Features >>>A Tale Of Two Coupes: The Storming Of "Da Steel"<<<

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."​

Alright enough with the Tom Foolery, I just thought I'd start a thread for two local North Carolina Hot Rods being built right now....a twofer if you will. I'm going to document them as they progress up until they hit the streets.

Both of these cars are being built be guys that are close to me, one being my brother Mike (Mikey B on the HAMB) and the other being built my my friend and fellow Iron Lord Chris. Both cars are similar as they are both Model A coupes built on 32 chassis but different as are set in different eras and have different year bodies.

I'm really excited for these two cars to hit the streets as we are in desperate need for some cool hot rods in this part of the country. Not that there isn't any around we just need to see more that reflect good taste, critical thought and inspiring execution. In other words you can never have too many cool hot rods roaming the streets right?

I'm going to break these two builds up by doing one in Black and White and one in Color to keep track of which is which. Apologize if some of these pics are dark and some blurry as I was covered in dust from blocking out the quarter and didn't take the time to set them up.


•••First up is my friend Chris' coupe which we'll refer to as THE SHOO SHOO COUPE. He's been working on it for 5 years and while that might seem like a lot of time, this man works 7 days straight with sometimes 1-2 days off a month. He also has a little girl and wife and they are everything to him so if he can get out a couple hours a week that's a lot. The car is built as if it were a street coupe circa 1948. It's going to be finished in a Early Ford Tan with a black chassis and wheels.


It's a '29 Model A Special Coupe (I think they are called special coupes).





It's got a 8BA Flathead with an Eddie Meyer Intake and two Super 97's on top. It also feature pretty rare C8BA Aluminum Heads that were only produced by Ford for 3 months. They as well as the intake are all polished up and looking pretty.

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/.../Tale Of Two Coupes/DSC_0386.jpg?t=1327771126

 

Up Front the car is running guides mounted low and are painted single stage black already.




Wheels and tires are in the form of 1935 Ford Wire wheels with 7.00 Firestones out back and 5.00 Firestone's up front. Perfect Hot Rod Attire...





One really cool feature of this car is that when Chris got it, it was really beat and needed a lot of work. When it car time to make new quarters he decided that he would pinch them much like a '32-34 does and contour them to the frame.



You can see here how well they form to the frame...


'32 Grille shell...
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Seats already done and covered in black Naugahyde with subtle off white bone stitching. He wanted it to look like a School bus seat but I think it's all hot rod. He also pushed it all the way back as he's 6 foot 6 inches tall so space is at a premium.


Floor is done in Poplar...

 

&#8226;&#8226;&#8226;Next up is my Brother Mike's Coupe. He's also had this body for a while now (4 years) and finally decided now's the time to start on it. I've been storing this body at my home for 6 months now as he finally decided to make the move from Buffalo, NY to Charlotte, NC to be closer to his family. He gave up a career as a Correctional Officer at Attica State Prison to be down here and I think it's going to be a good move for him.

This coupe is going to be set more towards the late 50's early 60's and will be powered by a Hot 364 Nailhead with a tri-carbed OFFY intake on top. Another cool feature of the car will be the LaSalle Trans that will be behind the Nialhead. It's a side shift unit however these are becoming more desirable by the guys around here as when coupled with the King Shift shifters they are fast, accurate and perfect for some speed shifting. Our Buddy Jeremy has been filling in all the details with these transmissions as nobody knows more about them around here then him. He's helping my brother adapt it to the Nailhead and get everything together. Huge help to have him on our side.

Plans are as follows...
&#8226;1930 Body
&#8226;1932 Frame
&#8226;1958 364 Buick engine
&#8226;1940 LaSalle Trans
&#8226;Rootbeer brown Metallic paint ('57 Chrysler)
&#8226;16" 1940 ford wheels Chromed
&#8226;7.50's and 6.00 Firestones
&#8226;Black and White Interior (diamond pleats)
&#8226;1953 Buick tail Lights
&#8226;32 Cowl vent
&#8226;More Dropped Axle
&#8226;Split '37 Wishbones
&#8226;Ladder bar rear suspension
&#8226;9" Rear
&#8226;F1 Steering box
&#8226;32 Grille Shell


As I said before the body has been his for 4 years but the chassis is a recent score. It came from Lurch13 here on the hamb and was/is a perfect combination for what my brother wants to do. When we sat down and wrote all the things that he wanted in this coupe it just so happens that this rolling chassis was everything and more. So a couple days after Christmas he drove to Texas to get it. Once home we slapped it together to see where we were at. These pics are from that day. More progress pics will come soon.

