Hot Rods The Unibody Roadster Dissected

Uhh...Yeah.


Thanks for all the nice words, guys...


Petejoe.
About 10 years off and on.
I wasted quite a bit of time in the beginning when I had it unchanneled on top of a Model A Frame.
( Z'd on both ends )
It already was a roller, but I could not get the proportions the way I wanted them.
So I started over...

Russ/40.
Yeah, its been on the road at least 8 years...
I havent found any obvious stress cracks yet.
But since some of the parts are off it now, I'm going to take some time and look for them.
Early on, a crack developed around the pivot point of the Panhard Bar ( chassis side ), but that had nothing to do with the fact that it's a unibody.
That was because it needed a bit more support, and because of hard cornering...

 

Wow. Very nice work.

 

Very cool post and lots of detailed shots. I have some shots of your car from the first time that it was at the HAMB Drags.

Chris

 

Very cool car good to see the out of the box engineering, I love model a's but seen a ton done the same way excellent job

 

Bitchen , I love it!

 

Me like also!

 

I love that car.. Can I see how you attach the top? Specifically at the windshield?

 

Wow! What a great car. The talent of HAMBERS never ceases to amaze me. metalshapes you are one talented and creative guy. Hats Off!

 

The top attaches to the windshield posts like a Roadster top does.
A bushing that slides on, with a setscrew ( bolt ) to hold it there.



At the back its held down with 1/4" nuts & bolts ( 5 ...)

 

Hey, Alex... great post!! Your car is incredible.. I find myself telling people about it all the time. Heres the pics from when you stopped by the shop... Enjoy!!
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And heres the one I made into an 8x10.... I will bring it by soon so I can check out the shop now that its finished....
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Cool pics...

Thanks, Enfo.

There is a badass Anglia in some of them too...

 

I've always dug yer car!
Its the ultimate "roadster with room" as I used to call my "coupester"

I can't fit in a genny roadster either (6'1")

Thanx for the details!

-Shiny

 

looks pretty logical from here. especially for us vertically challenged people out there.

 

Purposeful..excellent and original engineering. One mean and cleanly designed piece..
Bet it turns well being low and taught as a unibody. Nice roads to test it on by you now too..

Dam you do good work Alex..

 

Love it - Sooo Kool

Klaus

 

thanks Alex

 

fabulous creation, alex-

 

Alex...
Everything about that car is just so right. Great job.

 

Outstanding! I've long wanted to see more of this car.

-Dave

 

Very cool ! Thanks for the detailed pictures.

 

That car is totally cool, A lot of thought went into it. you are very talented. How does it handle? Can't wait to see it in paint.


Ago

 

The best engineered roadster....ever....IMHO. Wish it were mine.

 

This car blows my mind. Where's the tech on how you got the '30-'31 firewall to fit?

 

It handles very well ( ask some of the HAMBers I took for a ride in it...)

Its a bit understeered, but with with just a little throttle its nice and neutral.

Unless you want to hang the tail out, and do wild opposite lock powerslides. ( then you get brutal with it, and it does that well too... )

Its probably one of the more forgiving cars I've ever owned...


The one thing this car does not like is sitting in traffic and idling.
It gets hot...

I could build a shroud to go around the Fan, but that would about double the thickness of the Grilleshell ( when you look at it from the side ), and I dont think I'd like the look of that.
So I try to miss heavy traffic, and sweat & look at the Temp Gauge if I get stuck for a longer time.

 

The Rails are slid back from where they normally are, because I wanted the Character line in the Framerails to end at the edge of the cowl.
That gave a perfect echo from it to the lower bead line on the Cowl.
( those two curves were probably drawn by the same guy, way back when... )




The width at the A pillar was set because of the width of a Roadster windshield.
And the width at the firewall was set because of the '30/31 Firewall I wanted to use.
( another inch or two of interior space, without lengthening the body...)
That meant recontouring the rails just a bit, which was great, because that gave me a bit more footspace as well.
( so my rails are unpinched, even from stock '32 countours...)

The rails were now too short in the enginebay area, and I lengthened them with the front part of Model A rails.
( the taper is different, and I like the Model A horns better...)

Also, the firewall is welded in higher than a '28/9 would be, because I wanted a straight line going from the base of the windshield to the top of the Grilleshell.
I did not use the '28/9 Gastank skin, but made my own top of the cowl.

 

Very nice, and definitely one-of-a-kind! Thanks a ton for sharing all the details and photos with us!



Malcolm

 

you are a clever one . nice job. always liked that car, now i "appreciate it" even more.

 

Alex...when you decided to go with a "unitized" construction for the body, did you first plan out your chassis/floorpan as a platform style chassis and then simply add the body panels?
What I'm trying to find out is, just how stressed is the body structure itself?
I imagine the firewall adds some good stiffness...but what about the quarterpanels themselves? Do they add much???
How is the center spine integrated into the rear body/bulkhead?

You've got this Hot Rod stuff figured out man...

You just build things for Alex and Speed.

 

Yeah, that is really interesting.

Looks good.

 

No... I figured out how I wanted it as one unit.

But to be honest, the goal had more to do with packaging than with the Unibody.

I simply saw no way of how to do it with a seperate Chassis with all its crossmembers running right under the seating area.

I knew I lost a lot of strength by eliminating those parts, and the Unibody was a way to put it back in.

Its amazing how much strength you can get with a couple of 90deg bends in sheetmetal.
( take the seatriser out of a early '50s Chevy truck for example, I did that once on a cab that was not mounted to a chassis and it got a lot more flexible...)

So yeah, the firewall adds a lot.
Specially since it goes back into the Cowlsides & Top, and then gets tied together again with the welded in Dashboard.

Same with the Rear Bulkhead.
It ties the Spine to the Rails, and the Trunkfloor, and to the outside skin & Quarters.


Funny enough, I have been drawing Spaceframe Chassis since I was a kid ( for fun, to try and work it out...)
But I wasn't able to transfer this onto paper.
( not in a way that made sense, anyway...)

I just went into the Garage every evening for weeks, and took lots of measurements.
For hours... Not writing anything down.

Untill I thought I had a plan, and then I started building.