It shows some 70's early 80's build items on it. The flat wheel well filler panels were common then. Along with the Vega tail lights and the wood dash pieces and the tilt. The too wide rear axle is a real mid 70's thing when not even the big buck guys were narrowing rear axles very often. Currie was just the outfit that narrowed and prepped 9 inch rears for Taylor-Dunn electric carts then. Price = Can you buy similar pieces and build a rod to drivable and ready for final body work and paint for that price? Or the sum total of the parts you see? Around where I live it is a 15 K car compared to what the price of Model A hot rods in this are are. Most of the FB and Craigslist offerings for that price here don't run and some don't even have engine or title.
Study this nice body! Now look at the orange thing, that top is hiding a crap load of misguided work by the same guy that messed up the deck lid and wheel wells.
Doesn't seem that bad a deal to me. A lot of ugly, but it is removable. Take someone with more knowledge on these cars with you when you check out the car. Check out the work done here by Missysdad.
I’d love to have it. 2 barrel 283 with single exhaust. The only change I would make is a stock 59-62 black air cleaner….. That car is perfect.
Just a follow up. I went and looked at the car today. 2.5 hour drive one way. The pictures make it look somewhat out of proportion. The good: The rear end has been narrowed and the tires are close to the body. The engine cranked with just a bump of the starter, was really quiet and had no smoke or strange noises. It has a two barrel carb but it seemed to idle well and run well after it was warmed up. The linkage on the tranny has been disconnected but it shifted well around 15-20 mph and made no strange noises. Both the oil and trans fluid were clean and new looking with no bad smell on the trans fluid. The rear end was quiet and didn't get hot, did not check the fluid. The u-joints were tight with no slop in the shaft. The ratio must be 4.10 because it was turning 2200 rpm at 45mph and would get there real quick. The master cylinder is new and the brakes felt good and stopped straight. The tires look really good but I didn't check the dates. The steering was real tight and go cart like, the car seemed to track well with no pull. The top is tall but in good shape and I think could be lowered without taking it off. All the head lights, brake lights, turn signals, fuel pump, radiator fan, speedometer, tachometer seemed to work. The battery was new. The bottom of the tranny and rear were wet but no drips while I was under it and none on the concrete. The box frame was solid and looked like it was welded good but not pretty. There were no rust bubbles in the body. The floor was wooden but in good shape. Now for the bad: The rear had air shocks and I'm sure they needed air but they were allowing the springs to bump the body on big bumps. I didn't try to air them up. There was a bolt missing out of 4 that holds the rear springs in the center as well as one of the anti rattle clips missing. The rear bumper was crude painted pipe. There is no trunk so the rear of the seat has to come out to get to the battery and the gas tank is right behind it and it is black plastic. The wiring, fuse box and voltage regulator are under the seat which sets on a wood pedestal. There is a lot of tape used there, will have to be gone through. The ignition switch, light switch, cigarette lighter and fuel pump switch are in the front of the wooden seat pedestal under the driver side and hard to reach. The electric fan switch is on the column and apparently runs all the time when on, not thermostatically controlled. There is paint over spray on some of the stuff around the engine. The paint on the rear looks like its seen better days and some of it is starting to flake off. The leg room was pathetic at best, don't know if that's normal for a Model A. I had to tilt the steering up to get out of the car. I don't think the CD player works. I told him I'd give 7500 for it cash. He told me he had a better offer so I thanked him and we hit the road home. He waited about an hour and called me three times before I answered. He fed me some BS about the other guy wanting to write a check for the higher offer and he wouldn't take a check. He came back to me for 10000. I told him I'd have to think about it since we were already 1/3 of the way back home. Was thinking of either holding firm or maybe going to 8000. I don't think there is another buyer, that was all BS. walk, run or counter his counter?
After your description keep driving back home and looking. There are better cars out there and even $7500 sounds like too much for this one.
Sounds like a good deal at 7500-8000$, but there is a lot to fix. If you are looking for a project that is half way there, this one is it. If you want a car that is ready to go play, this is a long way from it.
I think anything less than $10,000 would be a decent deal. Like I said before, what's bad can be changed while you drive it. It depends on how bad you want it.
Not one thing looks right about it to my eye, it's kind of revolting and I hate to say that about a Model A. You can do way better for that kind of cash.
In my neck of the woods if you could get that car for $8k and are prepared to spend another $5-8k on it to get it to where it would be a decent looking, dependable roadster, that to me would be an acceptable buy-in. Just my 35 cents worth.
Funky looking. You can always jump up and buy the wrong car. Wait for a better deal. You'll spend half again as much (at best) to straighten this one out.
I agree with most of the commentary you have already received and I would pass on this car as well. But if you find yourself drawn back there here are a few more thoughts: I'm not sure the rear of that car is a roadster at all. When you pulled the rear of the seat and looked into the trunk what did the sheet metal look like? Did you see a complete trunk lid with proper roadster panels below and above it? Did the quarters show any body modifications? The way the top hides all the metal around the cockpit except the very edge next to the door makes me wonder if those are modified sport coupe (or similar) quarters. (Did you unsnap the top to check if there is the correct roadster metal under it, or was it visible from the inside when you removed the seat?) If that metal isn't right and it is indeed missing the roadster specific metal above and below the trunk opening I would suspect that the builder started with a cowl and doors from a roadster, phaeton or rpu and he hobbled the rest together. Also, whenever I see a trunk filled in like that car has it often means that the original car the builder not only didn't have the correct panels for it but can also mean that he started with quarters that were missing all the metal next to the original trunk opening. (Perhaps cut away to add a pickup box during WW2 and qualify it as a truck to get more gas during the rationing.) Was there any evidence of this when you looked into the trunk? So, if you do give this car a second look it might be worth the time to do a complete forensic exam of the rear of the car. Just trying to be helpful, Best wishes for a successful search for a car, Greg
I think you're correct in that it was all hobbled together. I confess, I didn't take a flashlight and look behind the battery and tank. The sun was bright and I could see it was solid but couldn't see what it was made of or how. I don't remember seeing body mounts, like it was all welded instead. The parts fit good from the top but underneath was hobbled together.
At $8K ,if you're willing to take on a project, that seems pretty cheap to me. There'll be a fair amount of work involved to replace all the dorky shit but it's got a good drivetrain, a '32 frame, a steel body, and a lot of good pieces that you'd never be able to collect in one place for that kind of money. I don't know where you guys are finding running, driving steel V8 A roadsters on 32 frames for under 10K unless you've got a time machine. No way I'd want to leave it as-is, but even if you had to dump another $7K in it to fix all the bullshit, that's only $15K in the finished car, that's really not bad at all.
The Jalopy Journal
