Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Hey friends! Just got back from a 1,400-mile chopper trip to Born Free in Los Angeles on my 51-year-old survivor Ironhead. I'll post some small Model A updates/announcements tomorrow. Thank you everyone for sticking with me!

 

Seeing them drive this car was one of the happiest moments of my entire life. I feel incredibly fortunate. While talking with my dad today, he asked, "Have you ever thought about keeping this one as-is and just building a second car?"

Yesss! I love it. Thank you for the kind words. I remember your comments from the early days of this thread and I'm excited to have you back on board again. Fun things are on the horizon.

Thank you, that's what I love to hear. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help.

You know me, I'm trying my darndest to do it right!

Thank you so much! None of this would have been possible without you guys' help.

What a machine!

Most of my motorcycle stuff ends up here on my Instagram and occasionally in the pages of DicE Magazine. Yama and my friend Paul are working on a Mazi Moto video about our ride. I'll share it on here when it's done.

As of now, I don't have any plans for the coverage. I did shoot two-and-a-half rolls of slide film with that old Konica, so I'll be getting that developed soon. We stayed on Highway 1 for most of the route, so no Squeak visits this trip. That being said, I will be back down there later in the month...

Rough-n-tumble! Hey, being a "Choprodder" is traditional.

Man, great attention to detail! No matter what I'm working on, I love to keep things as era-correct as possible.
I even broke out my era-correct duffle bag for the event. This was taken somewhere between here and there.

Wow! That's such a neat bike. I love that it has the 33.4 front end and hamburger front drum. Great color too. I wish you and that bike could have come on the trip with us!

 

The Born Free trip was eye opening for me. I know motorcycles aren't our main topic of discussion here, but spending all that time on the road on a vintage machine that I put together in my garage gave me an opportunity to think about my goals as a hot rodder and, most importantly, this car. We'll get into that a bit later.

Down in Southern California, I was taking notes. Lots of notes. I paid special attention to paint, weathering and fabrication work. Born Free, much like the Grand National Roadster Show, brings out all the heavy hitters. Here are a few shots of things that I find inspirational.

This is a Knucklehead built by my friend Max Schaaf. It's made up of old and new parts that have been blended to perfection. Although I didn't get a photo of it, this bike runs a cast aluminum skull shift knob—a lot like my car.

Some amazing old paint on a flathead Indian.

There was some unbelievable detailing on this '56 K-model. I especially like the chrome frame and speed holes galore. Note the gears to actuate both throttles simultaneously.

There's more to life than Knuckleheads, but I loved the stance/condition of this one.
And this one too, which was named Josephine and originally from Michigan.

Anyways, I could post bike pictures all day. I did get to meet the fine folks from San Diego's Nostalgia Ranch, who drove this '32 to the show.
I also dug this V8-powered Mercury Meteor, which was parked nearby at Cook's Corner.

If you've made it this far through this post, you may or may not have some interest in old motorcycles. My plan is to build a Panhead next. If you or anyone you know has one that they're looking to get rid of, please let me know. I plan to take on that project once my car has its V8.

 

Back on topic.

First and foremost, I have a little bit of a change of plans. Remember when I said I was going to drive the car to RPM at the end of the month? Well, considering I just took pretty much that exact trip on a motorcycle that makes about 20hp more than the A, I've realized that it's just not the best idea right now. There are a lot of winding, two-lane roads with limited turnoffs that would cause me to slow down traffic considerably, as well as open stretches of highway where I don't think my roadster could keep up.

I still plan to go as a spectator/photographer and possibly pick up my flathead V8 while I'm down there.

That's part of it. The other part is that I started tearing down the car to get the chrome timing cover on there and the pulley changed.

First, I received a homemade pot from my friend and a fresh apricot from my neighbor.
Then I removed the ancient rope seal.

Mockin' it up.

Seeing that it's been so long since I've dove in there, I forgot that I had to redo actually everything I did before. That meant removing the front U-bolts, jacking up the engine, taking off the old pulley and, unfortunately, dropping the pan to get this dang washer on there.
I did all this minus the last step before Born Free. I'll do that when I'm back from Michigan (that's where I'm currently sitting).

 

Working on the car that day, something strange happened. I got frustrated. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I only had a little bit of time to dedicate to the project. I felt the pressure of the upcoming ride and the urgency to get the roadster finished before RPM. I had forgotten that it wasn't a simple as I thought it would be. I started bumping into things and making mistakes.

I packed up, cleaned up and went inside. Then, in my mind, something changed. This build should never be rushed. There will be other road trips and other shows, I told myself. This isn't a car that has to be perfect, but it also isn't something that should be slapped together. I have taken my time every step of the way, and there's no sense in turning this project into something it's not. I'm here to learn.

I'm letting you guys know this because I know you've all felt the same way at one point or another. So with RPM off the table, I'm really excited to take my time and finish the timing cover and do the brakes right. Also, I'm super excited to drop the frame off at di Falco's when I'm back from Michigan.

Oh, before I made the decision not to race, I did pick up a few things to pass tech. One of those things was a puke tank for the radiator.
Era correct? Eh, not really. It's from 1964, but it ties back to my model car roots. I'll find a clean way to mount it and we'll see how it looks. The art reminds me of Revell's "Miss Deal," which is my favorite kit of all time.

 

Thank you! The Pink House is right off of Fulton at the corner of Cabrillo and 2nd.

 

This just in, Part I of the trip can be found here. I didn't do any of the filming or production work. Instead, I was just along to enjoy the ride. Next up, we'll have the story of how we got to the show.

It's a sunny Monday afternoon here in Michigan. I've been enjoying driving my Mom's truck, Daisy, around town. Every time I'm home, I pay a visit to my favorite house, which was built in 1965.

Speaking of my Mom, it was her birthday the other day. My dad printed this shot of her driving the roadster in San Francisco. Talk about priceless!

That's all for today. Hope everyone has a safe and relaxing Labor Day!