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Inspired by Ed Roth, Plowboy and Racerdad

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Steelsmith, Apr 22, 2010.

  1. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Streetneat, Nice to have you here on the Hamb ... again! Welcome.

    Yes, just because you have talent and the ability to do some really great metalwork and even some pretty spiffy design work, doesn't gaurantee you will be successful; ie pay the bills etc. I think that goes for more places that it used to.
    Unfortunately, finding customers who appreciate your work, have a realistic schedule for their hand-formed parts to be built in and are willing to pay a reasonable amount for that work, priceless!

    Happy to hear you will now be allowed to build your car! Sometimes relocation is the best thing you can do.

    I too am still hopefull that I can retain my car, but only time will tell if that is realistic or not.

    Thank you for your well wishes, and I will watch for your pic's to show up here in some kind of link!

    Dan Stevens
     
  2. Heya Dan
    You have the right outlook and perspective of the world - thats the first step in recovery from adversity!
    I have had over 20 years in the trade and my relocation to a foreign land has meant I have to start all over again with building up a name and reputation. So that means I get in domestic type work ( the bog bash and brush type) and actually metal finish these POS vehicles - hand 'em back the rust in a doggy bag with photos to prove what I do - yet still can only charge the bog it up price. Its a bloody painfully slow way of trying to earn a dollar and reputation - yet I believe it will pay off. Word travels ( you ever noticed bad words travel faster than good words?!) The tricky part is not to set too much of a precedence with quality work heavily discounted. I will raise the prices slowly once work flows in again. Its just good business sense.

    So you and I are in the same boat - talent and skill pays the bills. Its how we manage that in harsh times. Getting paid what you are worth is always a battle - even in good times. Keeping your sense of humor and self belief as you have done sorts it all out. Positive outlook - positive outcome!

    I post some pics when the mag article comes out.

    Cheers streetneat-Andrew.
     
  3. Been there, myself... More than once. Hang in there, keep focused and know you're not alone. :D
     
  4. OahuEli
    Joined: Dec 27, 2008
    Posts: 5,243

    OahuEli
    Member
    from Hawaii

    Many years ago while in the Merchant Marines I worked for a very salty old Chief Engineer who'd seen more than his share of adversity, a little of which he shared with me. I asked him how he got through life with all the difficulty he'd experienced. He said he just stuck with his philosophy, which was (verbatim) "Fuck 'em all but seven, save 6 for cocksuckers and one to carry the radio!" Every time things go to hell in a handbasket I think of the old guy, smile and just keep at it. :D Hang in there Dan!
     
  5. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    After much consideration I have decided to list this car for sale 'As Is' in the classified section here on the Hamb. I hope someone here sees the wonderful potential this car has, to be a great show car that needs to be finished and driven 'like you stole it'!

    Lotta memories here guys, this is a really 'good Karma' car!

    Buy it, finish it and make it yours!

    Thanks for all of the participation during my time with it here in this build-thread!

    your fellow Hamb'r,
    Dan Stevens
     
  6. Sad to hear you've put the car on the market, but hopefully someone who appreciates all your effort will see it to completion.

    I have a four-letter word that I use when things go awry...

    NEXT!
    :D

    Take care.
     
  7. 52 Sphynx
    Joined: Jan 27, 2011
    Posts: 5

    52 Sphynx
    Member
    from tater zone

    Well Boys, it's about all over but the crying. It breaks my heart that after FINALLY registering after all these years this has to be my first post. My buddy Dan the Steelsmith has been busier than a one legged man ....well, you know, selling off all his metal working tools and projects to move on to a "paying job" a far piece from here. That's kept him from doing additional work (much less posting) on the Cutlass. Most everything was sold via on-line auction and both the Belairo and '46 Ford pickup projects have found homes locally. The Kaisers are still up in the air and I may wind up with the '60 Chrysler. We are hoping to find a home for the project of this thread, the '61 Cutlass and several have expressed some serious interest in taking on this unique and very kool kustom project. Let's hope Dan can get re-established and again pursue his passion. DAN WE WISH YOU WELL!!!! your bud and big fan, AL
     
  8. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Hahaha, Al! Finally, you are on here! Ha

    Yes, for those who are interested, it's almost a done deal. I'll give the new owners of the 'Metlmastr', large English Wheel and my personal favorite the Powered Helve Hammer a quick demo of how they work off of each other in the metalshaping process. That'll happen later today, then those tools will be moved out tomorrow.

