Hot Rods Model A body on ‘32 chassis WITH FENDERS- Help!

I think your plan to have RexRods take a look at the car is a solid one. They are quite familiar with old hot rods and will advise you in the best course of action. When finished this will a great representative of earlier hot rodding and be a delight to those who know what they're looking at. Lots of interest in this one! I'm In, Carp.

 

I’ll look for that-been a long time since I had one!


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You'll find Rexrods a great shop. Clean, professional and experts in the field. But dont commit to a relationship with any builder until you visit other builders in the area. One of the few benefits to the areas growth is a boom in talented shops due to the amazing car culture. It also brought more hacks, so do your due diligence, like you are doing here. I suggest visits to well known shops such as Austin Speed Shop, Mercury Charlie, Murphos, Boerne Stage Customs or any of the shops advertising in Hill Country Car Culture (check their FB page for where to purchase).
Like good boots, you gotta try on a few to find the right fit for you.

 

There are some things that can be checked on the engine and rear axel center section.

First on the engine, check for side motor mounts. If there aren't any, it is definitely a 55 - 57 block. Side mounts started in 1958.

Check for an oil filter at the driver's side rear. If there is not one, it's a 55 265. Block mounted oil filters started in 1956. All 55 Chevy V8's would have either a bypass filter that is mounted up on the intake, or no filter at all. An oil filter was an option on 55 V8 engines.

Look at the valve cover bolts. If they are staggered, top to bottom, they are mid 1959 or older. Mid 1959 and newer will line up, top to bottom.

Look at the ends, (either front or rear, both ends will have the same markings), of the cylinder heads. There are markings that will show what types of heads are on the engine. These markings will be a either a straight bar that is flat across the top, (2 bbl. carb.), or a straight bar that has projections going up from it. For example a triangle, (for a Power Pack, 4 bbl. carb. engine). A single rectangular tower, a double rectangular tower, etc. Later heads could have two humps, commonly called "Camel Hump" heads. These Camel Hump heads showed up in the early 1960's.

On the major engine castings, heads, block, stock intakes, as well as the center section of the rear axle, there are date codes. Attached are a few photos of these date codes.

If there is a big "P" on the center section, you have a Posi rear end, (or at least a Posi case). However, 57 Posi's did not have a big "P". Posi's were not available in either 1955 or 1956. The big "P" started in 1958.

The date code in the first photo, (B188), decodes to February 18 1958. The date code in the next photo, (A3062), is January 30, 1962. Since that center section does not have a "P", it is an open rear end. All of the date codes will follow this pattern, although sometimes the year will be indicated by a single number, instead of two numbers. As in photo numbers 1, 3, and 4.




Engine block date code, (at rear of block). June 19, 1961



Cylinder head date code, under valve covers.


By the way there are several small differences between the 55 - 57 V8's and the 58 and newer ones.

The attached photo, shows a very informative book, that was originally written in 1957. It has all of the little differences for 55 - 57 engines that are not very well known, these days. As far as I know, it is not being reprinted. I found my copy on Ebay. There are also later editions that cover 327 Chevy engines.

The other photo is an example of the head marking for a 57 Power Pack head.

 

Yes. You're an idiot. You come here and tell us, you're going to rip apart an original 50s rod and street rod it with a repro frame!!!!
If you do that you can just go leave this forum.
I'm not going to pussy foot around. I'm old enough, and have built enough cars to say it how it is, without apologising.

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Wow - what a comment! Did you bother to read the whole thread before testing the water with both feet? You may want to reconsider the apology thing.

 

The Hotrodders Hippocratic Oath "Primum non nocere". First do no harm.

I think you're on the right path now, some reasonable updates to improve the safety and reliability but otherwise use whats there. Not only will it be the least expensive and fastest way to build your car but you'll preserve it's history. When in doubt you can always ask the question, Can I do nothing? If the answer is No, then ask What's the least amount I can do?

More importantly thanks a lot for taking all the time to post this story and updates. Hopefully you interpret the few rude comments on this thread as abrasive expressions of some people's passion for preserving hot rodding history. Sort of like yelling "Look out for that train".

This is such a great picture.

 

Edwardlloyd-appreciate the support old timer! The post you were commenting on was from way, way back (2 weeks ago). I’ve had a pretty thorough indoctrination into the world of historic, “survivor” hot rods so my plan for the car has evolved since then. Stay tuned!


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Torkwrench-how the hell did you amass so much knowledge on this? That’s amazing! I’ll take plenty of pics tomorrow and post them so maybe we can settle where the motor came from. Thanks again for the priceless info!


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Hey look, Ed Lloyd is now the new self proclaimed Moderator, telling people who and who can't be part of the HAMB.

