Projects T Almost Ready For The Streets (Again)

With my son I built a '23 T and had it finished far enough for it to be a licensed, insured, driving car about 12 years ago. It got driven some but then things happened that the T just got put to the side. It never was disassembled for clean up and paint because I know as soon as that was done there would need to be one more thing to do that would mess up the painting efforts. My son was in the 8th grade when the car got put on the road back then, and now he's 27 years old.

Thinking it had been neglected long enough, last Summer I got the T back out of hiding and corrected a few things I didn't like and didn't work well. With those taken care of I took it apart to the bare frame, cleaned and painted every piece, installed an aluminum interior, had some pads upholstered for the seats, had the transmission rebuilt and put it all back together with a revised (and improved, I hope) rear suspension setup.

There are still a few niggling things to finish up and even though the transmission was rebuilt it has an issue that I need to attend to. I hope it can be resolved without pulling it out again!

But.....with all that done, today I loaded it up on my rickity trailer and took it in for state licensing inspection. Tuesday I'll pick up the proof of insurance card and get the license plates for it!

So....without further adeu, here it is. (BTW, I'm the ruggedly-handsome and rather proud older gentleman sitting on the fender)

Lynn

 

That looks nice.Good father and son project.

 

You need to drive the wheels off that cool bucket as soon as you get your paper work in order. HRP

 

Hell Ya! Get it... I'd drive the Hell outta that! Cheer's

 

Just in time for good weather. Congrats!

 

Nice looking bucket, I imagine it will be a blast to drive around in.

 

dark blue or black? i can't tell.
car looks cool have fun!

 

Very cool!

 

..now that T looks cooool.. not what I expected..

 

Looks like fun.

 

Well done. Many miles and Many smiles to both you and your Son. I'm sure your saying "where'd all those years go" ? Looks like a 215 Olds motor?
The Wizzard

 

tb33anda3rd....It's satin black. Something called "Hot Rod Black" which I thought was appropriate enough. Really nice finish and it seems it's going to be resistant to marring and "buff shining" like some flat to satin blacks do.

Good call, Pist-n-Broke on identifying the 215 Olds. I used to have a steady stream of gearheads (circle track racers and others) come to my shop when I was selling racing parts. NO ONE EVER could identify the engine! I wish my Son lived a bit closer. He now lives nearly in the opposite corner of Missouri. I'm sure someday it will be his, since I couldn't imagine ever selling it.

In general thank you all for the kind words about my T. If I were to do it again I would certainly do a few things differently, but all-in-all it pretty much ended up with "the look" that I envisioned.

Lynn

 

Looks like you did a beautiful job on it Lynn. I like it. Can you post some more pictures of it please ? That's what I will be building shortly. If everything goes rite. Keep us updated Lynn. Thanks. Bob................

 

Glad you posted this up. Looks like a good day for a drive. More pictures.
Larry

Sent from my XT1254 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Well, all of the stuff to satisfy the state is done, the transmission seems like it's working OK, fuel pump that was spritzing at the weep hole is fixed......nothing left to do but take it for a shake-down run and get a "money shot". Here you go. What a thrill once again!

Lynn

 

I'm happy for you Lynn. That thing looks bad looking. I really like it very much. Keep us updated with pictures. Thanks Lynn. Bob......................

 

Cool T! Nice to see it get driven.

Minor nit; if it were mine, I'd lean the windshield back a few degrees to make it look more racy.

 

Take it down to "The Shoals" and run it through the 1/4.........(sorry the 1/8)mile.
6sally6

 

I like it! Glad you were able to bring it back to life and out on the open road. I'm working on a T project now and probably redoing the rear suspension. What is your new updated setup and what did you switch from?

 

Nice "T" !
How about a bunch more pics?

 

That's great, Lynn. It's a nicely proportioned car, and low, like that, it should handle.

Mart.

 

Old rear suspension was regular wishbones. With wishbones on the front and a tube axle, there just wasn't any "give" for the car to go through a dip or any kind of twist, like a driveway entrance. I left the front alone but on the rear went to a triangulated 4-link of sorts. The bottom links are parallel with the frame rails and mount a few inches below the centerline of the rearend. The top link is actually a "V", with the point of the "V" on a single pivot at the transmission crossmember. The rear of the "V" legs are mounted at the vertical centerline of the rearend and as far apart as I could get them without hitting the frame.. I would have liked a bit more height separation of the top and bottom links but there is just so little room under the car with it as low as it is which dictated the mounting/pivot points. The car does drive better with the new rear suspension compared to the wishbones.

Thanks, everyone, for the compliments!

Lynn

 

Very nice. Could you post some pics of the interior for me?

 

Looks great going down the road!