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

Hey, NL;

Another way on the seat comfort deal is: cut out a large area for the butt, fill w/fairly stiff foam, & then cut out the center of the foam for a small-or-as-needed-for-the-available-space tire inner tube. Like say for a lawn tractor or maybe a wheelbarrow. Fill the center of that w/foam if you wish. You can air it up or down for your body weight & comfort. Be careful where you place the valve stem. You can get creative w/the air valve for air addition/deletion.

I'll see if a friend of mine - Hemi-Roid - will post some pics. His T got this addition from, I think, one of his friends, an upholsterer named Stitch. Works killer. Curt & friend(s) have been known to roll 600+ mi one way, w/o stopping for much other than fuel/wee-wee breaks, & still feel good after getting there. I've ridden in his T, & it's comfortable. Surprisingly so.

Marcus...

 

What's wrong with white? Just saying

 

I bought one of those, seems to be well made; but didn't fit a stock shell at all.
Ended up narrowing the shell about 3/4", relocated the mounts on the side, and
there was no stock kinda filler neck on the top tank to stick thru the shell. Due the way the tank hangs over the back and the engine location the fan is too far from the radiator. Cools great as long as your moving; but there is no air flow for stop and go in heavy traffic. In the process of finishing a shroud, find out tomorrow if it will do the job. Sorry I don't remember the brand or seller.

 

After taking a moment and looking at the picture of the T with the new wheels/tires installed, I have to say that it looks like a different car.

After looking at the pictures for a few minutes, these are the things that are sticking out that I would address if the car was mine:

Shorten the windshield
Shorten the shifter
Shorten the column and get the steering wheel closer to the dash.
Move the turn signal assembly off of the column
Move the radiator forward a few inches and get the shell standing up straight
Change the air cleaner

I look at that car and it has the same issues that I see much too often in my area. Guys do not spend the time and mock up anything during the build. The just bolt stuff together with no rhyme or reason and then complain that it drives terribly and that it's uncomfortable. You should always mock up and do all the fab work when it's raw, and get it as a driver if you can. Then, blow it all completely apart for paint and final reassembly.

 

I bought a champion radiator for my modified (chopped 32 rad) after reading threads on here. They make T buckets radiators too. They are welded while some of the other cheap ones are epoxied. I haven't had coolant in it or anything but it seems like a decent part for the money. Welds aren't super pretty or anything but looks like it will work.

The sellers name on ebay is koolradiatorscoolingsystems

 

Where do I start?
Kidding.

I have a vision for what constitutes the perfect T, and it would be from the latter part of the 60's....maybe even into the early 70's...and it has a black interior.

Chip's will be cool....even WITH a white interior!

 

One of my favorites is Marty Holmann's "T" on the cover of Hot Rod in March of '61 and it has a red interior. It even had a brass radiator and "T" oil lamps before they became overdone and tacky.

 

Ya know it's funny Jeem, After studying this stuff as long as I have I've kinda come up with a few different "eras" in the T-Bucket evolutionary history.

1. Norm got his car up in late '54, and that era ran through about '60. Lot's of steel wheels, white walls, seriously exaggerated tail high rakes, long shifters, steel touring front half bodies are all hallmarks of the era. Lots of white interiors, although other colors were seen too.

2. Late '59, Bill roland bought Tommy Ivo's car from him and embarked on a COMPLETE make over that included new cobalt blue paint, Halibrand wheels, and the injectors were replaced by six Stromberg's. This seemed to be a pattern for builds that lasted right up to about '65 or so, judging by magazines of the time. The stances got a bit lower and flatter too, and I kid you not, if I randomly grab ANY magazine from that time period and hand it to you, almost any bucket you will see will have a white interior. American's were super popular too, as were semi-wide whites up to about '62 or so. Home made exhaust systems were the norm, too. The drags exploded in popularity in the early sixties, and I notice that "T" bodies on Altered cars became super popular about this time, and more and more of the street driven T-Buckets took influence from those cars.

3. Tom Booth put together "The Torsion "T" in '65, and had it ready for the '66 season. This to me marks the beginning of another era, as that is the first car I can recall that really ran motorcycle type wire fronts with no or minimal braking. Cragar S/S first came about in '65, and were very popular on buckets. Matter of fact, the July '65 Car Craft has three features and articles on buckets, and all three have narrow Cragars and narrow whites on 'em, months after they came out. That's also when dark colored interiors became the norm too. Blacks and browns, button tuft, biscuit tuck, anything but Roll and pleat. Tops started showing up again, And paints tended to metal flakes and the beginnings of psychedelic type paint started to happen. The two main types of T-Bucket headers we see to this day, the "sprint" and the "roadster", or "classic", became off the shelf stuff. This era lasted to about '70

