Yep, get the right battery, mount it solid, get solid connections, ensure there is no drain when off, and get the brake lights working. Move on to a windshield mount (even if it's a temp plywood insert) and get it plated and insured! Did you get the floorboards fitted?
OK, picked up a new battery this morning. I just got back from almost an hour cruise around town which went off without a hitch except the front passenger tire was damn near flat by the time I got home. I would already have the windshield hung if I could get the damn visor off so I could pull the header, but it doesn't wanna budge. I am probably going to have to drill the two screws out that hold it in. I have a floorboard in the car, it is ugly (a guy gave it to me because his guy screwed it up) but it works for now. Once I get around to fixing my scrollsaw, I have some nice boards I'm planning to make up all the wood from.
Finally parked the car for the day. I've put around 25 miles on it today. In the middle of the day I noticed the car would just die outright if I retarded the timing. The points weren't opening at all with the lever all the way up and only a little with it all the way down. Not sure why that started happening but I replaced my visibly worn A distributor cam with a brand new B cam I had laying around and re-set the points gap, back to running and better than ever. I passed a cop earlier and panicked but he just gave me a thumbs up and kept rolling...
Surprise news... I got a most excellent phone call just now. Looks like I have a trade lined up for a really solid 31 truck body. I have seen the truck and it looks great. I'll share some pictures soon.
So the trade is officially a go. The story with this truck goes... my friend's friend acquired it, he ended up selling it to another dude but he kept the doors for another project. The other dude listed the truck for sale, I happened to see it and sent it to my friend who said "wait, I know this truck!" He worked out a deal to buy it, got the doors back from the other guy, and will now be trading me for the coupe body. I keep my chassis. Not sure what the time frame on this will be as it's a long drive. I'm pretty excited about this!
getting the body style you want is everything... go trev go ! . going to be handy, we call the coupes "grocery getters" but i can assure you that you can't put that many groceries in the thing... first rod was a '30 roadster pick up, i hauled "anyone who wanted's" lawn chairs to the run / meeting...
Sweet! Glad you held out for what looks like a very good body. Does it also have the 'sheetmetal held on with a hundred screws' top? Are you going to have to track down a windshield frame? Looks like all the parts are out there to finish the bed. https://www.mikes-afordable.com/category/1089.html Will it be a long drive with the bare body in the DD bed, or are you going to trailer your car over, swap bodies (two sets of hands) and trailer back? Keep working on that vision!
He isn't really sure what the top is made out of, it isn't metal but it's something homemade, he thinks masonite maybe. I hope it isn't held on with a hundred screws. The original windshield frame (with original glass) is with it, just not mounted. The header panel looks newish so I'm thinking someone replaced the header already and just didn't get around to reinstalling the windshield. Hopefully it's still good. It does still need top wood though. He is bringing it down here on one of his trips to DFW. There is no way in hell I would drive my 12 mpg Ram to Cali and back, it would be cheaper to fly there and rent a Uhaul. He will help me swap bodies. The bed looks really nice - not dented up etc. and I have some nice wood to finish it out with as well. But I think I might try to find a 26-27 Model T bed for the long run. From what I recall, T beds do not have the wheel wells molded into the sides, so they look better without fenders.
26-7 T beds do have the bump out for fender mounts, A's have straight sides with a bolt on fender mount
Gotcha. This bed is for sale locally, I thought it was a T bed. Haven’t sat down and done my research. Basically, this is the bed I want.
That is odd, I think the only T bed that is flat is 25, first year for Ford to build a pickup, but they had a slanted front side panel that matched the curve in the back of the body, and are very rare, not many sold. Perhaps some here will correct me
Looking again at your pic, its on a T frame, but bolt holes may be for the A fender mounts. Hard to say as there are too many holes, or it may not be ford ?
The tailgate had Ford script, but who knows. It also had what looked like a patch welded in where the battery box Ts had went. Basically since I am not planning to run fenders I thought this bed (or a nicer example of the same year) would work nicely for my purposes as I could just fill the bolt holes and not have vestigial wheel well shapes.
The angle is just right to hide it on that one, but here is a picture of some T beds... The kick out on the pictured bed is missing but there is a plate welded in where it was. It seems the bed in my picture, which was converted to a trailer at one time, may be a 1925 bed like rusty said. Here is a '25 T with what seems to be the same bed. I think I'll try to snag it. Since I am running fenderless, I will just fill the bolt holes and I think it will look a little nicer than an A bed... and a little different with its more pronounced rivets.
I think he is intending to scrap the T frame and rear end so I might try to get it from him just to save it, although I don't really want to store it forever. I would just list it for free to whoever wants it.
Just want to mention something of a milestone that got buried by the PU news. August 2020 you started this thread by jumping into the deep end. Here in October 2021, you were driving your coupe that you had assembled, got running and rewired, and noticed it wasn't running right so you diagnosed and fixed the ignition problem. Progress! We often look at the path in front of us, without realizing the miles already covered. Oh, and you have a flathead V8 and another trans almost ready for the time when you decide to go bigger.
I still feel clueless, but yeah I guess I’ve learned a lot. And the better thing is I’ve been able to use what I’ve learned to help other guys. I have something of a plan for that flathead now. It’s not going in a Model A - not exactly. I have almost enough parts to assemble a V8 roller on my spare A frame. I just need a K member. I kind of want to put a 26/27 T roadster body on it… maybe with A fenders. But that’s for later.
Lol. I read this and I am reminded of a conversation you and I had. I told you I was building a T. You said you weren't a big fan of the T. I said, yeah me neither.
They’re growing on me! Roadsters and RPUs especially! My budget and skills are nowhere near the level needed to create something like this right now but I'm trying to get there. I got the '25 T bed for a good price, picking it up in a few days... good enough price to justify buying it even if I don't end up using it. If I decide to keep the A bed I'll just build a trailer with the T bed.
I realized I had made a couple old timey photos of @J.Ukrop's roadster but had yet to do one of my coupe so I took it up to my favorite spot for a little photo shoot.
Great shot. Let the air out of the tires, throw an old fender out on the ground near it, and post it as seen out in a field. Watch the Hambers comb the countryside!
yes on it being a great shot... makes me wonder how one could not want that as THE rod... as for tires a few years back our club put my car, parked at a gas station on the t shirt... i made them change the "pencil drawn" outline to include a flat front WWW tire... still have the shirt, worn neck line and pretty tight...
Such things are hard to get rid of! I've had hand made band shirts, autographed, etc. go missing over the years. Any more I have way too many t-shirts. I would display them like old records, framed, in the garage. Maybe just wrap them around a DIY frame and hang. Just don't let that one get so worn you toss it.
The Jalopy Journal
