HUBBA HUBBA my 32-4 Tudor tribute to Gramps

@Runnin shine perhaps when you put the dash in the car the polished section will get subtlety lost in the shadow or not really be majorly noticeable from yours or the viewer or I mean admirers viewpoint.

If this is the case no need to polish the rest.

 

What he said

 

I used Cratex for a small project and didn't like the outcome.
Pattern in each swirl was not very consistant and I had to use decent pressure for about 30 seconds each. Also, I used WD40 as a lube, when dry the results were worse.

Keep doing what you're doing, wish I would have done it your way.

 

As some one who has high ambitions, a vision, ocd, no time, and small children- but not twins- as well I get where your at. Frustratingly so some times lol.

So this is this mornings thought.

We both seem to want to build the car to the best of our ability, but still love an “authentic” feeling to the car.

The advice I give people looking for that “not quite perfect” look has always been to try your best because your not a professional and even your best at this point will have some flaws and quirks. Then they are honest marks and not some silly “I painted bird shit and rust spots on my glass car” marks. You litteraly know what happened for each of those spots and that is always part of the story and vibe.

If you saw a survivor and there wasn’t a worn window sill from cruising with your arm out the window, the funny worn spot where they always grabbed the car to get out of it and etc it would feel like something was off.

So in respecting your Weird brain and lack of time I say completely mock it up with gauges and maybe even. Clamp it into the car and stare at it walking by it for a week or two before you jump to making the entire thing match the one Weird different spot.

There a good chance that it will be a character mark and not a scab you want to pick

 

Tim that is absolutely spot on.

 

So @Tim kinda hit on a topic I’ve commented about a few times going all the way back in this thread. Cohesion... or blending for the more simple in eloquence. This car with all its rounding up of parts from different sources, spanning many years, and condition will take more than a simple “bolt her together”. Something that gets my goat personally is that hard contrast of part to part that clearly show a drastic difference in age or wear like fresh wet sanded/buffed paint with old tired hardware on top.
So with the finished car needing to represent a build date of 46-48 and appear a survivor at first through a few glances every piece needs some attention.
The gauges are a good representation of this “cohesion” dilemma.

Now in a camera frozen archival state it doesn’t come through. But in the flesh it’s easy to see that my gauges are a collection of several purchases. I couldn’t afford original crescent style and I happen to like coffin needle so this as of today is the cheapest combo I could put together.


The oil pres. and one temp gauge have the look I want and I will leave alone but the Vac and Fuel gauge are later and have bright chrome bezels that totally stick out against the earlier units with I believe stainless.

I also can’t stand this bezel, needle and the needle of the fuel gauge. Sometimes we make concessions. These two gauges will need to be “aged”. The amp gauge and the second temp gauge need to be brought up in condition to fit the intended character of Hubba Hubba.



This temp gauge doesn’t have the SW logo and is dirty behind the glass it may be temporary especially if I attempt to remove the bezel to clean and fail. The fuel level you can see I already dulled down the chrome some. I don’t know how far I can take all this detail but immediately killing the obnoxious chrome look of these two is an improvement.

I used a some light sanding to pull off the chrome’s polished top surface. A little steel wool, green scotch-brite, and coincidentally lapping compound to get this brushed stainless effect. Then my ol gal Mothers gets ya this.

And

Of course the camera isn’t as kind as the in person view. But here’s the cleaned up amp. For compar’o

So my angle on all this is with my car I don’t want it to look like a barn find. I’m not interested in something all dirty and untouched. I hope it to be a much larger version of my guitars I build that look 60+ yrs old, played countless hours but yet loved not shit on. The dash then must look like it has been there for ever but cleaned up to be used again and also taken care of when in use through previous bouts of attention. I don’t want the car to feel like it was ever left to be forgotten but rather pushed aside for several years here and there but often revived with vigor to showcase its attributes feel the thrill of its radicalness.
The fresh painted dash will get dulled down to a level consistent with where the gauges average out when finished as will the steering wheel and the rest of the interior. The engine compartment will look a little more distressed. The exterior will take on a balance between the inside and driveline.
All the oxblood dash knobs are period authentic and will be installed as is. They blend well with the two untouched gauges. The mag switch I may be able to add one of my extra AC speedo bezels to. Then the tach, mag, and speedo holes will match. I really would like to alter the Vac and Fuel needles that irk the crap out of me. Anyone know a correct way to remove and reinstall the SW bezels?
Anyhoo like the chop I’ve babbled on too far with this. My point is I literally take in EVERY screw and bolt into thought about how it will gel with it’s cohorts. I have kicked back and forth for more than a year the use of my possibly 50yrs old or more stockish open lug nuts vs some half light orange brown rust - half chrome acorns that I would have to few swapped out for they are too new in style with others I might have to add rust to match. To each his own but I couldn’t sleep at night with fresh zinc or whatever on my lugs or grease caps, hell zerk fittings for that matter.
Crazy or Savant? You decide



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That’s awesome.


