The last Grasp Special '34 3 window build

Around mid evening we went inside and watched a DVD on the Austin Speed Shop and the build of the Jesse James roadster. One derives inspiration from many places. Or maybe watching some of these DVDs makes one realise how much fun it can be building stuff for yourself with no real time restraints.
Tony and I definitely enjoy working at our own pace. Yes we could get way more done when I am down at Port Fairy, if our only focus was on the Last Grasp Special. But I know all the other side tracks taken when I am there are as enjoyable as working on our 3W
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Geoff just read your latest entry, and as usual, you have done an excellent job! Thank you for your mention of Harry and for the shot of both Harry and Lucy.
To Fuzzy Bear if you want to see the workshop, just send me a private message and we can make arrangements. Geoff Justin and Frank really flipped when they walked in the she'd and saw the Grasp in full lockup dress.

 

I got up early (as usual) the next morning (Saturday) and had my daily walk along the beach. When I got back everyone was up, even Tony. We all had breakfast and sat around chatting about all soughts of stuff.
It was then that Tony and Rita started talking about their house and it's build. Tony then got out a box of old photos. We were then treated to a great trip down Rita and Tony's memory lane.
Geoff aka whodaky

Hey Tony.
I can imagine the reaction of the boys, especially Justin; as he hadn't seen it in person for a while.
I go on a great trip when ever I look at the images I have taken of the build thus far. It must be getting up to 1000 images. Over 200 of those are just on the chop so far. You have to love digital photography.

 

Oh yes, I am watching this one.

I have the one you did for me of the Jade Idol hanging over the bar. My wife surprised me with it. Very fitting.

Keep up the great work.

 

Ah ha Brant. I thought you had that one.
Geoff aka whodaky
PS Stay tuned there are still a few more posts for me to cover my last trip to Port Fairy. Along with many more images!
Might take me a couple more days to complete though!

 

Tony and I eventually got out to Renee' and Sam's a bit past 11a.m.. Over an hour later than we had said we would be there. Ah ha, side tracked again!
It was good to see SpencerT's 5W body back on the chassis. This hot rod is shaping up to look like it was built back in the day.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

What I did first was stripe Spencer T's lil balance bike.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

While I was striping Tony was working out where to mount the '37 style tail-lights. The decision was made to mount them towards the end of the chassis rail, just under: but sticking out a bit from the body.
So Tony concentrated on making the monunting pads to bolt onto the tail-light bucket and this will eventually bolt onto the chassis.
All the while Sam was working on the levers for the lever action shocks. The levers need bending to clear stuff.
Sorry no images of these couple of jobs. I need to lift my game and take shots of what the other guys do!
I had completed the striping with a lot of help from Spencer T. He even had a go at striping by do some lines of the garage fridge.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

I proudly have both of those masterpieces.....

 

Next I looked at what my job on the 5W would be. You see this body had spent much of it's life upside-down on the ground. Because of this the roof was pretty bad, as were the door tops.
Sam was lucky enough to score another roof ( it had been chopped at some point ) a couple of years ago at Bendigo swap meet. But he has had no luck finding door tops. I looked at what there was of the original door tops and said I think I should have a go at making new ones.




So these door tops would be coming home with me. I spent the rest of my time taking measurements, as well as being entertained by Spencer T
Geoff aka whodaky

 

All the while, Tony kept asking me if I was going to be doing anything on the 5W or not. Hey I will more than make up for how little I did that day at Renee' and Sam's. By making these door tops.
Later in the afternoon Sam showed us what he had been doing to their spinner coupe. He has a '49 Olds grille he has been thinking of using, but he wasn't happy with how it looked. So Tony and I offered up a few new ideas on how it could be used. All of a sudden I think Sam saw it in a whole knew light. However I am not sure Renee' likes it,.... yet!!!!
Sam has the engine out and is having it rebuilt. He has been doing a fair bit of bodywork and hopes to get it in color ( maybe not shiny) for this year's Chopped run.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

It was a good time spent with Renee' and Sam and their boys who kept us well and truly entertained
Also the pumkin soup Sam had made for lunch was real gooooooooood.
I will round out our time there with a hole bunch of images, some taken by me and some by Renee' with my camera; which I didn't realise she was using at the time.
A couple of the expressions I have on my face at times, make me realise how much I am like my late father. They are special, thanks Renee'.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

When we got back to Rita and Tony's we went into the garage to admire the 3W. I said to Tony we should make some brackets and stays to allow the grille shell to be mounted temporarily into position (up untill now we had only had it propped up with timber and clamped with little spring clamps). We wanted to make it quickly and easily removed, as Tony will have it off and on many times as he works on it.
So we got a stock hood side, this would set the forward location of the grille shell. We postioned the grille shell by eye to achieve is vertical position in relationship to the body. All this postioning is very temporary, as we realise this will all change to get the right postion and proportions as the coupe starts coming together properly.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

The next day would be Sunday and I would be leaving to come home. My plan was to get away at 1p.m.
After breakfast on Sunday Tony, Zoe (Rita and Tony's grand-daughter, who had stayed over-night), myself and Lucy went for a walk around the nearby lake.
When we got back we rolled the 3W out of the garage to get some photos. We mocked up wheels, bonnet sides and inner guards. We just wanted to see how everything looked together.
In person I could tell the grille shell needs to come back a bit. But seeing it then in person we are pretty pleased at how it looked overall.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

So after lunch it was time to bid my farewell to Rita and Tony and head for home. I got away right on 1p.m. and walked in the door at home, at 5.45p.m.
It is always good to get home. But I do enjoy my time spent in Port Fairy with great friends and surrounded by so much neat hot rod stuff in Tony's garage. With the icing on the cake being the Last Grasp Special.
Since being home, uploading and studying my images. There are few things I think we will do to the chop to make it just right ( in our eyes ). But overall it is looking great.
I know I take a real lot of images and I do post most of them. But each image is slightly different and each one shows the 3W in a different perspective. Besides digital photography is cheap and easy.
OK that's it for this installment of the chop on the Last Grasp Special.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Awesome write up as usual Geoff.

