Hot Rods Customising in the 1910s and 1920s

Here's an unusual topic, what does everyone know about car modification before the birth of 'hotrods'? I have a 1905 car body that appears to have been extensively modified in the 1910s to keep up with fashions and make it faster. It was converted from a 4 seater to 2, seating position lowered, and engine swapped from single cylinder to a twin.

I only have the remains of the body now and as hard as I search, I haven't been able to find any images of modified cars in this era, despite the fact that I understand it was fairly common practice. Does anyone have any knowledge or photos of modified vehicles in this era?

 

Buff it out....

 

as soon as there was a cheap car to be had, some kid would start hacking it up!! cool photo of two kids in an early and crude model T hotrod in todays vintage shots thread. do you know what brand you have there?

 

It's an Australian Innes, which partook in one of the Dunlop Reliability Trial of 1905. Largely a rebadged Lacoste et Battmann. No real history after that until it was found modified in a field in 1958

 

"Patina"

 

some oldies here https://modeltfordfix.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=39&sid=b9ffa36da170f63e6053359a08e85331

 

Could probably search the term "gow job" or "gow jobs" and get some hits.

Even just here on the HAMB: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/search/232538484/?q=gow+job&o=relevance&c[node]=57

might need to dig a little to find the era you're looking for.

 

Precious metal!

 

and for your entertainment, one of my favorites!

 

Thanks, I hadn't heard of the term before

 

Had a dig through my book stash and was fascinated to find a section in the back of my 1924 Dykes encyclopedia of 'remodeling' car's, complete with suggested body improvements.

 

those dykes manual's provide hours of fun just browsing thru. i like the "how to build a tow truck" instructions too. just need to find a big peirce arrow or stutz in the junk yard to get started on the build

 

Now I know what to do with my Saxon "6".

 

Motor Age magazine had a number of customized cars in its The Reader's Clearinghouse section. Not every issue had one, so you'll have to wade through a bunch of them. They are available online. Google Books has a better search function than Hathitrust.org. You can only see up through 1922 or so due to copyright. Here is a copy of an editor's reply to a couple of questions. They also published reader's cars on occasion.

Sorry about the small print. Something went wrong with the screen capture.

 

Customizing was certainly a "thing" back in the early part of last century. The most common applications were made for the Model T's chassis since used cars were in such an abundance. Here are ads from the Kuempel Red-I-Kut body company as well as the only known surviving Kuempel-Ford speedster. Kuempel supplied the bodies in a kit form that could be "easily assembled into a fast and saucy speedster" with "just a few dollars worth of materials from your hardware store".

 

Picked up a TT frame in need of a little TLC. With a little chopping and tweaking I think it should work well as a frame. Can anyone confirm when channeling was first done? The frame is somewhat narrower than the body, providing a good opportunity.

 

Finally dismantled the TT frame so that I can sit the rails under the Innes body. Happy with the combination.

 

Just picked up a 1929 Chevrolet 4cyl with gearbox to keep the project creeping along. Can anyone show me what the original engine mounts look like?

 

Watch the movie Wings from 1927. It depicts a young man building a ‘go job’ just before WW1 starts.
Very interesting.

 

interesting thread!!! Thought you might find this photo of my grandfathers teenage ride circa 1919 interesting as well... they were even hot rodding on prairie of North Dakota ... FYI 36roadster this is a 1914 Saxon!!!

 

A little progress, frame us up on axle stands, I've salvaged the front Willys Overland suspension (will need a custom crossmember to suit the new frame) and slid the Willys back axle underneath. Despite appearances the tailshaft is excellent inside the housing and the axle spins freely.

 

This is a neat project. I think it was fairly common practice to put new "coachwork" on old chassis back then, since automobiles were so expensive and fairly rare yet. The problem is, photography was also still fairly rare, so not a lot of records were kept of it, and even fewer ever made it onto the internet. Not like now, where photographs are practically unlimited and sharing them can be done almost infinitely.

Looks like that body fits the TT frame very well, and there's plenty enough of the body left to fill in the gaps and rebuild it, that is certainly a cool find.

In the US, I think Chevrolet's last 4 cylinder was built in 1928, although that may be different in Australia.

 

Squablow thanks, that was my understanding too about the Chev 4cyl, I haven't chased the engine number yet to work out if it was in a '29 built/sold car here in Australia or if it was just a misunderstanding by the last owner

 

Got a few partial sets of wheels, I like the disks, but I think the wires are the way to go

 

With the rough age of you body, any of them would be appropriat, but the wires and the discs would have been the most desired at the time. Discs for low buck, wires for the fanciest! The word that you used "partial" is going to be one of the biggest factors now days. What can you find first (or at all)!
I am working on a 1926 Chevy roadster, and have been looking for wheels. Stock they came with wood spoke, with disc as an option. This is going to be a "somewhat of a restoration" but I would like to jazz it up some. So have been looking for a set of wires, but I would like all four to be the same, with the same tire size. Also about the correct weight for the car. So far I can find spindly ones for a very light cars, or very hefty ones for something like the big luctury cars. And very very few of those as sets. Good Luck in your search, and I will be watching!

 

I have to disagree with Gaby, they aren't all appropriate. The wire has the hub for a much bigger car (compare it to the Model T hubs in post 15). The next two are 1920s wheels. The last one is the closest to the age of the body.
The problem is that you have an Edwardian body and everything else is 1920s. In every case I've seen, one of the goals of building a speedster back then was to have a quick, modern looking car on a budget. Putting a 20 year-old body on recent mechanicals is a postwar thing.

 

^^^^^^^
I agree that the wheels pictured are of later style... but would like to point out that this is not a restoration or recreation, and hopefully will not be advertised as one either. Early wire wheels are hard to find (miserable would be an understatement), and many of us use what we can find... not what we want.

FYI, the House/Buffalo model T wire wheels (shown above) were introduced in about 1917, among other brands as well about this same era. Prior to this, wire wheels were typically spindle mounted. Here is a early type wheel off of a ‘14 Bugatti that is built more like a motorcycle wheel as it is designed to take only vertical loads...

 

Kevin, please explain why a spindle mount would only take a vertical load as opposed to a buffalo or dayton knock off style. thanks

 

Not all spindle mount wheels are this way... but the early ones certainly were. Imagine an oversized bicycle wheel. As the cars became more powerful and performing better on the track, the spoke lacing patterns were improved to accommodate such loads.

This Bugatti wheel has an equal number of spokes, with equal angles for the inner and outer spoke layers. Essentially, it is designed to take vertical loads with minor and equal side loading in both directions. Also notice that the spokes are almost radial from hub to rim.

The more “modern” spoke design is known as a “triple lacing”. This means 3 layers of spokes. One layer supports vertical loads, and the other 2 layers support side loading from either directions. The triple lacing is typical of Buffalo, Dayton, Rudge Whitworth, etc...

If you look closely at the Buffalo wheel below, you will notice that there are twice as many inner spokes as outers. The inner spokes are laced in 2 separate layers, one vertical and one angled. Also the spokes are laced from the sides of the wheel center, rather than radial as the Bugatti wheel above. This improves the torsional strength of the wheel