    The only other big tool left here is my milling machine, which used to be in the Packard Motor Car Co and was later acquired by Studebaker during the buy-out of Packard. Big old gear to gear drive with hydraulic power feed! Don't want to get tangled up in that one! Ha

    Anyway, I'm down to hand tools and trying to define what a single tool-box for a diesel motorhome needs to look like ...?
    BTW the auctions have brought enough to pay for the Motor Home! Always a concern when liquidating at auction! Especially now, when the economy has tanked so badly around here ... No, it's not new, (are you kidding)? However, it is a low mileage Diesel '94 Rexhall that my wife & I will inhabit for the next few years while we pursue work and try to recover financially, just in time to retire, (is that even still possible)?

    Again, Thank You for all of your participation during the Cutlass build! I had a great time doing this project and will miss the interaction/input from other slightly bent/skewed perspective hot rodders here on the Hamb! ha

    Your fellow Hamb'r
    Dan Stevens
     
  9. This is a bummer. Good luck in all your New ventures and adventures. Pete.
     
  10. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Hey BF-Pete! It could be so much worse! My wife & I are very fortunate to have the 'shop' as an asset that can be liquidated to help us start our new life. We will continue to look at this as a positive change. To be very truthfull, it's so hard to try to create a business that offers something out of the ordinary, that should have some value, only to struggle financially. It's very disheartening to watch and even worse to be the one trying everything you can think of and it still doesn't work!
    For me this is a much needed change and we are both looking forward to our new adventure!

    Keep the shiney side up and the rubber side down!

    Dan Stevens
     
  11. DIRTYDAG
    Joined: Oct 29, 2005
    Posts: 426

    DIRTYDAG
    Member
    from cleveland

    The motor needs to be seen!(no hood) headlights can be corvair... as for the roof...have you looked at the 60-64 corvair 4door roof? and back windo? like the 59 60 elcamino but more exagerated!


    good luck with you Sir!hope it gets finished!
     
  12. Andrew, that was a bitchin' post.

    Best 'o' luck Dan- hoping this car lives on in HAMB-land.
     

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    Last edited: Feb 11, 2011
  13. flyinggoose
    Joined: Oct 10, 2008
    Posts: 45

    flyinggoose
    Member

    Dan, I just found this thread this morning and hope I'm not too late. If you can find your way to Fort Worth, Texas, I have an empty shop with air (both compressed and conditioning) and even a small office if you want. I have about 5,000 square feet you can use and more if needed. I also have a machine shop in the rest of the building. I would be willing to front the shop space, and get the metal working tools if you are interested. I also have an RV hook-up at my house on a private acre of land for you to stay. My brothers and I want to open a small fabricating shop but our only metal shaping experience is in turning and milling. See our website at www.rodensallstar.com and consider this an offer to start a new business here in Texas. Call me for details if interested.
     
  14. bonez
    Joined: Jul 16, 2007
    Posts: 3,487

    bonez
    Member
    from Slow lane

    I think last i visited this thread was about a year ago, so i had no idea what was goin on and was hopin to see some progress.

    Im really saddened by the whole situation, but im real glad youre taking it lookin at the positive side.

    I hope the Cutty will end up in caring hands that will turn it into the crowd pleaser she deserves to become. The tools as well, i'd hate if they end up in some basement not cared for, it sems that you had quite a collection of great tools.
    Also, i'd love to read that book! If you ever do write it make sure to let us know.
    Best of luck dude.
    Nick.
     
  15. Wow!! That's a very gracious and thoughtful offer. I commend you for being willing to extend a hand to someone in a bad spot. Granted, you would benefit from having someone of Dan's obvious skill in your facility, but it is still, IMHO, a great thing to do. Kudos, Sir!:D

     
  16. What an amazing post! To openly offer such an opportunity is truly inspiring. Wish there was some of that generosity up here where the jobs for industrial designers and metal shapers are few and far between.

    Steve
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  17. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    For those of you who are waiting to see what happens here, I'm trying to make contact with 'Rodens machine shop'. So far the phones busy! Can you believe it?! Ha

    Oh well, I'll keep tryin' and also keep you posted too!

    Thanks for all of your support, Prayers and well wishes too.

