Why do T-buckets get no respect?

t's used to be my least favorite type of car. I hate brass and tires that wide are only needed on dragsters. but then i saw an article on norm grabowskis lightning bug and the cookie car,coolest t's ive ever seen!

 

Can you really drive it?
Did you really put in the wrench time?
Do people really give the thumbs up when they see it?

MUST BE REAL


My 15 yo son is building his first car. a steel 23 T Bucket. He has no clue what hes doing but is REALLY having a blast going after it. Hes banged out the dents, and got the door swinging. I'll help lay out the frame and donate some of my suspension components. It'll get a 250 straight six outa a 67 Chev van. I don't think he worrries much abnout what kind of title people want to give it . I am thinking he will call it "My first car and i built it!

 

YOU DAWM SKIPPY!!!! Blown bigblock, turbo 400, 3.23 gears with big MT's on the back T's painted flat black with some tastefully done crome.....it don't get any better than that!!!!!

 

It was originally built in Springfield MO by Mike Parker (and his soninlaw who Dean met). I used to own the rear portion of the body.

 

Cool, I just hope my boy is still that into hot rods in 3 years. Building together is great but, I'd love to see him going after a build on his own!

 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner....

this one gets my respect for sure...

 

That's funny. I have a kit car and I'm asked all the time if it is a Model T.

 

Although I personally (preference only, not saying its a written rule somewhere) don't like glass and would rather have a rusty steel shell over a slick new glass body ready to go, lostforawhile is right. I'm a member of the Model T Ford Club International and have done quite a bit of research into early speedsters (about as traditional a hotrod as you can get). One of the popular tricks to make the custom bodies lighter back in the 20's was a lightweight wood frame covered with doped fabric, a trick learned from the early airplane builders. Fenders were made from wire frames covered with oiled canvas. Many speester builders merely opted for as little body as possible, with many just having a hood, cowling, and a seat base. The original Ford sheetmetal was usually thrown out completely, with the exception of the hood.

There was no argument about what was traditional or not back then, it was all about losing weight. You can see a parallel between rodders now and then; one one hand, you had the fellas that wanted the classy-looking chick-magnet speedsters resembling the Stutz Bearcat, Hudson "Mile-a-Minute", etc., and on the other hand there were the fellas that just wanted to go faster and looks were not a concern.

As I said, lostforawhile is right whether he is referring to the 20's or the 50's with his "back in the day" statement. Those with the purpose of extreme weight reduction would have used it, but the "poor boy" with limited funds would have used what was available. Nowadays, I think it all boils down to the reason we build a hot rod. The fella that wants a lightweight, quick build will opt for the glass body, where the fella that wants to stick to tradition and build a period-correct hot rod will go with the steel. As he said "IF glass was available"...however, it wasn't. No matter how you look at it, glass can't be true to tradition since there were no glass copies of steel bodies in the era most referred to when we think of "traditional" (late-30s into the mid-50's). A true period-correct "traditional" would have to be made of materials commonly available in the period you are trying to represent. I'm not saying a glass car can't be cool, and I'm not trying to say they are less hot rod than a steel body. I'm just saying that it's all subjective and there is room for all of us with our vaying preferences and opinions. I think a glass car is still just as much a hot rod as a steel car, but its a modern representaion of a "traditional". No offense to anyone, as we all see it differently.

Yes, had glass been available back in the day, there would have been more glass T's. Had disc brakes, IFS, and all the other "modern" tricks we see used been available, there would have been more "street rods"...but they weren't

 

Well they may have been around a longtime but they are not now as I just checked the web and there domain name is for sale

 

You say what else do you need," how's about a spare tire I travel round Asia in mine and no spare tire has cost me big time in hassle and being stranded in some in the middle of no where where you can get no help".

 

Well they may have been around a longtime but they are not now as I just checked the web and there domain name is for sale

 

You say what else do you need," how's about a spare tire I travel round Asia in mine and no spare tire has cost me big time in hassle and being stranded in some in the middle of no where where you can get no help".

 

Yes much of what you say is true, the driving position sucks, the car is to small, steering wheel and pedal placement are ,"god awful". But I have driven mine all around Asia and i have had a ball !

 

Yea, that's my point. They are versatile and can be built in a variety of different styles.

I'm not sure what you meant by "runabout body" though. It's just a regular fiberglass T-bucket body stuck on the rear end of a dragster frame.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=615435&d=1236568400

 

Im not a big fan of buckets, But If you get the proportions right there as cool as anything else. Royal Shifter that one of yours is the coolest Ive seen in a long time.

 

The body used on "T-Buckets" was called a "runabout" by Ford. Ford didn't build a T "roadster" or "bucket", it was called the "Runabout".

Whn I say I don't like T-buckets, I should explain. I like "old" cars, not a pile of new parts made to resemble an old car. Not that the latter is anything less than a hot rod, but I'm just partial to "real" old cars and parts. I have two original T drivers that won't be rodded because I appreciate the old feel and there is no reason to tear apart a perfectly good drivable T. I love rodded T's, but the typical T-bucket look just don't appeal to me.

