Projects Building My First Roadster in San Francisco

Thanks guys. Ask and ye shall receive. Here are the details.

Can you imagine? I'd be happy to run any of those.

I wish I could have seen this thing run. I bet it sounded like a WWII fighter plane.

Thanks! More photos happening soon.

As far as I can tell, it's the original.

Hell yeah! Thank you for reading all the way through it. It's been quite a saga thus far. Next time you're in San Francisco, give me a shout. Looking forward to seeing where the road takes us!

Oh man I saw that. It's exactly what we need for the 'banger version. It's still too early to pull the trigger on something like that, but good to keep in mind.

 

Sidebar 660: Off to the Races—Again

From Florida to Kentucky, Kentucky to...Michigan? You got it. I'm writing this update from the Great Lakes State. My report will be in two parts: First, the car update. Second, travel highlights.

Before we kick things off, I'd like to share something big. David and I are going to drive our roadsters to The Race of Gentlemen in Riverside, California—and race—in early December. That's right: a double Model A roadster road trip down the California Coast.

When he introduced the idea, I pretty much lost it. I couldn't believe it. "This December?! My car?" Yes. It's a lofty goal, but we're going to do everything in our power to make it happen.

As a journalist, my world revolves around deadlines. This one, however, could be the most exciting to date. Not long after we put the pieces in place, we got right to work on Version 2.0.

 

The fun never stops. I'm back in town for the week, and I'm excited to finally get around to the build thread update.

Before my Florida-Kentucky-Virginia trip, I was able to spend the day in Petaluma. With the TROG deadline on our minds, we had a renewed sense of purpose. So, what did we do? We made a master list.

There's a lot to do, but I know we can make it happen. So, where to begin? I suggested that we finish as much of the chassis fab as possible.

I focused my attention on the rear crossmember, which was only tacked in place. Using one of the sturdiest periodical mailers of all time, I created templates for my mini reinforcement plates.

Next, I took to the bandsaw to cut all four of them out.
When they were all cleaned up, David welded them into place.

Sturdy stuff.
Having the rear crossmember sorted out means that I'll be able to cut the rear frame horns next time I'm there. Can't wait!

 

As we worked, we had a handful of visitors—most of which were driving Model A hot rods!

First, @Jeff34 cruised by in his pre-war A. Won't be long before it too will be getting a flathead V8 and juice brakes.

Next was our friend Justin with his roadster. Originally hot rodded in the 1940s, he brought it back to life better than ever. Not long before the photo, he thrashed it on the Northern California Roadster Reliability Run.

It's hard to beat a shop scene like this. Reminds me of an old Hop Up cover.

One more.

Hot rod bliss.

 

While I chipped away at the frame plates, David built a pair of rear U-bolt clamps out of some very old steel.

Since we added the spacer springs to the rear leaf pack, the stock clamps no longer work. These will do the trick.

I'm adamant that David doesn't work on this car when I'm not around, but it was really fun to have us working on separate pieces at the same time. I love the simplicity of these. They're heavy duty, and I'll always think of how much fun we had the day he made them—especially when I look up at my quickchange.

 

As the day went on, we continued to check items off the list. We finalized the narrowed tie-rod with the new dropped ends.

First, we reamed the dropped spindles to 8 degrees.

And then put the tie-rod in place. I'm very happy with how it looks. Can't wait to paint all of this.

I also plugged in the hairpin steering arm. We'll be dropping it when we dial in the steering. Note that I lopped off a piece of the perch pin for clearance. I'll do the same on the other side and clean everything up prior to paint.

 

Right before cleaning up for the day, I was able to break out my new, original King Bees from @nickthebandit. As I'm sure many of you know, Nick is a real-deal hot rodder who lived in San Francisco in the 1950s.
I still remember how exciting it was to mock up headlights on Version 1.0 of the roadster. The same applies for Version 2.0!

Now I need to find some tags. Building a headlight bar is going to be so much fun.

Tools of the Trade

When David was making the U-bolt clamps, he was using center punches like these. He asked if I had ever worked with them and if I had my own set. The answer to both was no. Moments later, he walked over with these and gave them to me. They originally belonged to Bruce Gordon. What an honor!

