1968 USAC Sprint car BUILD (start to finish) with PICTURES by Shaw.

Well, It's a little off topic, but I know there is a pretty good amount of you on here that understand how "Close" open Wheel cars compare to HOT RODS.


So, Here ya go:

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Here is what I started with. An unfinished Chassis and most of a body. This Chassis was built as a "Back-up" car in 1965. The owner never crashed the "A" car bad enough to need the "B" car, so it was never built. Basically it's a NOS 1965 Sprint car Chassis.



I say "Unfinished" because all that was done was the MAIN rails, and torsion tubes at each end. Most of the "Cross brace bars", ALL the Dzues tabs, and all the little "Stops", Brackets, and hangers had to be fabricated and welded into place.






Below is a "Drop-out" that every Sprint car has. (even today) It is needed to get the Solid axle Quick change rear-ends into the Chassis.



The "stops" are what the Torsion adjuster rides against. The MAJORITY of your Chassis adjustments, (ride height, and Wedge) are made by adjusting that Threaded bolt IN or OUT. (you mini truckers will understand!) <!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600" o:spt="75" oreferrelative="t" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" filled="f" stroked="f"> <v:stroke joinstyle="miter"/> <v:formulas> <v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"/> <v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"/> <v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"/> <v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"/> <v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"/> <v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"/> </v:formulas> <vath o:extrusionok="f" gradientshapeok="t" o:connecttype="rect"/> <o:lock v:ext="edit" aspectratio="t"/> </v:shapetype><v:shape id="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="" style='width:12pt; height:12pt'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\DOCUME~1\Joshua\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" o:href="http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif"/> </v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->



At this point I'm test fitting all the components, and welding on EVERYTHING that is needed so that the Chassis can go get Powder Coated.





This is called a "Jacobs Ladder" It is the equivalent to a Panard bar. It's a trick lil' set up, there is no room for a proper style Panard so racers developed this. My 32 Roadster I'm building has one.




Now I'm fitting the body so I can weld ALL the DZUES tabs..




All done welding, now it's back from powder coating. Lots of tabs have been added!





Couple final things that needed built so I could get the Chrome sent out... Side Nerf bars, front and rear bumpers, and roll bar.

 

It is tradition that most Sprint cars have a Nickle welded "heads up" in the rear bumper for good luck and to keep the car "heads up" It's still practiced today. Of coarse the Nickle is dated 1964..



No it's belly pan time, and a couple lil' panels that were not found.









Oil pan clearance bubble.. (by "Hammer Hank")





These were the old belly pans off the "A" car that was raced. They have had a hard life!!











Now it's time for Final Assembly. I engined turned the Engine plate, and polished any Aluminum brackets that ware used.





Prepping the rear end and In-and-out box..




The Good looking lady on the right will be used for this build..

 

Pretty cool. Gary

 

You gotta pull the Spark Plugs out of the Engine to get it to go in the frame.. kinda tight!















Custom built "Shorty" oil fill.



Speedway Motors just started offering these good looking lil' water pumps that work great. They drive off the cam, and inturn drive the Fuel pump.





Certain lil' brackets needed to be "redesigned" and re built simply because.. they were ugly!



Prepping for CHROME..



The dashes were a lot of times painted flat black to reduce sun glare during day races.



Most of the Monroe shocks of the 60's came in this shade of metalic Blue.



Wheels were Bead blasted, then I put them in a HUGE lathe and turned the lip. Then the centers and backs were painted Gold to emulate DOW 7 coating that was used in the 60's.

 

CHROME comes back..











$300 bucks worth of Grade #8 hardware.



Small details like this really do help.. Painting the inside of the Injector stacks.



Fitting one of my SHAW tails on the car.








TIME FOR PAINT!!

Base white laid down.



PEARL WHITE...





Now graphics..

 

Lettering... Of coarse, classic Gold leaf!





Pulled my ol' man in on this job. We both jumped on it and it still took two days to stripe! That's my Nephew Gage overseeing everything.



A small pinstripe bordered every both the Red and the Blue.

















And the FINAL pieces.. Interior and all.

 

All done..





















Thanks, Joshua Shaw

www.Shawhotrods.com

 

Hell yeah Josh, That thing is awesome. Hank told me about the bubble he hammered out for ya. I like it!

 

that was awesome, thanks for sharing!

 

No problem.. Sorry for the big pics.

JD

 

the car looks great how long did the build take you?

 

awsome love the old race cars.thanks for posting

 

Josh, you are a wizard! Top Notch build.

 

Pretty fucking cool! Man, I love those old Sprint cars, and don't know nearly enough about them. Need to put some time in over at the Speedway Motors Museum.

Thanks for the pics and words!



Malcolm

 

I think I just fell in love. Hope to see it at Cobo......

 

ROLLING ART!..........and on topic.

 

Josh, your craftsmanship is beyond any comments... outstanding!
PK

 

Fantastic build of the real back bone of hot rodding! I love this shit...

 

Josh,
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Congratulations, again your craftsmanship speaks for itself in this build. This is a beautiful car that stands out on its own merit, simply fantastic.
I would like to ask you a question; I see all the work you do on these cars and was wondering about the welding on the frames. If the car was built during the time when welding was done with gas do you keep with the original building practice or do you use tig / mig and do you feel this would have any effect on the originality to the car?
<o> </o>
Thank you,
Sideways27

 

It depends.. I use a Mig, but dial it in and lay welds that look like Gas.. There is tricks to it. Once it's painted it matches the original gas welds perfect.

Yep, I'm that picky!

 

Phoo-King MAG-nificent.

 

josh,
terrific work as always from your stable.
Al.

 

Josh is that Mikes old car ??? Awesome ride ... I'd like to have 30 min alone with that Bitch

 

No... The HART car is in line to be fixed and restored next.

Thanks to everyone for the compliments.

J Shaw

 

What a beauty!!!!

 

always liked that style paint combo with goldleaf ,any plans bringing it east to the "GROVE" or Latimore for some track time? give the Al Hamilton 77 a little competion!

 

Oh yes! It was built to be a full running, "get er' dirty" machine... and Latimore Valley is in our plans.

J Shaw

 

That car is beautiful. You are a true craftsman. Thanks for the pictures.

 

Another Outstanding Job! Kudos.......Talk to you soon, Ryan

 

Super coooool!!!!!!!!!