4. Let it all hang out! Danny Eichstedt's "Leg Show" T hit the cover of Rod&Custom for January of '71, and the game changed again. This time proportions got pushed around QUITE a bit. Wheelbases got stretched out, bodies got shoved back a bit, Vintage brass trinkets got expensive, bodies got cut down, tops got tall, seating positions got exaggerated so that the occupants rode on the car, not in. Steering boxes got more commonly moved under the car giving the verticle steering column. Tires got wide, Skylark wires got widened, then Tru-spoke started making their wheels saving a step. Dan Woods was back from the military and dropped the "Ice Truck", and Contemporary Carriage Works was in full swing. Interiors now swung back even further and mohair and velvet were super common along with just general dark colors. Paint seemed a bit more subdued, although still very rich, high end candies and such. Quite honestly this is the era that most "kit" T-Buckets most closely follow to this very day. It was either the beginning of something great, or the end of cool T-Buckets as we knew them depending on which side of the fence you stood on. I see this era as running through about the last time T-Buckets were really relevant, say 1985 or so.

Jeem at this point is doubt either napping or rolling his eyes, 'cause he knows me. You don't dare ask a simple question about something 'cause I don't usually give simple answers. Suffice to say that this the OPINIONS of some one who has been an addicted reader/researcher/historian/idiot his entire life. Just like the little story I touched on briefly the other night to explain to Judy why we weren't going to do the interior in metalflake magenta multi-hue sparkle vinyl. I pointed at the rack with my '62 and '63 magazines on it, and told her to pick any two of them. Then I told her to flip through, find the T-bucket features and tell me what color the interiors were. 6-1 it was white!

We're sticking with about '64 as a build, it's gonna be white!

Ya know Jeem, a talented illustrator could easily do a Darwinesq drawing of the eveolution of the t-Bucket fairly easily... But where would we find such a man?

 

As simple and inexpensive as they are compared to later cars I wonder if T buckets will see a resurgence in popularity. This thread has me giving one more thought though I am not sure if I could fit in one at 6'4". I saw that one of the rod mags is even doing a t bucket build.

--louis

 

Ha! you didn't read my comment the other night about parking it across the street ad taking some pictures! And yes, after it left my shop as a roller, it DID get exactly what you described as common for a bucket, "just bolt stuff together". That's kinda the crux of this thread, undoing that sort of stuff.

The windshield will probably come down about three inches by the time all is said and done. It will depend on how low I can get the seating.

The shifter is still up in the air. See, I have this crazy little partner on this deal that speaks her own version of English at most times, but can be very clearly understood when she means to get what she wants! She saw Norm's car in a magazine first thing and said "Rook, shifter looks just rike ours"! She found another with a tall stick, and really thinks it's cool. It might just stay for a bit, but not by my doing...

The column is going to be a bit harder to shorten than it looks. I set that up for natures worst case scenario, me. You've seen me, 6'1' with what appears to be a cross between space alien and orangutan arms and legs! Putting a wheel with just a bit more dish helped quite a bit, but I still need leg room to hit the brakes. This too will depend on how far down I can get the seating.

The second this thing is titled and legal, that switch AND all the turn signal crap is going right back to the P/O! I hate turn signals on open cars with a passion! It might get a small tach down low on the column though.

The brass radiator is way too seventies for my taste, and is on E-bay right now with over 85 views in three and a half days... A cut down deuce or one of my surplus "T" shells will be the replacement.

Yup! lookin' for a cool scoop of some sort that I can afford. I'm also in need of a pair of Corvette script valve covers, and an aluminum manifold of some sort with a boss for a front fill tube. I probably will be going back to a short water pump as well.

 

Diggin' most massively, sir!

 

Get the seat down as low you can get it, and then you'll know what you can do on the column. Even though it's not "period", one of those cool offset steering column gearsets would be slick on this car because you could get the column up for legroom, but it would penetrate the firewall at a much better mechanical location for clearance.

I have to agree on the brass radiator. Is has to be "recycled" to someone else's project. A simple, stock T-shell would look best, for sure.

Corvette valve covers would be the perfect choice. If you could find one of those bitchin' factory 'Vette dual quad intakes and a pair of small WCFBs, that would look awesome. If not, you can still find the old single 4bbl Edelbrock intakes with the fill tube on ebay and Craigslist. You definitely have to de-modernize everything on that engine.

Definitely get rid of the long water pump and go with a short. Long pumps are fugly.

Now you've got me looking at Model Ts!! I have a good buddy with a stash of early Ford tin, and I might ask him if he'll part with one of his many Model T sedan bodies. I've been wanting to build an UNCHOPPED Model T sedan for a long time.

 

NUTS!!! a rather cool dude and fellow hot rodder stopped by with a pack of gold disguised as chrome... Lug nuts. I think I talked about trying to find 1/2" short reach mag type shouldered lug nuts, and the trials and tribulations of this the other day. Suffice to say, the local LLantera doesn't have 'em. My new go to guy for all things lug nut related is Gary Powell, and if your in Phoenix, you will need him too. His number is 623 931 4444. Now, if it was only less than 114 out right now I'd go put them on.