I've always considered a "T-bucket" as a term describing a particular style of hot rod build, sort of like we call other particular styles "hiboys", track T's", etc. When you put a '26-7 coupe on that same chassis, or a TT truck "Open" (C-cab) or closed cab on it, I don't know what you'd call it but they're fun as hell. Not near as much fun as my original '26 TT grain truck, but fun just the same

"T-bucket" (to me) means the silly looking 70's "Candy-Man" cars with the even sillier-looking top that kicks up real high in the back, shortened pickup bed (which by the way wasn't part of the original package on a T Runabout), suicide front-end, big goofy looking pipes that look like they came off the "A-Team's" van, brass radiator shell and cowl lights (those are other parts not original to the '23 T but rather from a decade earlier), etc. The Runabout body isn't a T-bucket, but rather T-buckets just happen to have Runabout bodies on them. So I think its safe to say that "all T-buckets are hot rods with a Runabout body, but all hot rods with Runabout bodies aren't T-buckets."

Someone mentioned a '26 or '27 "T-bucket", but there was no such animal. The "improved car" (as Ford called the new style for '26) had an integral trunk made as part of the body. There was no bucket-style Runabout body in '26-'27. A Track T is a hot rod with a '26-7 Runabout body.

Even Wikipedia backs up my assessment of the "T-bucket";

"A T-bucket (or Bucket T) is a specific style of hot rod car, based on a Ford Model T but extensively modified, or alternatively built with replica components to resemble a Model T.A genuine T-bucket has the very small and light two seater body of a Model T roadster (with or without the turtle deck or small pickup box), this "bucket"-shaped bodyshell giving the cars their name. A Model T style radiator is usually fitted, and even these can sometimes be barely up to the task of cooling the large engines fitted. There is never any kind of engine cowling on a T-bucket. Windshields, when fitted, are vertical glass like the original Model T.
...the T-bucket specifically was created and given that name by Norman Grabowski in the 1950s."

Note it is referred to as a "specific style" of hot rod that got the name from the bucket shape of the body used on it.

 

With that big and little combo you would need (2) spares.

How about a few cans of fix-a-flat and a K-mart tire patch kit? Might save your butt next time.

 

Thanks

 

Although I'm not a big fan of T buckets I do agree that some of the coolest hot rods around are Ts. Like this one from Detroit

 

Here's the Peter Beater in my latest incarnation. It has since been changed a bit....

 

Looks good...another good example of a hot rod with a T Runabout body, not a "T-bucket"

 

Heh Man I wish this was that easy I always carry patches and a threader to push patches in with plus I carried liquid repair also two air pumps one electric and one hand .

But Man the damage was so bad to my tire nothing would help I limped into Thailand from Malaysia. I called a buddy and he put two spare tires on a bus to meet me at the border in a town near by called Had Yai.

The tires arrived but the guy in the tire shop deliberately broke the bead while installing my tire so he could sell me two new ones i thought of calling the cops burning down his shop giving him a knuckle sandwich but I knew i have no rights here and better be quiet.

So I ended up limping back to Phuket Thailand about 600 kilometers on two different size rear tires.

Ah the joys of driving around Asia in a Hot Rod.

Actually most of my stories are quite funny but having a spare helps even if its two. I used to think about building a small trailer to carry a couple with me.

If I break down I have to carry all my tools as no one has a clue about this car.

I have had some stunning women who wanted to go with me me over the years but when they looked inside of the Full House Mouse. They saw nothing but tools, jacks, pumps and a small tent. But even then many have crawled in and hung out with me for a few weeks sitting on top of the pile.

Not that this mattered to them as all they wanted to do was have fun and thats my middle name.

I swear I have had some of the nicest puss in the world while on the road. Women flock to the car here in Asia I have come back and found my car surrounded and I had to circle the wagons and fight them off.

Aw pain pain pain !

Don't know if I can take it any more god when I hit towns with cool bars man I almost need to use my Jack handle to keep them from swarming all over the car in there tiny little Bikini's.

I'm glad you guys all stay home and I have to look after all these sweeties for you !

 

Damn, that looks like a fun car! You got my respect.

 

That sure is a sweet ride I Totally agree

 

I have a friend who has a blown big block, 4 speed in a T bucket. He finally got me to take a ride with him, I guess the best way to describe it was to strap your ass to a rodeo bull. Yeah he is crazy, I was never so glad to get out of a car, but he has my RESPECT, he is nuts

 

Thanks for the information. I learn something new every day.
I'm going to start calling them, Runabout Pails" just to annoy my brother.

 

someone needs to build a bucket like this thing, this demands respect lol. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVlov_t4fjg&feature=related

 

For $139 you too can be the Koolest Kat on the block with your Kookie Kar...
Where do I sign?

 

My uncle who was in the body shop business forever looked at my T bucket & said" Oh you just used the Bucket" So i guess the Bucket part was used for alot of things, P/U, Turtle back, etc.Its probably just a slang expression that stuck.
I have never heard it called a "roundabout" before, but i know thats what they call "traffic circles" in england.lol
JimV

 

Not roundabout...RUNabout! hehehe