Hot Rods Spalding Bros Repro, for "Too Tall" Ganahl.

Good to see that you're still in touch with your inner Jesse James...

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Hey Larry, long time no hear!

 

Been busy with the boy but I still TROLL the HAMB and try to catch up with Marty less often than I'd like to. This is a fun build to watch as always from the montaindale garage

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Larry, It's great that you are spending quality time with Tyler, did you know I was a Cub Scout once ? As far as the reference to a certain metal shaper, I did get one of his endorsed bicycles for my 65th Birthday, along with a crate engine. See you soon, PIR opens in a couple of weeks !

 

Ha! I had no idea that you used to smoke! Little bastard...

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Nice upgrade to the two wheeler!

 

I never really smoked, that was a staged photo, but I am sure I was referred to by that awful name !!!!!

 

Thought it was a pic out of Jim Lindsay's "Little Bastards" book but the more I look at it that really is you! Hilarious. Don't worry about the label, I've been called worse by my ex wife. See you soon indeed my friend

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Marty, now you're showing off! It's really nice to see exactly how one of those hood humps is made (or at least one good, talented way to do it). Too bad we can't make something this nice in the hood of the Spalding car to clear the carbs. What they made back then was considerably cruder. But maybe we can improve on it just a little bit? I'm getting anxious.
Pat

 

I rolled the Lakester outside today, to get a look at a distance. The canopy and the engine cover are still in the mock-up stages, but it gave a pretty good idea of how to pursue the rest of the metal work.

 

The lakester is looking good. I have one of those bikes out in the garage with one of those littl 70 CC boy go fast motors on it. Done up more as a bobber than a race bike.

 

Looks fast just sitting there.

 

I tackled the nose for the Lakester, first making the buck out of 3/4" MDF. Then, followed with some annealing, stump shrinking, and generally beating the aluminum into submission, I was able to wheel it out fairly smooth. Today I am making the sides, and trim everything to fit. The good part is, that the car will be leaving for a short while for preliminary wiring and plumbing, and I can get back on the Spalding.

 

Marty and I have both been diverted by other projects, but I'm glad to say Dennis Webb has been tediously working on the nose and grille for the roadster, and called me last week saying it was ready for me to come get. He knows Marty will have to trim the sides considerably both to make it more vertical and to clear the axle, shock arms, etc. But this is what Dennis made, all completely by hand, and I am honored to have his work on my car.

Dennis also had this pair of Kurtis hood-strap buckles, cast in brass from the original patterns and nicely chromed, tucked away in a drawer in his shop. So I added these to the project.

Finally, last weekend at the L.A. Roadster Show swap meet I scored this pair of absolutely beautiful Rotoflo A1 shocks--for a decent price no less. These will replace the incorrect smaller ones currently on the front.


I'll be sending all this up to Marty shortly, and he'll be reporting on further progress soon.

Cheers, Pat

 

I saw those shocks and figured you'd be along to snap them up.

 

Finally, last weekend at the L.A. Roadster Show swap meet I scored this pair of absolutely beautiful Rotoflo A1 shocks--for a decent price no less. These will replace the incorrect smaller ones currently on the front.
View attachment 3944526

Gene told me he sold them to you to cheap......however he does follow the build here on HAMB....

 

Hey J.D.--I said I got them for a "decent" price...not cheap! (But I've seen others for sale, in worse condition, for very indecent prices.) Gene Barbee said he brought these out hoping I'd see and buy them, and he said he charged me what he paid for them. I was more than happy to pay that price and I thank him VERY much for doing so, on all counts.
PG

 

Cool finds. Glad to see them added to this build.

 

Just wow.

Marty and Pat, thanks so much for documenting the build of this special car.

Over the past couple of days I've read through this thread from the beginning, and I'm very impressed with the fabrication work on the body and chassis. Not to mention the crazy amount of sleuthing and engineering going on to build the engine. This is obviously going to be a very special car, and the opportunity to see the ins-and-outs of the construction is such a great opportunity.

Much appreciated!

 

I spent today fitting up a header for my friend Mitch Kim (master pinstriper). He is building a 29 PU shop truck, with a 181 Chevy Mercruiser. With two single barrels, and a cam it should get around just fine, and have the "banger sound".

 

Hi Marty, I had a question about the motor mounts you made on Mitch's PU. I understand the gusset on the bottom, but why is the top cut away to expose it? It doesn't seem to be a clearance thing.

 

Joe, I thought it would look better than a large flat area, and it did get your attention. Thanks for your interest !

 

Lightning hole

 

Neat ground clamp! Gives me better options to use on future projects.

Stealin' tech and pickin' brains keeps it all fun on days when fabbing parts doesn't always go the best.

Thanks for all the posts on, and pics of, this build, I've learned a lot!

Ed

 

Yep! One of the best threads on the HAMB.

 

I'm totally fascinated by the shape of the track nose on this car -- as well as the history around it. I can't wait to see the one fab'd by Dennis mounted. Having him make this part adds a lot to the clone's pedigree. It looks taller, mostly under the grill, but that's probably just a side effect from the camera perspective.

I'd like to try making this, but without the rest of the car it would be pretty tough to get the shape, scale and proportions right. It has a "feel" reminiscent of a '32 grill and shell, which I didn't get at first. I think that's a "plus" in terms of it's visual appeal -- besides just being a cool design on it's own, the shape feels familiar because of that.

 

Pat will be glad to see this post, as he has been wondering just when I was going to get the rear axle set up. I took it to my old buddy and race partner Ernie Martin, to have the pinion bearings installed, and heat up the case to drop in the loaded pinion. He had a friend build the oven, that is very handy for working on quickchange center sections. He also made a deep socket to lock down the nuts on the pinion bearings. Now I can go forward with machining the set up spool for proper backlash. The real spool will be machined to those specs, pressed and welded to the live rear axle.

 

Kinda wondered what was going on over yonder on your side of the hill. Pretty slick setup between you and 'Ol Dirty Ern.

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Hooray! Way to go, Marty. It certainly helps to have the right stuff, and good friends who will share. And you have the right stuff! That Pat Warren center section looks better than I remembered.

Big Thanks,
Pat

 

A few posts back I mentioned that both Marty and I have been diverted by other projects, a couple of which you've seen here. But it appears that my son, Bill, doesn't think I have enough to keep me actively engaged in my retired old age. So as of this week I have just embarked on another new project, which will be a recurring column on Bill's website. I'm calling it a column because I really don't like the word "blog." And it will sort of be a combination of my old SRM, HRM, and R&C editorials, the sorely missed "Roddin' at Random" section of Hot Rod, snippets of the sorts of things you saw in my Von Dutch, Ed Roth, Lost Hort Rods, and Gallery books, as well as stuff you've never seen from my huge photo archive, to places I might visit this week. It's called Pat Ganahl's Rod and Custom, and you can find it on southcityrodandcustom.com.
In between I'm working on a Spalding ignition for the roadster (and the chassis for the '33), while I hope Marty is still working on the pat Warren quickchange. More new here as soon as we have something to show.
Cheers, Pat