My cousin Vinny and I have decided to do a project together. We live 5.5 hours apart. He has a 36 coupe and his father has a 36 coupe that is a winner in Hershey many times over. He built it himself. Although Vincent did the paint. They are both super talented mechanics. Vincent is about 12 years younger than me. I moved away when he was about 4 years old. He and i started to really talk cars a few years back when he started building Rat Rods at his shop which is called "Vinces Rat Shop". His father (my uncle) is a purist, having restored many cars to better than showroom condition. This past winter Vince bought a very nice original 36 coupe. Mostly original, which is uncharacteristic of him. I have always been a purist having built and bought mostly original cars. Vince's rat rod thinking started to rub off on me. Last fall I went to the dark side and I bought my 30 Model A which had been chopped and has a 350 engine in it. You guys have helped me out on this one. This project started when Vincent was looking at a car on craigslist that is located right in between both of our homes. When he was on the fence about buying it, I suggested maybe I buy it and build it. I quickly realized that I would be way in over my head and the project would never get completed. The next day Vincent called me and said "hey why don’t we build it together". I thought he was crazy. I suggested he do it with his father, I thought it would be a better match. Vincent finally convinced me that we should do it together. This project would give me an excuse to go home more often and see my family and work with Vincent. So last Monday we both took a drive two and a half hours from our homes and met the current owner of the car. After some discussion between me, Vincent and his wife, we decide to buy the car. We determined that he would take the top half of the car (meaning all the bodywork), and I will take the bottom half (which is the mechanical). Vincent says my part is all "plug and play". We shall see. I also took all the misc parts (which is unbelievable how much stuff). I was very reluctant to take on this project but I realized I had insurance. I have him and my uncle to straighten me out whenever I encounter problems. I believe I also have an abundance of knowledgeable here on the HAMB. Vince will post his pictures from there and i will post from here. Here is a picture of what it looked like when the previous owner bought it. He tore it apart to rebuild it. When we looked at the car we could see that the area where the rear fenders met the body there was a large amount of bondo. We wanted to remove the rear passenger side fender because it is damaged pretty good and should be replaced. We think we have a line on a replacement fender. Vincent and his wife started to take the bondo out of this area and found this. The valley was filled first with a round pipe, then lead, then bondo. Vincent said there was at least 35 lbs of lead that he removed from the two fenders. And some copper pipe. I have done nothing yet because i am just about finishing sorting and storing all the misc parts that we have. More pictures to follow. This will be a long one.
Greetings Ben!....there is a wealth of information and fellowship on the HAMB but the R word ( as in ( R.. rod) is not tolerated well!...good luck and enjoy your build and we like pictures!!
Hi im Vincent Ben's cousin that's helping build the 1936 ford coupe. I think the project is going to be fun and interesting at the same time LOL. I do like rat rods but i like nice cars to. This pic is my baby and I hope that the one that we are building will better than this one.
benny, come see me I have a '35-'36 fordor rear clip, looks like you could use the floors and wheelwells… $100.00- trades, PM me, smitty
Smitty, I sent you a PM. I have been reading a lot of posts that you have on this site. Seems you have a bunch of stuff and built a bunch of cars. Vinny bought the floor pan already and is making the wells, but we need other stuff. Looking for rear fenders for the 36 coupe. I am looking for 30 model a steel fenders for my car.
My cousin Vinny- has been at it again. Today he removed the inner fender/wheel wells. Getting ready to fab up new ones. Sloppy Jalopies rear clip seems like a good buy except that its 3.5 hours from me and Vinny already bought new floor pieces.