Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

Gary, post 1133 & 1134.

 

You know I didn't get away much from my roadster this year. I think I mentioned before it seems every time I walked away and came back one of my friends said "as soon as you walked away so in so came by and wanted to talk to you. So this year I stayed close. Left the roadster on the fairgrounds all weekend and as soon as I walked up to it Sat. morning Grant Pendergraft came by and we talked for god I don't remember how long but when he left my friends were almost finished cleaning it.

 

Yep, you did mention that before. And I missed (skipped the chance to meet you because you were all eating lunch when I walked by and I was running late for my free lunch over at the Over the Hill Gang Berdoo's tent. As it was, there was nothing but scraps left when we got there! I WILL make it a point to stop by next year if we're both there! Missed Chip as well because I couldn't figure out where he was. Hopefully, things will be better for Bill (Pitt's) and we'll have the Magicar there, so I'll be EASY to find, just follow the smell of the Nitro!

 

I did go back and check those posts. Not much said. I do like that roadster though. Not only did he nail the look of the late 50s it is a quality build too. He used all vintage parts. Has an early Don Brusseau look.
Well for some reason it's not letting me download a photo. I'll try again before I post. Went into edit and it let me download the photo.???????

 

That car is awesome, Gary! Any more photos of it?

 

I have photos of the mag. article. Let's see if I can download them. We actually talked about Don's roadster earlier in the thread though. He actually ditched the steel body AHHHHH!!!!!! and install a lengthened fiberglass one later and upgraded to an early '60s look bucket seats and all.

 

Ok, now I remember that car. Thanks for posting. I actually have a similar, but opposite predicament at the moment. My body is a Total Performance fiberglass body I bought used off of Craigslist like 5 years ago. Well, this past weekend, a guy I ran into at a swap meet has a complete, but completely apart 1923-25 T touring body as well as a couple pretty haggard Model T and A pickup beds, and that really got me thinking... So, I'll turn it over to you guys and see what you all think Is it worth it to body swap at this stage for a steel one? I'm thinking, why not? It's not like I have a deadline, and I'm still young... Thoughts? Suggestions? If it helps, I haven't done much of anything to the body of the car, so I haven't glassed in the floor yet or the back panel, and I haven't cut out the passenger door yet, so I've still got pretty much all the body work to do regardless of which direction I go...

 

I'd say it all depends on how good you are at metalwork, or how good you would like to get.
Steel is real as they say, however it's up to you.
If you make the change now ,you will get good at metalwork as you go.
I prefer steel, but it's an age old debate as you may have already seen.
Either way the fun is just getting ready to begin

 

That T of George Goodrich's is near perfect in my book. Now have a good look at the way that roof too as that too is an excellent example of the perfect T Roof. Triple carbs would finish that car now in my humble opinion and I will admit, I'm not a fan of '32 grilles' on the front of T's or other non pre '32's for that matter but that looks real good on this bucket.

 

Tim as Blue One said it's personal. I just wouldn't do fiberglass myself. But that's just me. You'll get more recognition with real steel. If your going for a '50s look and using old parts and I see you are I beam axle, drum brakes, I'd say go steel. If your avatar is what your building. I just have plywood floors. With steel you could just forget any fiberglass. Okay I'm pushing you for the steel. I do have to admit I did put an aftermarket fiberglass trans. hump in my roadster.

 

This is absolutely a personal choice, but I would go with steel in a heartbeat, now whichever way you choose to go, build it the way you want it and enjoy it.

 

I had my car mocked up, pre-fitted, frame painted, nearly ready to assemble when I came across a killer deal on a steel roster front section. Bought it up with the intent of swapping the glass body for steel. About a week into the imagineering of what it would take to fix the body,

 

Hit send too soon. So, fix the body, find a turtledeck, and modify the floor to fit my frame, I decided to roll the direction I started to get the car on the road. Sold the steel body for a profit.

 

Well, you guys pretty much reaffirmed my thoughts exactly. More work? Yes. More fun? Maybe. More awesome? Probably. I haven't followed the traditional codes exactly, and a lot of my parts were purchased new. BUT, a lot of my parts are early Ford, too. And I did build a lot of my own parts- as much as I felt comfortable building. I would probably fit into the "traditionally inspired" category with some (hopefully) well concealed modern upgrades. So, long story short, I'm heading over to look at this guy's stuff tonight after work. I'll let you know what happens.