The Coupe is looking great too.

 

what a great looking hot rod! looking forward to seeing the progress!

 

This is truly a beautiful car in the making. Thanks for the wonderful story.

 

A most magnificent thread Geoff and Bone, it looks like i dont need to go across and help you guys at all as i am getting the entire experience sitting here and reading it in the warmth of my office!

 

Thankyou for the responses guys.
It takes a lot of time to put all this stuff together to post it here. So any reply is good.
Hey Tom. Yeah Tony and I work well together for the most part. So far it has all been forward progress, with no backward steps. With our experience and forward outlook in what we do on this build, we can see any problems that may arise down the track. But I am sure we will eventually have our share of setbacks along the way.
Tom I can hardly wait to hear your reaction when you are next in Port Fairy and see the 3W face to face.
It is starting to take on a character all it's own and has a real presence in Tony's Lil Lowlids Hotrod Hangout.
I just did a bit of a quick 'what if photochop'. I am sure this will get Tony's heart racing a little faster.
I hope it doesn't make you fall off that comfy office chair Tom.
Geoff aka wohdaky

PS
Almost forgot. Hey Spencer T I have been experimenting on how I will go about making your 5W door tops. Early days yet and they will be a lot of work. But things are looking A OK

 

Hi Whodaky, i know i initially mentioned to leave the coupe stock hieght, fully fender it and drop it in the weed's - but you know i am going to eat a large slice of humble pie when i see the chop top! for this i have no doubt. Better still i will wait till your next trip to see it with you and Tone. Hey my office chair is well worn out looking for parts on the Hamb and reading your post!! it's an OHS risk

 

I only just found this thread but some good old hot rod building skills on show here for sure.

We drove through Port Fairy while over for Chopped a couple of years ago and thought it was a very nice looking little town - never suspected it was hiding some neat old cars as well!

 

Geoff,

The nose is too long, just barely, like a couple inches. Toss a hood on it so we can see the profile in the photoshop.

 

A number of posts back when I was talking about our day at Renee' and Sam's. I mentioned that I was bringing the door tops from Spencer T's 5w home with me to make new ones.
Well on the weekend I started on them. After much thought and looking at the originals, I came up with how I would start on these.
I will be making each door top in 3 main sections. Each consisting of an inner and an outer.
Below is an image showing where the sections will join approxiamately!
Geoff aka whodaky

 

I am sure a number of you will see how I go about this and think, boy is he doing it the hard way. I may very well doing it the hard way, but I am doing with the basic tools and equipment I have here in my garage. At the end of it all I am sure I will achieve what I am setting out to do and that to me is all that counts.
To be begin with I will be start with the straight upper centre section, as I see this as being the easier of the 3 pieces to make.
I will be making this piece 16" ( 407 mm ) long. I am making this piece long enough to not have to put a piece in the centre of it to make up for the increased length the door top becomes as a result of the chopping process.
Below is an image showing the cross section of the piece I will be making. The piece will consist of 2 parts ( an inner and an outer ). To begin with I will be making the outer. In the image the piece between the 2 yellow lines will be left off, but will be attached at a later time.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

In this series of posts and images I was in fact doing a test piece, which is only half the length of what the actual piece will be. Prior to this test piece I had done a number of other test pieces on even shorter pieces. These were all done to develop a process to achieve what the desired end product would be
Geoff aka whodaky

 

My intial shaping was done on the bead roller.

I actually used my biggest rolls that would form a bead. However rather than centreing the upper roll in the lower I actaully set it up off centre.

I did this, so that I would only get a sharp press line one one side of the bead. As I would be shaping the other side of the bead in my hand folder to form the top radius on this piece I am making!
The image below shows the profile I achieved with the rolls being offset to each other.

Next I flattened out the slight radius on the left hand side as seen in the above image. ( whoops, I photographed that different, what was shown on the left side in the previous image, is now on the right side in the below image, but now flattened out ).
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Something I forgot to mention. Prior to doing any forming on this piece, I marked out a series of equally spaced 'bend lines', to assist me in maintaining a 'square piece' through this whole forming process.
I will continue these posts tomorrow night.
Geoff aka whodaky

 

Now I will begin to form one of the radii that make up this piece.
But first I must open out the radius that was formed in the bead roller,as this radius is to tight.
That is the radius on the right in the image below.

To form the required radius I do a number of slight bends in my hand folder.
All the while I am checking the shape of my new piece with the old door piece.

Geoff aka whodaky

 

Next I began to form the other radius of this piece. Again using the hand bender and doing a series of slight bends to obtain the desired radius. All the while checking the shape against the old piece.
The end of this radius has a return which will be done later. Before that I bend the return that goes at the end of the first radius I did.




This return that is shown in the above 2 images will form the upper attachment point for the inner section of this piece ( this is a separate piece and will be formed later ) In the images above we see the return being started in the hand folder. The last image shows the return bent nearly right over, this is done with a hammer.
The section of the inner door window frame that is held by this return is a sandwiched joint. Fitting the inner and outer sections together will be one of the last things done to these 2 pieces. When the inner piece is finally fitted, the return will be hammered closed and this forms a tight joint holding the 2 sections together.
Geoff aka whodaky