Thank you sir. It's going to be quite fun. One of my goals was to find something I considered a good start. After my divorce I had to get rid of a lot of tools I don't have the budget to repurchase, and build a driving car in the time frame I wish. It really is a great start after I spent some time inspecting it. I have yet to find any evidence of patching, bondo, or anything. Thanks, Glen. Not chopped seems to be an acquired taste but I like it and I don't think the body deserves to be chopped. I even think with the right stance it would look great without the fenders. I worked at Ramchargers for quite a few years. It was a great place when the economy was doing well. Are the pictures in the thread decent enough size?
Update: More story behind the build and some more parts for the collections. Over the past few days I've been away from the car for work allowing me to step away and put some think time into this project. I always like the idea of stepping away after the honeymoon is over to gather ideas, start to plan the attack., and most importantly visualize the finished finished build. Given winter is soon upon us not allowing me to tear the car down yet I have been working on collecting most of the large purchases with a specific date range and feel I am after. I actually really like the collecting parts stage, especially when you find the things you day dream about and never thought you would get if you were in a position to build a hot rod..... I mean, come on... I know they might be getting a little belly button but I have a Flat Head for the car.... I thought budget would force me SBC but I have a Flat Head! So..... As far as the build goes I have been piecing an era I would like to maintain. I've been back and forth for pre-war / post war but there are certain things I would like on the car for a good driver, and safe as I can make it. This is what I came up with, then I'll show my scores from today. A guy builds a pre-war car, goes to war, comes home and decides to upgrade the car, hit the streets, and look for trouble. Basically a 1949 tops street race car inspired by many aspects of hot rodding years prior. He's not concerned if it looks a little Hot Rod, and he is more concerned about form over function. After a lot of thought. I really, really like it. The era is my favorite, and I think the idea of an all business, street car is a neat concept.. I also fully intend to build it and drive it before deciding if I am going to go through the paint process. During the first phase it may look a little worn on the outside but underneath is inspired by all of the more modern street racers around here.. See, when I worked at Ramchargers I was heavily involved with the street race scene. I didn't race because of the element but I sold parts to almost everyone, and spent time with the cars. Some of the coolest cars didn't look that great outside but once you started checking out engine, and suspension everything was tip top. This decision has been a big hurdle for me and I'm glad I can see it in my head now. Sorry for the rambling. It feels to good to type out the story, now on with some pics. I've been slowly working on removing touch up paint to expose the original. What I thought were sand scratches turns out to be some very, very, nice checking. If the whole car looks like this I will be quite happy. Today I went on a little adventure to pic up some parts. Originally I intended to get my rear end, and some headers. The day quickly turned awesome. I scored what I believe is a mid 40's complete rear axle, wishbones, torque tube, and juice brakes. Stamping indicates it should be a 3:78 gear. Two 6.00 Firestones Some very cool headers made from torque tubes from a Hamb member. If I decide to go fenderless an cool Hamb member gave me the late 1800's step of a horse buggy. You can also see one of the shock mounts I took off the rear end so I can run tube shocks. He also hooked me up with some hubs for the front, and bearings. And up there at the top of my favorites.. All and all I think it was an awesome day for parts collecting. Can't wait to see what else I can find. Over the next couple days I'll try to post some detailed photos of the body and structure if anyone is interested.
Thanks, Hitchhiker. I think you are right. Given the length of the tube it may be from a sedan too. I have to shorten it quite a bit.
Me too man. It's almost strange how quick the collection is growing with quality parts. I'm paying for it today. Tearing the axle down to fit in my truck has left my body a bit cranky!
you got a good jumpstart on your T. i've peen colecting parts for bout 10 years , just got the last parts a week ago.my build is 1951 era, chopped 5'', 8ba motor 39 linc. trans columbia od. 35 wires, drop ft. axil etc. good luck and i'll be watching....
I'm watching intently. I'd be tempted to build an A frame to swap it onto, and keep the T chassis/running gear all intact in one piece to build a wood wheeled speedster out of, but I can see why you'd want to keep the original frame as well. I like everything you've got so far.
Awesome plans! Can't wait to see the progress. Looks like you might need to go look from some trouble at TROG '15!!
Damn, that's quite a pile of parts! If I only had the room, I would love to do that. Thanks for diggin it. If it's in driving condition, and I can score a trailer I think it would be a blast! The work schedule is a whole other thing. In other news... I've been doing a little reading on converting my transmission to a floor shift and it reminded me of a story my Father has told me a bunch of times... My Aunt liked to race guys on Woodward in my Grandfathers "55 Chevy with a 3 on the tree" which has me pondering the thought of finding a 40 Ford column to maintain the column shift. I think it would be a little different, plus my Dad would get a kick out of it when I take him out in it. It might take a bit of pedal creativity but I should be able to kick the throttle a bit towards the center of the car to compensate if need be. Another possible problem is firewall clearance for the linkage. I've see it pretty tight on a 32 but not on a T. If anyone has any input or advice, I would greatly appreciate it.
