Customs caddy roadster High School shop build

This may seem weird and may not seem HAMB friendly, I acquired a roached 64 caddy and had it dropped off at school
Had students do some drawings of what an Ed Roth/Grandpaw Munster caddy concept might look like. Why a caddy? well there are not any $250 roadsters around here.
We plan on a finished,painted car possibly Hemi powered, who knows
Right now we are just trying to visualize what it might look like and make measurements before I have students draw up the chassis.
I like the Atomic Punk and Lunar Lander built by Aaron Grote and I am a big fan of the crazy concept hotrods of the 60s. This car kinda has a 2 seater slingshot vibe so far.
Here is the car we started with and the concept drawing

here are the qtrs and fenders mocked up and the Lunar Lander inspiration

Students had fun moving things around and seeing how wheel placement and stance change the look of a pile of scrap metal. We hope we can run this thing this low in the front. Got a lot of problem solving to do on the front suspension and we have a few different style roof designs we are working on.

 

shortened it up a little
students like it better, I agree

and a 3/4 front shot

we are working on how we can pinch the front fenders together and make a decent flow down the side
we will have to section the fenders just behind the head lights so they will face forward
The front edge of the fin will be sectioned and blended into the fender.
the style lines on the fenders will be blended into the QTRs.
The lower portion of the fenders will be raised and a new section for the front of the QTRs built.
We plan to have the radius rods for the axle run under the front fender wells (original tire opening)
Would be nice to fit some zoomies there as well
One of the fun parts so far is having students look up Ed Roth built cars and other odd hotrods from the late 50s and 60s. We even looked at the crazy concept cars from that era looking for ideas.

 

i need to come by and see yalls projects. i looked for you at the cruise n on the square but never ran across you. maybe one day you, bama (bobby) and myself can set down and have a glass of sweet tea.

 

we had the bus at the square but parked a block down from the courthouse (got there too late)
I had to leave early and our automotive instructor stayed
come by any time after 1:30

 

may have to give it a try. i saw the bus in front of the old down town foods.

 

that was us
we hope to finish up this project much nicer than the bus
our working name for the car so far is 'the Road deVillain'

 

i need to get around someone working on their rides then maybe i'll get to work on one of mine. that is a pretty good name. i wish my grandson would have came to your class, instead he wanted to try the machinist class. trying to get him to do hvac plumbing or be a electrictrician not to many manual machine shops left and getting fewer everyday.

 

we have a very good machinist instructor, he covers the manual stuff first then the computer CNC stuff second.
we just started a HVAC this year. Our electrical instructor has had very good success placing students in the IBEW union training program.
the first semester in most all our shop classes can be boring due to all the safety and mandatory stuff we have to do. Our biggest problem is how short our classes are. We are starting an apprenticeship deal soon where I can have seniors for 2 class periods

 

thats not much time at all.

 

agreed, but I can have these seniors from 12:00 until whenever we leave. I have all our local shops here willing to take students for an apprenticeship. They are going to count the time in my class/shop with their co-op hours. The plan is to rotate students through different shops and different aspects of each shop (paint, body, glass, detail, office) I can use feedback from the shop to help improve skills for each student plus each shop gets to audition a potential employee.

 

Sounds like a great endeavor and project. Wish I would have something like this 37 years ago.

 

we were looked at strange when we told folks we were not restoring the car
it would have been an very ambitious resto
some of the floors, all the rain gutters around the trunk, passenger front door, deck lid, grill, lower front bumper ends, windshield, door glass needed replaced.
The steering column is busted plus the radiator and carb were missing and all that chrome that needs replated.
It does have good rockers, inner fenders, skirts, and roof if anyone needs some parts

 

Here's some inspiration for the kids. This was at the DMC Wild Hot Rod Party in 2014.

 

What a Fantastic opportunity for your Students!
Keep us all updated on the progress. Best of luck!

 

proportions and stance is everything
my old boss, Alan Johnson, once said that the correct wheel/tire combo and stance would make even a dumpster look cool
I am testing his theory

 

WAY KOOL

 

we think we have our wheel base and stance figured out
may raise it up a little in the rear. Just about figured out how we will blend the 2 panels together.
Looking at front suspension options, I have a 33/34 Ford front axle and bones and a 33 Plymouth wavy tube axle. Thought about using the Ply axle by removing the spring mounts and using hair pins with the spring mounted behind the axle.
We will know more when we start setting up the frame. Would it be odd to run the frame under the rear (to save some seat space) and bend a hoop over the rear with coil overs mounted to this hoop structure? We do have a tubing bender and notcher on campus.

current mock up and inspiration


I like the Lunar Lander but want this project to have more rake

 

I'm liking it!
It may be nice to keep it as CADDY-like as possible, so it appears to be a Concept Car from Cadillac.
I'm thinking a modest tire with Cadillac Wheel Covers.

 

We thought about an all caddy build. It has a 429 and it turns. Those ain't cheap to build and I would not like to use the jet away trans. Not much if any speed stuff available either.

 

The school and the students are very fortunate to have YOU as a teacher.

 

Thanks. I suck at the paper work but we have fun learning

 

No disrespect here but this one could be ok "with some help"........I like your design a lot better with the fenders intact, rake and where your fenders stop mid front wheel etc.etc.etc.

 

I hear you! I don't know if you need to be that literal. A GM powerplant could have Cadillac on the valve covers.
I wish you were closer, I'd give you an engine!
My earlier comment was directed at the weird green car that was posted. It didn't work for me, crossing Cadillac style with a disjointed Hot Rod look. Way back when Ford reintroduced the TBird with the ill-fated redesign, there was a Lincoln version that was paraded around, and that car was fantastic, because it didn't try to be something it wasn't. The minute you saw it, you knew it was a Lincoln.
Just my 2 cents. I'm sure it's going to be awesome, and more importantly, a whole lot of Fun!

 

Sounds like a great class, wish we would have had something similar in our day, I'll be watching this come together, I think it will be cool!

 

Good teacher. That is how I started my career. You do realize some of your students will remember you 50 years later. I know I still have fond memories of my trade school teachers.

 

I am looking forward to seeing this project continue.Awesome teaching your kids something they will remember forever...

 

This is cool. When I went to our Vo-Tech school, we had 90 minutes for our "related" class, 45 minutes for English or Soc. Studies, 45 minutes for lunch, and best of all, 3 hours of shop time in our chosen field. The knowledge learned has served me well over the last 40 years, and I still remember Mr. Spurgus and Mr. Shields.

 

a concept of maybe what GM engineers thought a caddy based hotrod would look like is what we were thinking at first but see some possible issues with running the caddy motor
I have access to some early hemi stuff and I have a few SBC parts hanging around, who knows what will happen as long as its multi carbed

and thanks for the engine offer