gas tank. Since they installed the Auburn dash, they had to cut out the original gas tank in the cowl. The gas tank was placed behind the front seat.


For those eagle eyed hot rodders, that is an SCTA plaque on the right hand side of the dash. It was awarded to Ray Pyle on June 12, 1949 at El Mirage for the speed of 115.97mph.


I was fortunate to have met Jack Underwood, who is a part of the SCTA. He has a great archive of SCTA stats and event programs. I was able to locate and take a picture of the July 1949 SCTA event program that had Ray's land speed record of the day for his class.


Here are other pictures of the roadster. It is a full fendered car as you will notice the pile of fenders, splash aprons and running boards.


Notice the tin cans on the floor board to keep out the wind and dirt while racing over 115 mph.


The chopped adjustable windshield post. This particular set is made of solid brass. According to my dad, these are aftermarket.


I don't know how old this is but it has to date back to the 1940's. Ray owned two gas stations in South Gate, CA. The mighty steed Pegasus that represents Mobil oil co. adorns the center of the windshield. I am not certain iof one of Ray's stations was Mobil. I am still researching some of this information.


Ok, the last little cool tid bit I found out about my car. As I was searchig the web for car parts, car forums, ect. I ran into these cool die cast Model A Roadsters called Origins of Speed, Highway 61. One of the die cast cars is similar to my roadster. It has the Kelsey-Hayes, Auburn dash, Four banger with a 2-port Riley head (which my car ran at one time, this is another story on it's history I will share later) and bomber seat. It also has a replica timing tag like the SCTA tag on my dash. So here it is the photo of the die cast car.


If you look to the left of the car, there is a small booklette called "The First Hod' Rods". After inspecting the car, I started to thumb through the small book and low and behold there is the picture of my roadster with my dad and Ray. I about fell out of my chair. The first call I made was to my dad. I had to let him know that the picture was a part of this collection of cars. This is the same picture I posted up top.

Anyway, as I begin to restore a bit of California racing history, more important to me is that I am trying to get the raodster running for my dad. He's helping when he can, as he has lost most of his eye sight to Glaucoma, suffered all his life from the effects of polio and is just plain getting to be an older man with a lot less energy. He is a great resource of car knowledge, an inspiration and a great support for me.

My initial restoration is to get the car safely running and on the road. I am in the midst of tearing it a part and cleaning 65+ years of dirt and grease off the car. Since the car has been garaged all these years, there is very little rust. At this point I cannot afford to hire out for any fabrication, body work, paint or upholstery. The car will go back together as it ran when Ray drove it at the races. This restoration will be to the best of my abilities and with the help of friends as they see fit. I am by no means destitute but as you may know, cars can take a back seat to everyday circumstances. Unfortunately, that is the postion I am in but I've decided to do what I can, when I can as quickly as I can. So put in a good word for me with the good Man upstairs.

Regards,

Chris


Here is a link to Miracle Makeover - Part 2

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...94#post2488194

[JimSibley]

Wow,super cool....

[bcarlson]

No kidding! Thanks for telling the story!

Ben

[Omega]

Wow...thats just AWESOME! so much history..and to think shes still together since the 30's.. thats just to fucking cool..

[E Burfield]

Way Too Cool! Good Luck With It.and Hurry Up And Get It Running So We Can See The Shit Ass Eaten Grin On Your Dads Face When He Gets The First Ride!!!!!!!!!!!

[Stovebolt]

Thanks for sharing your dad's and your history, and that of the car with us.

I can only try to imagine how you feel holding onto such a piece of history.

Well done to your dad for keeping all that history in one place. A rare feat.

[flatoz]

great to see. very cool.

[Jimmy B]

Wow! That is amazing to be still in the family and still so intact.

[Malcolm]

Wow, Chris - What a great story! Thanks for jumping out of the intro forum and telling us the whole story. It's a great story, indeed. Real dry lakes racing history, and you have your dad and the car still with you. You are blessed.

Malcolm

[SUHRsc]

WOW,
thank you very much for posting, great history and a great car
good luck with the restoration
i wish i was closer and could help you out with it

Zach

[gahi]

Glad to hear your plans to preserve it, rather than modify it. Its a real piece of history.

[Autoslim]

Great story and what a piece of hot rod history. We talk about how well folks on this forum "car craft, but I want to say that post was well crafted! I wish I was that well organized in thought. Great car and great post. Keep us posted.

[fiat128]

Thanks for posting that great bit of history for us. I'm glad to see that you are cleaning up the car and putting it back on the road as it was built.

Please post updates to this story as you make progress, it sure has my interest up.

PS: 115 MPH with the 4 banger is pretty impressive too. I can only imagine how that must have felt back in 1949!

[zman]

That is very cool... glad to see you keeping the history alive...

[Wisenheimer]

Great story, thanks for sharing.

[breeder]

thats amazing! wow!

[NealinCA]

Wow! Great story and car. I look forward to seeing this one on the road.

You are very lucky the car was kept in the family and mostly intact.

Thanks for sharing and keep us updated.

Neal

[evil clown]

That's an amazing piece of hot rod, and family, history! You're a lucky man to be the current caretaker. Preserve it well, and enjoy it as much as your Uncle and Dad did!

[Bruce Lancaster]

Great family and car history! Familt rooted cars are the best, especially when your ancestor has great taste! Here's an inspirational restoration story:

http://www.airbum.com/NeatShtpix/Roadster.html

[Bruce Lancaster]

Oh, your steering is almost certainly '32 Ford. Can fully ID with more pics. Wheel...perhaps Zephyr??