Hot Rods 34 Drag Truck 60's Style

Some more progress pics. May change out the rear slicks for 28”, these are 32” tall. Will roll it outside and get a better look soon. With the channel, the rear may need to come down. The front I’ll is a full leaf pack, may pull 1 or 2 once the spindle mounts are on to tuck them.

 

Looks bad ass just as it sits now!

 

I think those rears look pretty killer, I think a 28 would have to much gap to fender clearance.

 

I agree, if I were to run a shorter rear tire I’d lower the rear. But I’m going to leave it alone. The tires on my spindle mounts are too high at 28” need to find atleast 2” lower for 18s. Then I’ll likely pull a leaf out of the front.

 

She’s home. Couldn’t resist a mock-up. Not the carbs or toppers I’ll be running, going 97s with frogmouths. I thought I’d have to notch the grille shell an additional 1.5” but at a first glance maybe not. Will need to play with the hood top to see how it lines up before I cut. I’m also undecided on the spindle mounts, the 5 spoke looks right , hard decision

 

It's so very cool ... my style of real Hot Rod. Are you building this to really drive? ... or to just show it?

 

I’m building this to drive. I’m not a ‘sit around your hot rod at a show all day waiting for a trophy’ kind of person. Plus this one is going to be a bit rough, but will be solid. Staying true to the way I found it.

 

Here’s the hood I got with the cab, not sure if it was run with it or not given it’s an A hood. But there are signs of black and blue paint that match the cab. I’m going to try to cut it up to fit the channel, headers, blower etc and run it. Gives the truck a whole different attitude.

 

Began testing how to clean up some of the heavier surface rust but stay true to the history of the cab. Note the cowl top.

Before:


after, all I used was a paper towel and spray wash:

 

All of this with some simple green and a paper towel…

Cowl top before:


after:


Drivers door before:


after:



Testing the hood top:

 

The "el-natural" is right-on.

I know over the past 21+ years I've been here that I have seen and read threads on different procedures guys have discovered to do the cleaning and preservation of old original paints ....

 

I like just the hood top, the engine showing lends to the hot rod appeal of the rest of the truck

 

Brush painted the fenders and bed to match the cab. The black paint on the cab has distinct brush strokes and according to the old timer who owned this for 50 years, that was common practice. So I did the same!

Found these old dodge? Hood sides in my stash that are almost the perfect height with the channel. Going to modify the model a hood to fit the 34 cowl and old toolbox latches for hood sides. Will mostly run without a hood but good to have one setup just in case. Also thinking about running the radiator under the bed , open grille shell is a wild look

 

It is looking good ! I like the radiator in the back idea. One shortcoming in my Studebaker is I was limited to a early Mustang radiator unless I wanted to spend money. It runs 210 - 215 on 95 degree days.

 

Can’t fake this look!

 

Need to roll it outside to check proportions and hood angle. This is about as good a shot I could get in my small garage but it’s getting close to done with full mock-up. Will blow it apart this fall/winter

 

Been quiet for awhile but getting back on it. Mock-up pretty much done. Cab came off the frame today, will start on metal work. Stay tuned


For anyone interested, the 2x4 extension to the cherry picker worked incredibly well. I was quite shocked how well. Pushing up from the inside is the way to go for sure. I saw a picture on here and threw one together quick. Once a good balance center is found it was simple. I should have built a better dolly but I ran out of time so this will do for now.

 

Glad to see your still building ... Hot Rod's Rule

 

Im a huge fan of Gibbs for my cars that have similar paint as yours. Really like the front rims now too!

 

After much thought, I’m stripping it completely and painting it shiny. There were so many layers of paint that were house paint. Poking around with a screwdriver uncovered areas with 1/4”+ of bondo with rust holes underneath. Top all that with the inability to track any race history to it, it’s getting stripped starting this week.

 

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Looks really mean!

 

yep! It’s going to be a very light turquoise, similar to a 58 ford color

 

Nice!!!! what did you coat the front wheels with? thinking of doing something similar for a set on my 29 roadster

 

It’s only temporary. It’s graphite spray, has the look but wipes right off. Going to try to paint/Powdercoat in a similar shade.

 

For anyone interested in why I decided to go against leaving the paint as is, here’s some supporting details. When I poked around, I found bondo and quite a bit of it. Holes in the visor were patched with 1/4” thick bondo, drip rails were ‘molded in’ with even thicker bondo and are pretty well rotted.

I had a sandblasted lined up, but he’s gone awol so I started to chemical strip it. There are legitimately 8 layers of house paint on this cab. Jasco stripper and a razor blase got down to what seems like original primer pretty quick? The stripper eats through everything but there final layer of dark red oxide primer.

 

Stripping the cab myself, all else is going off so the blaster tomorrow


Pretty well disassembled now

 

In regards to the wheel/tire combo. The rear tires are Radir with whitewalls on the inside, I'm going to turn them around. Both front and rear wheels I'll either powdercoat or paint to look similar to mags, dependent on what I can find to achieve the right look. I'm also thinking of running moon discs up front. Basically this look:


There are 2 aspects of the frame that I'm not in love with that I'm debating changing. I bought this as a pre-built rolling chassis that was powdercoated around 25 years ago and never actually had a body mounted. The rear is setup for coilovers and 4 link. I don't have coilovers yet so before I spend the money, I may change it but I know that will snowball. The front is setup for disc brakes, I may change this to drum but again, cost way more than what I already have. Between the fenders and moon discs, it may not be all that noticable. While it may not be 100% traditional, it's going to be very close and those are the 2 details that are going to bother me.

 

Little bit of regret going on now, but it has to get worse before it gets better. There is a lot of filler around the old chop. Some holes were just mudded over entirely….

 

Very cool.

 

Getting into it now