I've been cruising the site for a while thought it is time for an intro. My name is Casey Ketterhagen and I stumbled across the hamb a couple of years ago looking for some old Nash parts. I'm located in Milwaukee, WI about a stone's throw north of the airport if anyone cares. I'm a Industrial Designer by trade, but the real love lies in the cars. I starting building my first car the summer between my 8th grade and freshmen year with my dad. It is a '65 mustang fastback that was found sitting in a garden in Tennessee, but it was complete and numbers matching. It took us about four years to complete it, and I still have it today. It's hard to believe it was done almost 15 years ago. Anyways, I've always been way into cars. My Dad has been the major influence. He's had a bunch of cars over the years, some of which he's probably even forgot about. Me on the other hand, have three carspresently. The mustang, a '50 and '52 nash rambler convert, (the 52 is a parts car) and a recently aquired '31 ford roadster (complete and rust free). I'll include a couple picts at the end. Anyways, I'm a newbie when it comes to the rods, the other stuff I've worked on has always been '55 and newer and not rods like the '31. I may ask alot of questions, but I have some catching up to do. On to the questions: What are the obsticles in putting a '31 on deuce rails? Is there a gap between the frame and body? Does the trunk floor have to be raised due to the upsweep of the "32 frame? What am I going to have to do to accomplish this? If anyone has any build shots or advice I'd appreciate it. Secondly, I want to run split wish bones in the front and back. How is this done? I know you have to cut the wishbone and weld a threaded bung to each end, but how do you determine where they mount on the frame? Thirdly, I will be putting a nailhead in it and would like advice on this too. I've seen a couple posts about the 31 on 32 rails, and inquired to a couple of people about nailheads in 32 frames, and got great responces, but I guess you can never have too much information. Sorry to be so long winded, I'll post a few shots of the cars in a little bit, have to get back to work. Thanks, Casey
Welcome from a gen-1 Mustang fan and former Rambler owner. There is a book by Vern Tardel & Mike Bishop - How to Build a Traditional Hot Rod - this is the road map to the journey you are taking. Highly recommend it, good reading and very inciteful. PS- If you get bored with the vert let me know, I would love to take it off your hands
Welcome, sounds like your roadster will be similar to what I'm building. Do a search on 31 Roadster and you should be able to find some great info and pics of C9s roadsters construction, Mart and several others on here have 31 roadsters on 32 rails. I have just put my roadster on the 32 frame and am still working out the gaps. I'm using a 32 gas tank (since i'm retaining the rumble seat for my kids)I'll have other obstacles dealing with the tank, but I'll post pics soon.
Nash..., I just did a bunch of work or should I say rework, on a Nash like yours. What a pain. Cute little cars though. On your A Bone, I'm sure that someone here knows all the pitfalls, but just bear this in mind. There's really no cutoff date. Magic up until a certain year and normal after that. Its just nuts'n'bolts man. If it were mine I'd just set that bugger on the chassis and start tweekin' until I got it the way I wanted it. I usually run radius rods parallel to the center line of the chassis. Hang your axle with the rods and mount 'em where they fall. Ask anything you need to someone knows the answer, and don't be shy answer a question or two. If you screw up someone else will straighten it out. Welcome, The PknBner
Welcome, Nash dude. Due to a recent sell-off, I sold everything I had except for my 53 Nash Ambassador 4 door. I was planning to shorten it through the middle to make a great big Metropoliton look-alike...I still plan to after I retire next year....dig it! This is before.........
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