    Dan & Jan Stevens
     
  18. Dan, It was good to talk to you on the phone...I hope this turns out to be a great opportunity for all of you!
     
  19. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Ok, this was more of a case of 'wishful thinking' than a real job offer. Jan & I can't entertain a continuation of that kind of life anymore. So, I guess we will head down to California to be a 'Civil Servant' unless the Lord sends us somewhere else.

    I do appreciate all of the support from here on the board.

    Dan Stevens
     
  20. Greezeball
    Joined: Mar 12, 2006
    Posts: 743

    Greezeball
    Member

    Mr Stevens,
    I too made a similar change 3 years ago. I know that someone with your determination and work ethic will prosper once again. Though scary and uncertain a change and move of this magnatude can also be quite liberating. Good luck and keep us posted.
     
  21. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Greezeball, believe it or not both my wife and I are actually looking forward to this change. Yes, it is a bit scary and right now, uncertain too. However, we are following God's lead in these changes so it will work out. Maybe not in a way that we would expect, but I'd rather be in God's will than trying to force things to my will. That just doesn't work out well for us ...

    Thanks for your support!
    Dan & Jan Stevens
     
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  22. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Happy New Year, 2015! Lol, bet you thought I was all done here! Not quite, but there have been some serious changes in our lives.

    The Update: My wife and I now inhabit a '94 Rexhall motorhome in Rockport Texas. When we left Idaho in 2012 it was the end of March and major storms were between us and our destination, Largo Florida. Largo (and later Clearwater FL) is where the RV service technician school is based and as I recall, the 1st day of classes was April 1st!
    As happens in lots of long trips, we were late leaving and after several marathon driving sessions we arrived in Largo Sunday afternoon with classes starting in the morning!
    10+ weeks of intense training I was pleased to pass the RV service technician certification (Florida Department of Education) test with an 83%, not bad for my old memory chips!
    Our next destination was Rockport Texas, which due to it's semi-tropical location is a draw for 'Winter Texans' in RV's from around the nation and even Canada.

    Since arriving here in June of 2012 I have been doing service work as an independant mobile service tech for RV's.
    Recently, 12-1-1014 I followed up on an interview for a more permanent/consistant position with a local RV dealership. I was hired on the spot! It turns out, the new service manager snapped me up because, no only was I a certified service tech (which was what the interview was about) but, I have a lot of composite experience (fiberglass) from my days in the Experimental Aircraft Industry. His goal is to set-up a superior collision/paint shop for servicing RV's. This has sent me into a whole new direction thought-wise and I thought I'd share.

    In 2011 all of my metalshaping tools were sold at auction. My autobody tools went the same way. Now, in this new environment (RV collision damage) I will have to retool to a very limited extent to do fiberglass 'moldless' reconstruction. I am appalled at the rise of tool prices since the '70's-'80's. A new Hutchins rotary DA mdl#2001 with vacuum attachment has a list price of $578.00! Other tools are a bit less but tooling up will cost several thousand dollars. However, it does open the door to a 'true' Ed Roth fiberglass body!
    The old F-85 this thread used as it's basis has languished in Idaho since I left but, it could be used as the basis for a fiberglass version of this design.
    Why fiberglass? Here in South Coastal Texas (just above Corpus Christi), metal rusts, like nothing I have ever seen. A fiberglass car or body makes more sense and tooling up for fiberglass work is a much less expensive proposition than the tools for metalshaping.

    What say you?!
     
  23. Great to hear from you! Sounds like you've had some more positive things happen in your life over recent times. May it carry on in 2015 and beyond.

    My old friend, Ed, did a lot of clever stuff in 'glass, so why not you? - that's my 2c worth... :cool:
     
