Projects 27 roadster progress

I finely got sum progress done on the 27 roadster after 25 years of sitting. Here are some pictures from its start and up to now.

here is when Tom Beatty ran it at El Mirage in 1947.

 

Here are some pictures when I got the car in 1974 from his house in Sun Valley, Ca.

 

Here are pictures after I got it running in 1975 to 1978 when it got hit y a drunk lawyer in a Porsche.

 

more from the 70's

 

after the wreck and four banger

 

lost time thru the years

 

I can't even begin to explain how cool this thing is in this form. Sooooo wicked.

 

When I hoover over the pictures in post number 5, the tag says 27 sanberdo-1 and -2. San Bernardino, CA?

 

That was when I tried to run a B Block with a gemsa head and a dodge slant 6 automatic in it and it scheared off the flywheel flange.this was at my house in san berdo in 79.

 

Wow, thats some amazing history you have there. What are your plans??? Do you still have the 4 banger & Gemsa head to use???

 

I don't have the B or the Gemsa head any more.
Now my friend Dan Tuttle in Idaho is putting in new floor and firewall after fixing the damage from the wreck in 78

 

more pictures of the work

 

Oh please say this is going back to the 9 B configuration......

 

Very nice.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

here are some more

 

X2 I really like that Dry Lake look, is it on a tube chassis in '47? Bob

 

more

 

love the history and the "9B" look is killer!

 

I can't put the car back to the 47 configuration because all I have is the body and frame from then. The way I first built the car in 74 was as a teenager with no skills or tools but I was trying to use as many old parts as I could.
From talking to Tom when I got the body from him he used the drive train to build his tank.
Now I am just trying to get it driving before I'm to old or screwed up to drive it, but it will still be tom Beatty roadster with the steel body and 32 frame.

 

I vote yes also on going back to the El Mirage version!

The body & frame are the bulk of the car.

 

frame looks pretty skinny in that original shot, T rails? definitely ain't no 32

 

How cool! Keep us posted please!

 

In many cases when restoring these early rods all that is left is the body and chassis. I can understand your desire to get it on the road. All I'll say is document all the nuances that made this the Tom Beatty roadster. As later on someone may just want to restore it to how it was and chain of ownership will help with providence, so keep all papers linking it back to Tom.

 

As seen in the picture when I got the body he also sold me the 32 frame and said that it went with the body.
I was just a kid and didn't know to ask if it was the frame that he ran the car with.
The pictures are all the documentation that I have.

 

A few more pictures.

 

Cool car...but I'm not sure I understand why the firewall needs to be that deep!

 

I'm pretty sure that car originally ran with an A frame...the flatty required cowl steering, hence the hole in the cowl in your second set of pics. I've got a photo or two of the car from the late-40's I found on the net, will see if I can locate and post them.

 

Nice project

 

you could sell that 32 frame, and pay for just about everything to get it back to original.

 

I to would like to see it returned to its 47 el mirage look you car is one I aways enjoy the look . Its one of my favorite 27 roadsters