Hot Rods Olds Powered '29 Roadster Build. Marty Strode

Well, we had quite a roll out, with lot's of interest. With the frame clamped in the fixture, roughly in the proper location, and sizing up the repairs, I found the frame horns Jim supplied, are going to be 1-1/2" too short. I can form some channel to take up the gap, but if I could locate some new stamped ones that were longer, it would be better. The the replacement K-member is in great condition, but was hastily blasted some time back, without chipping out the hardened residue in some of the pockets. It will go to the blaster for a dusting off, before re-install. Stay tuned, thanks.

 

Marty, I may have some longer repro horns, I will look and let you know.

 

Thanks Dale !

 

Marty, Call me, I have them.

 

Aw Jeez Marty, so sorry to read about you losing your good friend Frank. It's really tough to lose old friends. His jig and stuff couldn't have gone to a better home, good to see another great hot rod come from Frank and Sid's tooling. I'm sure Frank is looking down and smiling.

 

Looks like my pal Dale (@Weedburner 40) took care of the frame horn dilemma. It great to have friends, with a stash of extra parts ! Thanks again.

 

Cool build. Liking that Olds mill !!!

 

That is absolutely the correct jargon for the period. Love an early Olds in an early Ford. This one was sitting in my 33 Coupe, sporting an Edelbrock OL 496 manifold with 4- 94's, 25 years ago.

 

Must be. Back in the '50's I was a dorky teenager trying to look cool. Some hot dog pulls into the gas station in a jazzed up '51 Olds. I saunter over and says "whatcha got in it?" He looks at me kind of condescendingly and says "a mill". I humbly retreated.

 

<Must be. Back in the '50's I was a dorky teenager trying to look cool. Some hot dog pulls into the gas station in a jazzed up '51 Olds. I saunter over and says "whatcha got in it?" He looks at me kind of condescendingly and says "a mill". I humbly retreated.>
Good one, Chuck...Reverse positions, I was in my 'rapid' J-2 powered black '50 Olds coupe, San Jose, 1964.
Kid rolls up alongside, says: "Man, that thing's FAST Whatta ya got in it?"
I shouted, "Forty-Eight Merc!"
I thought it sounded so cool...

 

The cars featured in the magazines all had 48 Merc engines, with a 39 box.

 

After being asked “whatcha running in it” my buddy always said “gasoline”.

 

Marty, you've worked on 3 or 4 carsand mostly completed them since I started on mine, and I barely have a roller tacked together... That's it as I said before, I'm selling everything and taking up stamp collecting!

 

All I want is more. More pics, more stories, and more Olds mills.

 

Dave, just do it at your own speed, and have fun !

 

This was my Hi-School car, it was my Mother's, '49-76 model with the flat six. Well, Mom liked fast cars, and admired hotrods, and custom cars. She bought a wrecked 56 Olds 4-door for $75.00, that had a '54 -324 and hydro, and I swapped it into the '49. I built a floor shifter and lakes plugs in shop class, and when I got it finished, Mom could tell I wanted it, so she said, "just buy me something to drive, and you can have it". I bought her a 55 Ford 2-door for $100.00 at the Chevy dealer. Here in Oregon, we had a tire re-capper called TDI that capped pie crust cheater slicks. With 3.64 gears, slicks and the hydro, that 4 barrel 324 was quick off the line, and a great lower class street racer. It was originally, poly green metallic, and I had my Brother Jerry paint it Chevy truck Golden Yellow. The one shot, is fresh paint, before I replaced the bumpers.

 

I made some progress today. Got the K-member blasted, it cleaned up very well. The driver side frame rail had a fair amount of trauma at the front. It needed some time in the press, to get the area, square and flat on the on the outside. While I had it held firmly in the press, I used one of my favorite tools, the Trimo wrench, with smooth jaws, along with a 16" Crescent, the straighten some ripples in the flanges. As far as the frame fixture, it's pretty slick, the way Frank and Sid used original holes in the frame, to bolt it in, keeping the rails diagonally square with each other. They were building 32's long before the advent of re-pro rails. Dale (@Weedburner 40) shipped me the frame horns I needed, and I can progress when they get here.

 

Looking good Marty. You should see those horns today or tomorrow.

 

My Dad had an old wrench like that with what looked like a hammer head on the back side. I haven't seen it since I was a kid. I wonder if it's still in his old work shed behind their old place in Nevada? With it's flat toothless jaws, I never thought much about it. Nice to see old tools building old cars.

 

Gotta watch out who you say this to.

 

Nice to see a real Hot Rod getting built. I'm looking forward to following your progress!

 

Nice!! This is gonna be a killer with that Olds in it!

 

Bob, I found it in the middle of the road 45 years ago. It's in great condition, and very heavy duty. 1-3/4 X .120 wall tube slips over the handle, I have used a 6' handle at times, with zero flex at the wrench jaws. Get a load of the patent date !

 

I have a question about front crossmember availability, as the one Jim supplied is only 24" wide. To rivet it in, will require welding strips to the ends, to reach the inside of the rails. Also we need a flattened one. Thanks.

 

That's an old monkey wrench, aint it? Similar to the old Ford wrenches which were a little different (and not so large).

 

I found this one.https://www.roadstersupply.com/Ford-Style-Front-Crossmember-with-Rivet-Holes-p/soc-60611.htm

 

He could have said Old Fools, but Bob is too nice of a guy !

 

Ha, ha, ha, funny, I didn't think about alternate interpretations when I typed that. Oops.
SoCal speed shop still shows one with rivet holes, it's not flat but it's lower. That's the one I used in my '32 frame.
SO-CAL '28-'32 Ford Style Front Crossmember (est1946.com)

 

Rockets rule.

 

cool