The "Rat" thing is kind of a joke. Most on here remember the term used pretty often 15 years ago for anything unfinished! Mainly the uninformed. Reeps sold the truck several years ago to someone in Arizona? Never saw it after that.
Your metal work is outta control! Awesome roadster. I remember seeing this in Rodders Journal in the first incarnation and it was the craziest car I had ever seen
Pat your roadster is awesome and comes up from time to time in conversations with friends! The RJ with your car and Reeps pickup was the first issue I bought and the one that convinced me to try and build myself a Hotrod. I must have read that article a hundred times! My wife and I went to the first Santa Maria show and I was so happy to see your roadster there in person! Thanks for posting this and keep up the inspirational work!! Mike
Pat your roadster has been such an inspiration, your roadster and the Reeps pickup influenced me so much. I have both copies of the TRJ magazine. I always always go back and re-read the article and drool over the photos. The exhaust pipes, your Oxygen tank, the Inline 6, the baremetal, blackwall tires man your car was it and always has been. Well enough blowing you haha, let's see more photos, so glad you're posting an update on your roadster.
That is some nice metal work. Thanks for sharing the details of it as all too often we see nifty cars with no inkling of what goes into building them.
I'm not a fan of headlights on track noses so I made my kingbees removable. The linkage on the firewall runs down to the rails then to the stands. A pin holds them in place. The pin on the bell crank locks into the tab on the firewall to hold the pins open for removal and install.
As always Pat, your work is a tribute to your talents and sense of styling. Thanks for sharing it with us mere mortals.
Damn, I like both versions. I've had a pic on the wall of my garage for years as inspiration for my jimmy powered T, I guess I'll be updating it.
Neat & effective solutions, and still evolving (in a great way). Inspiring build, as has been for a long time. Cheers, Drewfus
What issue of The Rodder's Journal had your roadster in it? I don't have a subscription and definitely want to buy that back issue so I can see more of this car!
always liked your car and it's even better with the track nose. you really can't do it justice in pictures, every little bit seems to be hand crafted. an ex friend and I were looking at it at a show many moons ago and I commented on all the little details and bracketry and what not saying how cool it was and he said all that was just a waste of time. of course everything he did was shit and probably still is. keep up the good work.
Hi Pat.Great fab skills.A take off on the where there`s a will there`s a way.Where theres a will,there`s a relative. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
ditto! Shades of Whitey Clayton, what a huge difference! When I saw this in TRJ, I was kinda lukewarm, but the nose, bellypan and hood take it to another level. I REALLY like the hood latch mechanism. Maybe TRJ should re-visit this one, its a whole different deal now.
Big thanks for the Whitey Clayton reference! I feel he probably had the best sense of style and proportion of that era. And he did it with even less tools than I have. I read he didn't use bucks or an English wheel. My wheel sure helps smooth out the walnuts faster than just hammer and dolly!
They've done it before with 34 coupe that one of the guys who owns TRJ has rebuilt, so why not revisit this one now? always liked the bare metal features in the mag too, so this one double fits in!!! ;-)
Thanks for all the comments! I'll try to post more step by step stuff. I've haven't done that much in the past. You get caught up in a idea and forget everything else! I've got a homemade English wheel built from a eBay kit with chromoly wheels that I call the Awful Tower 2. Von Dutch's louver press being #1! Sand bag and lots of hammers. H.F. Beverly sheer copy and a H.F. planishing hammer, but that thing can do more damage than good if your not careful! And several GOOD Wyss tin snips. I've tried many and I think Wyss are the best. I just can't justify the cost of a Pullmax or good planishing hammer for something that's my hobby. It just takes longer without them.
Niekamp 29 Eddie Dye 29 Kurtis "Jewel Box" midget June 1956 Motor Life I'm a big reader. Miller, Kurtis, Kuzma, Sparks, Watson, Dreyer, Deidt, Lesovsky and a bunch others. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at those shops!I read as much as I can find on them. I get a lot of ideas from books I read. Double fuel cap and nose influences.
you made your own wing nut for the gas cap! don't you have an Orchard Supply Hardware store near your house?
The Jalopy Journal
