Projects Father/daughter '30 sedan build

well, it's been a while since I've actually posted anything, as the past year has been a roller coaster of medical, issues, car shows, and hospital visits. Some of you know, last May 1, 2014, my daughter Bella was diagnosed with any extremely rare form of Cancer, and our lives stopped, all things were put on hold, and a new lifestyle had to begin. I won't go into all the medical details, but we have had a lot of support from the HotRod community, and Bella was diagnosed in Remission as of February. During that time, we have become extremely close with some amazing car people, specifically, Darrel and Terri Holenbeck, and Andy and Sue Brizio, and the whole Brizio/ Holenbeck family. Some othe extremely new close friends are Chuca & Tyler Pullen, Sue and Alex Gambino, Brian and Steve from The Lonestar Roundup, and Marion and Mike Rocco from Austin Speed Shop, along with John Joyo, and Lucky Burton, and certainly not least Piero. These people have done SOOO much to help us and especially Bella, it's just unbelievable what the HotRod community will do for kids. Also the local Spokane Ford club which includes Chris, and Corey Swenson, Mike Robison, & Lenny helped us out.
That brings me to where we are now. I was in the long slow process of building my '32 sedan and '23 Coupster and that all was put on hold when we got the news. I even put them both up for sale, but no sale. I picked the Sedan over a coupe, so that Bella, who is a "car chick" would be able to ride along with the wife and I.
Well after going to GNRS, and The LoneStar Round up, and with Bella in remission, our family HotRod juices have slowly started flowing again. One of the things we discussed was, when she started getting and feeling better we would get back to the sedan. Bella was always in the shop with me, so once she was admitted into the hospital, I found it impossible to even go out to the shop, I would just break down emotionally and get physically sick. She is now strong enough to hang out there, and will be getting back under her welding helmet soon.
Well, that fact is, building a '32 Ford is very expensive, and while I had been building it, and gathered up a lot of parts, it was no where near close to being on the road.
In walks an answer to our dilemma. While going through pics, magazines, and the Internet, '28-'31 Sedans caught her eye. I also knew where one was, but he bought it at age 14, and it wasn't really for sale, but someone knew that I had a '64 Impala that I hadn't yet got to, and wanted to buy it..... I said, if my friend will sell his sedan, for what I will sell you the Impala, you give him the money and we have a deal...... Needless to say, it worked out, a friend got my '64, Bella, got her Sedan, and no money out of my pocket to make Bella happy.... Win win for all, and we all know, a '30 sedan costs about a 1/4th what a well built '32 would!!
So, the plan is, a spring behind Banjo from the '32 with the spring from the '23, a 3-4" kick up in the rear, the whole front end (complete drilled & chrome Super Bell) from the '32, '53 Flathead and 3 speed from the Coupster, 4-5" chop with a 1-1/2" windshield header rise, 3" channel with front and rear seating. We'll be checking out Evel's motor nation when that Roku device comes out, and to top things off, Lucky Burton made her a shifter knob with a "Cancer Survivor" coin embedded into it.

 

Just some pics of Bella.

 

Evel, Lucky, Hollenbecks, Brizio, and a book that Mike Herman & Chasity made for her about her GNRS trip.

 

Pictures of Bella's sedan

 

Thanks god your Daughter is in remission. Be sure and do some "girl" things now and then. Tim

 

Best wishes for you and your family,lovely smile on your young lady.

 

Good luck with the build. Enjoy the hell out of the car , and your little helper (she's a cutie).

 

God bless you both.
Your plans sound great.

 

Thanks everybody, and trust me, she still does A LOT of "girlie" things!! She has 4 older sisters. I just posted the car related pictures, since this is a car site, maybe later on in the build, I'll toss in some Girlie only fun pics too.

 

Glad for her, you and your wife.Bella has one great support team.

 

Bella is a Hero, such an inspiration!

 

I Have a lot of buddies in the 'kane, tell her to go hard from the 'couve. beautiful child.

