Hot Rods Nature Abhors a Vacuum, Or, The Hemi A Roadster fills a void.

^^^^^^^^ I dig it too!

 

Dash looks great!

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Not bad. Not bad at all.


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You do nice carving!

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Thanks. Carving foam and slinging mud, I admire somebody who could build an entire body of fiberglass. It actually turned out pretty nice, considering how bad it looked before a slick coat of filler.

 

I've been sort of stumped by how to attach the dash to the body. The bottom is easy, the DeSoto dash's original mounting tabs are there to bolt to the door post, and I can bolt it to the cross brace between the door post, which the dash overlaps slightly, but the top was confusing me.
The rolled top of the cowl (modified so it sort of looks like a '32, for the Hallock windshield) has a lip about 2" wide on the bottom. The dash only slightly tucks under it, but, it occurred to me that if I glassed a piece of 3/4" plywood between the lip and the bottom of the cowl, and then welded several tabs to the edge of the metal dash, I could run some screws up through the tabs into the plywood, and put a piece of fender welt between the two. That way it'd look "finished", like it was supposed to have been built that way.

 

I splurged and invested in some art for the roadster, a locking gas cap made by my good friend Kirk Brown, "Crafty B". It's automotive jewelry. I also broke BOTH of the '37 Slantback trunk hinges, one by propping the trunk lid open on one side, which twisted the lid enough to snap the (very fragile) pot metal hinge on the other side, and today, the other side trying to remove the trunk lid. I twisted it just a bit and the other hinge broke. It looked like it was rotten, or had been partially cracked already. So, eBay to the rescue, tw o NOS ones on the way.

 

CraftyB is an amazing artist, I've been thinking about buying one of those just to hang on the wall in my shop. Looking good Brian, hopefully I'll get to see it at a show this summer.

 

He makes some cool parts but it looks like he is on hiatus?

 

Just a winter break, he'll be back making shavings and pouring aluminum this spring. I'm going to do one of his casting classes, maybe make some aluminum trunk lid hinges since I keep breaking the pot metal ones!

 

Thanks, I hope to be seen in it this summer! My good friend Dennis Lesky (Ionia Hot Rod Shop) is another inspiration for me in this build. His '32 RPU, also a glass bodied car, sported so many hand crafted parts, made from, as he called it, "boiler plate", and I try to emulate his work. It's not at his level, but I'm trying to make this little car stand out with hand made and one off bits as best I can.

 

Great idea!

 

The ‘35 Ford gas tank, also a left over from the the ‘34 roadster, found a home in the trunk. I’m making a little progress on what little bodywork I have to do.
The cowl had a fake seam where a gas tank would mount. I didn’t see a point in having that so I filled it along with the real seam where the new smooth cowl top was bonded in. I cleaned up and finished the windshield reveal as well.
The left corner of the trunk lid opening had a “wow” in it and the trunk stood proud of the body by 1/4”. I pushed the corner up as far as I could when I braced the body but it was still a bit low, so I raised the bead and filled the small depression with some Mar Glass and finished that area and set the gas filler in. It’s a “CraftyB” piece.
Attention now will be back on the DeSoto, the upholstery guy was here today to make patterns for the door panels and has the seats almost done. I have to get the car in primer and get the jambs painted so he can put the headliner in.


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You had me until you filled the cowl seam. That seam and the A pillar are key design elements to a 28/9 Model A. They help define the profile, flow and stance to the whole car. When they are filled your are left with something akin to a supermodel with no eyebrows.

 

Hmmm, I though it looked superfluous. I’ll stand back and take a long look before I lay primer on it. It’d be easy to cut a line back in with a cut off wheel on the 4 1/2” grinder. Since there was no seam line at the coach line in the cowl, I thought it looked fake.I will think on this...


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Weight on the suspension, this is the ride height with the wheels and tires from the ‘34.


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Sets nice!

 

Good guessing on my part, buying pieces and setting up the chassis, huh?

 

My buddy from whom I got the body (Millers Garage here) had put a plywood floor in it already. He had it on a TCI Model A chassis. I cut the floor out from just in back of the seat, and made a new floor that follows the '32 frame. So, no sub rails, it sets on the frame on the plywood floor. I may take a trick from my old '34, the guy that built it originally covered the underside of the plywood floor in that with a sheet of aluminum. It looks good 40 years later.

 

Ok, I cut the line back in .... I cut through the gel-coat down the coach line at the cowl too. It looks better.


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Looks great

 

It’s an open and shut case.


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Well, the body could now come off, engine out, finish the frame and what minor bodywork there is left, and it could be painted and upholstered. What’ll really happen is now I can cover it up, get the DeSoto painted and finish that first.

It looks pretty nice though!


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Well, I mocked up the seat with some foam an an old exercise step, climbed in the cockp and settled in. Once again, I’ve built a car only I fit in. But, God Damn, it fits me good.


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It would have been a good idea to check to see if the glove box latch was locked before I made a catch and shut it, because, wait for it... I don't have a key for that one. It does latch nicely though.

 

Not just everyone can lock themselves out of a roadster

 

LOL!

 

If the Box is not in you may be able to reach in and push the latch tip down far enough to get it open again.

 

A quick review. October 26th until now. The Thunderbird is still upset about losing it's place in line...