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I’ll say crazy until you get it finished and then you can be a savant haha.

Nice work on those bezels

 

This entire dash dealeo is like you and your intake/header dreaming. I have way more time to plan my build than physically build it. My plans for the dash were very conservative for over two years then BAMB!
I originally just wanted the stock 32 layout with maybe body color or even more so old style wood graining applied by yours truly. I researched this quite a bit. Then I wanted to attempt the 3 lifted sections of a 3w with a stock dash tunnel. The first steps to changing course goes back to Marks sketch that made me paint the steering wheel instead of just black. Sometime not that long ago I started wanting to paint it to match the steering wheel. This also was driven by the way a 40 de luxe steering wheel and dash share a common scheme which inspired my steering wheel pattern. Then I was struggling with the placement of the Mag switch in the header panel. After that I struggled with the 3 bump replication of my dash repair, something I never was a fan of. Finally I gave into the practicality of a Fuel and Amp gauge. This became the driving force of a more thorough rethink of my complete dashboard vision.
Boy am I so glad at times that life gets in the way. If I could’ve had this car on the road when I wanted it would never get to where it’s going. I do believe in the theory that your dash, gauges, and steering wheel are very important to your fulfillment in driving the automobile. I would’ve been fine with a original appearing dash layout. But now, although it has cost more time n’ tokens, with the way things spiral I am firm in my convictions that this will take my car to one more peg above the crowds. I will at least get a bigger rise out of sitting in there making the vroom vroom vroom. (The last vroom was over-rev)


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I can’t believe I found this in the crappiest antique store slash flea market this evening. Me and the Mrs were almost to a fine Mexican cuisine establishment when I made a sudden right turn off the main drag. I’ve been on the prowl for vintage wwii drab canvas for my front seats after two failed attempts at old pup tents that proved to be insufficient in weave pattern texture and age condition. I hadn’t been in this hell hole in a while and just thought it be worth a look. They had a cool wool army sleeping bag dated 1944. I was going to get it and mull it over as a option. I ended up putting it back after realizing the zipper would’ve effect the ability to cover both front seats.
I’m posting this to pat my self on the back. I was taken back by my recognizing the red 5w Coupe from 30+ feet and it laying flat about 2’ above ground on a table by itself. I didn’t even see it was a Life magazine before I was speeding across the warehouse building. I then saw the flagger and put it together. I honestly didn’t believe I’m that up on hot rod lore to know this cover shot. I must have seen it here on the HAMB, a periodical, book store hardback, or in a library within the last few years at best. I am way behind in Traditional rod history. Glad to find I know some though.


I think it will make its way to the garage walls for character enhancement.


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That’s awesome! I left, I’m not exaggerating, and entire big Wicker basket full of little books in a similar place. I didn’t have the cash to spend and when I returned they were gone. I’ve kicked myself every time I think about it even ten years now.

 

Went to Gramps house tonight in honor of my 45th. Snuck this pic of his wedding day on the fireplace mantel.

My aunt took this one with my phone for me. He pulls it off cool while me and my younger brother with the hat on end up looking stupid. Guess they don’t make’m like they use to.

Yes this is after dinner and a few bottles of Chianti.
Before I had left home for this visit I daydreamed about my dash knobs.

The far left is a fog light switch that I’ll use the knob on a nos vintage 6v headlight pull switch. The one next to it is a heater switch that I’ll use for the wiper motor that I’m in no rush to bother with. On the far right I have planned to run on a separate dedicated 12v small battery to the lighter socket for modern device charging. Sorry old nos Santay lighter I don’t smoke.




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I patiently collected a full set of S-W gauges over several years and installed them in my super trick dash....wired them up and hooked up the dash lights...click! Turned 'em on to find I couldn't see them with all the dirt and dust inside them! They looked great 'till the lights were turned on. Rather than try to take them apart [I tried with one extra gauge with bad results] I sold them off at swap meets and bought a new set of new gauges.

 

I’ve quietly followed your various threads from the beginning. I haven’t really had much to add but really enjoy your vision and how you share your mental process building each car. I like the dash and think any variations will just blend in with the looks of a car built long ago by someone who loved improving and enhancing their hotrod long before 1-800-hot-rods made it possible for everyone to build a belly button car. Yours will always stand out from the rest because of the oh-so-subtle detail. Rock on, brother, you’re killing it as usual.

