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

Well said 'Peach!

 

I'm almost tempted to add that to my "watch" list, just so I can see what it goes for. Any guesses? I'm betting over 5 figures...

 

By the way Bob, you did notice thats an injected '57 pontiac, not a chevy right? About the coolest T bucket ever in my books.

 

No one said you can teach smart. I too have for as many years been the guy on the motorcycle so I know well what you speak of

 

Been following along here, lurking in the shadows and enjoying learning from you folks. Thought I would throw this in ......... my 24TT C cab. No where near traditional with that Buick V6 in there, but I thought a good start for my 1st "T" car.

 

Hi guys, I have read all 35 pages of this thread and have enjoyed the discussion on what is right against what isn't without the name calling, so thanks. I'm wondering why some have such hate for the cowl lights on T's ? I have dummy ones which I have seriously thought of removing but then I would need to purchase new screen post or, as been floating around in my skull, making my own replicas. I was interested in the comments on the roofs too as I will be designing a fold down one for my T. One comment that I will mention is I believe all the T's I have seen in pictures here still leave a lot to be desired in the whole front end look, all appear to heavy with the spring etc. I will attach a photo of mine for your comment.

 

personally, if they don't do a "job", they wouldn't be on my T...I'm sure those that don't care for cowl lights have a special hatred for fake ones.

 

First let me say I like a lot about your T. I've thought about adding a roll bar to mine. Think I like the lean back look of yours. Follows the body line of the back of the car and puts it out of the way of the driver and passengers head. Something that I'm told damages as many heads as roll bars protect.

I also agree some T buckets have clunky and heavy looking front suspension and yours is very clean. I only wish the line from the top of your windshield and cowl was as clean and not broken up with the dummy cowl lamps. Something you don't need. I actually ground off the cowl lamp mounts and cut and leaned back the ones on my roadster before I had them chromed.

It's been more than thirty years since I started building my T. Started it in '79 and first drove it in '89 and all that time I've had to keep myself from adding unnecessary stuff. I debated a long time before I added the motorcycle horn to the front. Okay guys tell me if you think it is too much.

Gary

 

Ahhh! I dig it Gary! Funny you should post that, I have the exact same horn here that I have been putzing with trying to see where I might like to mount it.

 

Welcome Whiplash!

I do like your car! I however am in the Non-cowl lamp sector myself, but to each his own. There certainly is historic precedence for them on early sixties type buckets. Heck, one of my many self proclaimed favorites, Roland's redo of Ivo's car featured them prominently.

Not a huge fan of the roll bar, but is that not considered needed with vehicle codes in your country? I guess I'm assuming you live in Australia.

I do like the front suspension on your car. nice and simple and clean.

Thank you for following the ramblings here on this thread. I have been a bit of a downer since the events of three weeks ago with my other car, but I'm working on getting back to my ornery yet sparkling "normal" self. Should be pretty soon...

 

Okay gang.

Been doing 100,000 little things for the last week and have started to get busy with work coming though again, but I needed to show this shot. I finally had someone around to take a picture of me in the car with the seat cut down. I now wish that I had done the same pose earlier before so you could see how little a change in seating height made in overall comfort in these cars.

Now, mind you, this still doesn't have any foam in the seat, and it might honestly not get some for awhile. And, when it does, I will be cutting out "butt holes" in the plywood base and strapping them with an upholstery webbing referred to as "Pirelli webbing", then running no more than about 1 1/2" of foam in the base. I also didn't get my cuts quite as parallel as I had hoped, and I have a good 5/8"-3/4" further to go down on the drivers side at the back. But note where my alien like long legs and arms are, and the fact that my head is well below the windshield, and where my shoulders are in relation to the body's back edge. These things can be damned comfortable for an average sized guy when handled right. I'm 6'1" and 195lbs.

 

You look like a kid that just figured out everybody got a Big Wheel for Christmas but him.

