I haven't posted in a while, but have been gathering parts for a new project. This fall I scored a 30'/31' Model A sport coupe on an early '28 chassis off Craigslist for $1400. The body is really solid for a New York car and had been in a barn for 20 or 30 years before I bought it from a wheeler dealer type guy. At some point someone had whacked the tops of the doors off and stick welded them (poorly) closed. I want to build this car as a late 40's style barn find, leaving the great patina on it and using all '36-'38 drivetrain. So far I have picked up completely cherry front and rear '38 suspension with wheels and tires for $100! off Craigslist and a complete '36 truck chassis with juice brakes and an extra set of mechanical front and rear ends for $250 also off Craigslist locally. In the pictures you can see my donor coupe which actually looks way better in the pictures than is in real life (major swiss cheese). The louvered decklid and some other parts are coming over to the sport coupe. My plan is to run the '38 rear end with the wide five wheels and the '36 front end with dropped spring. The outer skin of the car will remain stock except I may whack the top 2" or so. It will be a fenderless highboy (probably pretty high just like the late '40s) and full hood. I have a Mustang 2.3L and T5 to put in it with one of those '36 torque tubes for the lakes pipe under the car. I figured that I might as well stick with a banger for power as gas ain't getting any cheaper and my other rods have a V8 and an I6 so I needed an I4. Tires will be 7.00-16 in the rear and 6.00-16 in the front, probably Firestones. I hope to get going on it later this winter after I get done changing a couple of things on my A pickup. Further updates happening as they happen. Josh Quick Quick Speed Shop Caledonia, NY
Yes, that is an early 283 to '36 trans via adapter. The engine also had a Hurst front mount adapter to the '36 frame. Unfortunately the engine/tranny wasn't part of the deal. I had to pull it and take it back to the guy. Josh Quick
Sounds like a really cool project. I am doing a similar build witha '31 Chevy right now for my Father in Law. I am doing it pretty high with no drop also but mainly because his driveway is so steep I am afraid he might not get in!!! I am going with a 250 inline six and hopefully it'll be buzzing around next year. The '36 lake pipes are my favorite. It's the driveshaft (not the outer tube) that the pipes are made from just in case you were un aware. Can't wait to see some updates!!
I figured the drive shaft itself must be special because all the torque tubes look identical to me except in legnth. Luckily, I scored two complete '36 rearends with that truck chassis so I have two pairs of '36 rear bones and two complete torque tubes. I also got a third '36 rear and wheels from a guy in trade for a set of old Model A tires I didn't need. I plan on using the '36 front axle with a spring over setup because I can get a Posies lowered spring for that width and it looks like the '36 axle is about a 2" drop or so below the stock A axle. For the roof I am planning on building a faux sport coupe roof out of steel which is kind of funny because the stock sport coupe roof was a faux cabriolet style roof. So I'm building a faux faux roof. Josh Quick
Here is the look I am going for except with wide 5 wheels and no splash aprons. Josh Quick Quick Speed Shop
looks like an awesome start craigs list is a gold mine for you , around here its all full of modern junk , or high priced new stuff , good luck with your build and im hoping to see some photos as you work on it
I like the look you are going for and it looks like you have plenty of parts...Nice barn find,by the way...........
Hey Josh, I just seen an update in street rodder about the coupe, you're changing cars so quick I can't keep up.
i dont have time to read all this just read the top article and saw the pictures but im pretty sure in the 40s they didnt have SBC engines
Aw!! Now you've gone and ruined his HAMB skimming. Just when he was perfecting the Pasadenahotrod method. Frank
Thanks for all the comments. Here is the car is the early stages of "a place to store junk until I can get room to work on it." As you can see the garage is kind of packed right now and I'm in the midst of a bunch of work on my Model A truck. Here is the 2.3L that I found. I'll be stripping the EFI stuff off and painting in Model A engine green with black accessories before it goes in the car. Hopefully later this winter I can get started. Thanks. They ran a two page Early Iron spread on my truck back in the summer and those pictures with the first coupe were from my response before I bought the sport coupe body. Josh Quick Quick Speed Shop <!-- / message --><!-- sig -->
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