Hello! Nate here, It's been a while. Some of you know Gus, he's 16 now. A while back Gus decided he wanted a project. He's been working a lot with his grandpa and has saved a bit of money. We live on a small farm in NE Kansas and he sees his friends running around on UTVs and such. He said he wanted something fun that he could work on and drive around the farm. He had a good start on a T speedster because when out good friend Jay Sweet moved from Abilene to New Hampshire he gave Gus a rolling chassis and we found a roadster cowl. Another friend (Chester) had stopped by our house one day and said he had a bunch of A parts if we ever needed anything. One Saturday a few weeks ago he decided it was time for a visit. We thought maybe some A running gear would be good for a speedster, something he could learn to drive a manual transmission and related to modern car controls. When we got to Chesters house he had some of the parts we needed, engine, transmission and rear axle but he also had a doodlebug. He gave us a good price and Gus decided to put the T on the back burner and go for it. He's working on getting it running and building a box/seat. As we go I'll post progress. I'm proud of him for wanting to put some work into this thing and he's anxious to drive it, it shouldn't be long. If anyone has a suggestion for 20" tires that won't break the bank let us know!
Good on him for wanting to learn, good on you for helping him n teaching him. That thing looks like fun.
That is GREAT ! I love the old original doodlebugs as found on many farms and ranches as an alternative to tractors back when money and tractors were hard to come by........"farmer hot rods" if you will. Each and every one reflecting the personality and fabrication skills of the farmer and first and foremost reflecting what was already in the dump ditch, shelter belt or fence row waiting to be re-purposed. I just returned last week from a trip to Missouri to rescue an Empire tractor (built after WWII with surplus Willys Jeep components). It was still used up until 3yrs. ago to rake hay. Have fun and keep us posted on the project.
Many times ive bought used 20 inch tires from school bus shops and gas companys. They are not allowed to run tires worn past the wear bars and not allowed to regroove tires. Build a cage get the proper tools and let the boy learn to fix his own split rim tires.
thats the heavy duty doodle bug, based on a AA chassis. i'll be down that way later this summer, let me think about what i can contribute. i'll look around in the mess here.
Might be easier/cheaper to find someone selling tires mounted on wheels. Many different size wheels will probably fit, compared to looking for 20” only. Lots of pics on Google search Showing lots of wheel/tire combinations.
Huge thanks to you Skip, Gus got home from work and found the 2 tires you brought him, that will be perfect for the rear. He was worried about laying out cash for 4 new ones so this is a great boost to his progress. Thanks again!
Car guys !!!!!! Other then war vets is there ANY group of people more loyal and willing to help one another out ?
glad to help, but really i think i got the better end of the deal. i got rid of two tires i have stored for years and will never use, got to make a kid happy, and, got several jars of home made pickles, jam, peppers, etc. had a nice drive in the country too, nice area you live in there. happy motoring, skip
Ok! Here we go! The doodlebug got a tune up, new ignition stuff and it runs like a champ! We also flushed and filled the transmission, everything looked go so we decided to take it for a test drive. Grandpa came over to check our progress: Unfortunately it didn't want to go. Lots of noise from the rear end. So we tore it apart! The gear on the drivers side axle is worn away to almost nothing, it's quite impressive. So now we are shopping for a drivers axle, for 30-31 bevel gear Model AA. Any leads are appreciated.
wow! i've seen broken teeth, but never just plain wore out! call the guy at model T haven, he has lots of junk, and also Hayes auto in Florence, and of coarse you know of easy jack. good luck
Our friend and Master Cotter Pin Remover Chris Simmons came through big for us. He happened to have a rear end that needed a new home and we had a place for it. we need to swap tires around, but it runs and drives!
nice little body you guys made for the back! i can see that as being the best rig for visiting the neighbors. dont have too much fun, and practice that "doube " clutching !
We've already got plans to visit a few people, next step is to get our new rear tires mounted and I think I just found a decent pair for the fronts. After that we will be ready to travel.
I think its great in this day and age, when so many 16 year old's could really care less about vintage doodle bugs and having fun with such a cool vintage " orchard " truck to go driving around and giving the livestock something to avoid! I know just how cool this is, when I was 17, I bought this very cool 1941 G.M.C. K-18 signal corp's panel truck, even back in 1971, truck tires were expensive, and this was a great rig to learn how to double clutch and how to work on the old G.M.C. 270 six banger with a zenith up draft carburetor. Back then in 71 Fast forward to 2016, when this shot was taken. It now lives in a collection in Bakersfield California. Good for you Gus, if you are smart, you will never get rid of it ! It's a chariot full of your childhood youthful dreams! Dreams made fresh, every time you drive it, or it breaks and then you get to fix it!
Gus found some high class whitewalls for the front, with the tires from Skip on the back we are getting close to roadworthy!
Most impressive Gus, bravo, you are styling now. One of the luxuries of being retired and knowing when to cut loose with something that is cool, but isn't going to get used by me is this example. In my humble opinion, this rig of yours needs a very cool kick ass, vintage, spot light. I have this unit that I bought for my firetruck years ago at the swap meet at the California Hot Rod reunion at FAMOSO. I bought it for $175.00 it was worth every bit of $300.00 to $400.00 but it was a swap meet and the guy didn't want to lug it home again. It weighs every bit of 25 pounds and is very well built from the 1930's by " DIETZ " . The bezel is 12 " from side to side and the lens is 9.5 " wide, it stands 26 " tall. Being that others are contributing to your project, I thought I would contribute also. Its yours if you want it. I am not asking any money for it, I just think it would look cool on your rig. As you can see, its more than cool, and it can be easily adapted to where you want to mount it, on your doodle bug. Check it out and if this interest's you, then you can PM me and we can discuss the shipping details. Enjoy, Dennis. I got to thinking about it, and you might want this cool "YANKEE " stop light, that is the classic stop light that actually says " STOP " when lit up. You can have it as well if that interests you, no charge. Its got a good housing and the 90 degree bracket is part of the housing.
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