 

I have found that a stock seat spring assembly works best for a T roadster. They are available for a reasonable price from Car-Line. Mfg. in Beaumont TX 9409-833-9757) or Snyder's Antique Parts in New Springfield OH. Mount the spring to a 3/4" plywood base, throw some towels on top and drop it into your bucket. It will take a seat riser from 3-5" tall up front and a set of rear blocks from 1-2" thick at the rear.
Adjust the seat assembly up or down front and rear to YOUR specs and you're there.
OH yeah, first thing you think is "I'll sit too tall in the car, face in the wind etc.". When you are sitting on the seat the spring compresses by at least half if you're a half-big boy so you're not sitting too tall just sitting comfortably. I weigh in at 255 these days and don't bottom out unless the car becomes airborne and lands in one piece.
No reason to sit on foam/aluminum/steel, straps or wheelbarrow tubes, when the real deal is available and works so well.

 

When I was planning out my T Bucket, I passed up a complete TT body. Looking back, I always thought I could have fallen in love with it.

It's not so much a hatred of cowl lights for me, as it is being sick of them used because people think they have to. I mean, a car that's meant to replicate going fast, just seems wrong with a set of antiques screwed to it. The Fad T's seem to get away with it because that's what fad T's were about. They were about adding all the crap you could, especially if it was chrome or brass. And there are a couple Fad T's I actually love. That's just MY feelings on them. Roll bars just never seem to fit well. I get they MIGHT allow an open casket funeral, but they just always look big and out of place.

As for the front looking heavy, all it is, is a spring, an axle, a pair of shocks and a pair of radius rods. That's about as simple as it can get. Maybe remove a couple leafs from the spring?

Louver's my seating position is just a couple inches lower, but it's what you'll gain, when you add holes, webbing and some foam. I'm 6'3" and 180 and after a few miles, you'll be cutting those holes. Trust me. I thought about using gennie seat springs, but wanted my fuse box and some storage, under the seat. In fact, I sit in my regular cars with my legs like that. I'm just used to sitting that way.

I usually only remove my steering wheel as an anti-theft feature, but some people do remove it to get in. I'm just used to it. Your photos are also what I mean, when I say these cars can be tight, if you have a big gut. Some guys eat more than others and blame the T Bucket for being too small.

 

scuse me for getting all gushy but i just love this thread, I check the hamb every day to see if there are any additions to it. So much so that even tho I've nearly finished my build (just upholstery to do) I've decided there has to be some changes.

I'm looking to lower the rad shell first and foremost about and inch, then wheels (not sure yet what ) and possibly some sort of change to windscreen. The only real problem I have is I'm having such a blast driving it I don't know when I'll ever get to make the changes

 

Is your spring on top of axle, seems to dominate to me...I like the spring sorta hidden behind the axle like Norm and tommy's . no cowl lites for me, or lanterns on the back.. or head knockers...on street cars. (even Jeeps)

Horn be cool..tho

 

I can understand the wheels, but what's wrong with the windshield.

 

The spring is on top of the axle. I too like the Grabowski, Ivo style with the spring behind the axle better. I just didn't do it that way some reason or other.
Actually overall it doesn't jump out at you as in a close up front shot. As in my avatar shot.

Thanks for the thumbs up for the horn though.

 

With just a seat base, no bottom foam, and nothing but the back of the body to lean against, again with no foam, and your knees bent past 90 degrees, it looks too cramped for ME. You should have taken a picture from the drivers side showing you knees sticking above the body sides (one of my pet peeves). To each his own. I would buy a slightly stretched body, and skip the channel job.......form over function, when looking uncomfortable (to me) doesn't
Look like optimum form. I think that the "T buckets" uncomfortable looks have had a lot to do with their loss of popularity. They look too uncomfortable to look like the fun ride they are.

It's looking way better, considering how it started out, and after all....... I don't have to fit in your hot rod!

 

not pitching for sure,, just runnin' my pie hole,
its 96 degrees . thanks for the entertainment. !!!

Don't you DARE change anything, looking for my approval,
Heck, I can change what I love in a second,,

 

I think it's cool, when I hear people say they can't fit in my T Bucket. Cuts down the possible Bucket thieves.

