Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

beanies, baby moons... could be plain [no script] stockers called baldies...

 

Joey, the best drags were on Friday nights. The guys from Sausalito would come over. Two brothers that came over, one had a shoebox convertible, the other brother had a fiberglass bodied sports car, which was trailered in. Both cars had Chrysler engines. Local guy, Ray Smith had a 1957 Oldsmobile 88 with a McCullough blower. We thought that he would beat both cars. We were wrong. One of the local guys had a model A roadster with a recently installed Oldsmobile engine. There was no throttle linkage, just a wire through the firewall that he had a pair of pliers hooked onto. This was before Vise Grips if I am not mistaken. I used to ride with Duane Junkins. He had a 1954 Lincoln with a 1958 Lincoln engine. He would not race from a dead stop, preferring a rolling start from 40 miles per hour. At least this way he had a reasonable chance to win. Duane also had a 1946 jail bar Ford pickup truck, ex-stevedore truck. It was pretty ratty looking, but had a Scot blown flathead in it. One day Duane was coming to pick me up at home in North Beach, 346 Green Street, at the corner of Castle Alley. Castle alley is a narrow one way street going South. Duane was going south on Castle Alley. A 1956 Plymouth Yellow Cab, 6 cylinder engine, came in from the south end to take a short cut to Coit Tower. Duane would not back up to let the taxi come through. The 2 vehicles were bumper to bumper. I guess that the taxi driver thought that he could push the ratty truck back. He was sadly mistaken, it cost the taxi driver a new clutch. I can still remember the smell of the burnt clutch.

 

My pal Richard Ward had a 49 shoebox rag top with an overdrive he would go from Novato to Tracy. Nobody beat this guy for years until the 283z with an isky 505 came on the scene.
But it was still close.

 

I used to go to Playland quite a bit on dates in my '38 with a pretty bad Flatty. I was in more than one race with locals in the Great Highway. Once warm an 8V battery would not crank that flathead. I was an expert at finding a hill to park on. SF provided lots of opportunities.

Lots of the things from Playland & the Sutro Museum ended up in an antique store in Carson City in the early 70s. The big laughing lady from the fun house was there.

 

I have been out of town, too busy to take the laptop, but I have been lurking . Just can't be bothered trying to post on the phone.

 

@J.Ukrop, I'm thrilled at your evolving future in Hotrod, Employment and your involvement in the ressurection of a Giant in print and also ripped 360° the other way for reasons I won't mention but trying to enjoy our freedom that balances literally on a scale...

A ride in the Hotrod is an escape I too look forward to having in a month or so when the snow F's off as beautiful as it's peaceful ambience is...

 

Funny, here I view the snow as a peaceful time without weeds & wild fires. But I don't drive a roadster yet. I do own a Ford banger though.

 

Put them both on one side of the car... you can't look at both sides of the car at the same time.

 

Sometimes when I'm working on the road on a simmer night with just the headlights and the sound of the four cylinder I pretend it's a roadster.

 

They are probably closer to each other than anything else really. I say squint your eyes and keep dreamin

 

Daaaaaaaaaaaaammmm! Look at that tank! Shit Joey that’s fucking rad!

 

Joey, thanks for sharing your adventure and build. It reminds me of the 50s little books/magazines. The story of real Hotrodding the finding ,gathering and building with friends you make along the way . Wicked cool

 

Good work on the tank! When my son got his first shovel out of Texas it had paint by John Stromberg from Amarillo. I think he still has all the tin hanging somewhere. A lot of Harley stuff coming up for sale here on the 26th from my friends estate. Mostly newer in my mind.

 

I think I've got a pretty nice set of 40 fins up in my home shop if you're interested

 

If you get to any frame sections that are just too jacked-up to use, let me know.

I have a bunch of frame sections that can be used for repair parts.

Free to you, should you need any.

 

While I thoroughly enjoy the progress and plans for the future, it's going to be a sad day when the A chassis is set aside for the update.
Time and money define every rod build, but I hope that some roadster body falls into your lap and the original build survives and keeps getting refined.

 

I’m fast forwarding instead of reading all the post but I believe the speedway drums need modification to fit what you’re doing. I’d ask Brian as I’m sure he’d know, but I do think they are different enough from real Buicks to need some tweaking

 

Great stuff Joey! I look forward to the progress on the roadster!

 

The cross country travel log of this roadster is going to be fantastic. Hopefully that makes it to print as I’m sure it will be worthy of a spot on the shelf

 

What about these repop Buick drums?

https://www.bolingbrothers.com/buick-style-45-fin-brake-drum/#description

 

I have a nice set of Buicks down in the barn if you need some Joey......

 

I'm sitting a a fair amount of Buick drums...just sayin...

 

Just say'n !! The homemade linkage and shifter belong in the rooster.......