Stumbled across this car when I was 15 or 16, and picked it up when I was 17 for $400. Brought it back to life when I was 19, and I was on the right track, but I lost my way with the build at the end. Never really happy with how it turned out. After staring at my mistakes for a few years, I decided it was time to rebuild it again - with hopes of entering the Race of Gentlemen. Trying my hardest to preserve the history of this old jalopy, while transforming it into the hot rod I really want. Circa 1971 (Photo courtesy of the O'Brien family): Circa 1997 (Photos Courtesy of Gene Proulx): How I found it: A year or so later when it came home... After the first transformation: .... And after I threw a 283 in it for some reason: Original Builder: Circa Christmas 2016: Status update from Summer 2017: It raced locally from 1968-71 at Claremont Speedway, with a 3 3/8" x 4" Merc Flatty, aluminum heads + 3x2 intake. They tried an aircraft magneto, but eventually settled for a Mallory Magspark. Original build thread for those interested: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/late-60s-vintage-modified.707009/
Looking forward to watching your build. I am sure many will follow along your journey to build your '33 Five Window for TROG.
Be nice to let it retain some dirt I.D., while 'cleaning up' the frame in front, maybe some wheel/tire selection that would keep in mind its Race heritage, yet not so much 'armor'...as the Race of Gentlemen doesn't include 'nerfing', or 'crashing through'! ...Just a thought, guys. The car deserves some cosmetics, as it is a 'Pretty Girl'! I'm speaking from the last pic in post #1; some MAJOR cleanup has been done! Please enlighten me on displacement: 3-3/4" bore? Did you move some studs? Must have been a typo. 3-7/16" was as far as I was ever able to go...
Ha, I think you caught me - and the builder. That was what he told me, and I never did my homework on it, must have meant 3 3/8". Under all that armor is a heavily channeled Model 40 after all.. I've thought about making the bars removable, or cutting them down somewhat. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
This is an important contribution for all of us to see, and enjoy. Great path, Shaun. It'll make a real 'presence' at TROG. ...And Street legal, yet! Many have posted old dirt track cars, but few have turned out. Kudos!
It took about 5 years to finally cave in, but I put my jalopy on a diet... I figure I'm smart enough to weld the bars and bumper back on if I change my mind. Shock mounts will be meeting the red wrench soon. Hoping to re-work them. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Great to see you still wrenching and improving the coupe. You did an awesome job with it the first go round, I am certain it will be even better.
This car would fit in perfectly with the jalopies/hot rods that were racing in Southern California about 1963-1965.
Proportions on this car were never really a priority... Until now. I fixed the rear alignment problem when I swapped the 3/4 ton to the banjo, and moved it back about 6", but the front has haunted me for far too long.... After staring at it (and cursing at it) for years, it was time for a change. 210 003 (2) by Shaun1162 posted Jan 17, 2017 at 9:37 PM Ended up shortening the front of the frame between the motor mounts and front crossmember by 5"... I want this thing to look sinister:
Another angle.... I think the 5" of frame that disappeared is just about right. Not entirely sold on the stock grill yet... Entertaining the idea of a commercial grill, or a '37 truck grill. What do you guys think? Will be running just a good top Cleaned up my heads, and an intake I found. Not sure if I'll use it or not, but it's a conversation piece for sure. Someone milled the bases off to run Rochesters - and then planed that off, and welded 3 bolt risers back on. Apparently they gave up though, as the holes aren't drilled or tapped.
Now we're getting somewheres.... Stock (for now) Merc, that should probably be rebuilt... But she'll be aight for now: Hoping to make some progress on the good top this week...
I think it was pretty uncommon for a jalopy to run a grille on the dirt tracks. But since the bare radiator thing looks horrible, I'd lean towards maybe going with a 34 truck grille. Maybe find one with a super rusty bottom and cut off the lower end. Maybe even remove the bars if they are junk. This might give it a little more of the bare radiator look without it actually being bare. If you were close, I'd let you borrow one of my grilles to see if it looked good. Maybe someone local to you has one.
That Merc should run pretty good stock with those heads, in theory. The 8CM and 1CM cams have decent lift/duration over the other stock cams of the time. I'm rebuilding my 8BA with an 8CM cam & lifters, aluminum timing gear & cover, ARP rod nuts, Speedway center main support, fresh oil pump, fresh valve kit, fresh EAB heads, and triple 94's on an Offy intake.
I've been thinking a lot about the grille, but I'm still up in the air.... @cactus1 posted a picture a while ago that got me thinking about a commercial grille: The hood top that I got from @Pete was lengthened and leaded many moons ago, and it goes out to just a square edge. I'm assuming they ran it on a car with a 32 shell:
Back in the early 80's when I was a kid, my Dad, brother, and I went to look at an old 34 5W stock car. It had a 34 PU grille. It also had cut up PU front fenders on it, which was odd. I think my Dad woulda bought it if the doors hadn't been welded shut. The low down 32 5W stock car the guy had in his back yard was the one I wanted. But I think the cut out rear window scared Dad away from that one too. Darn it!!!!
I'd leave that door like it is and make a front nerf like the one in that pic to keep the stock car thing intact if it were me.
So I've been attempting to remedy the front end... The original hood was beyond my ability to save, but I did manage to salvage the hinges: The grill wasn't so easy to figure out. Pondered a lot of options, but decided to go my own route. Ended up sacrificing a beat up stock grille, chopped it 6". Probably a little too much, but I wanted to be able to use the original stainless grille mesh. I think it looks good enough for a race car. Thoughts/suggestions?
The Jalopy Journal
