Built my pops a 40's SPRINT CAR for christmas, STREET LEGAL, Flatty powered... PICS!!

Oh My God!! The DNA tests are back!! And Yes!!! I am your real father. I don't care what color you paint the car for me. Thank you for such a wonderful gift.!!!!****Then I woke up**** Whew that was a crazy dream.---Your pops is a happy camper, obvious by the smile in the photo. Really a great job on this build, you are truly a super fine son, nice to see respect for the father.-Sololobo

 

Very cool project, you are a great son. Merry Christmas
Chuck

 

Your dad is a lucky man, I bet that his year, or decade for that matter.

 

That's beyond cool! You obviously have a lot of love and respect for your father. Now, I was just wondering, next Christmas, could I be your favorite uncle, huh, could I?

 

Bitchin Josh..hope life is going well, tell your pop hi for me

 

Awsome build Josh. Great thing to do for you Pa, he deserves it.

BB

 

That's pretty neat! I'd like to get it out on an old dirt track and slide her around...

 

hell yeah that beast looks fun..

 

Super cool story, great looking car!! I'm sure you'll sell plenty of those bodies.

 

BAD ASS!!!! So what are the details on the body? We need cost and when they will be ready to ship out. Would like to see build up of the chassis and did you narrow the 37 chassis or just use the running gear out of it? Your dad is real lucky and it just shows that you were brought up with great values.

 

nice

 

yeah... ok.

the front spring was FREE. left over from the dynaliner. the air in the tires isn't old either but i think it will be fine.. lol! Just jokin wit ya.

Shackles were FREE

I still gotta safety wire everything.. Have you seen any of my other cars.. I kinda know whats "Correct"

This pedal was laying in a scrap pile next to my work bench.. FREE, two month build time means you use whats closest..

Man, I built this whole car for $1200!!!!! and in 7 weeks... I'll make shit more "Correct" later.

The three "REAL" 40 sprinters that I looked at and measured to build this one didn't race with a rear tranny mount.. gets in the way. The car is not heavy enough to need one plus it is anchored at the rear of the block heavily.

And to answer two question in one... I have a two duce intake for it as soon as "Richcraft" mike gets my second carb done.. therefore the gen has to be off to the side.

The bodys will be availible by spring.

I'll post build pics tonight.

Thanks guys for all your comments..
Those of you that know my ol' man know how great a guy he is!! He deserves this as much as anyone..

Thanks,

Joshua Shaw

 

whats the grill from? who makes it, I like the shape

 

Joshua, You have a wonderfull little piece of new/old history vehicle. I LOVE IT!!!
Do Youmaybe have any pics of the frame work?

 

You need another Dad? I'm probably old enough. lol
That is awsome, good on ya. Dads been gone about 15 years now, enjoy them while they are here.
That's gonna be one he talks about forever.
GV

 

Josh...great build!!

Show us more pics of the chassie minus the body!

Keep us informed on those bodies...

 

Merry Christmas

It is your dad's car,your money, built your way, please ignore the opinion of the obvious AH who thinks you want to build it his way.
I would like to build one just like it but different. The nice things about this hobby is there should be no rules, please yourself and f*** the rest. Once again congratulations on a beautiful car, I hope your Dad has many,many years of good times in it,
I am looking forward to the posting of more complete information so I can plan my own. Thanks Again.

 

WOW
I'm in the process of doing a Speedster starting with a 46 Ford Chassis, Seeing this just raised the Ol flag.

It's going to take forever to get that grin off your Dads mug.
I'd be afraid the gearshift woodied be interfeared with in 1st/3rd

 

Son! We've been looking for you every since you were switched at birth in the hospital nursery. My wife says she recognized you as soon as she saw the pictures. Please come home to us. Oh yeah, your mom says to bring the car with you.

Doc.

 

I could not agree more!!! Great post, 39!!! Joshua...you keep doing your thing, brother!!!
Ebert

 

You are an amazing craftsman. Thank you for sharing. Next year I would very much like to be your Father. PM me for my address........

 

Neat car, but your heart and soul are what make it special. I'm collecting pieces and parts to build my dad a single seater with a mid twenties vibe.

 

BUILD PICS!!!!!!!!!BUILD PICS!!!!!!!!!BUILDPICS!!!!!!!

Here we go,
First three,

1.This is a picture of Dr. Mark bowles car built here in Cincinnati. His son Mark the lll has a BIG collection of front engine dragsters and sprinters.. many cars that were in his family, but this one got away. I picked it to model mine after somewhat and halfway through the build he ordered a replica of this car. Its Ranger aircraft powered. We have the engine, and I'm starting on the frame the first of the year.

