Well, maybe not a survivor in the sense that most of you think, but my "survivor" indeed. I got the car from a friend of my dad's when I was 11 years old. I was battling cancer and given less than a 5% chance of living at the time. I obviously survived my battle, but it was with the help of that Model A. My dad, his brothers and car friends would bring me magazines with Model A's in them when I was in the hospital. I drew Model A's to pass the time. It gave me hope. Something to look forward to. I had my last chemotherapy treatment on April 17th, 1989. Time went on and life (and a lack of time and money) got in the way of building the car and it went into barn storage for nearly 20 years. I got into SCCA road racing and in honor of surviving my battle with cancer, my race car wore the number 417 (in honor of April 17th, 4/17). I was to participate in my first event April 17, 2003, but it got snowed out. As fate would have it, I also met my wife, Megan, on April 17, 2003. After a couple years of racing, I sold the car and bought my other Model A (the one that was wrecked last summer http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275101) . . . on, you guessed it, April 17, 2006. Since my accident and the death of HAMBANDY (whose story touched me for obvious reasons), I've realized that life is fragile and much too short. This year April 17th marked the 20th anniversary of my last chemotherapy treatment and 20 years that I've had my 30 Model A Tudor. That car is a part of me and deserves to be on the road. In the past couple years I've gotten to know Titus and decided there was no better person to help me realize a 20 year dream. Towaholic lit a fire under my ass and brought the car down to Titus' shop for me. We're going after a mid-late 50's build. Full house flatty, toploader, lake headers, full fendered, 5" chop, wide whites, 16" steel wheels, nerf bars front and rear, baby blue paint and a baby blue & white tuck & roll interior, running boards and top. The baby blue comes from the fact that the wheels I got for it years ago happened to be baby blue and to protect some of the bare metal on the body from rusting we spray painted some of those areas. The can we grabbed cabinet happened to be a can of baby blue touch up paint left from my grandfather's 65 Ford. So this car is destined to wear baby blue! The car has been named "Survivor" by Lance (towaholic) and I find it to be a very fitting name. Here it is in all it's glory sitting in my garage after a 20 year barn slumber. Along with the 47 Ford axle, brakes and banjo rear. Not pictured is the 47 Ford flatty. All of it came from a street rodder who was tossing the parts. I was in the right place at the right time and scored it all for free! A pile of parts started to fill the garage. The 50 Ford column and wheel from my dad's Business Coupe (http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=264918) Titus working on the wishbones. Progress on the frame. Motor and tranny in using an F1 crossmember. Also mocked up is the F1 pedal assembly. Front end mocked up.
Last week we decided it was time to get the body on the frame and give her a haircut. This is what i saw when I came down the driveway to Titus' shop. I could hardly contain my excitement! This is the first time I had seen it on its wheels and I liked what I saw to say the least. Pushed back in the shop to layout the chop. 5" all the way around with 4" taken out of the back window. Me taking the honor of the first cut With Falcon Man looking on. Titus gets busy on the A pillars. No turning back now! Titus, towaholic and I lifting the top off. And the top is off and making the rest of the cuts in preparation of putting the top back on. Titus and towaholic setting the top back in place. And DAMN! Titus tacking the top back in place.
And I just had to take a step back and get a pic of the scene. Awesome! And just for fun, some of the inspiration for the build. http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k80/MNBullyBoy/Survivor A/Survivor Inspiration/ There will definitely be more to come as the project progresses. I am overwhelmed with happiness as I see my 20 year dream come together. A huge thanks goes out to Titus for helping me realize my vision. Thanks to towaholic for lighting the fire, always being there to lend a hand . . . and for his bad ass haulers. Thanks to FalconMan and Motoboy for inspiration. Thanks to Vaphead for the continued great deals on parts. And thanks for my saint of a wife, Megan, for allowing me not 1 but 2 Model A projects at the same time as I rebuild my wrecked A ("Resurrection") and work on "Survivor."
Adam? damn usernames getting me confused again.. Old Fords are fun ! Good looking hot rod (and thanks for the call,I appreciated that)
Great story and excellent pictures. Please update as the build progresses. Wishing you continued good health! Mike
Would like to see pics of your rear frame solution with the spring behind and any wondered how/or who you shortened the driveshaft, been worried about that job on mine.
very cool. Do you have any closeup picts of the F-1 Crossmember mounted in, with trans attached? Thanks
Titus turned me on to that car. Trust me, there's more inspiration that what's pictured in the album. So many amazing cars out there to steal ideas from. Thanks for all the encouragement and compliments. I am totally psyched about this car. She and I have a 20 year history and it feels so good to see it come together. I refer all technical questions to Titus as he's the man with the skills. I come to him with ideas and he fills in the gaps and makes them happen while adding his own touches.
Just for fun, I took some pics of the Polaroid pics I carried with me for years. They were taken just after I got the car. The whole basket case came home on a snowmobile trailer.
You should leave those bad ass snow tires on the back. With the kind of weather we been having around here lately your probably gonna need 'em in a week or two! Feels awesome to make progress doesn't it? I remember you talking about this car in junior high! I excited to see it on the street, from the driver's seat of my 57!
Im very glad to be involved with Adams project, i cant wait to get it on the road! to answer the questions: I havent made the spring mount but when i get to it will post some pics. at the moment i just tack welded the torque tube back together till i know the wheels are centered in the wheel wells, shortening the tube is the easy part, i stay behind the bearing a few inches and cut out what i dont need, i chamfer the edge, make sure the 2 halfs are square to each other then welded, skipping around of course, the driveshaft ill end up cutting off the rear of it the same amount i shortened the torque tube, then put it in the lathe and turn down the od of it till it fits in the splined adaptor, tap it on, then weld the adaptor onto the drive shaft, some people dont like this way but its worked on about 3 of my cars and a bunch of my buddies. ill take a few when i get a chance.
Bull, Thanks for letting me watch you work and feeding me beer and pizza ! It was a fun night. You and the crew are making great progress. I can't wait to see it on the road. Doug
Correction. Titus is making good progress. I merely feed him ideas and parts and get in the way by helping sometimes.
Congratulations Adam, Looks great so far. I love to see a bunch of mates getting together to work on Hot Rods. Please wear some hearing protection when your grinding etc.....we should loose our hearing driving them not building them!