Not sure if you guys are into the small updates considering I'm not deep into the build yet but I like to update at least weekly as I go.... Over the past week I have been doing more inspecting, and a little clean up on the car while I decide how I want to finish it. Today I pulled the seat out to look around a bit. I also discovered the seat, as well as a few panels still have the original grey cloth underneath the old recover. It still amazes me how solid this car is. All of the factory rivets, brackets are there, and it appears the body has never been removed from the frame. The seat bottom, springs, and carpet around the seat riser are all original and in decent condition. The doors are completely intact with no rot. This picture is quite interesting and shows what I said about someone applying touch up paint to the car in spots. You can see the original paint towards the edge of the quarter panel. After a lot of examination with different types of lights I can also see some spots where something was brushed on real thin in some areas. A big part of me would like to remove all the touch up to see what's underneath but I have to be real careful. I'm very positive the dull black is original paint due to how soft it is and the checking I see in other areas. I almost think the best way is to wet sand it so I can stay away from chemicals. Every little thing I hit it with causes a different effect, and it is rather absorbent. I also noticed even wax and grease remover lifts up the touch up paint onto a rag. It can't be another week without a parts score! Got a set of recently rebuilt front juice brakes, and the guy threw in a model A axle with some not so pretty shock mounts, and a spring I can mess around with. Not too bad for 100 bucks all in. At this point I am basically a front wish bone, spindles, and some hardware away from having enough parts for a roller. That's about it for now. I've been working on setting up my basement shop for rebuilding small parts, and cleanup. Hopefully this weekend I can go look at some 40 Ford parts, and steering stuff to explore the possibility of using a column shift. The more I work on this the more I fall in love with the car and I think it's funny how ideas change once you start collecting parts. It's almost like it's telling me how it wants to be built...... I think if I do a very in depth clean up, and minimal paint on parts I could pull off a very convincing survivor appearing hotrod. Still a little torn on keeping the fenders at the moment. I'm not convinced the left side front, and rear are original. They are a bit different than the right side.
Dude your photography is kick ass !! It's almost like a commercial print shoot....lighting....format, etc.....and if so....where in the hell are the buxom skantily clad models ?? !! Love what you are doing.......as you already know.....as if, huh ?
Where on the quarter panel are the 'touch ups'? Can you post up a wider angle photo? I've been doing some research into Ford's T-era paint and from what I can tell, parts like the sub-frames, seat risers, and misc. internal bracketry were 'slushed' with asphaltum, then the bodies were given a prime coat (dark maroon-brown), first finish coat, then second finish coat (low bake asphaltum). Although some branch assembly plants had primitive spray equipment, most T's would have been painted by 'flowing' the material onto the body and any corrections would have been made with a soft natural-fiber brush. I'm curious if the brush marks aren't a result of the first 'slush' coat or an assembly line correction to a flaw in the flowed-on finish. (T's produced after August 1926 were painted with Pyroxylin, so the above does not necessarily apply) The brownish-black areas on the quarter panel are of interest, as they look fairly similar to the 'first coat' asphaltum paint I uncovered on a pristine '17-23 hood (that I wet sanded down to bare metal in a few spots). Although hoods, fenders, running boards, and splash aprons were painted with a slightly different formulation than bodies, I'd be interested to see if the brownish areas on yours are, in fact, areas where the prime or first finish coat are showing through. Cool stuff!
hahaha, Thanks man. One thing I can promise is good pictures. I've messed around as a hobby for a few years. I'll see if I can get some ladies to pose once the car is built. My thoughts align with your theory. I've read most of what I can find on the net although your reference to primer is the first I have seen. Thank you for sharing that. I was curious considering some other stuff I found. From what I can tell right now it appears the car has had two sessions of touch up through out its history. In the picture I fully believe that is finish coat. The lighting is a bit warm to show how black it is. The majority of the touch up work is on the front fender, cowl, and front A pillars. It looks, feels, and sands like single stage enamel. It was sprayed on quite thick in places where the original flowed off of the high spots. Most of the car wasn't masked, and it was blended to body lines. I am also pretty confident in original form as with all Ts of that year the body gloss was lower than the fenders by quite a bit. As evidence in this picture. http://media.caranddriver.com/image...l-t-assembly-line-photo-338182-s-1280x782.jpg This appears to be a later 26 photo, so the car might be green but you can see a difference in gloss for sure. Once you get to the doors on my car and hit with the right light you can see very thin touch up work. That's one reason why I am afraid to try to remove it. I didn't care about the front left fender because it's not original and discovered some grey primer under the black, below that was original paint also. If you like, I can get more pictures of critical areas for sharing and give my opinion. I went to school for auto body back in the day and have plenty of cars under my belt to give something honest. Over this week while it's a little warm I am going to do a little clean up with soap and water in places since it absorbs everything in its present state. I'll see what I can do to get images to explain what I am looking at. If I could safely remove all the touch up I would minimally treat any bad areas, and mix up some paint like your recipe. I'm thinking with a little alteration here and there, and using an airbrush I could spot in much of the car, buff it by hand, and it would be awesome. The result would be keeping my idea of the car appearing 20 or so years old in the late 40's. I am all about preservation within safety with this build. I think it deserves it.
