Projects The bucket of ugly! A de-uglifying thread...

No harm taken, Chip. I got over it and purchased a new grocery getter today. Sadly, it's WAAAAY off topic and too embarrassing to mention.

 

Oh come now Fred, just whisper it as we have had a really wet, horrible sunday here in NZ and I could do with something to make me laugh....

Actually, I am sorry that you have been hit by a something else type of person who is too darn lazy to earn their own money to purchase what they need or want.

 

Fred, thinking of you. These things happen to the good guys too often. Hope your mother is feeling better.
I think you are one of the guys that this thread is about and you are paying attention. I have seen much UGLY taken out of your T lately. I'm sure some builders don't even know their is any right and wrongs with our cars. That and the fact that they are maybe the cheapest builds is why we see so much UGLY. Anyway Fred I think you now "get it".

Well Fred hang in there things will get better.

Your friend Gary, Hope our T's get parked together sometime.

 

Those Cutlasses are hot items. You are the second HAMBer I know of that had one stolen. Sorry to hear this and your family stuff. Trent

 

Thanks. The Cutlass was a driving to work project, so it's absence hurt for a day or two. But like my dad (RIP) raised me, I focused and got a vehicle that's just for work and groceries (although not as cool) and will concentrate my hot rod money on my T Bucket. Maybe I was only meant to have one hot rod and I have always loved T Buckets. How could you have a style of car you didn't have a passion for? I always tell guys, get what you love, not what's trendy or just handy.

So, future plans for the T Bucket are a polished stainless steel gas tank, new steering arms to improve my turning radius and perhaps a set of chrome reverse wheels. Lemons into lemonade, my friend.

Now...... let's get back to Chip and his project. I have notes to take and my brain gears are turning. Truth be told, I'm waiting to see how that 3x2 setup works out.

 

Well, for what it's worth...
Smooth perch cover and louvers in the front pan; a little accent striping on the perch cover. That's what I'd do.
Don't get on here all that often so it's kind of hard to keep up with everything that's happening but this is sure a fun thread to check out. I really like what you've done so far and looking forward to more.

 

Chip,
Adding louvers to the front pan are just another calling card for what you do.
In viewing your louver work, if you decided to add them, I'm sure they would be tastefully done.

 

When I was building my T Bucket, I was going through the Total Performance catalog and saw a perch cover. It was all nice and shiny, but for the life of me, I couldn't see the logic behind it.

Just one more thing to remove, if I ever had to take my spring off. One more BUMP, in a job that should require only a couple steps.

Sometimes, we do things to our cars and it's just for the "OOOOH" factor. It NEVER fails, that usually that factor turns out to be a non-essential. A "Dunsel" (referencing an episode from "Star Trek", "Dunsel is a term used by midshipmen in the 23rd century to describe a part which serves no useful purpose.) What turns a T Bucket or any hot rod, into a circus act, is the crap that we strap, bolt or weld onto our cars.

It's not hard to do. You click on the web and see "the next BIG thing". You imagine your friends marveling at that "THING". In the end, it's just crap to satisfy a 30 second moment of ego stroking.

I am guilty of doing it, but in the last few years, I have seriously tried to omit the things that would turn my hot rod into a Honda without fenders. When our hero's were going to the dry lake beds in a search for speed, they removed all the CRAP that might hinder that endeavor. If you're building a "Hot Rod", especially a traditional one, stop adding "Dunsel's".

My chrome plated, billet alternator bracket was a "Dunsel". It's gone. My battery charges fine without a chrome alternator and a billet bracket and if the alternator goes out, I won't have to fret running a plain, OEM unit, instead of the chrome ego unit that failed.

Was that a rant?

 

Stolen cars...I have been keeping this to myself, but I guess I should come clean. A couple weeks ago, I was pretty stressed, having "issues" with a financial manager, legal matters ( no, I didn't go nuts and punch a nun or anything like that they were of a civil, not criminal nature) and so on. So I had to go downtown to deal with some of this stuff, traffic and parking are a horror show, so I decided to take rapid transit. So I park my wifes car about two blocks from the skytrain station, on a residential street, under a tree, in front of a real estate sign, and take transit.
I get back, STRESSED right out, turn the corner onto the street, tree, real-estate sign, SHIT! NO CAR!.
So I FLIP! This is the last friggen straw, I'm dealing with this financial advisor that is lying right in my face, I have an appointment at my lawyers in half an hour which is way across town, and my wifes car is gone!
So I go home, call my wife, call the cops, file a police report, call my lawyer and cancel my appointment, ect, ect.
The next day, the cops call and say they found our car, and it seems to be undamaged. This seems kinda odd to me, so I ask, "the ignition wasn't punched out or anything?" cop "Nope. You didnt leave the keys in it did you?" Me "no sir, I still have the keys, where did you find it?" Cop "well, thats whats kind of odd, it was only about a block from where you'd parked it." All of a sudden the light goes on...OH SHIT...
So I go back and take a look, sure enough, a tree with a real estate sign under it, and around a slight corner, a block further down, another tree with a real estate sign under it. Much to her credit, my wife only called me an idiot about 3 times...

