Hot Rods The Tale of "Tater"

I don't know JACK about Ford "bangers", is that a relatively popular intake manifold? Either way it's a good looking piece, of history...

 

soooo coooool!

 

Well Jay...........great story...........you're right, Chris IS the right guy! I'm glad to call Chris and his family my friends and I get to see it first hand. Again, great story!

PS: Anyone seen my checkbook?

 

49ratfink & LEMMING249 ... According to Jay's Blog, he sold the car to Vermont HAMBer Cris (not Spokane HAMBer Chris) ... perhaps Cris will provide us with an update and/or some current pics?

 

thats real sweet...curious history

 

I'll update later (busy working). The car's beyond cool. As we've gone through it we've found so many unique little details. There's practically nothing save for the grill, hood, and body, that's stock. Everything from the door and trunk handles through the spindles, lights, and on to the frame has been either replaced with something from another car or modified in some way...



Cris

 

Nice car. I found a 31 model a coupe when i was 17 to dumb to score on it but i got a 30 coupe now just a neat story. Thanks knuck from indiana.

 

Awesome find. There's one that needs to restored to the way it was. And those fenders? HELL YEA.

 

HAHAHA wrong Chris Jerry He spells it the "cool" way...Cris!! I wish I had that roadster!!

 

Thats a Fuckin' A!!!!!!!!

 

Very Nice! Love the fenders!

 

That is an awsome black & white pic that Cris posted of it! Really cool

~JoJo~

 

That's the coolest thing I've seen in a long time!

 

Cool read ! Cool car.

 

I think it's pretty cool the way it is.

 

That's funny. I was wondering why Chris was asking a question if he had the car. Then I went back and re-read the entry. What a difference an H makes!

LOVE the car!

 

isn't there a tv show " everyone hates c(h)ris"?

hmm ??????
2 inch dropped axel
appropriatly shorter front tires
dropped headlite bar w/ 32 lites
simular rear fender treatment as the front (so they match)
hmmmm
but geez its perfectly okay as it is too!

 

sooo envious..... i might need to steel that fender idea too.. haha dont worry ill give it proper credit.

 

thats awesome...

 

Great car with great story behind it.

 

Great car, great story...I predict a new wave of Tater-ized 28-29 A's.

Fearless

 

Okay, sorry for the delay.
I was originally hoping to actually have the car finished before I picked up the story where Jay's original thread about the car a few years ago left off, but a bunch of other cars got in the way.

Orginal post: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=166801

When Jay posted Tater back in 2007 it, for whatever reason, really spoke to me. I was talking to my dad on the phone and he had seen the car too and we figured it would be worth trying to get it, as Jay had mentioned it was time to pass it on. It was probably dumb luck that more people didn't see the original post (or the eBay listing) but we were able to come to a great agreement with Jay some time in March of that year. I will take this opportunity to confirm what so many here know already: Jay (Jive-Bomber) is an absolute prince among men and it was great dealing with him.

He hooked us up with one of his buddies who then trailer the car to a warehouse a friend our ours owned and the car sat there for a few months before it found its way into a car carrier they were sending back our way, so we didn't even see the car in the metal for a while.

When Tater did finally show up at my parents' place it had already gotten under a lot of other people's skins. Everyone was just floored by the condition of the car and the front fender treatment. People were threatening "If I ever see you paint that car..." So Tater was still about four hours away from me at that point and because of a lot of other projects it got shuffled from garage to storage building and back a few times before finally coming home to me more than a year and a half after we got it from Jay.

We're conserving the car, basically. Arresting any rust/corrosion, fixing and replacing all the lines, redoing the brakes, and things of that nature. A few things need replacing, and it now has a new repro subfloor in it which did wonders for its structural integrity.

The motor is out of it right now. We're trying to figure out what we're going to put in it. We dropped an Alexander head on it just to see what it would look like, but we haven't torn it down yet. We've got a couple other B motors around that might go in it. If anyone has a hi-comp Winfield head (NOT the aluminum one...) for sale or trade, let me know.



Tearing down the car has turned up a lot of interesting details. I have pictures of everything which I'll post later. The chassis itself is weird. The as-yet unknown builder grafted the rear section of a '33 frame to the A rails.

