Projects T Bucket Headlights - Let's Talk Options

Hey, CRT;

From my studies, & *lots* of old magazines w/weird titles, (when I was young) + the usual culprits... & this isn't limited to just T hotrods... ,
IIRC, it seems the W coast rodders prefered a nose-down rake & the grill/radiator in the normal usual position. For some reason, a *lot* of the E coast rodders seemed to prefer tail-down rake, & the grill/rad pushed forwards of the usual location. Think '32 front crossmember, or Model A, for example here. Didn't seem to matter whether body was channeled, although it seems that was favored. & real deep channeling, too - a lot like the damned r__r__ds do today. One of the nicest versions of this was a guy named Rubio Sebastion (sp?, which was a ~'36 Roadster. & for some other unknown reason, E coasters seemed to favor fords' spring-in-front axle, but mounted where the spring-over would mount. Gave some very weird proportions, & actually hurts my eyes to look at it for very long. It took me decades to figure out why I never liked the look from the 1st moment I ever saw it. & the 3rd thing they seemed to like was, placing hte grill/rad too high in relationship to the top of the cowl. Bunch of W coasters didn't get that right either, but it almost seemed like these 3 things were *required* to be on an E coast rod, esp if it was in the magazines.

FWIW.

Marcus...

 

Thank you. Mine was Hummer Fusion Orange (really more of a goldish/bronzish color) and black. His is Ford Grabber Blue. This picture will show the headlight placement a little more, if it helps.

Don

 

Thanks Marcus, I will have to do some digging into this and look at the East Coast vs West Coast. That is very interesting. So the East Coast guys did deep chops and slammed low back in the day before the RR guys. That is kind of interesting to me.

Wonder if there is a book that documents east vs west and everything in between?

Don I love both of those cars! I was wondering what blue that was and if it was a grabber blue. I grew up a Mustang fan as a kid who went to the dark side and became a Mopar guy lol.

I love those lights on both cars and I love them on your sons T. What lights are on your car?

I really like the color combo of your car it makes the car stand out. Both cars stand out to me. I like the blue and white too.

I need to keep an eye out for a good set of BLC lights and I keep watching ebay the worst thing is if I see them complete they start low and end up being high dollar parts.

The stance on your son's car with the lights is just awesome looks really good. You guys did a great job on both cars and I have seen the youtube video of your sons car. Any chance you have a video of yours?

 

Hey, C;

Ya, chops too, but a lot of channels. I'm guessing that heavy rust had alot to do w/it. Oddly enough, there were some EC cars I really liked. One was a 3w deuce by Andy Kaussfa (sp?, w/very good proportions. In its' 1st version, it had a chromed deuce grill, 2nd was an asymmetrical grill, which I didn't like. But the car was kick-a__. I found out later it was a candy red. Another was a channeled deuce roadster, in green, I think. Also very nicely proportioned.

Don't know of any book out that was E vs W, but there were multiple features in R&C, & a lot of the small pages-type mags that did those features. Also called Right coast vs Left coast, etc. It may have been a New England area thing, but I don't have the mags anymore, nor access to the ones that I did. Oh, & Sebastion was the guys' 1st name. He died awhile back, but in the 70's, had something like 300,000 mi on his hotrod -built at home. I seem to remember a lot of the guys using later frames, also. It just seemed to me to be a mis-match & really lousey proportions.

I'm curious what you find & what you think, esp after Chips' thread, which btw, explains & exhibits very nice proportions. Not claiming I can build better, but at least I can recognize it a mile off... . Makes for interesting reading, though. &, unlike todays' r__r___s, they *did* believe in paint & upholstery.

Marcus...

 

Thanks Marcus and I wonder if I write into Rod & Custom to pull out some of the old files if I can maybe get a response.

Yeah I have seen some RR in my area that are not bad at all and eye catching. I saw one that made me do a double take with two different year cars and it was nicely done just needed paint. I like to see the younger guys in the game and not in a Honda but I like to see less RR type of cars.

I think there are a lot of people on the HAMB that have given me a lot of good info and help and the ones that seem to chime in the most to give me the answers are Chip (Louvers), SteelRebel and Fred and now I have too add your name to the ever stacking list of HAMBers.

Chips new ride that he is doing will be an awesome ride when done and will look great. I really hope to get a project off the ground until then I just keep doing my research and building it in my head.

Oh I also have a name for the build if it hasn't been taken yet. "T' Time". I was thinking about the late 50s and 60s and the Beetles came to my head with being the craze at the time and the Brits are famous for their daily T time lol.