Mick

 

Umm... maybe you should read the whole thread. Unless your trying to be funny some of us may disagree who the idiot is !

 

Agreed


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X3

 

I've been around old cars and drag racing since I was about 5 years old, (in 1968). That's when my older brother Bob, (hrbhrb here on The HAMB), bought his first car.....A 57 Chevy Bel Air 4 door Hardtop. A large part of my childhood was spent either underneath, or under the hood of that 57. Many of his high school buddies had 55-57 Chevys and I got to hang around when their cars were worked on. Guess, that I was a mascot for those guys. LOL. By the way, Bob still has the same 57. It's just a lot nicer than it was in 1968. Plus a lot quicker. He was turning high 12's in the quarter, at last year's Melt Down Drags.

Attached is a photo from about 1969. Yeah.....That's me in the back seat. LOL. The other photo is from The Melt Down Drags.

In addition, there has been LOTS, and LOTS and LOTS of reading. Car magazines, such as Rod and Custom, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft, Hot Rod, etc. These magazines were mainly from the early 1970's and on back to the 1950's. Also have read shop manuals, assembly manuals, and basic auto repair books, such as those printed by Petersen's in the 1960's and 1970's.....Peterson's Basic Clutches and Transmissions, Peterson's Basic Chassis, Suspension and Brakes, Peterson's Basic Carburetors, and Fuel Systems, Peterson's Basic Electrical Systems, etc.

By the way, a book that might be of interest is "Hot Rod Magazine's Street Rod Quarterly", from the summer of 1971. Yeah, the term Street Rod isn't a good word here on The HAMB, but this issue has a recap of the building of Bud Bryan's Project 29.....A traditional style 29 Model A highboy roadster on 32 rails...With a flathead Ford, and Halibrand Quick Change rear end. That car looked so cool when I was 8 years old. It still does, today.

 

The engine from what I can see from Riff's body off frame pics has a road draft hole beside the distributor and I think I see the power pack casting mark's on the heads. It may have been mentioned already but I'm just pointing this out in case it wasn't. Any starter attach point info yet? Were starter holes drilled into the block as time went on and transmissions were swapped out?

I'm getting old but I seem to have a recollection of possibly doing this on my buddies 57 ions ago when he swapped out the cast iron auto.​

 

It just hit me......An aluminum P.G. was swapped in, so it probably has a block mounted starter. 57 283's were drilled for block mounted starters. Actually, 57 Chevys with a 283 and TurboGlide transmission had block mounted starters from the factory. TurboGlides, (in addition to being crappy transmissions), were made out of aluminum.

The cylinder head markings definitely look like Power Pack ones. Also, it looks like it may have an aluminum intake? The distributor might be from a 55 or 56??? Or a factory dual point??? It's hard to tell from the photo.

 

I was wondering that myself. Thanks for sharing all the info...

 

Torkwrench-I just got back from the shop where the roadster is being kept. Attached are some photos of the engine.
Here is where the starter is mounted:

Here is the SN:

And here is the original intake manifold and Carter 4 barrels carb that was on the engine:



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And here the possible Powerpack markers



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Engine casting # says it's a 283, built in 1957. I like where you're going with this!

 

I have looked for some Traditionally inspired vintage Roadsters. This is an inspired period build. I would suspect it's a little lower than back in the day but I think they did a very admirable job on this Hotrod.

It is also not on a 32 frame but in reality they sit and on a quick glance look somewhat similar.

​

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/1931-ford-deluxe-roadster.1024459/

 

Very nice car. Is that the gas cap on the rear fender? Have you seen that before?
Also has a similar paint scheme that I’m considering (black fenders with dark colored body).


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That's a step for the rumble seat, check out the handles on top of the quarter panels.

 

Note the tailights too Riff...

 

Duh! Should have known. I see them now.


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Yep-same size, orientation, and location as the previous design of my roadster...


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Stogy- any comments or observations on suspension and drum brakes set up and components from these photos?



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That link I posted with the pics is the ad for that with additional details when it was for sale...this is just to reference what you have and of course to help visualize potential styles of this type of Hotrod...those tailights were very popular as were so many things on your Hotrod..

 

You have a traditional upgrades to your brakes that were more than effective then and remain effective to stop your Hotrod even today.

Your 283 and transmission weigh a similar amount to a Ford Flathead and associated gear so the brakes are stopping similar vehicle weight.

I see a Hurst Saddle mount and a cool tube shock setup too. This are all features to help nail period...it is actually quite heartwarming to see this stuff again its mid to late fifties stuff mixed in with older stuff...and is that old chrome on the backing plates and steering arm...

 

Also some more photos of Model A dash panel, ‘33 Pierce-Arrow dash insert, and SW gauges. I was looking for any possible mounting holes for a timing plaque, but didn’t see any.




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