Termites and Bowties- Early Chevy Group

sixball............here is my plan for the roadster............all wood is finished in EPIFANES VARNISH from Holland , the antique boat guys love this pricey product. There will be no upholstery, no carpet. You look in the car and all your going to see is wood ; NORTHERN ASH, CHERRY, RED OR WHITE OAK. In general it will look like a true woody inside.

A couple of seat cushions from a chair will be tied to the seat base to ease the pain on the butt.

 

Couldn't agree with you more Mike - that varnish will protect, preserve and waterproof all of your wood, why cover it? What year is your roadster?

Sent from my SM-G955U using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

The ROADSTER a 1935 standard series is affectionately called SHAZZBOTT. If you remember Robin Williams Mork from Ork on TV used to use that word all the time. Depending on how its spelled can be a few diff things.

It was stamped out in USA plant, shipped in boxes to GM Buenos ARIES ARGENTINA assembly plant as right hand drive. Sometime in the late 80--early 90's it can back to USA. I bought it in 2012 out of Tenn. Destroyed everything to scrap , except the main body & the frame.
Its been sitting untouched since last fall while I continue to gather parts. Just bought a pair of 35 coupe trunk lid hinges for it from ebay this morning. Car came stock with rumble seat so am converting it to a trunk like a coupe.

 

Your roadster will become quite a beautiful, unique and one-of-a-kind hot rod! What are your plans for drivetrain - and more importantly - when are YOU going to start a build thread?

 

Okay, motor will be a gm crate 383 , weber 48 IDF carbs, intake and carbs will be powder coated gloss and satin black. Billet 1/4 " aluminum firewall is already done in satin black. Trans will be a tremec T56 6 speed with hayes dual disc clutch . Front end will be a Kugel IFS stainless , not polished with wilwoods and rear end will be a 74 Jaguar XKE powder coated aluminum colour & titanium grey. Headers are patriot I think in a TRI Y design. No idea yet on wheels.

I have a DUVAL windshield for it from Australia.

Colour black nitrocellulos old school lacquer, with satin highlights to headlights and tail lights, so you will look and go hey that's actually 2 tone black.

mike

 

All I can say is WOW! She's gonna be a beaut! *The DuVall windshield is definitely the crown touch!* For those who are not familiar with this DuVall windshield, here is a photo and some history on it...

George DuVall (1913-1999)
George H. DuVall Jr., b. August 19, 1913 - d. February 12, 1999

Associated Firms
Southern California Plating Co.

Although many old-school hot rod enthusiasts know what a DuVall V-windshield is, few know the background of the man who developed it, George H. DuVall Jr. Although the style is commonly referred to as ‘DuVall’, others manufactured similar designs during the same period.

As George DuVall was an employee of Southern California Plating, all of his designs for the firm remained their property, and in the late 1940s Julian Doty, DuVall's nephew and long-time hot rodder, bought his uncle's windshield patterns from Southern California Plating, and began to manufactured them on an as-needed basis using the following advertisement which was placed in the early hot rodding magazines:

“Original DuVall V-Windshields For Any Car - $17.50, 6211 Banner Ave., Hollywood 38 GR 5265, contact ‘J D’ Doty.”

DuVall's long-time friend Frank Kurtis used the windshield on the short-lived Kurtis sportscar, and its Muntz Jet successors which were manufactured in small numbers (225) from 1949 to 1953.

 

Bet you didn't pay $17.50 for that windshield Mike...

 

Actually I think I paid $1200 for one on ebay that was made for 32---36 fords, from a guy named DAVE MASTERS IN CALIFORNIA WHO MANAGED TO BORROW THE ORIGINAL MOLDS from Mr. Doty nephew. They were 5 pieces of cast silicon bronze . It needed to all be welded TIG together using silicon bronze rod. It was determined that a FORD cowl and chevy cowl were in compatible to mount that ford duval.

CARTER CUSTOMS in Australia made one for a 34-35 chev roadster and it was supposed to be for a chevy USA roadster cowl. I think it cost me $1500 + $350 air freight. Well turns out the windshield was for an AUSTRALIA GM HOLDEN BODY cowl. The Holden roadster body and the USA made body are different . Well turns out I had to take 11/16" per side to get it too fit width wide. The shape of the top of the cowl was a whole other story and lucky for me was perfect fit.

The 1929--1935 roadster and touring/phaeton bodys in the USA were supplied to Chevrolet by an outside source that thru a lot of digging , I have determined is a company called HERCULES-CAMPBELL. Nothing in the main body is the same as the FISHER built body like coupe, sedan , cabriolets.