Is the pen mightier than the sword? In this case, maybe, because I now have a custom di Falco Fabrications Sharpie to cross more items off the roadster list!

 

Here's where things are at right now. Progress!

While I was on my trip, parts trickled in from far and wide. New components include 6.00 x 16 Firestone whitewalls for the front, a master-cylinder, front brake hoses and the contents of this very special box.

 

That'll do it for today's long overdue update. The wheels keep on turning, and I have a handful of exciting things for you guys rolling out this week. Stay tuned!

 

It's happening!

Exceptional images. I'm getting fired up for the trip.

Thank you for filling in the blanks!

 

Thank you! Day by day, this thing is getting closer and closer to becoming a car. I often ask myself, "When was the last time these parts were on the road?"

Great info! We plan to drop the hairpin to match. I think it'll have a nice, less-reproduction look.

Hahaha that's so true. We're trying to keep them all in order.

I've always loved King Bees. I actually put in the NOS Wagner bulbs. Great tip about the fabric.

He's a magician with this stuff.

Oh man! A different era for sure. It's hard to say for sure, but I think this car will be about 85% original parts.

 

Sidebar 9: Sticking With It

As I'm sure many of you have heard, we lost Pat Ganahl on Friday. It breaks my heart to even write that. Since then, I've been in a sad haze thinking about it all. At times I've been able to put on a smile, but at the bottom of it I'm really hurt. After feeling like this for three straight days, I did the only thing I could. I wrote about it. And you know what? Putting those words on the page made me feel a little bit better. If you'd like to read them, you can find my tribute here.

On Saturday morning, I made my way up to Petaluma. David and I agreed that even though we both were hurting, we needed to keep going. And I needed to keep writing about it. It's what Pat would have done. So, we looked at the list and got to work.

When I walked through the shop door, I was carrying my latest treasure: my 1954 Hudson Hornet steering wheel that I bought off the H.A.M.B. The chrome needs some cleaning, but it's the exact wheel I wanted. A friend of mine pointed out that the center looks like a mood ring. She was right. On a ring of that nature, the green signifies a calm, peaceful disposition. Perfect for this car.

Next, I broke out the cutoff wheel and tackled a task that I've been looking forward to since day one: bobbing the rear frame horns. For my money, things just went from Deuce to Model A territory and I couldn't be more excited. Per David's suggestion, I sprayed a little bit of primer for a more finished look.

It's interesting that these rails were bobbed for a Model A sometime in their past life, too.

Anyone want a fresh set of 1932 Ford rear frame horns? Let me know.

 

Initially, I planned to combine the shock mounts and the headlight bar. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it would be best to make them two separate entities. That meant it was time to get to work on the F-1 shock mounts. As you can see, they were pretty crusty to start with.

After cleaning them up, we put them in David's trusty fixture that he built while working at Vern Tardel's.

Next up, heavy heat with the O/A torch. David handled one side.

"If you don't apply the heat correctly, the metal will take on the consistency of dry Play-Dough," David said.

I gave it my all. I heated the bending point until it was bright orange, then I used the homemade breaker bar to slowly bend it to shape on the fixture.

With a little sandblasting, they turned out excellent!

 

But there was a problem. I'm using 14-inch shocks up front, which means that the mounts were too tall. After weighing our options, we decided to take a little more than two inches out of the freshly bent mounts.

Shoutout to the bandsaw on this one. I beveled the long pieces prior to David welding them back together.

I'm going to clean these up as my homework assignment, and then we'll finalize position next time.

 

As the primer was drying, David and I took the opportunity to mock up my Weiand intake from my friend Patrick Knight in Kentucky. Months ago, David bet me $100 that my engine had adjustable lifters, since it was rebuilt. I told him I wasn't so sure.

Looks like I owe him a Benjamin. I couldn't believe how clean it was inside. David says the lifters are Johnson.

With carbs from Stromberg and 1950s air cleaners from Paul Roy, the engine now has plenty of vintage flavor. Note the narrowed tie-rod.

Looking good! It's a quick update, but I figured I'd keep everyone up to date.

Won't be long and we'll be back in the shop turning wrenches. I'm in Texas right now, but I'm looking forward to coming home and checking more items off that big cardboard list.