Nothing serious though. When I built the hotrod 8 or 9 years ago, I did a real professional job on the fuse panel. Then a couple of years later I added the radio. By that time everything was upholstered and painted, and----well you know. I didn't have a route to get a hot wire from the fuse panel to the radio. So---I ran a hot wire from the accesories side of the ignition switch through one of those cheap "in-line" fuse holders, wrapped it and all the extra wire up in a ball, wrapped electrical tape around it and hung it somewhere up under the dash. About 3 weeks ago, right in the middle of a good Bob Seeger tune, the radio puked and died. I've been too busy with other things to get real serious about pulling the radio out and looking for the hidden fuse, so I an tuneless. I have just about reached my summer limit for warm weather driving anyways, its getting pretty cool here through the day now. Canary is about to go to bed for the winter and I'll fix the radio sometime before next summer in my heated garage!!!---Brian
Brian, Tweety Bird has not died. He only lost his voice temporarily. A real hot rod makes it's own music! Please post some pictures of that silent roadster. We sorta did the same thing with an inline fuse. Why do we do these stupid things. Fuses are made to blow out.
Ah, you know how these kids and their loud stereos are..........probably a neighbor got tired of hearing "Old time Rock and roll" at 3 am and he cut your wires. You have to stop rockin' out so hard , Brian ! Glad to see you are still hot rodding.......I feared the trains were taking up all your time. Don
Never got into trains Don. Did however get into working model steam and gasoline engines made from bar stock on my lathe and mill. I still use the Canary as my daily driver from May untill October, and still get a rush every time I pull out of my driveway. Its a mobile car show wherever I go. People still want to take pictures, ask what year it is, wonder how fast will it go, how many horsepower is that engine, my grandpa used to have one just like it!!! Yad Yada Yada-- Sometimes I tell them the truth, sometimes I lie like Hell "Yes, Lady, its a 600 horsepower Edelbrock engine!!" (Well, thats what it says on the valve covers---) I still get a lot of enjoyment from the roadster pickup, and mostly everyone in my city recognize it and wave when I go by.
Oh yeah, that was it, steam engines, not trains. I know what you mean about the questions you get when driving your hot rod. There are some I just don't know how to answer, like "How fast is it?" What can you say that makes any sense ? So I just usually say "Enough to scare the crap out of me !" One day Dan and I drove our cars to dinner and a guy came running out as we were leaving and said " Are you guys going to line up and race ??" Uh, no, we just came out to have some supper. Don You are a pretty inventive guy, I think I've figured out a way you can get to use the Wild Canary all year long up there in Antarctica, where you live.
I never felt the need for a radio in any of my Hot Rods. The sound of a well tuned engine and close ratio transmission is all the music I need.
I said the same thing but am going to put a radio in my rpu. On long trips I have to sing to myself and I ain't all that good. Years ago I had one in my 27 but the speakers were small and I could only hear the radio when sitting at traffic lights. As soon as I was moving the motor and wind noise would drown it out. Don
Don--Did your son ever finish that magnificent roadster pickup he was building? I lost track of his progress as years went by. He seemed to do everything about 3 times before he was satisfied with it. The last time I seen it was three or four years ago on the HAMB and I lost track of it after that.---Brian
Hey----We got tunes!!! I laid under the dash for an hour chasing wires (which is quite a trick in a roadster pickup when you weigh 250 pounds.) but I found the problem where I least expected to.--It was a 5 Amp fuse in the panel. Damn---I thought I wired the radio in AFTER I had installed the panel, and had hidden one of those nasty "in line" fuses somewhere in the wires running to the radio. Ah well, it has been 8 years since I built the hotrod, and I didn't write EVERYTHING down.--Its written down now though, in my hotrod build journal, in case it ever blows again.---Happy Rodding Guys!!!---Brian
The Jalopy Journal
