The last Grasp Special '34 3 window build

Ya know Geoff,

Your duece would look great parked there.

 

Hi Whodack!, love what you and the gorilla are doing I dearly would love to be of some assistance on the build sometime soon if mearly just to pass the tools to you guy's!! BTW would also love to go the superbell look as it is the most balsy move made in genuine hotroddings traditional revival in my opinion in recent times and also because no one has gone there since!! Go for it

 

Ohhhh Geoff forgot to mention that again in my opinion the super bell coupe should have had a flathead originally installed which further justifies your selection of the Last Grasp !!

 

Hey Brant thanks for the encouraging words.
Yes that is the same Tony!
Hi Tom.
Yeah doing a Superbell style coupe would be an interesting project. I did the aluminium track nose for the race car, so the nose wouldn't be any drama. But just to many other projects to do.
It has always amazed me that no one hasn't replicated the Superbell coupe here.
Tom I am sure you will get the opportunity to assist us 2 crazy old buggers at some stage in the build of the Last Grasp Special.
Really at the end of the day we are assisted by the responses in this thread. Whilst we are not trying to show off or show case our talents ( very meagre talents compared to some ). I have to admit that by showing what we are doing and being applauded for that, we feel good about this build.
But having said all that. Tony and I are building this hot rod the way we want. It is just nice that others are getting something positive out of it.
Anyhow enough of all that.
Here are a few of sepia tone images from the journey thus far of this build.
The first is in Tony and Rita's driveway, featuring my pickup and Tony's roadster!

Next is Tom's 5W and Steve's 5W
Geoff aka whodaky

 

You should be praised for your hard work. I personally am a big fan of your talents. I enjoy every post and picture.

Keeps the creative juices flowing over here.





deuce shell....

 

This past weekend I got to spend 4 days down at Port Fairy.
So Tony and I were able to get a bit more done on the chop.
Here's a sneek peek at what we got done.
Hopefully in the next week or so I will get do a number of posts detailing what we got up to during that 4 days.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Can't wait! looking good!

 

Looks fantastic.

Nice profile, almost Pierson bros like..

 

HI , I am Tony the other owner of the coupe. Geoff is always digging at me to write on this thread. As one of my dreams is to drive across country in a hammered coupe, and Geoff likes to create designs on new projects, we are both going to live our dreams. We are also having fun doing it, life cant get any sweeter.

 

High Tony,

Geoff has told me many things about you and your family over the years. I have watched as he has crafted some neat stuff with you. I know he loves coming out your way and visiting.

This coupe is gonna be a stunner for sure.
I'm partial to the deuce shell however....an inside joke between Geoff and I.

Thanks for sharing. Great work!

 

Greetings Tony, thankyou for sticking your nose in here, you guys are certainly going to end up with a great looking car, a real blast getting to share the process with a good mate! thanks for letting us all in.

Glenn

 

Hey Geoff,

Coupe looks killer! Glad to see you back into the swing of things! Not sure if my old man told you or not, but I'm living in So-Cal so if I can help with any parts or shipping etc, be sure to let me know.

Cheers,

Paul.

 

awesome thread guys (and car). I got on the HAMB tonight to escape some god awful chick flick the missus was watching only to stumble across one of the best build threads/stories I've read in a long time. and to think it's all going on just down the road from me.

you look like you've got it well and truly covered but if you ever need an extra set of hands or whatever, just give me a shout. i'd love to see the project in person, even just sit in the corner and learn something.

keep up the good work fellas. we're all keen for the next instalment.

 

TTTTTTONNNNYYYYY, I don't believe it!!!!!!!! Go on tell the truth Rita wrote that; didn't she?
Nice to hear from you in here mate.
Thanks guys for the responses.
I will begin on this series of posts tonight. But it may take me a few days to cover the last work we did on my 4 days away!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

I was talking to Tony the other week and I told him I had a 4 day weekend coming up. He told me that he had an appointment on the Friday of that weekend. From that appointment he usually travels up to Frank's and they spend the weekend working on Frank's 5W. However Tony said he could move the appointment to the following Friday. To which I said that would work out well, we would get the 4 days on the Last Grasp Special and I could go down to Frank's on the following Saturday and we could get some more work done on the 5W chop.
Just so this post has an image I will show a shot of our 3W mocked up outside, the last morning of my 4 days at Rita and Tony's.
In the following posts I will describe how we got to this point!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Whilst talking to Tony on the phone, he told me that he had started to play around with the '37 truck grille/shell for the 3W. So we kicked around a few ideas over the phone.

I suggested to Tony that this weekend we should begin with the 3W door tops. Get them tacked into position and see how the chop then looks.
Geoff aka whodaky
PS. just remembered about the '37 truck grill/shell I have here in the garage. So I thought I would take some images, to show what the one Tony is working on looked like to begin with.

 

The week coming up to my 4 day weekend was a strange one for me. On the Monday afternoon, one of my sisters; my brother and I attended the funeral of a close family friend. This is always a sad thing, but so often one hears from the eulogy so much about the person's life that one didn't know. It was a wonderful funeral and June will be dearly missed.
It is still a bit quiet at work but there is still enough happening there to make the couple of days before the weekend pass quickly enough.
I will sign off here for the night and continue after work tomorrow.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

That does look fantastic..

