57 rattler, Very cool find! one of the type of cars we all dream of finding. Get with SafariWagon and see if you can get that thing in the Singlefinger Speedshop display area - thats our kind of stuff!! Really cool
Gaters, that was epic. 57rattler, that car makes me want to make engine sounds like a 10 year old again. Whoever put that together, it was their dream. Ride on with that dream and add some good memories to it... Someone on here will know something.
Great find - I hope you will bring her to some local cruise ins - and we are trying to get a reliability run in a couple weeks - check out the 'GMB' group here Hope to see your car in person. John
Love it. Original J2 option Olds motor too! Carbs have been changed but that was common back in the day. The vacuum operated dumpers where crap. Nice. Very very nice.
Well... The carbs were not switched because the were vacuum controlled. There were cheap aftermarket kits like Eelco that would change them to mechanical. It was not common to toss real outboard carbs in favor of 2 more primary carbs. Outboard don't have idle mix, and primary carbs do, so unless you run all 3 non-progressive, it makes no sense to replace them. The vacuum secondaries are not crap. They were best suited with the A/T because the outboards were either full off, or full on....no in-between. So, on a stick car when the vacuum switch opened, and depending on what gear it was in, at what speed, it just might lay rubba
Very Cool! Don't clean it too much! I usually don't like the "frog" stance (lower rear), But this one's perfect. T
That is a nice one. And what a great example of the rods from that area from that time period. I'd have to get it cleaned up spotless like it deserves though as dirt is even more overrated than rust on old hot rods.
I have been around the Birmingham area a long time, and I don't remember Tom Jones, or seeing this car on Woodward. That is the beauty of senility setting in. That said, you have a VIN and a plate, so why not pay the Secretary of State to do a title/VIN search for you, and see how far back they will go. The form for the search is on the Secretary of State's website. After you receive the results, start searching for the names on Zabasearch.com and making phone calls.
I f'n love it! I would do a "resto" on it...by resto, I mean clean and fix anything that can be saved, but not fully restored, until I was bored...the blow it apart and restore it to "as shown condition"! We need more pics!
Here is a little update on the roadster. Brakes were all froze up, I managed to free up all the wheels so the car could roll. It still would not roll on the ground with trans in neutral. Crawled under and pryed clutch fork open and now it rolls with clutch released. So now I am thinking that the trans may be locked up although I still cant get the motor to turn at all with a breaker bar. Shouldnt it roll with the trans in neutral? I tried rocking the car on the ground real hard with no plugs in it and get no movement at all from the motor. Looks like I am going to have to pull the drivetrain. On the better side I gave it a good cleaning and all the mold in the interior came out with bleach-white. It cleaned up great and looks awesome!!! Thanks for the tip about the secretary of state, I will follow up on that and keep you informed I appreciate all the interest and comments on this car and cant wait to make further progress. Thanks again guys!!!
My father built this roadster! Would love to obtain contact info for 57rattler. He is doing well, and a part time Michigan resident.
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