 

Thanks, Falcon.

 

It always makes your own troubles seem a little smaller to know that someone you know is a complete friggin IDIOT...

 

Hey, Chip, you do louvers, correct? Well, a few years back, I took some graphic design classes. One of the classes was to come out with a simple, yet dramatic business card. Something folks would remember.

Now, here's my thought. Instead of punching louvers in a perch cover and hoping the person tracks you down, make your business card a punched louver. Say a 2" X 3" piece of aluminum sheet (so it won't rust), with a louver and your business info printed or stamped on one side. Stamped would be better, Miss Judy might get involved. Give them out to the folks who are SERIOUS about using your services. Punch a hole in one corner and it's a cool and unforgettable key fob, as well as a calling card. "Is that a louvered business card in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?"

Just an artist thinking "outside the box". I hate that saying, because it's just a nice way of saying, crazy enough to work.

 

Now that's funny...thanks for the chuckle.

 

If it makes you feel any better I laughed, wife asked what was funny, I read it to her and she called you an idiot too.

 

Cool idea! Ok, better yet. Read up on "photo-etching" fairly simple process you could do in your shop with a little practice a computer printer, a simple graphics program, and a few chemicals. So, you take a piece of brass sheet, punch a louver in it, and photo-etch the name of your business and phone number on it! Hell, if you really wanted to go nuts, you could load a pic of the t-bucket into your computer, use the software to make that into a line drawing, and relief etch a pic of the bucket of ugly on there as well!!!

 

My lifes work, spreading joy and happiness, one cluster f*ck at a time...My wife will probably put that on my tombstone...

 

So, NOW, who's a gear head?

 

Been called worse. Still tripping the light fantastic.

 

That is a great idea Fred on a practical type of calling card, I wonder how difficult it would be to set up a small louver punch so that each " card " had a couple of rows of louvers on them. I like the idea of hanging them as a key fob too.
Falcom man, you are just too funny..... oh, blessings to your lovely wife for being so understanding of her man.... We have a saying down here about " egg over ones face " , well you certainly had a dozen running down yours aye..

 

Okay........ it's a 1993 Mercury Villager LS, mini-van. BUT....... BUT, it's fully loaded and was meticulously maintained by the elderly couple, who owned it. Owners manual and receipts for the last 20 years. It has A/C and the '79 Cutlass didn't. Fully loaded with an adjustable seat with a LUMBAR support (played with that for about 30 minutes). I'll remove the middle seat and it'll be easy to haul stuff from swapmeets.

Lemons into lemonade.

 

Okay guys. Going to Bonn. next week. Planning on taking pictures of all the buckets there. Will post when I get back and we can pick them apart. No I am driving my P.U. don't want to have to rebuild the rear suspension on the roadster. No you can't get all the salt off/out. A couple of buckets I saw last trip. I kinda like the nailhead powered one except for the disk brakes.

 

Ha ha HA ha Ha hahahahahahahahahahahahahahha!!!!!

 

REBEL!? What took you so long to share these? You know we'll expect a FULL report!

The second one is "right, click, save".

 

Gotta admit, I felt pretty stupid...One of lifes little "lessons in humility"...

 

i like the nailhead powered job too. Like the vertical windshield posts, something I plan to incorporate into mine.
Just noticed, #2 is an automatic. some cars can get by with that

 

FG;

You win. Funniest missing-car story I've ever read. At least it had a good ending. My wife wasn't laughing, 'till I mentioned some of the responses... . I'm still laughing... .

Chip - the louvered key chain business card idea is fabulous. If you ever do one, I need a few... !!! .

Marcus...

 

At least a limited number for HAMB Alliance members. Now, I have to scrape up $50.

 

Put me down for one... At last, a worthy replacement for the Champion plugs feeler gauge/key fob I got from the Champion rep about 20 yrs then lost ten years later...

 

SPUR that bull!

Hey, Falcon, in reference to your move to a vertical windshield, I submit THIS! Even The Sadies" knew it was the right thing to do.

 

And guys with P/U beds, notice in that cartoon, where the license plate is? They aren't hangin' on the rear cross member.

And for those, me included, pondering an induction situation, not a single carb induction system on any of 'em!