Projects DRAG SNAKE "Vintage Terror!"

My OCD cannot abide that slightly smaller center opening, and I think you are right... the photo may be putting that slight frown in the grille. In either event, I think you are doing an outstanding job of overthinking this particular task!

 

Randall,

I think that horizontal curve might be a bit of an optical illusion as a result of the slight curve in the bumper. If you hold your hand up and block your view of the bumper the grille bars appear to be straight...

Steve

 

Okay I so I thought I would take a few minutes and talk about the body work I keep complaining about. I have had a couple of "What the Hell is taking you so LONG?!" messages...LMAO...so let me "splain it" to you all.

I am sure in the process of bonding the outer and inner doors, trunk and hood skins to the inners that we managed to warp them a tiny bit. That or the fact that they might have not been stored in the best possible manner from the get go (on our part). Never-the-less between that and simply producing the hinge mount points totally from scratch, none of if fit perfectly. Now I am not saying it was crazy out of wack or anything. In fact overall I have been pretty impressed with our fabrication job to get them initially as close as we did and all functioning correctly.

First up we went after the fitment with either shims or lack there of top or bottom or right or left or all of the above at the hinge mount points. But there was only so much we could do. When we finally felt we had produced all the alignment moves possible, we locked things down and set about body work to finish the job.

I posted photos of Dad a while back working on the doors. Round 1 was to get all the joints as level as possible. For this we simply filled a bit at a time on one side (door or jam) or the other until we were as close as possible. None of them were "Bitchen Rides" perfect but close enough for whom it is for, if you know what I mean. Then came the fun part. Trying to get the lines straight and somewhat uniform as far as gabs.


That usually started with picking at least one gap (if possible) per section that we were happy with. Don't forget both the hood front, fronts of the doors and trunk lid rear area all have to be a large enough gab to look good but also miss the other lip when they open. Above is about the size gap we tried to stay near, somewhere between .25" and .375". We still have a bit of final blocking to door to straighten the cowl side but we are close at this point.


To get to that level, I would start with a section about 8" long. This is one side of the trunk area. I would close the trunk. Inspect the gap. With a 14" sanding block, lazer straighten the lid (if needed and then close it again. At that point I would take a piece .040 aluminum and place it in the gap. With cardboard strips wedged behind it and it straight, you could see where the body line in the area was off. I would mix up lightweight filler and force it into those areas and let it flow out higher than the top area.


Then before it totally cured, I carefully removed the wedges and .040 strip leaving a very straight inside line. With a straight razor blade I gently carved off the access at the top and any at the bottom. The filler at this stage was very easy to make clean cuts with the blade.


After blocking the top area I would take a block and work the inside lines closing the trunk after every two or three passes to check the gap. I would mark with tape any area that I could visually see was ascue, address it and then close the trunk and check again.


Finally after working the entire line of the panel from one end to the other, I carefully knocked off the hard 90 degree corners to give it that factory rolled edge look etc.


When it was finished it looked like this and on many of the gaps we added as much as an 1/8 of an inch.


On the hood corners even more to match the contour of the hood. I did it the same way, bending the .040 strip to fit before putting it place etc. The final result is pretty good.






....or again. Good enough for whom it is for...

Then after all of that craziness...we started simply wet sanding the entire car...

Someone said earlier it will all be worth it in the end. I hope so...as it has been a crazy stupid pain in the back side. But we are getting close to some color! Thank goodness!

 

Randall,
not sure where the photo of the yellow car came from but this is the one that I restored and any apparent curvature in the bars is due to camera lens distortion (especially in the shot of the yellow car).


Note that the grille assembly also has a loop of material surrounding the egg crate portion. I don't have any photos of the Cobra grille before it was fitted to the car but here is one that I made for a Ferrari restoration that I worked on around the same time that I did the Cobra. Notice that the slats in the Ferrari grille are a lot thinner than those in the Cobra and are simply flanged at their outer extremities where they meet the surround.


Roo

 

Sorry Roo...I think I got you and @rr64 mixed up there. Sorry to you both. I certain appreciate the comments. I have not decided on the outer ring...it might be a bit out of my skill set...but of course that never stopped me before...lol

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Well this should make some of you happy...or at least one of you anyway...LMAO...Larry!