I had also procured a windshield topper made from aluminum by the guys who make the Duvall for Speedway motors., the last one they had for a ford. It was 6" too narrow and a friend of mine with a mill was able to fabricate the center piece and aluminum weld it with MIG aluminum gun.

Another massive expense was getting the cowl vent removed and the top of the cowl repaired from the total rust out hidden under 1/2" thick of bondo. The restoration shop I used has the skill and the tools to do a perfect job.

Here are some various pictures...............................mike lynch

 

here is a few pictures of the silicon bronze duvall 5 pieces windshield frame I ended up selling in pieces. I think the American Pickers might have bought it or the guy building the roadster for them. ??


MIKE LYNCH

 

Seeing the wood will make it even more special. I'm trying to decide how much wood I'll keep and how much to replace with steel. You make the wood tempting. I do like the sound deadening quality of wood. The post a few pages back showing the scarf joints will make it easier and faster for me. a lot of my wood is in good shape.

 

To my knowledge and all of the years looking at all of our hot rod magazines on the shelves, I don't believe I ever saw an early Chevrolet hot rod with a DuVall windshield... But Mike, you would know more than I...

 

Neither have I ever seen an USA or Canada 34-35 Chevrolet roadster with a duvall. I have actually seen 5 phaetons made into street rods and they are super rare. If it wasn't for the picture of the fiberglass 34-35 roadster from Australia I would never have known there was a duvall windshield made for it.
When it comes to 34-35 roadster street rods , I have never actually seen one in the flesh . I saw a picture of a 34-35 roadster at the L A ROADSTERS meet on a drive by. Nice blue body with black fenders. Think it was the one from mid 80's from western Canada I never got as it was sold . Went to Oregon and disappeared.

For some reason I have seen more 33 Chevrolet master series roadsters and cabriolets street rodded.

In Australia GM Holden made roadster pickups , UTE as they are called. Now one of those done up would be a trick truck.

Another thing I always wondered about, how come Chevrolet stopped making a WOODIE wagon for 1934---1936.
Well turns out they changed the name to a suburban and HERCULES- CAMPBELL sold them to the USA forestry service and built them on a 1/2 ton truck chassis. I found this out about a year ago when I saw a picture of the woodie being lowered down onto a frame on the assembly line.
mike lynch

 

and here is one of those very special Australian HOLDEN GM bodies, a ffectionately called a UTE

 

Its a 1930 coupe, I'm going to replace all the sill wood and the one hinge pillar before I actually move the body off the frame. I have it lifted a few inches for room to work the new wood in, I have a game plan hoping it works, I don't want to pull the metal apart any more than I have too.

 

the door post is attached to the MAIN SILL BOARD by a couple of screws that go thru the post, the second is the metal brackets that screw too the floor and the post , which is your main support.

Certain machine type screws go thru the metal covers and thread into T NUTS on the rear of the post. They are held in originally with small nails. Home depot sells these with 3 barbs on the back in various sizes under 1/2".
mike

 

Sounds like another Chevy project that us Chevy HAMBERS will look forward to reading about. Take some pictures and load 'em up here JGR! I didn't want any future HAMBer making the almost DISASTROUS mistake I made upon pulling my body off the first time... I did not realize there was 6 bolts in total to remove the body from the chassis. I only removed 4 of them. Well, I had no idea as well how much the body weighed, so I hired a tow truck to come over and lift the body off with it. So he starts to lift the boom and the car bounces up and down till the body gets RIPPED off the chassis, leaving the floor still on the chassis. Now the body is hanging in the air with the firewall facing the sky! I was in my 30's at the time, experiencing a heart attack at WAY TOO YOUNG OF AGE!! Look at the photo enclosed. I was way too nervous to take the photo afterwards... Body spread apart almost 4" on each side. Lesson learned - do your homework FIRST!

Great advice to know in the future Mike!

 

The screws that go into the sill , maybe attach right down at bottom below the metal panel.

They built the wood frame and then nailed and screwed the sheet metal too it.

RUMBLE SEAT CAR, neat, problem is trying to keep people wanting to go in there OUT !!! No idea why but people get a glazed over look in their eyes when you tell them NO.. Its like something magical is going to happen back there once they get in, like going down the rabbit hole with Dororthy in WIZARD OF OZ

The roll down rear window is a big plus as I put one in my 35 coupe and with cowl vent open and side windows down really cuts down on wind turbulence inside. Does have a tendency to draw exhaust smell back into car unless your exhaust goes out to rear bumpers. mine ends at rear end underneath.

