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

Here, I've scanned the whole article of the car and posted it elsewhere. Might as well do it here too.


Wow, that's weird, it won't enlarge when I pull it out of my quicky file... Here it is the other way

 

Penry's T just may be the most influental T-bucket of all time, at least in terms of the huge number of T-buckets being built in the mid-sixties. Heresy!!! How can I say such a thing?? Ivos is of course, right? Or maybe Grabowskis. But Penry??!! Whoever heard of Chuck Penry, other than a couple wierdo, OCD Hambers...Well, maybe its not that simple. The Penry car was the t-bucket that appeared in the Cal Automotive ads for their T-bucket kit for several years in the sixties. A WHOLE lotta guys looked at that ad without ever knowing who the hell Chuck Penry was, and thought "I WANT one of those!".

 

You certainly won't go far wrong following Perry's lead. Perfect '60s.

 

The bed looks like it is attached to the body slightly lower, and the body looks like it isn't channeled, as it sits higher. If you photo shop your T shorter, it will still look thinner. Maybe your frame is lower.........the two cars look quite different to me.

 

The Penry car was DEFINEATELY channeled. No doubt about it.

 

Hey Jud, try posting again as your pictures didn't come through.

 

Nope, the bed is at the same height as mine, and is the same length too. Both what are considered 20" beds. Cal Automotive pretty much set the "standard" for T-Bucket bodies when it came up with the 14" bed and 20" bed molded bodies in the mid sixties. It does sit a skosh higher than mine, it has 16x10 Americans, and about 7" less wheelbase than mine does, and that's what really is making the difference. Also, it's sitting on quite a bit less rake than my car, as it has a typical early Ford dropped axle on the front with the spring over the axle, whereas mine sits behind.

 

Hey gang, not much to post as far as progress this weekend as I have had to double down on the touring for my client. I started making something of the headers this weekend. See, the P/O and his buddy didn't have a usable set of turnouts handy, so they decided that cutting an old rusty glass pack in half and jamming it in and welding a bit would do just fine... NOPE! Goes right back to what I was talking about before. If you don't have the "right" stuff, instead of jamming whatever you have in and running with it, take a look backwards to before the "right" stuff was, and think about what you have, or have available to you. In this case I whipped out the band saw and cut the offending glass packs out. From here the plan is to use a straight extension back to the door line, make a four bolt removable cap, a drop that runs under the body into a short glass pack, than paint the whole mess white after a whole bunch of sandblasting. Cheap, simple and just about in line time wise with our self imposed look of '64.

I did run into one minor hitch though. I went over to one of my semi-regular haunts the other day called "You-do-it-truck-stuff" on west Van Buren, which has for 65 years been a source of big truck parts and accessories and veritable smorgasbord of 3" and bigger exhaust stuff, only to find the doors locked, padlocked and the building empty. There went my plan to buy my exhaust extensions this weekend! There are a couple similar joints around town, so in a few days I'll have some time to get out and do some exploring and find what I need. If not, there is always the exhaust parts warehouse out in Mesa...

I know it kinda looks like I'm not following much of a plan at this point, and I'm kinda skipping around and doing weird little bits. I have a tendency in life to correct the things that offend me the most first when working on a project for myself. In the little bit of time I have especially in the summer, when I'm not working on the paying stuff, this is kinda how it has to go. As it cools a bit and gets back into some reasonable weather and longer hours to be worked, stuff will make a bunch more sense.

 

You are right. In the upper right pic he sits too high out of the body for it to to be a unchanneled car.

 

man, what a dogs breakfast! Good work Chip.

 

Damn straight dog's breakfast! It took forever to go through that mess with my big band saw!

 

Over the years I have watched friends do crap like that dozens of times. Its always "well, I just want to get it running, I'll fix it properly later". So then it takes 3 times as long to fix the cobbled up mess as it would have to just run out and pick up the stuff and do it right in the first place, so it stays like that, and they end up spending the next five years making excuses for it.
My attitude is "Its your CAR for crissakes, you spent all this time and money building it, and now you are gonna screw it up with a bunch of half-assed hack jobs when you are in the home stretch??!!".

 

This car IS a whole batch of half-assed hack jobs after my involvement with the chassis. When I put a chassis together, I ALWAYS go out and purchase the correct length and grade hardware to do the job it's intended to do. Since this was the third car I did for Roy, he said "Don't spend the money this time, we know what to get and where to get them now, you don't have to". So, it's cobbled together with whatever was in my nuts and bolt bin at the time... I found a front radius rod pivot last night that was still just hand tight, and grade 2... Scary stuff!

 

BUT But, Its only temporary, unless it works,,,

 

Said right after using duct tape, zip ties and a coat hanger.

 

this is the kind of crap I'm dealing w/ right now...just making things right before I can spend money on the fun stuff. I've got a large collection of mismatched hardware happening.


This thread is giving me quite an education btw. Thanks!

 

I've always told new hot rodders that one of the very best things they can do for themselves is to find a local nut and bolt warehouse and walk in and introduce yourself. Most legitimately ONLY sell wholesale, but I have found that explaining that you are a hot rodder, Keeping your purchases above ten dollars, what your needs will be, and what you are doing will get you on the "sell list" pretty quick. And, I don't care where you live, there IS a nut and bolt wholesaler close. You can purchase all that you need at most ACE Hardware stores these days, but at prices literally approaching ten times the cost of a wholesaler.

That bring up another very good point that I feel lots of hot rod newbies don't know. That ACE hardware store that you pass on the way to Home Depot? Most of them have a kick ass selection of small loose hardware that can be an absolute boon to building. Spending any time on the road in your hot rod? Get to know where the ACE stores are! ACE Hardware in Astoria Oregon has saved my ass more than once, and being a maritime store, you can easily lose a day in there just lookin' at stuff...

