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

A well designed seat does not need a lot of padding. The seat in my roadster has just 1 inch of foam for the back and 2 inches on the seat, This is hard foam. It does have a 4inch roll in the front for under knee support. Now this is really comfortable so much so that last September I drove 1400 miles in 24 hours. Surrey BC to San Diego. Although I was tired I was not sore at all.

 

Hey Chip I've been going back over the thread looking at things an I notice between post#2005 and #2038 you have removed your front indicator lamps from the head light posts. Have you removed them altogether or just swopped them for something else, I havn't been able to find another pic that shows the front completely. Are indicator lamps mandatory or voluntary in Arizona.

 

Absolutely voluntary on antique cars! We really honestly do have some of the laxest laws for old cars in the nation in my state, and I'm damned happy for that. I still solidly maintain that folks in a big, busy, city like Phoenix pay more attention to things that are out of the ordinary, like hand signals. That doesn't mean that they know what are you are doing, but at least you have their attention.
And, quite honestly, people here really DON'T use their turn signals. A local TV station did a Face Book survey last week about signals, and less than 25% responded positively to the question "Do you always signal". It actually can be a terrifying place to drive sometimes.

I sure don't miss the clutter on the front of the car though, and nor do I miss tangling my feet up on that damned switch hanging off the column that couldn't be reached in any situation, ever. The first week I drove this thing, I ended up face down in a parking lot 'cause my laces on my Van's skate shoes caught in the switch as I went over the edge. Truth be told, (and it more than pisses Judy off!) in the nice weather of Fall, Spring and Winter I even drive her brand new (and worthless crap) Honda with the windows down and hand signaling...

 

that is the problem, we have to have them regardless so now I'm trying to figure out how to hide them and still be seen.

 

I think what Chip was trying to say in so many words is that in the USA if your car didn't have them when it was built you aren't required to have them. I guess that It can be a problem if your car is registered as a new build. But most of us can figure out how get around that at The DMV.

 

Great looking T !!!
Wish I started following this from the begining. Trying to speed read and going cross eyed. Not sure how I missed this thread.

 

I'm actually fairly confident in saying that the passenger side not only doesn't have webbing, but it actually has five bricks, laid on edge and twerked over at a 45* angles, under that blanket...

It's gettin' hot, get those shocks done!

 

Kiwirodder,

Just got my SEMA magazine for this month, and these were in there. Would they work / be legal in NZ?

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Nitrobrother,

You ain't lying! This was on the waterfront in San Diego today! Crazyness!

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Blownfuel, they look like they might do the job I'll do a search for them, thanks

 

Damn, those are pretty cool!


Sorry gang, again I have been shirking my duties here for actual work. I feel like I have been chained to my press the last couple of weeks with all the stuff I have been kicking out. I did have a chance to snap a quick pict or two of the 'Bucket loaded up and playing shop truck yesterday bringing my buddy Ronnie Olmstead's project back to him. Maybe next week I'll snap some picts of my "gay" little wiring supplies basket when I'm off to handle making the electrons flow properly in a customers '40 coupe.

In the mean time, I just put my order in today with Towel City recaps for a pair of recapped cheater slicks to replace my late, lamented Hurst recaps for the back. Soon, for the first time since I started this thread the Halibrands will be back on their intended vehicle (my '29 rpu), and the Americans and cheaters will be back here again. I do love the look of the big Halis on this car, but they are more early fifties than early sixties. That and they are so valuable I have to admit that it's a bit spooky running around on them for everyday use. It kinda like putting flowers in a Ming vase....

 

Chip, are the Towel City slicks bias ply? If so, what will you run for front tires?

Steve

 

Nope, radial casing like the Hursts. It's funny though, ever since '82 when left Karl's Custom in my newly dropped Cal Look bug with a pair of new 135s on the front and my old 6.00s on the back 'cause I was too broke to by all four, I have been a major drum beater for NOT mixing radials and bias on the same car. I did two complete ground loops at about 35 in that car on the way home that day in one lane of traffic during rush hour.... Terrifying, and I have always considered myself a quick study, so it was never done again! If memory serves I ate top ramen the rest of that month and had the 165s on the rear the next day.

But, In getting the "T" together last fall, I made three trips around the block on the OLD Hurst slicks I had, and they developed a soft ball sized wart on one. The only other set of rear wheels I had ready to go were my Halibrands from my RPU. A small shiver ran up my spine as I remembered damn near killing myself with the mismatch 30 years earlier.... But it didn't happen! Not even with a pair of bias rear tires as anti-social as my Coker Firestone dirts on the back with radials on the front. it's just dead stable and even more "glued in" than I thought it could be.

I don't know if it's some special magic, or simply the gods watching over a fool, but with the bias/radial mis-match this thing works great.

 

I too have a few times mixed Ply n R,with not the same thing happening,seems to depend on the car your doing it to and how its set up,don't know why though as have not done it enough times to find why one didn't work an other seemed to be OK

 

Been a whole week with no posts. Must have been painting it?

 

Hopefully like me Chip is getting the roadster ready for the 50th LARS.

See you there.

 

Actually, Chip had a chance to wire a very nice '40 coupe for a guy and make money, so not too much going on with the bucket but taking a 50 mile round trip to another part of town for the last week. Spent some significant miles on the freeway though, and it seems to be pretty happy. I'm going to wait until the end of next week and the mounting of my new slicks before I completely commit to driving this thing across the dessert week after next. Cool thing though, at 107 degrees today, doesn't matter if I'm goin' 80 on the freeway, or sitting at a light forever, it has never gone above 190! musta done something right!