Anyway you are correct that is paint. Sort of looks like Eggshell Latex doesn't it? Well I assure you it is for the Cobra, not the garage in which it is parked. That is the first layer of color getting ready to go down...good ole Wimbledon White! We are getting ready to shoot the entire car. Then when I am finished doing the things....ahum...clear throat, clear throat...that I do, it will only show up in the Leman's Stripes.

I know what you are thinking...Leman's Stripes? Originally I had no plan for stripes as to be honest with you, in my opinion they are a bit over done when it comes to Cobra's. AND I know none of the original Dragonsnakes had them but to finish the car the way we are going to do it (and I am sure most of you know what I am talking about) they become a necessity. You see there are no body seams anywhere on the car. It it is just one big old continuous curvy body. There are no natural places to end any of the kind of work I am famous for without it sticking out like a sore thumb!

So the stripes, because they divide the car completely in half front to back become that natural ending place. When both sides are complete up to the stripes and a small strip installed down the middle it will be pretty cool because it is just the reverse of how things usually happen with the paint actually being the stripe! LOL

As far as the sides, nothing will change from the original layouts of the graphic and placements etc.
AND MAN wait til you see the metallic blue! Absolutely Killer! Please do not fret about the stripes etc. I have mocked it up on the computer and it really looks amazing! I would show you photos but I do not want to mess up the reveal! LOL.

 

Man I am telling you Dad has been killing it on the Cobra for the past week or so. Right now he is in the final primer and blocking stages. I think we might (depending upon the weather) shoot this crazy thing this weekend. He has the patience of Job (has to have with me around) LMAO!

But he has really been working hard. I am pretty happy about the deal. For one, it is something I have not had to do but more importantly it has kept him out by himself in the shop and away from any of the Corona Craziness that is running rampant around here.

 

I must admit... I am envious of you and the time/adventures you have with your dad. Never stop counting your blessings!

Good job Dad! Make him buy you lots of steak!

 

Check out what I found today. Recently I downloaded a PDF version of an original AC Cobra Chassis Instruction Book. Basically a Cobra Owner's Manual. It is pretty cool. Not that it contains much pertinent information about my car but it is a fun historic read (65 pages)!




Anyway a few minutes ago I was just thumbing through it and stumbled upon the electrical section. Including the original horns. WITH PART NUMBERS!


So I googled the part number and poof...look what I found for $30. It looks like the trumpet either changed or was maybe was never like the photo in the manual to begin with. Either way, I have a set of original British Lucas horns for the car. From what I have read about the "prince of darkness" company... they should be good for at least every 2nd or 3rd honk....LMAO!

 

The great part is how cheap he works. He does not like steak so just a good burger will get you miles and miles of block sanding. LMAO!

 

I love the horn story!

 

PAINT!!!! Just don't let Dad make it so nice your afraid to drive it, let alone drag it! Keep up the great work both of you. Larry

 

Paint it quick and use it and bruise it.

 

Those new Lucas horns may leak all the smoke out of your new wires.

 

Why do the Brits drink warm bear? Lucas refrigeration!

 

Now that's funny!

 

Well it has been a while since my last update. I have meant to get on here several times and do some catching up but time simply gets away from me. We are getting pretty close to painting the beast. I know I have said that several times but we really are. Dad has been relentless with the body work. Which honestly has been a blessing. One because I certainly did not want to do it and two it keeps him safe in the shop during the past several weeks of stay at home orders etc.

And since we have no where to go even if we were ready it has been a rather leisurely stroll through final body prep etc. Which to be honest has given me a lot time to think...which is usually a dangerous situation!




As you can see some good ole Wimbledon White has made its way to all the jam areas and one of the things that is taking so long is all the final prep work to the under side of the hood and trunk etc.


Dad has really been working hard to clean them up and they look really nice. But back to this "thinking" episode. I have had the killer blue picked out for the car for quite a while but playing around with the Ford c600 vintage hauler graphics a week or so ago I got to thinking...