 

I never bitch about the price of nuts and bolts at my local Ace or other hardware store that carries a large selection. Some years ago it was almost impossible to find S.S. stuff. Now most hardware stores have a large selection.
A friend of mine that works at one of those hardware's told me that because of theft they don't make any money on it. They just take the loss to keep you coming into the store.

 

Solid advice!


I generally use an old mom & pop hardware near me, better prices & selection than Ace. Home Depot/Lowes only sell by the package which isn't necessarily good for the wallet either since I may only need one nut, bolt or washer.

 

Okay, it's already about 104 and 75% humidity in my shop today, so I'm going to cut it short a bit as a workday. I have a couple of tiny updates for ya. First, after starting Miss Judy on engine turning our dash insert, she decided that being a hot rod builder's assistant is for the birds, and flew away to Hong Kong! Well, partially at least. She did suddenly take off to Hong Kong to deal with some family stuff, so I finished out the basic panel. I did about three rows a morning for the last few days before I started working, then a couple more after. I'll make the template and cut it all up in the next week or so, so for right now my turns are protected with scotch blue tape and it's sitting on my coffee table in the front room. If you do see us at any event this fall, I guaranty she will tell you she made it, so just play along...

I also made something quickly this morning to fix something that drives me nuts with these cars. See, when I build a chassis with a suicide perch, I usually build it so it is under hand and use a simple pair of U-Bolts to attach the spring. It's clean and it lowers the car a bit. I didn't build this frame! I noticed it must have made Tommy Ivo nuts too to have all that ugly uncovered, 'cause his car has an overhand perch with a cover too! Since I have a louver press, I added a couple to the mix just because. After really looking at this, I'm not sure that I won't make another with my wider 3 1/2" louver instead of the 2 1/2". Like I said, I'm just nibbling at smaller things that I would put off once the weather cools enough to be driving this thing...

If any body would care to see it, I shot two tons of pictures on making this cover from a left over chunk of aluminum. I would be happy to do a quick tech piece on it that would cover basic aluminum types, correct use of shears, bending aluminum and louvering. Matter of fact, shooting the pictures took longer than making the cover! If it's something that you would like to see, let me know...

 

man, I keep hearing about Ace hardware on here. I dont think we have them in Canada, at least I've never seen them. Just about every town here used to have an Acklands Industrial Supply, man, those places were AWESOME. Open stock on set-screws of all sizes, woodruff keys, all kinds of assorted springs, nuts and bolts, fittings, ect, ect. Havent seen one of those in a long time either, they might be out of business.

 

I'm the guy at welding class, picking up scraps of stainless steel, aluminum and nuts & bolts laying on the floor. Nobody, except the car guys, knew why.

 

dont intend to hi-jack Chips thread, but hows that going? I remember when you mentioned you were going to do that.

 

Damn good point! That perch cover I made today AND the dash insert that we've turned over the last week were just scraps I had left over from a couple of different projects. I don't throw anything away, and my little shop shows that unfortunately.

 

Another vote for ACE great people at ours and friendly. I was working on an L1A1 British rifle. It was one that was done during the all weapons ban and had a funky looking stock on it. Lowes is close by me so I thought why not talk to them. The guys had no clue on what I was talking and said if its a British gun you will need something we dont sell. I even had the lower receiver with me. I just need a bras tab and a longer screw to fit into the pistol grip.

I took the same part to the people at ACE hardware and walked away in five minutes with the correct parts. They had bin after bin full of stuff.

 

In my humble hamlet we have a place called Ababa bolt. It has everything. I have a bin compartment that is 10 drawers high by 8 drawers across. It is full!!! I don't like to use old bolts if possible. I am also very fond of Allen head bolts as well as Button head allens. I also save scrapes of metal, wood ETC and my garage is proof of that!!!

 

I believe many HAMBers would benefit by a thread on engine turned aluminum, me included.
The louvered spring cover you made is excellent, just a small simple detail to give it a finished look.
In my neck of the woods, 2 industrial ACE hardware stores (about 5 miles apart) also carry a great assortment of good quality chrome hardware. What one store may be out of, the other will have.
I shy away from big box store hardware, I just don't trust the quality.
Chip, your doing a great job with this so far! Keep it up.
The hood panels you punched for me could not be better, I will post photos, after final fit. (I hope I won't muck them up)
All the history lessons are great too.

Sent using H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Grabowski and Ivo both did that. No mystery Ivo copied Norms car pretty closely. In the mid to late '50s the thing to do is drag race and show your car so they were cleaning stuff up then.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one that can't throw away any piece of metal. Once when I was working at the school a defunk aluminum business donated all their office furniture. When I got there to pick it up I saw scraps of aluminum everywhere. The guy said I could take anything I wanted. I quit loading scrap aluminum when he started giving my dirty looks. Guess he didn't know he was dealing with a hot rodder. Still have a lot of it around.

 

Ya, I am a recovering allen head and allen button head addict. I'm trying real hard to stick to the plot here so stuff will remain six point on this one.


On nut and bolt bins, I had a client of mine about five years ago that was trying to reduce his life's possessions and move up to Port Angeles, Washington. He called me up one day and asked if I would like a nut and bolt bin. "Sure" say I! I get there to pick it up and he says that we'll have to take it over to my place in his truck... This thing is 3' tall, 4' wide and 2' deep! 72 drawers of goodies, and these days it's ALL full! damn good thing it's on HUGE industrial casters!

 

Ohio George used allen head bolts on his 33 Willys. Here's a picture and its mentioned twice in the article. March 65 car craft. I'd say they meet the 1965 rule because I'm sure it ran that way long before the feature.

MELTDOWN DRAGS
JULY 19, 20 2014