"The Project" (In novel form) Chapter 1 - The Find

wow thats beautiful! i love the flying seahorse ornament! i just picked one up too on ebay, hahah got to love it!

 

Heres some closeups

 

we put new steel in the door latch because the ones we used are a little thinner then the stock ones

 

Hey guys, so the last few weeks weve got some more stuff done. Peter and Scott cut and rewelded the bones, made custom bone mounts, welded in the new cross member, I got the wheels powder coated and tires mounted, the columbia two speed came in, and I got a m22 muncie rock crusher to go behind the 348 and mcculloch supercharger. Its really movin along now, we hope to have her ready by West Coast Customs Santa Maria. See you all there?

 

Bones pie cut and welded

torched out tab, ground and welded up

Front spring perch on bones was cut off and ground smooth
The rear suspension and engine/tranny mounts will be next and will be sure to take some pictures with a real camera and not my phone.

 

So i went down and hung out with Kiwi Kev for a few hours yesterday, he punched louvers with Oliver into my hood and decklid. It turned out amazing. Heres some photos!

 

Heres the Menges Speed shop and some photos of the car on friday. showing the stance, etc.

 

Hot rods are fun!

 

haha thanks for the pic. Heres some photos of Kiwi Kev and Oliver's handy work, and damn, have you ever seen any louvers nicer then this? i think not!

 

Nice!!

 

The car looks good. Cute dog you have there. The photos are good.

 

i paid kiwi kev 5 dollars for the louvers, and couple hundred for the photo of me and kiwi kev punching louvers, priceless. hahah

 

Tody we worked on the motor mounts and after a few hours of thinking about them we had an idea using the stock axle ends with 7/8 solid round stock.

 

Just need to put a bar connecting the two rods

 

We also started on the rear suspension. Starting with a stock Model a crossmember we marked and cut slices to make the stance a few inches taller than the model a crossmember allowed.

 

After torching out and grind the bone mounts we had to drill the holes. (kind of a bitch without a drill press)

The rear end mocked up in the correct place.

 

The bone mounts, just need to borrow my buddies tapored drill bit.

 

The louvers look rad. The Columbia rear is a nice touch, too!

 

the bone tacked in


The crossmember tacked in

 

great progress ...hood and sides look great ...keep it up.

 

were rolling now!

 

Awesome work!

 

Man I think is going to be a really cool car. The 348 is throwing me threw a loop since it's running wires and Columbia rear. I feel like it should be running something a little close to late 40's early 50's like a 303 Olds!

But I definitely understand putting in your dream engine even if it doesn't coincide with the rest of the car. Shit I always want to run '35 Wires on my car when I was building it with a 1951 Chrysler motor. It'll be rad what ever motor you run I am sure. What are those tires and where can I find them?? Sizes??

 

We wheeled "the captain" outside today and got the first look out of the shop since the chop, it was great to get perspective on the car as whole. Heres a quick shot.

 

Lookin' Good!

 

Nice stance, looks great!

I notice you've got about a 2" wide contact area one the back tires. Your 409 is going to instantly turn that into smoke if you just *look* at the accelerator pedal. You going to put some more meat back there?

 

That's what I was thinking. As cool as those tires are, they are all wrong for the engine choice and sort of makes the car look like a hodgepodge of eras smashing into one another. That car needs 16" steelies.....no wait a 348???? It needs 15" wheels mounted on 8.20 Cheaters.....but there's a Columbia back there???? I have no clue.

 

Well to fill ya in a bit, the idea that has manifested itself is one of a car that relfects reality. This car isnt built in the 60s to be a 60s show car or racer, it wasnt built in the 50s and preserved, it wasnt built in the 80, 90, or 2010 to peg dead on a signal point in time and express that, but rather, for me, it is an expression of how a hot rod would have grown. Baby steps, from factory to the business man's home, to the family car, to the kids on down to grandkids, then forgotten, but only to be picked up again and built to race, and seen speed, but perhaps lost that elusive speed, and gone back to a garage, then passed again in hard time to a new young dream and built back up. To present, it can mean; i built it to be how it was at this point in its life, or how it would of been when i would of liked to have found it. The car is an expression of the spirit of the life that is so entangled within the intricate devotions we as people find in ourselves to our passions.

The way i see it is as fallows.

Mr. Richards goes out on a Tuesday shopping for a new car. He has moved up from salesman to floor manager and he knows that appearances are key. Hey splurges with his first pay check and buys the more exclusive Chevrolet with the classy bowtie. He perhaps has delusions of granduer and splurges on the Master Coupe instead of the standard. As he stands looking at the showroom he sees the future "Mrs. Richards" and him pulling up to see a film and being the only Master there.

A few years later the kids are growing. The Master moved from the garage to the driveway is given as a training car to the kids, but mostly the go to work car as the new Lincoln is the sunday driver. But as the crazy speed limits go up, the car needs improvements, a Columbia two speed is bought in 1948, now the commute from the new house back to the office isnt so tedious.

A few years later the kids are gone and its time to pass the Master on down, as it has been sitting beside the garage and only occasionally started for the last 2 years. A young man comes by 25, hes been back from Korea for 6 years and wants to get his own set of wheels. So he pays 100 bucks and takes him home.

A couple years go by and he passes the car to his 21 year old kid brother. Not much money to speak of here, bags groceries at the Piggly Wiggley and mows the church's front lawn on saturdays so it looks nice for Sunday. But Scott loves speed. In between groceries and mowing he cant get enough of the hot rods hes been seeing, the sleak fast, loud and out of control cars tearing up the downtown. The Master now his, is his expression. Scott picks up a few extra shifts, over the years gets a Rocket motor, maybe a new paint job with his buddies, and often takes it down to the strip.

Over the years scotts getting older and racing isnt just a fad for him or a desire, hes living it. The car is much the way he got it, but hes rebuilt the Columbia to be able to stand the horsepower of his chrysler motor he got out of his moms old four door, and having the fastest car at the track aint to shabby either. In one of the evening with a 12 pack a Schlitz the boys decide to get the fenders off and chop the top. Man does this car look mean, and naturally it will fly with the wind resistance cut down. Hes a legend in his town, for his old "racer"...

A few years go by and cars are getting faster and better, and hes not as fast as he once was, but hes still young and not letting go of shit! he knows who he is and more importantly so does everyone else! He splurges. Just goes all out. I mean hes working a decent job at the local gas station doing some big repairs, and still mowing the church yard because he likes it, but he goes all out, and buys a brand new motor. The year is 1958 and he buys a new W motor. The Chevy Big Block 348! With the logo "You get more to be proud of in a Chevy" he couldnt go wrong. He bought the motor and built it up.

Its now 1960, 1961. The master is featured in his garage, as his center peice and still raced at the big ones. This car has a life renewed, over, and over, and over again, but still holding onto everystep on the way as not to say, I was made in a week for a TV show; I was made to put in a museum to represnt Circa: Febraury 12th, 1954 noon; no, i am none of these thigns but all of these thigns together make me me. I am an American Hot Rod.

The '34 Master Bows out. no applause... just 10,000 screaming fans going ape shit for speed...haha







so thats what popped into my head....