 

Very happy to see you are still moving forward!

 

Don’t you worry Mayor, the car will get finished for sure. My wife alone would kill me if I sold off must everything I loved before and gave up with a 17k plus pile of rubbish. I am beginning to accept that it will never meet any pipe dream deadline I give myself, stuff happens.


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I never had any thoughts of you giving up on this.....I know you will get it done and on the road and I think it will be sooner than you think.....You have most of the hard things done...So! Geterdone!!

 

I said it would take a couple more days to finish the dash insert. Wrong, oh boy. If you saw I was having a hard time getting a square even contact. I attributed most of this to my press work table not being square with the chuck. I kept shimming it with layers of duct tape to even it out but the problem still persisted. Once I was half way across the stainless I needed to turn it around and work in a reverse pattern from a lack of reach. Then the problem became a big issue. So I started taking the press apart to try and limit the chuck and it’s drive slop. Turns out the entire motor, belt, and drill assembly had either slide up the main post or was never on all the way in the first place and it would flex when applying pressure. I had wondered if something was going on for the handles seemed to move a fare amount when pressing on the material. I’ve put it all back together and marked it now to keep an eye on it.

So now it’s doing much better and I’m moving along. I’ve really gotten the hang of it today and I’m saving lots of dowel hassle too.

Thought I’d have it all done today but one of my rug rats got sick and had to get him from school early.
I also went ahead with the wool sleeping bag for my front seat fabric.



I think canvas would look more accurate for the warbird vibe but I thought this would blend better with the mohair on the back seat which is meant to be stock appearing once I build it. I intended to cover the fronts as well with the same mohair. I think this might have been strange to some of us on the military themed front seats. I have to admit that Dennis Varni’s 32 Tudor comes to mind

Now I may have extra material for a small panel or two in back.
Although I am using P-40 and P-47 seats as inspiration I’m not attempting to clone them.


These seats used no cushion rather the pilot sat on his parachute equipment. My seat will have a bottom base/cushion and back pad. This is the under side of the seat bottom.

The extra thickness of my seat bases lead me to believe I do not require much of a riser but rather a close mounting proximity to the floor. I am making the bases tilt in a few positions for adjustable comfort. The whole units themselves will flip forward for back seat access but will not slide back and forth. The backs won’t recline either. I’ve been planning these for some time and I’m in the middle of their construction.
So cool.
Should I paint the hood side like this plane front?







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Shine...the dash is looking....well....Dashing......lucky ya did't have belts and pulleys flying all over the place. Aviation graphics not sure...they did a lot of real wild stuff on the Lakes racers from crude to artistic...one was even called The Sex Machine that I remember seeing.......perhaps they be best on the Warbird ya book a flight on and snap some photos beside once you get er done. Whatever you do it will be a personal and well justified addition to the complete Hotrod package. Open eyes are ready for action.

By the way you can certainly see the DNA working in Young Grandpa pic and you.

 

Thanks @Stogy for all the good feedback. I was only foolin about the cowl art to make @dumprat nervous. He’s been weary of overuse of military collectibles to get a generic authenticity. I’m done with these tidbits I believe and I’ll tone it down if it comes out cartoonish.

Although my favorite is the 32 at the lakes that just says SEX

I don’t know if the car is Jack Dorn’s in this pic or Doane’s.



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i always thought that type of cowl art would be good, on the inside of the hood. with one hood side open it would be in the back ground and shadows of the engine.

 

mmmmmmm
Like I really need to add anymore work to this thing, now I’m thinking. I should just be listening to this Odis “my man” Reading and pulling the drill press handle and ignore you guys.


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the job will go faster with a a little Earth Wind and Fire...........

 

I’m more a Blood, Sweat, and Tears guy, no pun intended.


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Had to chuckle at so many of the problems turning out to be the press. Glad to see you moving forward.

 

spinning wheel is appropriate for that job.
when i need to get some sanding done, i pop EW&F in and try to keep up........
"never let the lyrics get in the way of the groove" Maurice White.

 

“I’m a friendly stranger in the black sedan” Ides of March 1970
Get it... Sedan?
Although the car Jim Peterik was referring to was a OT 64 Valiant.


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Hmm worried I wouldn’t approve of the nos art eh?

We in that case I got whole chain of plastic ammo and some bullet hole stickers for ya!

 

Oh and if ya need sanding music throw on some “In this moment” Addrenalize and let the dust fly!

 

Done!



Now I have to get it flat again and carefully make nice holes. You think if I cut through the back side I can avoid a holesaw from walking across my hard work?


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