Thanks Ryan for the new category! When my Pop was a kid, he built a Model A hot rod. No chop, but it was channeled. Ever since I was a kid, I've wanted one myself-built as close to what Pop built around around 1960. I've been looking for a candidate for years, but never had the money and came across the right car at the same time. Well, that changed not long ago, and I picked up this from a friend: Right now, it's all stock, and I'm working on getting it running with the 'banger. If I can get it going with that, I plan to drive it while I collect parts. Pops left a 41 rear axle and wishbones sitting on the wheels in the pasture at my grandmother's place. Those will definitely get used! First thing to go will be the fenders and those 19" wheels. I'd like to go with 16" 40 wheels, but they're a no-go with the stock mechanical brakes, so I'm looking for a set of 16" wires to use until I get it ready for hydraulics.
I think it would be a shame to lose the maroon and black unless its gonna get all nice and shiney. even then its pretty awesome combination
Looking good Russ! That looks like a solid piece to start with. Make a plan and stick to it. You'll be on the road in no time...
Thanks, Dan. I'm hoping I can get it started in the next couple of days. Picked up some parts I needed for the distributor at The Invasion. Need some parts for the fuel system, and then we'll see how it goes. Goal is to have it driveable by Pistons and Paint. For now, that's one area where I plan to deviate from my dad's build. NO channel. If the whole car still had the old paint, i probably would try to preserve what's there and not paint it. Sadly, some of of its aged paint is gone forever, so it'll eventually get painted. But I do plan to go back with the OG maroon and black combo.
That pic I'm using for inspiration is from a listing on a certain online auction site not long ago. I was watching that one HARD. I love the way it looks.
For now, that's one area where I plan to deviate from my dad's build. NO channel. (Quote) Excellent move. You take a lot of the integrity out of the body when you rip out the floor. Tires and stance will get you where you want to go. Keep posting any progress. Frank
Thanks for the kind words, guys. Got a chance to get in a little shop time today, but didn't take my camera, so maybe you'll like this pic: The pic (less the faux-patina lettering) is a fair representation of what Pop's Coupe 1.0 will look like. I found another thread yesterday, and it looks like there are a couple of us on the same build plan...take a stocker that's complete, get it running, and hot rod it as we go along. A side benefit of that is we get to enjoy it as a runner, and we don't have a dead car gathering cobwebs. I figure it's probably kind of similar to what our fathers and grandfathers did "back in the day", plus, I don't have money to throw down and build it all at once on a reality TV schedule. Replacement parts are on order for for the fuel bowl, and the carb is soaking. Tomorrow I promise not to forget the camera.
Thanks Rusty. Hoping to have it driving for Pistons an Paint. Got a little over 10 weeks. Seems like every step forward I take two back. Today's plan was to replace distributor upper plate (I broke the fiber in the one that was in it), put in new points, time the engine, replace plugs, and fix wires to distributor. That way when the fuel system parts get here I can test fire. Unfortunately, I found out that the point set that came with the box of parts I got with the car was for modern point plate...no worky. No big deal, really, because I've got plenty of other stuff to do. Like rebuild the carb. Simple job, once I figured how to get the needle back in the GAV. Spent about 20 minutes scraping the old gasket off the intake (it literally turned to powder as it came off), and I dig through the box....nope, that gasket set that's in there doesn't have one of those, either. OK then, how about something else? The fenders and running boards are barely hung on the car, and there's no welt. They gotta come off sometime. Except every single bolt holding them on (even the loose ones) is seized up. Don't feel like laying under the car cutting bolts and eating rust...too damn hot! Plenty of other chores need doing. Gotta replace the rotten hoses and belt, get rid of the ugly truck fan, and flush out the radiator anyway-might as well move to the front since it's about 1000 degrees in the shop, and that's the closest place to the shop fan. Headlights, light bar, front bumper, hood, grille shell and radiator are out. I remembered the camera, though. Here's a pic of the "progress" today:
I was hoping to at least test-fire it this week so I could hear it. Got a line on a local old-timer today that has a bunch of A stuff. Gonna try and get hold of him tomorrow and see if he's got an extra set of points. Maybe he'll have a set of 16" wires, too.
Love. This. Project. You not only get to rod a running car, but you get to walk in the footsteps of those past (and passed) rodders that got to start with what you're starting with and end up with what you want. Not everybody gets to start with a complete running A and rod it. Enjoy every minute of that - there aren't many left who will ever turn the bolts you'll be turning.
Yep, kinda my thoughts on the car as well. This project has been several years in the making. I first started looking for a nice coupe to build right around Pops' 65th birthday, but the right car didn't come along until this summer. I had hoped to involve my Pops, but he passed 2-1/2 years (to the day) before I got the car. He had a long, hard battle with cancer. My plans are to keep the car simple and low-tech. Much like the car he built as a kid would have had to be. His "workshop" was out in the dirt near the cow pens at my grandmother's house. For many years there was a '41 Ford coupe sitting out there that he robbed the parts from to build his coupe. When I was young I shot all the windows out of it with my BB gun. The 41 got hauled to the salvage yard years ago...along with the 66 SS Impala I learned to drive in. I'm pretty sure my grandmother did that because she was mad at me for not visiting more, and not coming to get the Impala after she had been bugging me to get it out of her yard. What DIDN'T get hauled off was the rear axle from the 41. It's still sitting in the pasture, on its wheels and tires, in the same spot it's been all my life. If there's ANY way possible, that axle and the wheels WILL get used on my car. There are also a few other odds and ends in an old chicken coop that may become part of the build, too. Pops may be gone, but he may still get to contribute. Mom and I had a long cry at the shop this evening. She's been doing a lot of traveling, and today was the first time she has seen the coupe. No shop pics or progress updates today, but I did meet the nice folks at Piranio's Antique Automotive. Dennis's Model A just became the world's fastest gasoline banger-powered coupe at Bonneville 2013. Super nice folks. Beth runs the parts department, and Dennis runs the machine shop. Shout-out to Ken Smith (Fly'n Kolors) for telling me about Piranio's. They had everything I had on my parts list in stock, and their prices were better than the internet parts houses. Here's a pic of Dennis Piranio's Bonneville coupe...100.76 mph:
I like where your going with this car I did mine by dummy building everthing and then installed (swapped ) it that way it was never off the road more than a week end at a time I got to enjoy it and it never over whelmed me Good Luck Colin
Still not running...no soldering iron, heat shrink tubing, or good wire crimpers at the shop (left them here at the house last time I used them). It DOES look a little more like a hot rod now, though. I mounted up a '40 wheel and got rid of the fenders today. The wheels don't register on the hubs, and there's a raised area on Model A drum that keeps the wheel from sitting flush. I know there are some guys on the HAMB who have overcome the mechanical brake/solid wheel interface issue...maybe one of them will chime in.
I know there are guys that have ground the nub down flush so that the later steel wheels register properly. The other option, and generally more suggested option, is a spacer between the drum and the wheel that provides a flat surface for the wheel to mount on. I know the spacers are available, but I'm not sure who is offering them at present.
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