 

Thanks guys for the comments on my T.. Yes, I believe the fake lights will go too and will allow me to make some new screen posts. I'm in New Zealand and due to us having our cars certified for street use I had to have the roll bar for my three way seat belts and interesting enough, they are more comfortable to wear then the stock seat belts in my daily driver BMW. Chip, just a thought on your seating, allow for some thickness as aback cushion which will push your body forward a little. I haven't done the upholstery in my T yet either and have lowered my seat base down but I have to clear the battery and fuse panel which are under the seat. I lowered the battery down and now it sits almost level with the floor so just have to get the fuse panel down now. I'm aiming for a mid sixties look with my T also and I know that there is some items I need to change to get there, but I'm not going to be anal with everything as here in NZ we did with what we could use more so then over in America where there was an abundance of raw material to use.

 

if ya gotta have THE rollbar, I am down with that.... carry on...

 

I had no idea that you knew Connan O'Brien and he was in town. He is even wearing those funny shoes like you.

 

Yup, now you can say you have seen photographic proof of me wearing hippy shoes! Dropped a weld blob into the top of my shoe the other day 'cause I wasn't wearing boots like an idiot while welding. I burned a hole in the side of foot about 1/4" deep and have kinda been off regular shoes for the last week trying to heal it.

 

I don't think you read my post about Pirelli webbing the seat base and running only about 1 1/2" of seat foam. The webbing gives the bounce and allows you to sink even a bit lower in the seat. The back will be very minimal as far as padding goes as it really doesn't have to be anything thick in a car like this. I have on many, many, many occasions driven this combo of seat padding and web (in a friend's car) as far as across the deserts of I-10 on 120 degree days without a top going to L.A. Roadster show, (360 miles one way) and I find it quite comfortable. Silly as it sounds, on Friday after I was done cutting the riser down and got everything were I wanted it to be, I made myself sit in the car for a good 15 minutes just to see what would a problem point if any, and I took a little nap while I was at it...

If I had an extra 50-60 pounds on me I might think that a stretched body would be something, but we have talked about this before, and I still maintain I can see a stretched body on a 'Bucket from outer space. I admit that the first T-Bucket I built back in '81 was only channeled 2" instead of the common 3", as was the last one I started for myself some years ago and that does make a ton of difference in comfort.

The back material in this car is going to be very thin. It will have no rolls or pleats and run continuously around the car in one piece with the door panels. This car will be mostly around town hopping, but I think that I will probably make up a 1 1/2" or 2" foam removable back cushion that can be leaned back on when I do take the car on longer jaunts. I have driven these things and other roadsters so many miles with out any real upholstery in them that I just don't find that situation very uncomfortable.

 

Over the years I've changed the backrest on my roadster numerous times to attain a little more leg room. The last time I wetted 1/4" plywood and conformed it to the curve of the back of the body, Then just used 1/2" carpet pad and the padding in the pleats. It is plenty comfortable but then I lean forward while driving my roadster.

Looking again I might have given myself another 1/2" by cutting the backrest top down another inch and pulling it in below the tube bracing. Might do it sometime.

 

'Zacty!!!

 

You are thinking along the same lines as myself, keep the side trim uniform all the way around the side and back of the Bucket so it doesn't encroach to much personal space. When I purchased the car it had the big rolled edge around the car and then the buttoned velvet cloth, it must of looked good in the '80's but I gained a go 4" of space when I removed it all. I too will look at the screen height once I have the seating finalized as I feel I need to go with something like Larry/ Garry's steel T with the round frame and curves at the top to get rid of the ranchslider door look I have at the moment. Thanks for starting this thread as it has got me motivated to get back out in the workshop again and the help and suggestions is been really good.

 

Chip
I feel the same as rodder. This is the best thread going. It's helped me get through my heart surgery recovery. I must check for it at least a dozen times daily. Everybody keep up the posts. I enjoy all of them all.

By the way I'm feeling great but my Dr. won't let me drive for another week so keep up the posts. Your keeping me from going crazy-er.

Gary