Looking into building a '30s style gow job. Originally I'd thought of a T speedster, but decided I liked the thirties look better. Been reading up and researching stuff, and have a question I can't seem to find an answer to: Can Model A axles be used on a Model T frame, using the T springs? I know the rear seems to be a no-brainer, since the T spring is a popular trick to lower the rear in an A chassis, but figure I'd ask if anybody knows definitively. I can not find any info on front spring/axle swapping. Searches always turn up rear spring info. From info I've found on the interweb, eye to eye seems pretty close between the two springs. But again, I was hoping someone out there had first hand knowledge.
Cool, thanks a ton for the replies! I really appreciate it. It's funny- searches for T chassis info turn up all sorts of T Bucket results, but very little on building much beyond a resto or speedster w Henry's parts.
deuces... IMO... GOW is pronounced like an archer's BOW... not a ship's bow... and has been used for years, at one time it may have been derogatory...
SJ; Not too sure of that. In the teens n twenties, there was a saying, "Fords are for gow, Chevies are for plow". Marcus...
The only time I've heard the word "gow" actually spoken in this context was in the 1947 film "Devil On Wheels". Rhymes with "cow". It is my understanding that the source of this colloquial term was the illegal use of drugs to improve the performance of race horses in the 1920s: to gow a horse. Seems to fit.
a T spring is 2" wide vs the A at 2 1/4". so you can use the T spring on an A rear if you space out the difference in width with washers at the spring perch/shackle area. you'd almost certainly have to shorten the torque tube for whatever engine and trans you put in front of it. So what I wonder is, if you are interested in 30s style sheet metal, why start with a T frame? You can set up a T spring in an A frame by spacing at the perches as mentioned above, and replacing the T top leaf with an A leaf to get it to sit right in the cross member. Then you have a chassis, engine, trans, and rear axle all working together nicely, and you've got a frame meant for early 30s sheet metal.
Oh, no- I'm not gonna use '30s sheetmetal. Plan is an early '20s T roadster w a turtle deck. I get what you're saying about the A chassis, as that's most likely how I'll end up going. I had a line on some crusty T parts not far from me, including a couple frames, one of which is still sitting on it's axles and springs. I was just looking into the option of running the T frame. Like I said, I'd tried to find the info but kept coming up empty so figured the HAMB would have the answers if I asked.
Gow like plow , IMO. If it were pronounced like "Go", what's the point of adding an extra letter instead of just writing it "go- job"?
IMO... years ago many people couldn't read... the bow / bow , lead /lead, thing musta caused problems.
I always learned gow as show. I had heard it as derogatory in regards to flashy cars. "It's a gow-job, not a stinkin show-job." Like that. But I've been known to be wrong. Sent from my LGLS992 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I was thinking a gow job was the rat rod of it's day, not the art cars covered with rebar and saw blades, but the anti-billet, anti-chrome, anti- flashy paint, stripped to the bare essentials type of cars.
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/gow-job.34415/ Gow has it's roots in Cantonese words for opium, yao kao. I'm assuming those words rhyme with "cow".
Don Montgomery references "gow-job" in his books, but does not offer any phonetic distinction. I just checked. Sent from my LGLS992 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I am putting one together , slowly, it's a t frame with the front cross member flipped over and z'ed in the rear using parts from another t frame for the step pieces and I'm using the original t springs front and rear with model A axles front and rear the front axle is in front of the spring , suicide style, the steering will be moved behind the axle and will not stay the way it is now it's going to be Volvo powered and will be a single seater...... Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Cool, thanks for the pics. Looks like it'll be a fun ride when you're done. Your table- are the 4x4 posts concreted in the ground? I was planning to build something similar to set up my chassis when I get to that point.
Thanks....the table legs are 6"x6" and they are not cemented in ...the ground has only about 3"-4" of dirt then damn near solid rock under that I just dug down some put in some crushed gravel packed down and went from there...it's been set up now for 3+ years and have not had to re level it yet.....but I did notice a 2" stagger from side to side on the car.....no I kid.... It's all square so far...... Sent from my QTASUN1 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Well I thought this thread was gone ....I will just quickly update my T project , not the OP's, but the high jacker.... sorry...actually nothing has really been done to it for quite awhile, due to some health set backs . Things are better now...so I have been getting back into my hot rods again, I did manage to get the original T-tub body that went with the T chassis that I started with from my brother, he also give me a turtle deck..so I am most likely turning the tub into a bucket w/turtle deck and narrow the body to retain the single seater idea...well single and a half seater.....ya gained a few. For now though I have been primarily working on my 50 Studebaker Champion project. The T will be gathering some more "Patina" for now. When or if I get going on it again, I will start my own thread. Sent from my SM-T387V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app