 

Don't look at his stuff Do however look at the parts he wants to sell

 

Well, I'm salivating profusely right now.... thanks for posting!

 

If I had written that, I'd be banned.

 

Gary--I was at LA Roadsters this year as well, and didn`t see Grant at all. I saw your car a couple of times, but didn`t make it over there. I didn`t realize until recently that you had taken the Ford out (I remember it that way from when I lived in SoCal ) and put the Cad in. Nice feature in Rod and Culture, by the way. I haven`t seen Grant or talked to him for quite a few years. Making the headers and full exhaust (including bedrail exit pipes) look as good as they did and still work was an achievement I`m pretty proud of...and all the other work I did as well. Also made a few mistakes, and had a windshield stay break after plating.....also had forgotten that Marty made the gas tank. Lonnie Gilbertson did all the wiring and final assembly on Grant`s car. Seems like yesterday, but 15 years have gone by already....

 

Yeah Kiwi after my second trip in it to the Bonn. salt in 2004 the rear suspension was getting pretty corroded. I don't care what anybody says you just can't get all the salt out without taking it apart. Anyway I decided to dismantle it for a redo. Their were a couple of things I didn't like about it and wanted to change (we covered it earlier in this thread) and I also had the Cad. engine done by then and wanted to install it and the Ross steering box that I gotten from a friend. It was down for two or three years.
Then when it was back together on the way home from LARS in 2012 Trent photographed it in his home town of Porterville Ca. for Rod and Kulture. What an artistic eye that guy has.
Yeah Grant and I had a good conversation about Klones Fathersday. The only think I didn't like about his klone is I thought he kind of over did it some. Sorry Grant if your reading but that is what this thread is about. The quality is great and you guys really nailed the look. I first saw it at the 50th Grand Nationals in San Francisco. Wish he had it at LARS this year.
Hope Chip has his finished by June next year. I'm up in the air about taking mine in 2015 but that might convince me to go if he brings his.
Grand Nationals athe

 

Man, at the point you are at, I would go with steel in a heartbeat!

 

Well, the deal went down. He had the front half of a 1915 touring that he thought would better suit my needs rather than cutting up a pretty decent full touring body in half. I traded him a 1955-56 265 SBC distributor with Pertronix, a Model A style brake pedal assembly that didn't work with the amount of room I have in the car, some spring clamps, and $40 for what you see here. I will have a lot of reading and research to do to make sure I get it right! It's just roughly clamped together at the moment, but I'm pretty excited! Slightly overwhelmed, too





Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

I guess there was also I pair of 1937-39 wide 5 front drums in the trade as well. I have been considering swapping out the wires for the wide 5's as I recently ended up with a set. So now, I have a lot of scheming to do!

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Great deal Tim. It'll be worth any extra work you have to do. Really a nice 100 year old body. Same body on my T and the kookie kar.

 

Ok, well this is good news then! When you put yours together, did you do a wood frame structure, or did you use steel?

Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Mine already had steel tubing reinforcing it. Someone had started mine before I got it. Think it must have been 1/2" electrical conduit. Check some other steel T builds on the hamb. Settle down you don't have to do it all tonight.

 

Good deal, happy for you, you won't regret this.

 

Time for some research and some welding classes

 

Tim,if ya go with some 1/2 in. or any of the sizes EMT electrical conduit for bracing,it dose work well n nice low cost,but trick is to sand it before putting it in,that way it welds good an paint stays on. But even sanded EMT has a coating on/in it that as it bruns when welding,needs to be blown w/fan away from you{don't breath fume from welding is always a good thing no matter what your welding. I use a lot of EMT for fabing stuff,last thing was folding top bows.

 

Tim--I have done a few of these, and am about to do one for myself. Since I am close to you, send me a PM and I`ll try to answer any questions you have, and maybe we can get together and I can give you a few pointers...

 

Good for you Kiwi helping Tim. Mine was pretty crudely done but Bondo heals a lot. Tim's T body looks to be in better shape than mine was when I got it.

Wish I had the Greves (sp) back. But that's for another site.