The Original " Black Widow " Model T Roadster

Went to visit a friend who purchased a some years back the original
" Black Widow" model T roadster that was featured in 1957 or 59 magazine from Walter O out of Fresno. He has completely gone through everything frame, lines, motor quickchange rearend etc. Rich has put 3500hrs up to this point and still has a ways to go since he pays attention to detail not to change anything except completly rebuild and update for safety. If I'm right that means 8hrs a day for 437 days !! My leftover brain matter started to hurt on that calculation. He was complaining about the rear section that he fabricated that he was having problems aligning since it had a closed driveline. Jokingly I said stick a 9 in and before i could finish the word inch he said i need tp stop talking and start working!! He then said that this build was kept authentic to keep the integrity of the vehicle. Sorry for the blurry pic of the body but the full shot of it was even worse so i didn't post it.

Thanks,
Martin

 

I think I just wet myself. That thing is bad ass!

 

Yup , these pics don't even give it justice .

Rich is the same guy that built Doc's 1960 Chassis Research Fed and built a 1925 Dodge Underslung which he still has.

 

The carb topper on the oil fill tube rules. Can't wait to see a body on that thing.

 

very cool

 

Jesus. I would eat off of that thing.

 

That car is like the HOLY GRAIL of hot rods to me! I didin't think I would ever get to see more pics of it, and being rebuilt to boot!

MORE PICS PLEASE! Don't tease me like this man.

 

Do you have pics of it?
I wanted to post the pics of how it looked back then !
He has a copy of the article but it's in black and white.

He has the mag somewhere in the shop and of course we couldn't find it?
I've seen that article only once and was really quick due to i wasn't paying attention and just looking at his projects. I suffer from
" A.D.D. Syndrome "
" (A)nother- (D)umb- (D)ipshit- Syndrome "

 

Is this the car that Monogram made a kit from?

 

any pics from the "old" days?
JimV

 

does it have wide-5 wheels?

 

I found the book it`s in....1959hot rod annual.I`ll try to post picks later of it if nobody else does.I saw that car at Blackies car show in fresno when i was a kid that car rocks and keep us posted great job...............

 

I found this through Google. Pretty sweet car. I had never seen it before. I must say it looks cool as hell.

 

So was this car built with a 'glass body or a steel body? My guess is steel.

You need to get some better quality pics so a new generation can admire this awesome car.

 

I just finished reading the article in Hop Up about this car. I can appreciate what he's doing, but in the article pics the original paint looked good enough to keep rather than duplicate. I know it said that it will be an exact replication of the striping and artwork but still... Anyway, it's still a badass little car. BTW What happened to the duel firewall?

 

The 59 hot rod annual is where I had seen it before as well, a friend has a copy but I don't see him much anymore.

 

Yup, also using a closed driveline with a zepher trans sideshift!

It's a Steel body !

We were talking about this yesterday. Since the body was sent to hie painter I never seen how it was at first. He said that it looked good from far away but removing body etc. there was alot of things real bad . He decided that it would be easier to fabricate the complete frame and be able to update for safety instead of trying to fix the old frame. The black paint on the body is so deep it reminds me of the black color that rhe Great White Shark has. I don't know about the firewall but i will ask!!

 

that is bad ass!!! more pix more pix more pix!!!

 

Really neat and unusual car--I went straight to the '59 Annual as soon as I got home. This thread gives a lot more information on the chassis than HRM did, for sure.

 

Very cool. Please shoot it again when the body is back on.

 

A favorite of mine too. Also, mighty bitchin' as Wally Olson originally built it!

 

Wally Olson the builder of that car passed last year. His son Gary runs western Speed here in Fresno, his other son Dan, is the Dan Olson that builds all the beautiful aluminum pans. Dan is still involved with dragsters. My dad Had a 32 full fendered roadster with an overhead Alexander in it when Wally had that car. They were good friends. That was really a neat car.
Gary

 

Personally, I like the Olson version better. And what's with the radials on the new version?

 

A beauty under both of the old-days owners...and a car that should prove that "traditional" rods had a lot more variety in tech and style than most choose to remember.

The OTHER "Black Widow" T...the Monogram model...was a very influential car in my world when I was 12 or so. It was also circa 1959... I see it picked up its striping cues as well as name from this car..but it was a completely different car, '27 based...
I bet it was closely based on another real rod. Anyone have a candidate??

 

This car is beautiful!

Bruce: We are currently building an EXACT replica of the Monogram "Black Widow" here at the shop. The customer is very specific about every detail being exactly like the model, to the point that we measured the frame, wishbones & other parts with dail calipers and mutliplied by the scale. We are pretty excited about it.

 

Hi troy.

 

Wow! A duplicate of the Monogram Black widow! That model had really good lines and stance, really gave me ideas long ago. I've always suspected it was based on a real rod, but never spotted a match--do you know if there was a real car? The Green Hornet from Monogram at about the same time was based on an easily located HRM feature car, and the Chrysler dragster also...

 

That is one of my all time favorite cars... please keep us updated with more pics!

 

hey jimrods here.. i am building a spot on version of the monogram model.. i am trying to find out if the model version ever realy existed...be cool....

 

the monogram version is being built by me up in sparta new jersey at my shop..look for it next spring.. jimrods