MIKE LYNCH..............the real & original madmike3434

 

Truth is Mike, I am in hopes of changing the rumble seat to a regular trunk. I'm planning to put my new stainless steel 20 gallon fuel tank to be mounted in the trunk. But to my knowledge, I don't think you can change over from rumble to trunk or vise-versa like a Model A. I'd like to change over to a regular trunk simply because I would have easier access to the taillights and now, mounting the fuel tank in there. Now that I'm installing my new Winters quick change rear in the near future, I want to see a clearer view of the rear from the rear of the rod, knowing the deeper 20 gallon tank mounted in its original location would hamper this a bit.

 

If I was restoring the car I would pull all the metal off the wood,but since it was long ago turned into a hot rod. I will be taking some liberties in how I take apart the wood and install the new wood. I know I may not be able to replace every screw that had held the frame work together, but I'm sure I can install the new and replace most and rely on some metal work to allow for where I can't get to screws that would require removal of metal. The fact I will be making this a driver hot rod, I have a lot of options to strengthen the car as I build out floor and interior. Or at least that's the ideas I came up with while I was enjoying a nice bourbon.

 

Oh ya , mikie likes your winters quick change and your right, 20 gallon tank mounted in stock location, your not going to see it. Unless you plan on some longer distance driving, just a 12 should do.
Basically I get to stop and re gas every 100 miles on the 8 gal stock tank. Or a real nice Moon tank back there.

Some lay a tank down and others stand it up right behind seat. Trunk space is always at a premium. With a battery mounted back there and 2 polk audio championship 12" subs, poof all of a sudden no room

Does the rumble lid flip around to become a trunk lid......??.....you would have to undo it and see if it will rotate. Let me know as there was a big discussion on another site about this re a 32 chev coupe.
The rumble seat floor panel is different than a trunk panel. There is a foot well in the rumble panel allowing a little more room.

mike lynch " the real madmike3434 "

 

Well I'm ahead of the game at least I have it lifted a few inches and everything is good. I'll post more as I start on it next week. Just sealing the new wood this week.

 

Be careful when removing the wood parts from the car because the backlog to get new pieces is 2 years unless you make new ones yourself.

mike

 

here is a couple of pictures of 34--36 chevrolet woodie wagon. One from a catalogue of bodies gm offered thru HERCULES CAMPBELL, lots of great stuff pictured in there but too many benjamins at $400 for me.
There is also a woodie body being dropped onto a 1/2 ton truck chassis on the production line.

mikie wants one

mike

 

I have all my sill parts here, I waited till I had them before starting. My plan will have the entire sill assembly and kickups replaced prior to actually pulling body off frame. right now it is lifted above frame just enough to get old sills out and new in.

 

Yes trunk lids are just reversed to use as a trunk or rumble lid

 

Well HALLOWEEN came and went Tuesday, but here is a little set of pictures of MY horror story.
The roadster I bought in 2012 off ebay, when I got it home and started tearing into it, I found the rumble seat floor covered and stuck down with some kind of glue.
Well scalping the trunk / rumble seat floor of its carpet meant a trip to ENVIRO TECH strippers. If it isn't steel it gets dissolved away. 2 weeks later I get the call to come get it..................ouch ouch ouch, what the hell happened here.

It took what must have been bondo fiberglass , tar and anything else they used to smooth the surface OFF, leaving only the swiss cheese panel you see here. After a consultation with my good friend Rick Fendley the welder guy about how we should go about fixing this. A plan was made.

Off I went to metal mart and show them what needs duplicated and how I think it needs to be done. So we got a flat area of the pan in the middle and the ends rise 10 degrees on each end, they cut and bend that for me, also make some 90 bends on separate piece for the sides. Back to ricks to zip cut the back stock part off which is only savable part. The plan is to join the new panel pieces to the stock kickup over the rear end.

Using a tool called a rota-broach cutter, like what you would use on spot welds, the stiffening ribs are removed and all the holes filled with weld. Its a neat tool and the cut parts do not get stuck inside like a hole saw, as there is a pin and spring to eject them. Used by electricians a lot for metal boxes.

here is some pictures of the horror I experienced.........couple of years ago................................mike

 

Good to see this thread active.
Yes the trunk and rumble is the same, different hinges and latch. That's according to my dad who know's his 31-32's pretty good

 

and finally back on mine after sitting the last few years

 

Latch is the same , different handles