??? What Vintage Ford c600 Hauler ??? ...sorry did I leave something out? LMAO

Well not really, you might remember WAY WAY back I had a chance to purchase a 600 and I even played around with what it might look like as a hauler for the Cobra. However the deal fell through and we simply moved on to more important things. But the thought has never worked its way too far out of my brain. AND maybe it is the fact that we are on the last few pieces of the Cobra or chalk it up to Covid 19 Madness I don't know but I sort of got serious about it recently. And the very minute I said it outloud, I pretty much spoke it into existence.

First off I was talking with Jackson (@wrenchbender) several weeks ago about a few parts I have that he wanted etc. After talking about it for a bit I said, instead of buying them, why don't you find me a Ford c600 cab so I can build a hauler. It didn't take long. The following week he found one and started trying to work a deal with the owner. Just as he was about to close on it a family member of the owner got in the way and poof...the truck was off the market.

However not even a week later while checking on an old hot rod project at a friends house, there sat another c600. AND in much better shape than the original. He shot me some photos of the truck and I said lets do it.



I was pretty stoked with it especially when I saw it had the quad headlights. That makes a '58-'60 model (unless a fire department ordered quads on a later model). My initial thought was correct and it turned out to be a 1960 with a pretty smooth running little HD 292 "Y" block in it. Which incidently appears to be headed for another HAMBer's wife's hot rod (since he picked it up today while we were picking up the truck and before I got home already had it installed)...LMAO!

But I am getting ahead of myself as usual. So earlier in the week we shot over to Jackson's shop to have a look at my new toy. While we were there we started contemplating exactly how to get it from there, which is nearly in MOKAN Dragway's backyard to Republic, MO. This is what we came up with...


Fabricate a heavy duty tow bar. Take it to Jackson's house. Slide it in between the rear frame rails and weld it in place. Then blow off the spring shackles, roll the original rear end out of the way, drop coupler on my hitch and flat tow it backwards home.


Jackson and Dad getting it all squared up this afternoon and ready to weld. My daugter Zoe supervising. LOL. After we got it in place, Jackson welded it up and Dad and I worked on strapping the steering in place. Since it such easy access with the flip top cab we started by strapping ONE of the THREE pitman arms in place. Then for good measure we closed the cab and did the old steering wheel straps as well. By the time we were finished, Jackson had a couple of heavy beads laid down and the tow bar firmly in place.


Jackson torched the u-bolts and after rolling the rear wheels out we had a c600 trailer! LOL


Dad and Zoe ran the wires from the towing lights (thank you Harbor Freight)! And I took the contraption around the block to see how she tracked. She seemed to handle pretty well on the tight streets of Waco, MO so we decided to set sail for Republic!


About 20 miles in we stopped for a snack at a local Sonic. We checked the tires and they were still up and no visiable rubber missing etc. The bearings were as cool as cucumbers... so we Cherry Lime-Aided ourselves up and hit the road again. It was an uneventful trip. We stayed around 55 or so and she pulled and tracked like a brand new trailer!






I am sure my neighbors were wondering what in the world we drug home this time. But to be honest, it would not be the first time. Thanks Jackson for all the assistance and for finding us one killer cool little Cobra hauler! LOL

 

So how about that "thinking" episode...right"???

Well after knowing we were on our way to building one, I looked around at some vintage c600 race car haulers on Google to get some ideas. Then I started the project the way I always do, in photoshop. It didn't take long before I had the design I wanted and I started placing graphics and colors on it etc. Obviously, the truck would have to be blue to match the car. It was right there that it hit me. I was placing the Holman Moody logo on the side when out of the "blue" (no pun intended) it wacked me up the side of the head! There is NO WAY this little car would be blue. If Holman Moody had built their own version of Shelby's little drag car (as this build has pondered) there is no way in the freaking free world they would have painted it blue!!!

Black maybe...Red possibly...White probably but certainly not blue! So I did a complete about face right there and then. I closed out the hauler file and opened the Cobra comp that I had completely scaled out and prepped for production. Now there was a black one, you might have seen it. It was called El CID. And the original Dragon Snake was Red before they painted. The only 427 Dragonsnake car was also red. Then while doing some Holman Moody research I discovered several of their cars were gold. Especially when they were special editions etc.