 

Out of my three kids ( 2 sons and a daughter), my daughter (25) is into cars and bikes- she told me she wanted a purple Harley with ghost flames for her 10th birthday. So glad things are working out for you after what had to be a life changing situation. Best of luck with your build ( Model A's are way cooler anyway; I've had 6 of them so am a LITTLE fond of the old girls). Your daughter is a trooper- there's nothing like a father / daughter relationship. Thanks for sharing with us, and keep posting pictures!

 

Thank you for sharing your story, it was very touching, and I cannot imagine the highs and lows of what you have all been thru. I'm very happy for you all that Bella is up and about, you can't keep a "Car Chick" down I look forward to following the build, and can only imagine the motivation that gorgeous little girl gives you all. My best thoughts and love to you all from the land Down Under.

Sincerely,

Black'n'Flamed

 

You rock Bella. Have fun now and get in the shop with dad.

 

Here's a few Girlie/Car things that she does. She loves to dress up matching with her American girl doll, the first pic is when we went to see AprilMay. April made her that book bag for her on her birthday. It is made with a drawing that Jeff Allison drew of her and her Cancer buddy doll in our '32 in pink flake, and the last pic is from when we met Aaron Kahan, (Burbank Choppers), and his great family. His daughter gave Bella one of her American girl dolls, and a bunch of accessories, we hung out and had dinner with them, I got to sit in Bad News, and just hang out and talk hotrods with Aaron and Verne, then Nicole (Aaron's wife) sent Bella a care package that had an employee magazine from Galpin Ford where Aaron and Dave Shuton (Dave also let her sit in all of Galpins cars at GNRS) work and she was in it. Very cool!!

 

Thanks Flowmeister, glad you have your I.G. name there, wouldn't have realized we watch each other's feed on I.G.

 

What a moving story. Thanks for sharing it.

 

Since this is really a "CAR" website, I'll refrain from posting "Her Story/Life" type pics, and try to keep it of just the build up of her Sedan. But if you would like to follow her journey in addition to her build you can on my I.G. feed at: ken_carvalho_sr if you want. Thanks again for all the kind words for her.

 

Praise God!
I'm subscribed to this one fo sho!

 

Having second thoughts on how we're mounting the rearend, so until I make a decision on it, I'm moving onto the front end. Luckily like me she loves Metalflake, and Chrome, so the '32 has donated its dropped, drilled, and chromed front end to the A.

 

Thankful that Bella is in remission, and it sounds like helping you build that '30 is her idea of a girl thing. One of the best automatic transmission builders I ever knew was named Sue. Sue was a petite woman with small hands, and she told me that having small hands was an advantage working on automatic transmissions.

 

Who would have thought that in today's day and age, a decent '32 would become a "parts car" ??? The '32 donated the rear end, and the front end for Bella's Model A.

 

The '32's a "parts car" hehehe. Hell of a dilemma

 

Inspiring story. Good Luck with the build. Keep us posted. CTJ

 

Reading this story confirms that I made the correct decision putting my own build on hold to watch my kids grow up. I've always told everyone "they are only going to be young once". That's why it took me ten years to build a car that should have taken 2 years max. I wouldn't do it any different if I could do it over! You just never know what life will dish out! I'm glad to hear that your daughter is doing good!

 

Nice start by the way on the build !

 

Not much progress during the week. Up at 4a.m. for an 11-12 shift then home to hang out with her for a few hours, before going to bed doesn't leave much time for HotRod building. I did get a 6" kick up in the rear mocked into place. I'll set the body back on this weekend to see how the ride height looks and if I like it I'll permanently weld it together and blend it nicely for good looks too.

 

Had the day off, so I decided to drop Bella off at school, and then head to work to make some motor mounts. Cut some steel, machined all the sides even, machined out the center of the lower portion, heated and curved them around, then welded everything up. I'm happy with them. Gotta say though, I spend 99.9% of my day TIG welding aluminum, and very rarely weld steel (usually only other people's home projects) and forgot the amount of difference between TIGing aluminum vs. steel. I did a root pass, then a cover pass and am happy with the amount of penetration, so no worries.

 

Your daughter is awesome and tough. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for you all. Thank god she is in remission and you two are spending time together doing something fun. Keep it up!