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

George like many of your fellow Canadians I drive my ride. There are 15 or so Canadians coming down to meet us and go to the Reno Air Races next week. Many of them are staying and going to the Outriders picnic on Sunday. Me and Art Brumpton are taking off early Friday morning and heading for Canada so we can get to Rons deal early Sat morn.

 

And a good Shop night it is with lots of helpful info and no whining

 

I just checked the local long-range weather forecast, It should be ok on Saturday, but I think you might be driving home in the rain. I am looking forward to this get-together more than Christmas.

 

Whew. Glad this project is still here.

 

I'm at about a gallon and a half of water on the average day this time of year, and it may be a bit too much information for the rest of the world, but I don't pee that often when the humidity is up on top of the heat like this. It all comes right back out as sweat. No matter how much water you drink in a given day, this time of year you can expect to wake up with the worst "hangover" you can imagine from dehydration. It just flat sucks, but we only have a few more weeks of this stuff then it'll start to slowly cool down. I just hope it gives up earlier this year than last, 'cause two days before Halloween it was still over 100 in the daytime.

 

George
My man I am retired. If we have bad weather I will stay at Arts place and drink beer. HAHAHA

 

Need Louvres, as the resident expert on things traditional on T buckets, are you able to explain why the roofs on buckets started out looking like they went "up" from the back to the front when looking at them side on at the opening and comparing them to the top of the bucket body.

I copied a pikky so you can (hopefully) see what I mean. Its the bottom of the roof over the opening and it looks like the distance at the back is smaller than the distance up by the screen. I see similar rooflines on Model As and 32s and some, in my view, look a bit goofy.

By the 70s the roof was higher and the lower lip on the roof seemed to run parallel with the body line.

I know 70s buckets dont get much love on here, but I figure the later roof was asthetically more pleasing.

 

Ya know GasserTodd, I have noticed that in the past, and it caught my eye again here recently looking at Ivo's car for 9millionth time. Ivo's and the big "T" both did that, as well as others, and I really don't have any real idea or reason why. The only thing I can think of is they chopped the tops equal to the amount they chopped the windshield posts, and maybe should have stepped back and looked a bit harder. Not too many missteps on Ivo's car, and this one is minor, but do to the car's otherwise perfect stance it's really not very noticeable. The Big "T" full scale car (built by Darrel Starbird after the kit was out for a bit) however, combines this "flaw" with a weird reverse rake and it shows up from outer space! What I wouldn't give to go back in time and reverse the eyes on that front spring and pull a leaf or two out of the pack on that car...

Now, since we are talking tops, the least I could do is take a few minutes and scan show MY favorite T-Bucket top ever. Tom Medley took some time in the very early seventies and sat and watched and thankfully photographed Bob Lee doin' his deal, just as he had done since about '47 or so. I have never seen one of his tops I didn't like!

 

Haha. Me too. I've been silently following from the outset.

 

Yep, that happened to me yesterday. I worked outside for two days in a row wrenching on the '64. When I woke up this morning, every muscle and joint in my body ached, and it felt pretty similar to a hangover. It sucked!!

 

As long as we are talking aesthetics, and having a scan and show kinda night, I thought I would drop this one on you guys. I bought a copy of this magazine when I was a kid back in January '74, and this particular article helped me make some sense of how these things went together. I find that all the recommendations Tom Daniel mentioned still hold true to this day, and are still great guidelines to a good looking T-Bucket. Read through this and dig out your pictures of your favorite T-Buckets, then dig some up that you find less appealing, and you'll see where these ideas work. I had lost my original copy of this mag at some point in the eighties, and very happily found a mint copy at So-Cal Phoenix's trunk swap a couple of months ago for a couple of bucks. SCORE!!!

 

Pretty much the best T bucket article, still have my original R&C mag; but it was pretty tattered so picked up another one at swap meet too.

 

Need Louvres, I agree the "Big T" needs some adjustment to its peculiar reverse rake, but the problem with iconic cars is that you arent allowed to change them.

And going back in time is proving a bit difficult.

Maybe sometimes, we need to be honest and say that just because its a famous car, or its built by a famous person, it can still have screwed up lines.