I think I might have my parts cut off time 1955-1968 I may stretch it to 1970. If I can talk my uncle into letting me have the 318 and trans from the old van that is just sitting there I will use that motor.

 

Beginner?

Seriously though, that sentence is really weird.

 

I kinda like the BIG brass headlights,,really old school look. HRP

 

And more likely to land you on the cover of HOT BIKE in 1999.

 

My toughts back in the late 1950's,have not changed any just cuz some guys now think low lights look cool=no they don't,things that don't work don't look cool,things that do are COOL. Sealbeams that have there bucket top about even or higher then your front tire top work good if adjusted right,bulb in socket old type don't work and thats why sealbeams are cool.
Also small is cool cuz it looks racey and is less airdrag so small is cool,big is not.
From a 71 year old hot rodder.

 

The only small lights that I'm thinking of using is the same lights that Gene used on his bucket I really like those. I think someone posted what they were and a link to them, if not if anyone knows please let me know.

 

Everytime I get tired of working on mine I just have a look at your old pics and get back to it! Probably my favorite bucket ever.

 

I have to agree with you these two buckets are inspiring and all of guys are inspiring. I need to get to work soon!

 

Do not forget some of the other lights that were around. The ones I used turned out to be accessory lights that clipped to the bumper.



As for placement, thats a very subjective subject, some folks like them low, some high, I like mine to flow with the angles.

 

Two previous post, the one with the headwind lights and the one the tractor lights show mounting to the radiator shell. This eliminates the stands and saves you a few dollars. Whether that is time period correct for you I don't know. I mounted my headlights to the radiator shell. When choosing the headlight mounting height, from a side view the top of the tire is a fixed height, the headlight is the next height and the top of the radiator shell is the third height. Almost a stair step look. Also the small reproduction headlight are my choice.

 

I kind of dig that and never thought about it. I like that Bucket.

What small reproduction lights? Also what is the size of them?

 

I lean towards king bees...they just tend to fit with the demure scale of T's especially with a shortened deuce grill. JohnnyA

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Where do I find more info on that bucket? I like the front end on it what are the front shocks? I need more info on that!

I like the looks of those lights but I think they need to set a little lower and that is just my opinion but I like that bucket.

 

Oh I forgot to add I like the steering coming out the side of the car I'm starting to really dig that look a lot

 

I hate to admit it but I found the picture in "Rebel Rodz" magazine in very short article on early hot rod history. I immediately was drawn to the car cause of its slightly funky vibe. I have no information on it but if you post the picture in the "hot rods of the forties" thread I'm sure you'd find somebody with knowledge of the car. JohnnyA

 

Neat bucket! It looks like a dropped "A" axle, spring over, with '36-'48 shocks mounted traverse. The chrome thingie looks like a link disguised as an "airplane shock", which would have been the rage at the time. My assumption this pic is late '40, very early '50 as it still has it's wire wheels. Most were gone by the early '50's and again most were 15" by '55 or so. It also has a simple cover over what I would assume to be a "bulldog" perch to get the car to sit that low with the spring over axle.

Cool to see pics of 'buckets from the early days as most people think they originated with the "Kookie" car. Norm just pulled it all together and made them trendy.

 

Hey, C;

The body & w/s + posts, sure looks like an early (1919 or older) Dodge bucket - probably front half of a touring. Or at least the cowl. Hard to tell from the pic quality, but body may be shortened, w/o doors, possibly using the rear curved body section of the touring, although it looks narrow for that. & which would be a hell of a lot of work for little gain, since there were T's & the Dodges in abundance then - & quite unwanted, therefor cheap. W/s appears to be chopped at the normal parting line of the two-piece w/s.

The twin carb manifold is an odd one, I've seen before, but can't remember who did them. Ord maybe? Looked like an upsidedown flattened Y, each one feeding one side of the v8. Neat looking, too bad they didn't pan out as performance manifolds.

Also, look closer at the steering - it doesn't come out of the body, it's just set on top of the rail, in front of the firewall, but the body seem rather channeled. I'd guess very little room inside, & at best, guys' knees would be around his ears driving that thing.

Marcus...

 

Dana, some get it, some dont. Theres "period correct" and "Hamb traditional" and never the twain shall meet...

 

Cool car. Check out the steering wheel. Its a 50 Ford in the background so it must be early 50s.

 

Pretty strange wheel there. I'll bet this one was fun on the road! I should have worded things differently. My feeling is the car was constructed just after the war. By the 1950's things were actually getting a lot better in the construction department and fit and finish had improved drastically. The fake on the shocks is pretty interesting however and I'd love to see more pics of this era car.

 

Here is a quad headlight setup on my fathers T.