 

Hey Brant. I knew you would like the look of the mocked up Last Grasp Special. Even though it doesn't have a '32 grille shell.
The main reason we have chopped the body now is to keep us motivated with the build.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

OK moving right along.
As usual I made my 4 a.m. getaway from home, this time on a Thursday!
Unlike my last trip, the weather this time has started to cool right down. I headed west into a cool foggy morning. Fortunately the fog was patchy and by the time I was on the road for a 3/4 hour, the fog had all but lifted. For the next couple of hours until daylight broke I was guided by a very bright full moon.
Pulling into Rita and Tony's driveway, the house had a totally different look about it. A few weeks previous, Rita and Tony had the big tree out the front of the house removed. They had been advised that it's root system could be getting to a stage where it could potentially start undermining the house's foundations. They plan to put in place of the big tree a deck area.
The big tree is to the right of Tony's roadster in the image below.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

After our usual catch-up chat over a coffee. Tony and I headed out into the garage. The 3W looked good sitting next to the wall with Tony's roadster parked in beside it.

Tony then showed me the '37 truck grille/shell. He had cut the grille bar section out and had narrowed the shell, to basically the width of a stock '34 grille.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Looks great.









32 shell

 

Over the course of the time I was there, I would be concentrating on the right hand door top and Tony will be working on the grille shell. However we would both be exchanging thoughts and ideas about what each other was doing.
Initially Tony and I tacked the roof more securely into place.
My next move was to get the piece we had cut out of the rear upper section of the door jam in just the right position and tacked into place; in preparation for positioning of the rear section of the door's window frame.
Following this I cut the previously removed door window frame section into 2 pieces. It needs to be cut into two pieces, as it will eventually be lengthened to suit the chopped roof.
Concentrating on the rear half I would now remove the material to allow it fit the chopped roof profile. After a lot of looking, measuring, more looking and getting Tony's thoughts; I cut off the necessary amount of material. I also took some material off the piece of the lower window frame that is still attached to the door. It was just enough to fine tune the fit of the upper section.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

With the rear section in place I moved onto the front section of the upper window frame.
This would require a couple of things done to it. It would need the material removed for the chop, as well as a cut in it's inner corner radius. So that it can be 'opened' up a bit to allow the vertical section to run inline with the 'A' pillar. The 'A' pillars had previously been layed back slightly.
Along with all this, the section of roof just above the 'A' pillar where we had made the cut to allow the 'A' pillar to be layed back, requires a fair bit of work to get it to the desired radius and shape in this roof section!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

All the while Tony was working away on the grille shell. Hammering and dollying it into shape ( it was a bit knocked around on one side).
Tony had got the '37 truck grille off Sam ( his son inlaw ) in a trade for some parts a few years back.
As can be seen in the images in the last post. I had gotten the front section of the window frame to a point where it could be tacked onto the door.
I hadn't yet tackled the roof section and door jam area above yet. As I would be using this now attached window frame section as my guide for the roof and door jam section in this area.
Geoff aka whodaky
PS And of course the trusty shop dog Lucy was keeping an eye on things. As well as keeping the memory of Rita and Tony's last dog ( Harry ) forever in our minds..

PS I know that the image of Harry will make Tony sad. But last night we were talking on the phone and Harry came up in the conversation.
I just want to let Tony know, that I have fond memories of Harry.

 

By this time Tony was ready to tack the grille shell halves together.
With this done we then mocked the grille shell onto the chassis, to see how things looked.



We were quite pleased how it looked in it's temporary position.
We then started discussing what the actual grille area could be like.
As much as we like the original grille , we wanted something different. Something we could make, as well as being removeable ( the original grill is pressed as part of the shell and is therefore not removeable ). Also this would allow us to have a coupe of different inserts that we could maybe change from time to time!

You will notice in a couple of these last shots that there is a windscreen frame now on the body. This is the one we got from Darren and Nick. We cut it down to fit. It may not be used as it is a bit rusty. But we wanted to put it in place to better get a feel for the chop in the windscreen area. With it in postion it makes us even more happy with the amount we have chopped the top.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

So I started playing with the section of roof and door jam at the 'A' pillar. This area required a lot of cutting, pushing and pulling to get it to the point where I was happy with it, in relation to the door frame top in this area.



Around about noon Sam showed up with Spencer T and Jude. They had bought some chips and potatoe cakes for their lunch. We all went inside and the boys shared some of their lunch with me.
Sam and I talked a bit about Spencer T's 5W, which Sam had been working on a bit over Christmas, along with the Spinner coupe. I had said to Tony on the phone, that when I was down; we should go and spend a day helping Sam with the 5W.
We would be going out to Rennee' and Sam's on the Saturday.
With lunch eaten we all headed back out into the garage. I think Sam liked what we had been doing to the 3W. It was about this time Spencer T asked if I could stripe his little balance bike. I told him of course I would. That would happen the next day.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Pictures of the striping?

Hey look there's a deuce shell...

The chop looks fantastic!!!!

 

Hey Brant. Looks like your following this pretty closely. I will have to watch what I say and how I spell.
Will show the striping I did for Spencer T later.
But here's some stuff I did a while back. Actually the first piece Spencer T's mum, Renee', ended up with .
I don't think you would have seen this one.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

For the rest of the afternoon Tony and I did a few bits and pieces out in the garage.
After tea I came back out into the garage, as I wanted to look and think about the section of roof and it's pressing on the vertical section of the 'B' pillar.

I want this area to have a pleasing transition sloping up to the drip rail.
Tony came out later and I told him what I thought it needed to have done to it in this area. I know with a bit of cutting, welding and more thinking it will work out well.
Geoff aka whodaky