Back in my snobbish 'vette days,I could never understand A guy who always had one on the road, one on the build and enough in a pile for another.Then I build my first 30 coupe. Its headed to Germany and a new owner and I cant shake it. I need my Vitamin A fix. I've started lumping my goodies together for my next build. My donor car is a 39 Super Deluxe with juice brakes and top loader. My plan: To build a completly pre 1948 Traditional Roadster Hot Rod - on a 90% Ford platform. I'm in the death throws of a deal on a 29 roadster now and a 32 frame. I hope to wrap it up soon. While I wonder down this time passage, I know there's going to be a lot of head scratching. I've gathereed 100 pre 62 car mags and paid up my Alliance membership. I promise to do my research before posting dumb ass questions and will update as the project ventures forward. Will post the pix once I know the body and frame are mine.
rock on i for one will follow the build , nothing like the saga of another cool project and the hamb makes for a great read
I guess call this day one... The deal is done on one 29 roadster (body, firewall, doors, trunk lid, good floors and a guarantee to need all the patch panels I can find). Motor: a rebuilt 48 flatty from the owners period 32 roadster Rod (runs nice and clean) Rear end: Rebuilt 39 rear w/ tube, spring and juice brakes. 29 grill - (woop woop) Finally a 32 frame, square and no rust pits, will need a little frame horn work- most likely buck off and replace. It should be sitting here in the yard on Monday/Tuesday New Shop, New Projects and winter just around the corner.
Frame and grill showed up today... Looking like a bit of a project but I've got all the time in the world... I just might have to change the colour of that original grill... Monday the body and goodies show up too. then the big wait for the shop to be completed this month.
You know how it is when you start questing for one thing, something else comes along at the same time? Well, My 29 showed up along with the extra goodies yesterday... And I was just returning from registering the car ( or parts there of) in my name when a fellow Rodder phoned me and asked if I was still looking for a roadster. I told him to send pix... Original quarters, door cowl and firewall with brookville rails, trunk lid, skirt and stuff. Without telling my wife I called him back and told him "Yeah Baby!" ...its been kinda quiet around the house today. So its going to be a salt and pepper build this winter.
It's amazing how things progress. Start out with a big 29 roadster project, throw in a 32 frame, add in an additional 31 Roadster body and suddenly you're buying parts for twins. So its time to create 2 piles of parts, two separate projects, both that are going to end up being old school/ traditional builds. The 29 will take a back seat to the 31, call it the poor cousin if you will but theres a reason. I just want to let you know, that there's still good men out there who have a passion for the hobby more than a passion for big bucks. A well known Hot Rodder named HemiKid ( he may not like being talked about like this so last names witheld) called me on Sunday afternoon. He knows I have a deep rooted lust for his 32 Roadster. You see, it was first rodded in 1953. A pre 48 flatty, a truck toploader with 48 gears, a merc rear end, a straight as an arrow 32 frame and a true and tested hand crafted 3 inch drop axle. All I can tell you is his little rod has passed through a few hands but he knew the original owner and builder along with the fellow who formed the axle back in 53. I've gotten to know Hemikid over the last 3 years and I could talk with him for hours. He's been a rodder for the last 50 years, knows his stuff and is a real, real down to earth kinda guy. Now I've bought a car or two from Hemi in the past; a 39 Plymouth coupe, 48 plymouth convert and a 28 Ford Roadster, each time he's been very fair and offered the cars at below market value. I think its out of the passion for the hobby more than anything. When it comes to buying something from me, there's no haggling, tire kicking or sniveling, he's a real straight shooter. Something rare in a lot of Hot Rodders theses days. He knows I've been putting together the parts to build a 31 Roadster as I bought a banjo, 48 flatty and other goodies from him. But he blew me out of the water when he called. "Hey thats a pretty great body you've got there. You need something good to put it on, " he said, " I've got the dea lof a lifetime for you." My ears went back and I sat down getting ready for the pitch... "I've built a full TCI frame for my 32 and want to put my body on it... You interested in everything thats left?" Price named, and he said "okay, I'm coming up tuesday with it." I wont go into details on prices, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. And no, This car wont be coming up for sale anytime soon. This is my KEEPER! It's going to be a highboy running 16" WWW and Steel wheels. The grill is an original 32 and I want to run with a solid top/ stock louvered side hood, no fenders. Oh yeah, here's some pix... Here's a photochop version of that I see going through my head: If you're interested in following the build link for this girl, here it is. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=405860 For a brief moment of panic and looking at the flood of projects sitting here I relapsed for a moment and put the 29 up for sale but quickly took it down. I want to build her so she's different that the 31 and a little off the wall but still old school. Maybe a hemi, 348, 429 something meaty in that 32 frame.
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