I do remember a certain style of 33/34 that Coddington built that was an affront to the eyeballs, but it won big, and made all manner of magazines, and all manner of people copied it.

Maybe somebody needed to say "The emperor has no clothes"

 

I could make an observation about drawing #1, and a very famous early T, that was not the template for most buckets that followed, and the one that followed right on its heels (and had a more conservative stance) that DID end up being the template for all that followed, but well, I have caused enough trouble around here lately...

 

Very much agreed! And, as much as I don't believe I'm about to say this, sometimes a "clinker" line on a car isn't the worst thing in the world. Sometimes it adds character, much like a well placed tiny mole on a beautiful face. Not real often mind you, and that damn mole better not have a hair growing out of it!

Our work is done here citizen!

 

I used that copy to lay out my roadster. Before it I didn't know about a formula for what looks good. Sure I still have it somewhere. I recommend it for anybody building a T. If everybody read it there would many fewer UGLY Ts.

 

Just a little cute for my tastes but that is probably because the windshield is a couple of inches too tall.

 

wow !!!

 

I used that article as a guide on doing the top on a "T" I built back then, it was still on the car, 30 some years later, when we came across it this summer.

Those twelve issues of Rod & Custom quarterly were a wealth of tech info, much of which is still good stuff.

 

Boy, am I gonna get flamed for this.....I still think one of the best buckets to come out of the "old school" was Cotton Werksman's (sp?) That car looked nasty!

 

Me too! I loved that series of mags. They started coming out just about the time I got my first car, my '35 five window. They seemed to do better tech to really spell stuff out rather than just show pictures.

No need for flaming on that one! Cotton's car was awesome! He built a secons chassis for another friend of his, and that car is still around. there is a huge picture of it on another recent T-Bucket thread, but for some reason it won't copy to my computer.

 

Sixties! Me Likey!

 

Hey, NL;

Yup those R&C quarterlies & that T-bucket spl are very well worn in my library. It's sometimes helpful to see "what doesn't work". Hurts the eyes "because what has been see, cannot be unseen" , but at least I remember not to do that. . & the Big-T always hurt to look at.

At the risk of causing unintended trouble , I couldn't help but notice that the how-to top article featured a (THE), ahem, *VolksRod*. . Nice way to sneak it back in here. . I do love that thing, although I still don't like *all* of the proportions on it, esp after the "rad" shell was pushed forward when the fenders got added. 46 years after I 1st saw that concept, I'm trying to convince myself I *need* one - finally. Since it's hated almost universally, it has to be the right thing to do, esp since the fun factor is off the scale. I did see a foreign-car (small-pages-size) mag cover shot of a really crude volksrod version, dated in 1964. Surprised me.

I still think you could lop off ~ 3" from the windshield on the X-ugly T, & it'd look better. Just one more thing to do... .

Marcus...

 

I'm drawing a blank here, Any pics?

 

Oh oh, a trouble maker...

 

Hated? Hell no! I always dug V-rods, but then again I'm a recovering VW guy who just earned his 20 year pin... One day at a time. Never got the anti-VW thing, I guess it's just 'cause the guys in Midwest and east didn't build them? My last "street bug" with the happy happy "GO" button armed was good for an 11.30, and really was my daily driver! Also made tons of money on Friday and Saturday nights, too.

I too was never quite happy about all the lines on them though either. There was a very nicely done V-rod that used to show up every year at L.A.R.S., but I haven't seen it in a couple of years now.

 

Heres the Cotton Werksman bucket. First saw a pikky of it in a Petersen yearbook in the early 70s.

Note how the roof run either parallel or is raked slightly forward towards the windscreen posts. Looking good!

 

No you are not, that T is awesome! His son is on here and there is at least one thread about the car.

 

When it comes to good looking t-buckets, which is WAY speculative anyway, most rules go out the window. I'm not talking about putting the big tires up front and the little ones in the back, calm down. I'm saying that T's, in particular, are cool BECAUSE of their awkward proportions. As I type this, I realize I'm really referring to my favorite era...the latter part of the 60's, so, never mind. Shades of Emily Litella.

 

Oh hell yes, of course. Dont know how I coulda forgot that car! Must be getting old!