Projects Not worth saving... 1929 Model A Roadster AV8 Hotrod (build thread!?)

Just figured I would update you guys with a few of my videos that I have never posted links to here on the HAMB. Those of you who are subscribed to the channel have probably seen them, but others may have not. Happy Monday, everyone; only 4 more days (and a handful of hours) until the weekend!!

 

And here’s one more! Just out today, since I’ve been doing the YouTube thing for 6 months now, and the roadster seems to be the main draw, here’s a slideshow look at the entire build so far (including the “For Sale” pic as seen on Rod Swapper (IG).



I’ll be back with some actual new progress soon!

Thanks for all of the support, The HAMB!

 

Happy Holidays!

Here’s a look at some of the cool parts I’ve been squirreling away for the roadster project…

 

Looks like the roadster is coming along great, Casey! I did the same with my tail light. Just modified the stock bracket and used the stock plate mount. Placed it where the spare tire mount was. Keep up the great work!

 

Thanks, Jeff. Looks fantastic!

 

Hey guys (and gals)! So I’ve got some exciting news, and an update.

For those of you who don’t follow the YouTube channel, I’ve been working with an artist named Rico Irdam ( @ricoirdam on IG ) on a new Shop Logo/T-shirt design, and, well, he completely KILLED IT!



PS-Spoiler Alert that this picture will be revealing my planned “paint scheme” for the roadster…















Ta-dah!



Anyway, I’m planning to make T-shirts soon! And I’m hoping to make them on a fancy, ultra-soft ring-spun cotton, so they won’t be cheap, but if you decide to buy one, it will be one of the nicest t-shirts you will ever own. And probably also one of the coolest! And I’m not even biased or anything.

Other than that, since the car has been in storage (I don’t really have room for both cars in my garage), I haven’t been able to work on it lately, and I’ve been trying to figure out a project I could do without having the car physically in front of me. So, to that end, I’ve been thinking more and more about WHAT my desired end result is going to look like.

There are two historic cars that have been the biggest inspiration for my project. The Williams Bros Roadster, and the Morris Bros Roadster. I could go on and on about all of the things that I dig about each car, but the spartan “race car” interior is high up on the list. And both cars used surplus WWII aviation componentry inside, including “bomber” seats and B-24 breathing oxygen tanks for fuel.

Some close ups from the Morris Bros car…





And the Williams Bros car…





Anyway, I intend for the breathing oxygen tank to be a removable auxiliary (or secondary) fuel system, if for no other reason than to get the center of gravity lower and more rearward when racing. Which leaves me needing a “bomber”, or more likely a WWII era trainer or fighter aircraft, style of seat for the car. And with the price of actually aircraft seats becoming quite unattainable, I’ve decided to make my own!

After digging through the HAMB archives, I’ve decided that the seats Frank Wallic used to make and sell, are the best looking and most authentically styled “bomber” seats out there.







They seem to be a “sort of” copy of whatever these seats are:



I’ve heard some people say that these are T-6 trainer seats, others have said T-34, and at least one person said that they’re late P-51 seats (as the early ones were plywood), but I’ve also been told that all of those people were wrong. Lol.

Either way, I find certain aspects of Frank’s seats, like the lap belt pass-through reinforcement plate, and the dimple-die reinforcement brace, to be more pleasing to the eye. And aluminum will be a hell of a lot easiest to work with than stainless.

Since Frank doesn’t make these seats any longer, and since his were a copy of an original seat anyway, I’m going to do my best to sort of “reverse engineer” a set based on the few photos that I can find online.

So, basically, starting with this photo:



And using the dimensions from the Kirkey 55 series race seats in my Mustang as a sort of gauge of scale:



I have come up with the following set of patterns, shown here assembled with blue painter’s tape.



They still need a little bit of tweaking; the pan is too deep, and the sides are too tall, but I’m at least close to the general shape, and I’m excited to start the process.

The next steps will be to reinforce my Harbor Freight 18” Bead Roller, and see if it will handle 14ga aluminum, which is what I would like to build these seats out of; if it won’t handle 14ga, then I will have to make them out of 16ga.

If you all want to hear me babble about this stuff for 10 minutes, check out this week’s YouTube video:



And with that, thanks for staying with me on this project. Hopefully I will have some more regular updates on the roadster here in a few months…

Sincerely,

-C

 

Awesome Casey! I like the mil-surp concept when building a traditional car that the vets would have built after the war! My wife's grandmother was W.A.S.P. during the war and shuttled B-17s back and forth so I've collected some cool gadget's from their stash to put in my roadster! Put me on the list for a shirt when available.

 

That’s awesome, Mojo. I’ve known a few folks who had WASP’s in their families. My very dear friend’s wife had a grandma who was a WASP, which led them to restore a Ford GPW into a “Follow Me” Jeep. And then they found themselves getting to taxi the Collins Foundation B-24 at our local airport the last time it flew in.

 

Gosh…

Over a year later, which is pretty embarrassing.

In my defense, my daughter hit Toddler-hood, AND we moved states, so I’ve been a bit busy. Anyway, I finally turned those Bomber Seat paper templates into something tangible, though I didn’t exactly do it in the “traditional” way…

Hope you guys like the video:



-Crazy Casey

 

Glad to see you're back tinkering with the roadster again. Seat looks awesome.

 

Thank you! I’m excited to see them taking shape.

 

are those steel pop rivets holding the subframe together?