Good find. Ill say what I always say about spring in front axles on an early hot rod. They were/are done all the time and 90% of the time the cross member was moved forward to correct the wheels base and no one ever notices. if it doesn’t jump out at you with a weird wheel base or grill position it’s not something most people register. Flip threw the magazines of the era with your magnifying glass and see how many there really were/are.
Very cool Joey. Thanks for sharing. Reminds me I need to start going through the 175 little books I just bought a couple weeks ago from a co-worker that was selling off his dad’s collection of stuff. When he told me $1 each...I bought too many obviously...
Ed was from Wyandotte Michigan, later moved to Trenton. There was a house around the block from my folks house that had a fishing boat in the driveway. When I first got my 31 pickup together, driving by that house the guy would always wave and give me a thumbs up. Later after he passed away, I found out it was Ed after stopping at a garage sale there and talking with his wife and daughter. His roadster is still around but looks much different. He had tried to buy it back a number of times and thought of building a copy but never did. I was always sorry I didn’t stop and talk to the guy at the time just to hear stories of local hot Rod history.
This is good opportunity to share a couple of pics of this heavily channeled and unchopped Duece pickup I recently acquired from an estate. The former owner owned it for over 40 years I believe. It features a ‘48 Merc front end on a stock cross member. Make for a very stubby wheel base which is further emphasized by the radically bobbed box. They put Model A front fenders on it to make it all work. Quirky but I dig it!
About the only thing I don't care for on there is the wood around the bed. Other than that, I really like it.
my 34 roadster was built in 1955 half hot rod-half custom even found a set of vintage wire wheel hub caps too
Actually, the chromies look good but I agree about the tires. Those big old raised letters need to go. Why don't you try buffing the letters off or Photoshop them to solid black first before you spend a bunch of money on tires?
I f'ing LOVE antique malls.......the history, the smells, the tools. All of them are dying off near me (and not so near too)...it's sad. I did go to a HUGE one in Illinois when I was in Streeter for work. It's all about the PAST as the present and future suck............
Hello, Nice find in that Midwest antique mall. Out West there were a lot of antique malls in our So Cal area. Most had so many “things” that it would drive most people crazy with the head bobbing, looks that takes place. We went to a lot of places that had large architectural things, like doors, windows and at the time, oak furniture. There were other places that sold old cars and things, but usually it was a car showroom. The antique malls we went to had just stuff, along with some custom automotive parts, door signs and old shop signs. But, no cars. The only cars we bought were the 1/64 size, including a VW van with a surfboard. It stayed in our collection for our son to play with during his playtime. When he got older, we gave the whole set to my wife’s sister for her own grandson, upon staying the whole day at her house. The antique malls did have interesting things, but one had to be in that realm to actually like walking around in a musty smell, enclosed store(s). These days, not the best place to wander around, even with masks. Jnaki We never made it to the huge Hershey antique outdoor swap meet. We had been reading about the wares being sold there and had planned to make the long drive to the Midwest area. But, we found the old furniture items locally and continued to walk around in different So Cal cities’ shops for some other items on our agenda. By the time our son came around, we had sold plenty of antique items as our tastes had changed and everything had to be dust free for allergies and or clean. I had my own car wash for those cases of old 1/64 size hot rods, customs, station wagons and other rolling vehicles. They even had a wind driven dryer section (courtesy of my wife’s old hair dryer), just like the drive through big boy car wash places. So, as part of my son’s playtime, we usually played “road trip and car wash” until it was nap time.
The Jalopy Journal