 

Jealous of the LARS experience as well as your cooling ability. I panic if I get stopped at a long red light & do everything I can to avoid anywhere I know there will be heavy traffic.

Can I get a bit of a history lesson? What do you consider a "kit" t bucket? I get questioned almost everytime I'm out & slightly insulted knowing that with the exception of the body & drivetrain, the bones of my car were entirely handbuilt. It's not one of these do-it-yourself/bolt-togethers available these days. On the other hand, it's not a Ford factory car either. I'm questioning my response, that it isn't a "kit".

Silly question, maybe...

 

Well, kind of a silly question, and certainly not either. I get allot of the same. I guess the answer would be it was a kit car if everything was shipped to your door on a pallet and you followed a set of assembly instructions provided. The thought of a kit T-Bucket has been with us since both Almquist and Speedway hit the market with their bodies in '59. Within a month or two both were offering a frame to go with. The really true "tab "A" slot "B" kit 'buckets" didn't really come around until the later sixties and early seventies. If you pick up a 1968 issue of Rod&Custom, every one of them has three or four pages of ads from Bird automotive, and their biggest offering is a kit bucket.

My standard answer when asked if it's a kit is, "Nope! Bought the body, axles and engine and built everything in between". Seems to shut down the casual asker pretty quickly. If somebody really is interested I'll explain the swap meets it all came from and the process, and I'll hand them my business flyer.

 

Thanks. It's good to hear, not that I'd ever be sure of what someone else is truly getting at in asking.

Ever heard of "Made-Right" out of Cleveland? My dad said that's where the body on mine came from back in '71. I haven't been able to find anything about the business. That company name doesn't lend well for googling either.

 

Just sprayed the second header with VHT. An annual event. After I get it installed I should be ready for LARS. In the background see the start of my new garage bay shed. Just big enough for my roadster. After I get it built I should have enough room to bring home the '48 Ford moor door.

As for a "Kit T" m y interpretation is if you buy enough parts to bolt together a car without having to fabricate anything it is a kit.

 

SR, you're close. My version would read"from the same source"
Still, if people had any idea of the work it takes to build a car, they wouldn't ask whether it was a "kit'. I got asked if my 40 Plymouth was a kit! "yeah, they're reproducing 40 Plymouths in fibreglass now!" Some lady I met was amazed that someone would buy a car like my Model A, and put it away for 80 years and not drive it, so I could bring it out looking like new. I try to be patient and explain, but.....

 

If it is Fiberglass it is as close as you can get to a Kit car. If it is Steel then it is not a kit car it is a real Henry!!!

 

Total Performance had a great deal to do with the "kit car" moniker. They proudly marketed their "Total T's" as kits for the hot rod novice for many, many years - and not surprisingly brought a whole new bunch of car enthusiast into the realm of street rodding.

Remember Gina and Lisa Lauria assembling a complete car during the Street Rod Nationals as a publicity gimmic? I sure do. Founder Mickey Lauria was far ahead of his time, taking both the concept and the marketing of it to new heights.

Speedway Motors now owns the Total Performance brand, but it was Mickey and daughters Gina and Lisa who made it what it is - and who launched the "T-Bucket Kit Car Craze". It was Norm "Flat-top" Grabowski, Tommy Ivo, and a few innovative others who "invented" the T-bucket, but it was Mickey Lauria who put them within the reach of everyday people.

 

I've never considered a glass T, or really an A or '32, a "kit" car. To me, a kit car is one of those lambo-fiero abortions that still turn up in traffic when you least expect it (it's hard to drive wile trying to gouge ones eyes out).

Get them slicks yet? I wanna see how they look on the RPU!

 

No slicks yet, but they are on their way!!!

 

I do find it somewhat insulting when someone refers to my T as a kit , but I just smile & say : Yep , $19.95 at sears !! or What exactly did you drive in today ??
dave

 

If any one asks just tell em "IT'S A HOT ROD" What else do you need to say.
If they don't understand that then they just don't get it.

 

I tell them, "No, it's a hot rod." Funny, I've never been asked that by someone who's into cars or hot rods. I had a clerk at a gas station mini-mart ask me if it was a dune buggy. I casually told him, "You know what? I'd rather you had called me an asshole, than call my T Bucket a dune buggy." The guy behind me was laughing his ass off.

The thing about Kit Cars is just like the shows on TV, where they build a car in 6 weeks. Some people honestly believe this shit is that easy. I have a friend who built a Lamborghini Countach kit car, some years ago. It wasn't tossed together and was as close to the real thing as you could get. You wouldn't have needed to gouge your eyes out. The suction of the wind, when he flew by you, would have pulled them out.

No matter what you build, it's how you do it. If you do it half assed, it'll look it. If kit cars were so easy to build, every ass hat would have one. The projects for sale on Ebay are from guys, who thought these "kits" were so easy to build.

EVERY car goes together with nuts and bolts. Just like a model kit. If the guys, who drove all over getting their pieces of tin, think that makes them "special" or with "soul", so be it. Some people need that crap.

I'm also getting real tired of reading and hearing from the "experts" on this shit. Real tired.

 

If my steel bodied T hot rod RPU was a buy it and bolt it together kit type thing I would have built it 3 times (at least ) over by now, even though a "kit" car can have some serious challenges of it's own.
On the other hand fabricating darn near everything including the chassis is a wee bit more involved