Actually, you know what, I am going to stop there. I should post shots of all the features. I documented taking everything apart with a mind towards showing people how a survivor car was done so I will add those photos and descriptions in a bit.

We originally were aiming to have it done so we could bring it to the Gathering of the Faithful...in 2007. It's finally found its way close enough to the head of the line that we hope to have it at this year's event, but truthfully I'd like to bring it to early events (one of Hemming's cruise nights, the VSCCA Mt. Equinox hillclimb, or something else local) before that.

It's an amazing car with a ton of character. Three years later I still can't believe it's sitting out in my barn. One things that's odd about it is that it doesn't photograph well from every angle, for some reason. I've seen bone-stock Model As that look better than it in pictures. But in real life it's nuts; everything from the stance to the windshield angle looks just right.









Okay, more later.

Cris

 

That is the badassest fendered model a roadster I have ever seen. That car has soul

 

Last year I finally got down to taking Tater apart to refresh the mechanicals. Despite having been stored inside for decades, the floorpan had what can only be described as a tenuous grip on the body. As such, the rear of the body would lift up off the frame without any real effort. So the floorpan was replaced and suddenly the car was very solid. After pulling the motor we decided to rebuild the front end and brakes next.

The weird fenders and front bodywork came off first. You guys in California have it lucky. If this car had come from the East Coast, I probably would have had to torch every nut and bolt to get it this far.






A lot of dirt and some surface rust, but that's about it.




A couple shots of the front end and brakes.





After taking off the fenders I've come to the conclusion that the car probably didn't run at the lakes, at least not in this guise. If it did, the owner certainly didn't run it sans fenders, as each one had about 8 or 9 nuts and bolts, some of which were hard to access.

 

Shall we look at the body?

Windshield is RAKED. Not the severest period rake ever, but definitely pretty kicked back. That's ultimately one of the coolest things about seeing one of these cars in person; you actually get to see how they did it back then. The metal doesn't lie, as they say. Real cars (not simply photos of real cars) tend to settle a lot of the period-correct detail debates.




Very custom-ish taillight treatment. Anyone know what car was the first to repurpose these?


The fenders are currently hanging on the wall, easy to access in case I have to ditch town in a hurry.


100% authentic California rust. If anyone wants some I will scrape it off and send it to you and you can spread some white glue on your car and sprinkle it on: instant period correctness.




A few shots of the fender treatment. At some point Tater must have been pushed forward and stored against a wall, which kinked the fenders. From a purely executional standpoint the work on the fenders is good but not great. It doesn't look like much metal finishing was done to the seam between the fender halves. The rest of the fender–where the steel comes down to meet the splash guard–is well thought out.


An interesting study in a similar treatment, but the odd thing is that neither of these cars could have been informed by the other, could they? The car on the right is an Alfa Romeo 6c 1500 with body by James Young. The Alfa actually has a skirt/splash guard/apron that comes forward along the frame from the cowl, not unlike a Model A, and the front fender's metalwork is very similar in design to Tater's. I imagine the chances of Tater's builder being aware of styling cues from prewar British coachbuilders is pretty slim, so for the time being maybe we chalk the similarities up to zeitgeist.

Front end goes back under the car soon. Again, I am looking for a high compression head right now if anyone has one they want to sell or trade.


One last photo of the dog waiting for his share.

Cris

 

What a great looking car! Like everyone else I really like the front fenders. Please explain the Model A steering arm on top of this 33-34? spindle. Please don't tell me you plan to drive it with that thing stuck on there.

 

I thought is was a good safety question.

 

very cool and off to another good home to boot.

 

So who has the car now, and what are the plans for its future? I'd hate to lose track of this jewel.

 

I have the car; it's sitting in my garage, about 40 feet from where I'm typing right now. Front end has been rebuilt (replaced is more like it; no more questionable steering parts) and installed, brakes redone, front fenders have had the kinks removed from them, floor pan replaced, new seat, springs, etc. in. Motor is out of the car but has been gone through and we're putting an Alexander OHV conversion on it (which is almost done.)

Cris