Rebirth of a Roadster?

Everything has a life cycle, doesn’t it? I built my ’29 Model A Roadster some 15 years ago as a young(er) man with limited hot rod build-knowledge, on a very limited budget and even more limited tools. Before I started on the A project, I had never welded or owned half the tools I do now. I learned that building a car from pieces takes time, planning, space, and a patient spouse, to say the least. What a great learning process it was!

The H.A.M.B. was still in it’s early evolution in 2002, but provided a major resource for information and led me to amazing board guys like Yorgatron (RIP George!), SamIyam, Baron Von Mike, justinm, and many others. These faithful friends helped me build a heap of parts in the garage from the ground up, and it was on the road for less than $7000. 

Looking back, I wish I would have taken more time to engineer things on the car a bit better, use better quality parts, but overall the ol’ girl has served me really well through tons of car shows, miles of reliability runs, a few magazine shoots, TV Episodes, and even an epic trip to Bonneville and back… All without any serious mechanical issues.

Lately the Cadillac 331 engine’s power is lacking, she’s leaking many fluids from front and back, and there are chassis and brake problems that need serious attention. It’s time to completely overhaul the old girl and perhaps make some major improvements that I’ve been holding off on for years. While I’m at it, maybe I’ll finally put her on Deuce rails, add a Quick Change rear axle, maybe try out a real interior?

Whatever I end up doing, I’ll keep enjoying the little Model A that brought me to the HAMB in the first place.