Normally I don't do build threads, but this time I decided I wanted to change things up a bit and start one so all of my hot rod buddies can see what we are up to in the shop. I'm not much of a posting person, because I'm not into all the BS comments and whatnot that go along with it, plus i have a full time day job that takes up lots of my time, and this is just a hobby for me. Anyway, I'll keep it short and simple. My Dad and I built my coupe when i was a Jr. in high school, and we finished it up the beginning of my Sr. year- this was in 2005-06. We were clueless when we started since nether of us had ever tackled a full build project. I didn't have shit for parts, and we used what we had when we found it. Anyway, after 6 years and 12k miles of constant hard abuse, driving to and from Bonneville for 5 years, and a year of sitting while building another project, this coupe was starting to show signs of neglect and just simply needed things addressed. I have always had a vision in my head of what I had planned for this car, but the financial funds, cool rare parts, and the time to do it have never been there for me to put on this car. That was then, this is now, and I've collected and scrounged up as much cool and rare shit as I could find while still on my shoe string budget, but now it is time for this thing to get back on the road with its new look. I didn't want to completly blow it apart because I want to drive out to Bonneville in a couple weeks, so its going to be in the raw until after when I can get everything powder coated, plated, and painted. Well here goes nothing.... On the cover of Nov. '06 Rod and Custom Magazine Out at Bonneville my first year summer of '06
First things first, blew apart the old front end, shit canned the tractor grille, and started grinding the frame to lower the radiator. The new front end is going to consist of a plated '37 Ford tube axle, PSI hairpin mounts, custom Kurtis hair pins re-worked for the suicide front end, '48 square back spindles, the Lincoln backing plates, and the Buick drums. I had a good friend and famous tin bender Dennis Webb of Orange, Ca hammer me an all aluminum track nose off of the original buck by Art Ingles in the 40's. There are 6 of these noses floating around, and they are on famous cars like Barney Navarro's roadster, the Cooper and Hayes roadster, Pat Swanson's old orange T, my car, and a couple others that I can't think of right now. This was the last nose to be built, for the buck completly shattered into pieces, and has been retired to now just hanging on display on the wall in Dennis's shop. He is amazingly talented, made this nose out of 7 pieces, and hand crafted the insert all by hand. The insert will get plated, the nose will get polished!
That was one of the first Rod and Customs I picked up when I was getting interested in hot rods. Excited to see the process, especially with that nose. Subscribed.
Started to mock up the front end, and we stretched the suicide another 2" because the nose made the car look longer, so its wheelbase is now the same as a stock '34- 112" and reduced the drastic rake by raising the front end up another 3" to give me a better plane of sight for more comfort while driving. After I had everything mocked up, tacked, and sitting on the ground and looking right, I blew it all apart to finish weld and grind everything. I chopped up some F-1 shock mounts (for chromed tube shocks)and a Model a headlight bar, heated and bent the steering arm, and drilled out the center support plate for it too. I will dress the welds and get everything plated after Bonneville, but for now it will get driven in a work in progress stage.
Nice coupe. The track nose does not fit with a closed car. Then again niether did the tractor grille. But it is your ride so hammer away! I will watch just for the fab info which I always appreciate.
I don't have any pics of it mocked up with the headlights and the chin bar and shocks, but with all of that stuff on there really shrinks down the nose and fills in the front. After getting the front all figured out, I moved to the rear. I took off the vertical '50 Ford tail lights and the crooked license plate mount. I had a pair of killer original '35 Pontiac tail lights in great shape, and they covered the existing hole perfectly- I only had to drill 4 mounting holes for the screws. I then converted my '40's accessory license plate light to 12v, and mounted it up. Cleaned up the license plate, and threw on the original license plate frame from a local dealership here in Reno from back in the 50's. I'm basically not re-inventing the wheel on this thing, I'm just replacing the old with even older parts.... Then the other night my good buddy Gabe brought over a badass original accessory heater from the '40's that he completly restored for me. I can't wait to get this thing mounted! Also here is the dash that will replace the old shitty rattle canned '36 that is in there now. This is an original '32 that was in an old chopped 5 window from back in the day, and is in great shape and will get powdercoated gloss black. The original Stewart Warner straight 8 panel will soon get a light polish job, and I'm going to fill it with my original "wings" gauges that I restored for it. The original Bell pump and stuff will get mounted somewhere, I just haven't gotten that far yet...
I'll second this... kind of. The Pierson, So-Cal and other coupes work with a track nose. I would hang that one on the wall for a later project and find a nice grille shell for that coupe.
Wow, I'm surprised by the negative comments on the grill shell. Like you said, I'm sure it'll look a lot different with the rest of the parts installed. Dare to be different. Why do all chopped A coupes have to have a Deuce grill shell ???
Its amazing what a difference the track nose makes to your car. Love it. I've included a couple of pictures of Pat's T's nose. Its one of the best noses around. Sort of makes you wonder why there are not more track noses on hot rods.
I really dig all the little detail changes your making. Those taillights, in particular, are SEXY! The new nose is cool and the tube axle looks awesome under it. For what it's worth, this is the only hot rod running a tractor grill I've ever liked. I've seen it quite a few times at the LARS.