2.This is the 1937 chassis i got. We built a high end street rod out of the PERFECT body. I traded putting the factory stripes back on the coupe for this!!! The flat head had just been rebuilt completly, new valves, clutch, carb, everything!

3. One reson this car was so good, (other than being stored in a barn by the original owner since new) was that in the 60's they Z-bar'd the shit SHIT out of it!! Good for rust.. hell on cleaning!! I got the puddy knives and brake cleaner out and went to work!



Next three,

1. dismantle the frame.. I sold it to a buddy that had been looking for a while. IT WAS NICE!! No rust.

2. Sprint car frame fresh of the jig. I measured three other cars for this and drove one.. I combined what I liked best of the three for this car.

3. the kick-up was made from four pieces of metal welded together, and the rear horns are model A front horns.



next three,

1. Front axle assembly. All 37' ford.

2. The front curve was a BITCH!! NO ONE around here wanted to even try to bend it to my specs.. This one I Pie cut a bunch and re-welded. Next one i'll make out of four pieces.

3. rear end set up



next three...

1. I had an aluminum Weber fly wheel hanging on the wall.. so I put it in it for laughs.

2. engine fitting

3. Mounting the steering box



next three...

1. pedals... self made. 1956 chev master cylinder. (It was laying there new in the box cause we restore try-five Chevy's at our shop)

2. STARTING TO LOOK LIKE SOMETHING!! I was getting excited at this point! Reminded me of "The Bug"

3. Original cars ran a Clutch inside and a hand brake.. I decided to switch these. here you can see the clutch handle hung and the belly pan being fitted.



next trey...

1. Fitting Belly pan around the starter and oil pan. It is one of my favorite parts on the car!!

2. Here you see the Hand clutch linkage. Also, you can see what I made the belly pan front curves out of... guessed it yet???...


HARLEY SPORTSTER TANK!! I highly recomend every shop have a pile of used harley tanks for good curved metal!! Might wanna make sure there clean of gas before you cut them up!

3. I collect old race car bodies and parts.. (who doesn't) this was a ROUGH old tail section I had. I pie cut and trimed it to fit this style car and used it for my mold plug.
Check out my PVC exhaust mock ups!! HA HA!!! I even painted them silver for the pic!!




next three...

1. STYROFOAM!!!! Making the body plug for the mold.

2. I made it on the actual frame.

3. I glued these 6" thick plates of styrofoam together with liquid nail, then roughed them in with a sawzaw (SHAWZAW) then fine tuned it with a DA with some 36 grit.



LAST THREE for now.

1. Then I had to coat it with plaster of paris.

2. dry for a day and a half!!

3. sanded, fine tuned, and primered. The primer then had to be wet sanded to 2000 GRIT!!!! it had to look like glass before we could make the mold.




I'll post pics of the mold tomorrow, as with the final painted assembly.



Thanks guys.



P.S. The grille is an original Jaguar piece from way back.. I got it at a swap meet a few years back. its cast STEEL!! It wieghs a ton!! I'm sure you guys will reserch it and post pics within mins.!! I like the HAMB for that.

Thanks Ryan,

Joshua Shaw

 

I'm sure Hagan was trying to be helpful and you took it easy on him - Merry Christmas to all ;-)

But I'll bet everybody is slack jawed now after your build-up post! That little car is effin' fine. The fact that you thought it through to produce more bodies is generous too. Can you offer a CAD drawing of the chassis as well?

 

Hahahahahaha, I had to do it.

 

Thanks for the build pics. Great work!

 

Hell YEAH!! lol!!

The guys at Zakira's went ape shit when they heard i bought it.. Jim saw it one day and said, "What are you doing with that!" They offered to buy it or trade for another.. (That Jag is there type of car)I didn't cause I just liked this one cause it was so heavy and perfect.
I knew on the real car it was mounted hole up.. but it works better on a sprinter upside down.. like a starter hole for an indy car.

Thanks Brian... but you still owe me $20.. Ha Ha!

JD

 

Yea, that's what being bored on Christmas night gets ya!

 

Corngrower, I'll sure be glad when you get rid of that "NEWBIE", status, cause you sure as hell ain't no Newbie at this hotrod, car building stuff. Looks more like pro work to me.

Come this spring, remember us, and take pics of your dad slinging mud with it.
Some pics of your dad's other sprinters wouldn't hurt my/our feelings either.

Oh, did I tell you, nice forethought and fabrication.


HellRaiser

 

Thanks for shareing.
I like your imagineering and lot of style and class there.