Now you would not know this but before we finally pulled trigger on the Dragnasty Austin to be blue, I was torn between the blue and another color. You guessed it Gold Metallic. I actually carried a sample of both colors for nearly a month with me. The gold was a more vintage looking color but the blue was amazing. Finally we simply tossed a coin...it was blue. So right then I decided the Drag Snake needed the Gold! I mean what was I thinking. Yes the originals 2 cars were blue but since then probalby 80 percent plus of the Cobra's you see running around (most of them replicas) are some shade of blue with white stripes! Why go to all the effort to build a killer car like this and then practically paint it the same damn color as the rest of them!

After playing with the design a bit I decided something else. We would just do the sides in gold and leave the top side of the car Wimbledon (minus the black vinyl top). You know, kind of like a panel paint job but with only one large panel per side. And to set it apart, when it is done, maybe a single 8" gold stripe up the middle... Here is our new direction.


And before to long we will be starting to work on it hauler and hope to end up with something like this


The entire hauler and color changes etc. has sort of rejuvenated on the project. I needed it.

 

Busy busy you be.

 

Randall I’m glad I could help make the dream a reality not to mention the parts I got will help me get my afx car back on the track sooner than later just wait till I get my d500 dodge home we are gonna look like we are the big show when we both roll into the track you with your ford cabover hauling a dragon snake and me rolling with a d500 dodge hauling my injected afx dodge 330 lol maybe you need to photoshop my pile lol


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OH, MY!

 

Gold and White make it look like Hurst had some part in the project. Hurst cars were that combo.

 

Heck Yeah man!


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So here is the plan to get the hauler moving fairly quickly. We have a one ton bucket truck here where I work. It has a BBC in it with 400 turbo and while it has a lot of miles on it, they have been firehouse truck easy for the past 30 years. If it has rolled out a 1000 miles per year I would be shocked! It runs really well and I wouldn't be afraid to jump in it and take off anywhere.

However, the direct drive generator that runs the bucket etc. finally gave up the ghost. They make no replacement parts for it and our only option was a new or used generator. We've had several experts look at it over the past year and the final conclusion was the cost is prohibitive for this particular truck, plus the fact that I have been trying to get us out of jobs that require its use anyway for several years.

Long story short, I got it for free! So I am going to scrap the tool box bed and all the lift stuff, the cab etc., strip it down to the bar chassis and running gear and start right there. The only real engineering challenge I see is probably going to be the steering, but we will work through that somehow. After we flipped the cab up on the 600 to have a look at locking the steering down (before we towed it home) we discovered it has 3 pitman arms! They are all about 2' or so apart starting at the steering box up front and making their way back behind the front wheels. Their lengths get longer the further back you go so apparently it is sort of a ratio enhanced steering (for lack of better term). Pretty cool vintage engineering.

The truck donor truck has a 131.5" wheelbase which sounds fairly short for a hauler but if you think about the cab swap that basically give us about 9' between the c600 style cab and the centerline left and right on the rear end. So you figure 9' there and 4 or 5' aft of the rear end and you have nearly 15' of ramp area. Which is about 5' more than the Cobra needs...LOL! This little cab over magic math is exactly what made these trucks so valuable. It allowed them to haul the same sized cargo as conventional trucks but in an up to 6' plus shorter package. Much easier to get into smaller deliver areas etc. They actually made this style of c600 truck basically unchanged (albeit for drivetrain) from 1957 to 1990!

 

I like it oldolds... I like it alot....LMAO

Checkout the old Hurst Logo. I flipped the shifter because I hate when they are on the car backwards but while I was at it I changed the gear numbers...wonder how many folks will even notice....?

 

Well she is clean and smooth and sealed and nearly white...lol







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I'm asking in hopes I learn something, not to be a smarty...
I'd understand keeping the doors hung for a metallic, to keep the flow/grain the same.
However, since you are going with White and the hood and trunk are off, why not do the same with the doors? Easier to jamb and catch the edges, it would seem. Are they a bitch to align?

 

We just have not taken them off yet.

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