Very cool! I believe the Tudor in that picture was painted with Pyroxylin (nitrocellulose lacquer)...Ford evidently made the switch from Gilsonite (asphalt-based) to lacquer in August '26 (approximately the 1926/1927 'model year' dividing line). Headlight bars were not present (to my knowledge) until right around this time. Here's a November 1925 shot of a 1926 (model year) roadster that had been flow-painted with Gilsonite (asphaltum). Very shiny! If your paint is indeed Gilsonite, it will have an almost oily sheen and may vary in color from deep black to brownish-black-blue. Small swirls and scratches will show a 'rainbow' effect as light reflects off the linseed oil base. I have not attempted it, but a dab of pure boiled linseed oil might freshen up the paint if it is Gilsonite. Will stay tuned...I only have small remnants of original paint to reference; wish I had a quarter of what you've got
It's Gilsonite then... The car was built in 02 of 26 per the serial number. In your image it is very shiny. Not arguing it should dry with more gloss than nitro paint without a proper polish. but I believe the paint in that image is still wet. Using a 500 watt painting light on the sides of the car I can see the rainbow effect you are talking about and I can actually see checking underneath the touch up work. It's quite frustrating really... There is so much original paint on the car it's a shame it was covered up regardless of condition. That's where I am stuck... I want to remove it all, but I fear messing up the original. The safest bet is wet sanding it from my experimentation. It's so damn soft you can dig your nail into it. It will be a slow process though. Once I start sanding the touch up blends right into the original so I'll have to go slow. I'm sure it would love some linseed oil. Another place to stop on my way home from work. And, since you are aren't working with much and I would bet many others are the same I'll do my best to get good pictures of the paint. If there is anything you want to see larger than what I post, I shoot over 5000 pixels and save my originals. Let me know what image it is and I'll hook you up. I only post a small percentage of what I take.
I'd love to see the paint on the sub rails and any shot of the body paint you might have- especially against bright light at an oblique angle. Dang, I'm almost tempted to buy a plane ticket to MI to see it in person Yeah, that pic I posted was a freshly painted car...dontcha love the 'catch pan under the deck lid to keep paint out of the trunk? My limited experience with asphaltum is that it dries pretty glossy - definitely not like plastic-y like modern paints, but with a deep yet oily shine. Neat stuff for sure! FWIW, I think you're on the right track in trying to preserve the paint. I'd almost be tempted to just leave the 'touch ups' alone, but if you really want to dig into it, let me test my asphaltum samples with a few different solvents to see if we can find something that will remove the 'touched up' areas without damage to the original paint underneath.
I'll see what I can do after I clean the areas with soap and water. There is so much dust, pictures will be worthless. I would like to get a little further on it before letting someone view it. Just to confirm how much original is there to make it worth a trip if one was inclined. I LOVE old assembly line pictures. The masking paper thrown on the floor, the chain and fixture to hold the body. It's all great. Right now I'm only going to take the body as far as I am comfortable with. If I get to a point where I think the original paint will be damaged, I'll stop and just polish the car up. The hints of original underneath will be cool enough to me. If you are up for the task to experiment it would be awesome. Considering the softness of the original paint anything applied will mar it in some fashion. If I can find something light enough and catch it just as it breaks the touch up I can always polish it in an effort to restore the finish. Damn.... I wish winter wasn't around the corner.
@gwhite I'm working on getting good pictures of what I want to show. Hopefully some lower wattage lighting will yield better results. I have stared at the outside for quite sometime and decided to remove some more things to have a look on the inside... I don't know what it is. A few years ago I would have hand no problem stripping the thing down but something about this car intrigues me now that I am starting to see it's personality. Especially how intact everything is and the hints of original finishes, and parts. So far, I am glad I feel different especially as of today. Here are some pics what I found. Not sure if they are of interest but I think what I leave as is during my build adds to the charm of the car. This is original carpet around the seat riser in my opinion. I am certain by the fasteners and they had no tool marks. The paint on the vertical part of the riser should be original. One thing I don't know is if the sill trim panels were painted at the factory. Upon inspection of the seat bottom I can see evidence of the original seat cover. It appears complete but with a lot of rips. I do not question this is the orginal seat bottom in original finishes considering the original cover remains on the seat. Notice the original piece of trim fabric on the right stuck under the sill trim panel. The package tray has the original material under the recover, the wood appears to be in original condition. I have looked for a number yet but considering the floorboards have original part number stampings I believe it is.
Loving these builds. Here is another on here going on as well...may be able to draw some inspiration! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/26-model-t-build.568928/page-17#post-10667592
Thanks, Charilie. I have been watching that thread for a bit. Way cool build and I really like the Model A wheels. It will be great when I get that far along on mine.
Love the historical value on the car. I like that you are looking aat building it in a way to keep the character of the car.
Thanks , man. I can appreciate something pretty and painted up but I think character comes from wear. I want the car to feel like a good pair jeans. I keep going back and forth about it right now. In my head I see it both ways and I'm not sure how the longer rear end will look until I mock it up. It's a big decision up there with tire sizes, and stance which I am still toiling about. To me fenders are more sleeper. No fenders is more looking for trouble. Good stuff. Progress will be slow until spring.
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