The chassis included pretty much everything to get it as a roller including the most mint set of 1940 Ford wheels you've ever seen. ZERO pits!!! Everything is welded up and will just need some engine mounts, trans mount and a steering box to get it complete.






Brother Mike throwing the rear under...




Once we got the front under it we decided to throw the body on to see how much floor needed to be removed to get it sitting right.




Once that was determined, we got the plasma cutter out and decided to have at it cutting out anything that held the car up...








A few days later we decided that a few leaves out back needed to be removed so that happened and this is where we ended up.

 

This is gonna be good!!!

REALLY GOOD!

.

 

Dang, I almost got yelled at for looking at porn by the wife. Must have been my facial expression. Nice work!

 

Correctional Officer at Attica? I hope the job he gets in North Carolina comes with less stress. Real nice coupes, by the way.

 

both are sweet coupes

 

Me too! Even though I feel like he was born for that type of job, I think living a less stressful life with a new job is going to help!

...a new coupe doesn't hurt either.

 

And then what happened????? I need more!

 

And then you wait for Wednesday nights or THursday mornings for me to update this thread haha!!! My brother just took his coupe from my garage to the Iron Lords HQ to get the engine set in place with the LaSalle behind it. We should have some updates concerning that and the subrails to fit the 32 frame very soon.

As far as the SHOO SHOO COUPE, I'm going there on Wednesday to help block do some more body work. It's really as a point where not a lot of progress is going to look like it's being done however it's very very close to being on the road. Needs some single stage black paint and the chassis can be painted then we can get the body in some color.

 

Both are going to be GREAT cars...
Thanks for posting them, Jeffrey!



Malcolm

 

...awesome

 

Wow, killer seeing two nice Model As (that aren't rat rods) coming together in the Carolinas. I see he's going with chrome, so will the gold wheels be offered for sale?

 

dang this is going to be a great thread! Ill be watching to see the progress

 

Pretty cool.......

 

very Rad!

 

Nice cars. Lets see more.

 

Sorry man those wheels are by far in the best condition I've ever seen a set of Early Ford wheels. There's ZERO pits in them which is why they are going off to chrome.....yes 16" chrome wheels! He likes late 50's cars but thinks (and so do I) 16" wheels just look better on early ford so that's what he's going to use.

He might paint another set he has gold though for now since they look so cool. Gold is for the money and Chrome is for the Hunnies!

Definitely going to be two very well done and tasteful Hot Rods for sure....as long as I don't help too much hahah!!!!

 

Thanks everyone. Tomorrow I'm going to help on the SHOO SHOO Coupe so I should be able to get some more pics.

 

Both cares are looking fantastic! I love how Chris contoured the quarters to sit on top of the deuce rails. Classy touch, man! I also dig your brother's idea to chrome the 16's. Looking forward to updates!!!

 

Man! There are some nice A's going together over in your part of the woods! I'll definitely be following this one!

 

A couple of REALLY great looking coupes!! Can't wait to see more...love your past coverage of builds, this should be good!

 

hey ask your brother if he knows a biker nick named stroker been at attica about 20 yrs. anyway love the 2 coupes. crazy about your buddies flathead!man that thing looks good even in black n white!!!!

 

JJ, Could you sneak one "shiny" pic of the shoo shoo's foo foo engine for us dreamers??

 

please use color pics only...I promise I'll be able to tell the car with the flathead and wire wheels from the one with the buick and the solid wheels...

 

Wish I could Willy but I shot them in B&G. Once we start getting some paint on it I'll make it come alive. I'll also set up better and take nicer shots then the garbage I supplied. Here's one from my iPhone...

 

C'mon larry let me express myself hahah!!! I'll get some color ones as the thread progress' but I'm sticking to this idea.

Speaking of threads....where the hell is yours? I know you're cooking (no pun intended ) up something over there and why the hell haven't we seen anything? Is it another 3w? Or is it the pickup? I know it'll have Wirewheels.....

 

Looks like two great builds. I am excited to see more and I agree with Larry color pics only from now on please.

 

"Command - " man "Command - "!!!!

Are you still using a 13" monitor? They're fine on mine, but I guess if I could set my photobucket preferences for a smaller resolution. That's the only time I've ever hears my pics being too big.