 

Loading my nut photos made me think about something else, too. Since I'm skipping around a bit this evening, I thought I'd show my favorite comfort accessory in a small roadster like, say, a bucket. I firmly believe that the quick release steering wheel is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Hell, Henry knew how hard it was to get in and out of these things when they were new. Ford eventually added what was called a "fat man" wheel to their factory sponsored accessory list. Well, today it's even better.

 

Well, I'm a little late to your party here, but what an enjoyment.
I, for one, think you've got the era delineations down pretty close to pat. I was fortunate to be a West Valley kid in your preferred time slot. In '62/3 the two most frequently seen T's on our streets regularly were Holman's bucket and Jones lakes roadster........iconic both (to me anyway). Jones car set it's own leadership position in a completely different vein, and Holman's was a bit of a throwback with the butt high, steel wheel look, but had the brass rad similar to the one you've got here. But in profile yours most resembles the Ivo/Roland car...............not a bad car to borrow a theme from.

As an aside, those chrome smoothies look like ass to me on just about anything......especially with that fat ridge around the hubcap, and the no vent look.....glad that was the first thing you dealt with.

 

I never understood why T Buckets seem to be the bastard child of hot rodding. Especially when most of the early lake and flats cars were T's. Maybe it because they look so easy to build? Perhaps the lack of room for people with big guts and big asses? I'll never know, but then, I really don't care. All I know is, even without huge amounts of horse power, they hold their own. Actually, two mags did a T Bucket. Hot Rod did one and spent way too much money on it and Rod & Custom is doing one that looks good, so far. They won't change anything though.

You'll go to a cruise and there will be 20 Deuce's, 20 tri-five's and a few customs. But find the car with the adults standing in line to get a pic of their kid in a hot rod and it'll be the one T bucket that came out. And the owner will answer every question you have. The little guy is everyone's friend.

 

Louvers, I know you said you were going to toss the turn signal switch, but here's what I did with it, even though I rarely use it. I mounted it straight up and below the Tach. I cut the arm down to about 5" and put a little rubber vacuum plug on the end. It's out of the leg area and there If I ever really need it. Push to the left, to signal left. Push to the right, to signal right. Just a thought.

 

Flippin Awesome!!!!
(Are you by chance going to do the flat aluminum center caps on the rear rims and the small dimpled ones on the front?)

Classic!!!!!

Nice!!!!!

 

That T in the beginning looks a lot like mine. I'll have to keep an eye on this!!

Bill

 

I'm 6" 4" and drive a T-bucket. Most was about 350 miles in 1 day.

Bill

 

Did anyone see the black t bucket that sold at the Mecum auction today ? It really wasn't bad, the proportions were nice and it had black wheels, caps, and wide whites. Some odd stuff too, like the wood around the body top cap, but even that wasn't horrible. Pretty traditional looking IMO.

Anyway, one thing I might mention about an overly long shifter like that one is that they have a tendency to drop down a gear or two on hard bumps in the road. My 23 did that occasionally, and my shifter was a lot shorter than yours. I think Megan's T was wrecked when the shifter dropped down a gear or two, or something like that, but I could be wrong.

Just thought I would mention that.

Don

 

You and me both, brother! I think it might have to do with a bunch things you mentioned, but also, I think it might be how far over the top these cars got in the seventies that tossed that wet blanket on the proceedings.

 

Less talking and more building and back dating to make it cool.

 

Thank you for joining the party!!! Ya, I keep looking at last night's pictures with the wheels on it and thinking the same thing, it does kinda have the same stance as Ivo's car. I'm damned happy with that!

And, as far as wheels, smoothies are the bane of my existence with the builds for the previous owner of this car. He honestly can't see the difference between an OEM style chrome reverse wheels and a smoothie! Another one that almost everybody that has ever built a 'bucket has done, how come "bigs" for the back have to mean wide, too? You see T-Buckets runnin' around every town on the planet with 16" wide pro street tires on the back.
The p/o and his buddy stopped by yesterday just after I put the wheels on, and The buddy, Kurt said "Oh my god, that's the wheels and tires this car should have always had"! Roy thought they looked okay...

 

Less blowing up the charging system on the wagon on 110 degree days, less customer hoods, less customer chassis, less customer general service on a '40 Chevy, '64 Corvair, and a '64 C10 truck and more back dating.... Wait a second, I just wished myself out of work...

 

In Washington State, for a while, you really had to "cheat" to get them registered and licensed. I would get to favorite parking spot on the "gut" AND sit there darn near all night in one spot, private property, watching the cruisers go by, then sneak home. No matter how detailed, the police of the day just didn't want them on the road, in our area. Small Town USA..

 

Cars gotta look good and be comfortable or they won't get driven. I'm coming along for the ride.....

 

So are you going to let the p.o. take a spin after its done?

 

I'm suddenly leaning toward the dark side...

 

...And aint it great?!