  24. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    I personally, never met Ed Roth. Which is really sad, considering the fact that he was a regular fixture at my Mom's house. Back in high school, he was best friends with her older brother Jerry Vernia. My Dad, Bud Stevens had drafting/mechanical drawing classes with Ed and told me Ed's inspiration for his his monsters were from a Russian student who made cartoons of himself with long ape-like arms and wide shoulders/tiny waist and under-sized legs and butt! This was back when they were all teenagers. My Dad, rather than being drafted into the Army volunteered and joined the Air force (this was for the Korean war), I believe Ed got drafted?
    After the war, even though they all still lived in the same area (Bell California), they had all changed so much they never reconnected again, until Jerry visited Ed at his shop a few years before his death. (on a side note: Jerry's model A Roadster was pinstriped by Von Dutch, that was in '48?)
    Some of my earliest memories were of our house on Mayflower, in Bell California not far from the original 'Carson Top Factory' which was on Bell Ave. just down from the high school they all attended. Ed's shop was pointed out to me as the place where all of the 'Rat Finks' came from, this would have been in '64-'65? I would have loved to have met the man, I'm sure he would have had a profound impact on a young impressionable mind like mine and maybe that was why my over-protective parents didn't take me there ...?
    It's incredible to think what effect an intro to Ed at such an impressionable age would have done to my older brother Dave Stevens, creator of the 'Rocketeer'. He already had a vast talent as an artist even though he had yet to reach his teenage years!

    Maybe it was something in the water, some Government Program gone-a-miss ...?
     
  25. Whoa, your older brother was Dave Stevens?
    What a small world, just the other day I was paging through "Dave Stevens Complete Sketches and Studies". I cherish that book, he had astounding talent!
     
  26. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Yup, that was my brother. If you liked the 'sketches' you'd really appreciate his largely autobiographical, 'Brush with Passion', an excellent book with lots of information about Dave and his astounding ability with brush and 'India Ink'. Truly inspiring for those of us who would like to explore our own talents/limitations.
    You might also like the last of the series of books published after his death, 'Rocketeer' the Artist's copy or some such title. It shows the 'Rocketeer' in book form, from reproductions of the original pages. I don't have my copy right here at hand but, as I recall the reproductions were of such high quality, white-out and blue-line layout's were all visible where Dave made changes. It kind of let you into the Artist's Studio, so to speak. Very revealing for those of us who have wondered, 'How'd he do that'?
     
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  27. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Now, back to the speculatin' about reviving the F-85 project!
    When I left Idaho in March of '12, the Cutlass remained in the possession of Allan Podolan, my close personal friend. Al had hung around the shop and we had helped each other out with various car projects over the years, he still retains some of my prized possessions, such as my brother's published books and my own shop/project building archive for if I ever had a chance to 'do it all again'.
    While I just don't have the drive or resources to recreate a metalshaping shop like I had back then, there is still some relevant information that I hope was kept in that archive (you never know what has disappeared that you wish you had kept, sigh).

    If we start with the remains of that project and treat that body as an unfinished buck to create a hybrid, (part metal car/part fiberglass body) this may be doable!
    My reason for keeping/using the original F-85 body is the car is titled, in Idaho! A clean title, is a clean title and a very important starting point. The official ID# is stamped onto a riveted plate in the driver's-side doorjamb. It would be fairly easy to re-register it here in Texas. Dunno if Al would be willing to work with me on reacquiring the car but I won't know until I ask!
    The chassis needed to be re-fabricated from just behind the seat-pan to the end of the body/trunk area. I have had some time to re-evaluate my earlier design and I would be temped to make the rear-section in two forms. One to run as a trunkless roadster tub-like body with maybe a spun aluminum fuel tank or a small keg? exposed on a kicked up frame? Ideal planning would allow me to enclose this fuel-tank and kicked up frame inside the design's original narrowed trunk sheetmetal.
     
  28. Martin Harris
    Joined: Aug 3, 2014
    Posts: 328

    Martin Harris

    Only just caught up with this thread, sounded like my kind of project, was gutted went things went bad for you mate, and pleased the New Year brings positive news.
    Be really interested to see what you can do with 'glass! Your ideas sound great, go for it!
     
  29. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Of that original project, I had tapered the body from front to back both from the side and down the middle when viewed from the front.
    Upon review, since your butt sits back by the rear end of the door it would be nice to bring the cowl/dash back further, I might even look into some kind of center-steer option? Like an airplane? or a swing away steering column? Dunno ...
    I'm also thinking now, of a removable hardtop or a convertable or even just topless, maybe with a half cover for when driving alone?

    Just remember this is all highly speculative as I no longer have the car in question and have yet to acquire the tools of the trade for a full time fiberglasser but, the possibility is out there!
     
  30. Steelsmith
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 581

    Steelsmith
    Member

    Hey guys, thanks for the interest! This has remained a glowing ember in the back of my mind since I had to 'cash in my chips'.
    No point in cryin' over what might have been, now it's about 'what might yet be'!
     

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