Alright so my buddy Frank came by and helped me muscle this thing around out into the driveway and turn it around to put it back in with plenty of photos in between today. I have a video that shows the look much better than the photos but I can’t remember my you tube info lol. So here’s a bunch of photos 2.5 years since it’s been outside... sloppy hood really kills the vibe on an early A but I had to see anyways rear 3/4 is surprisingly my favorite angle at the moment head lights are pointed down a little which gives a funny effect as well. The car is raked forward enough that the stock set up won’t let me adjust them up. @drdave four door points down as well. I’ll either slot more adjustment into the buckets or I’ll heat and bend/twist the head light bar a little. That’s all for tonight!
Just thinking about the void from the bell to Wheel... Perhaps a trip to the biggest Junk/Antique shop for a metal cup or mug or a vintage lamp part with a matching OD and adequate thickness, slice it up polish or paint...at least that way its period recycling... Measure it up for dia and bring a vernier or a tape...
Old Milwaukee cans aren't that big......funny I was thinking Vintage Campbell's Soup Can aka Warhol... Didn't those wheels have those in the original packaging just seeing what your encountering...Old Boat junkyard maybe hey...anything but billet, vintage aluminum or diecast ok...
Headlights: Back in '61 on the first night I had my '38 Ford Coupe out I was pulled over because the lights on the back were out. I reached up under the left rear fender and gave the wire a shake and the one tail light and the license plate light on the trunk came on. The cop was not impressed. He asked if I had high and low beams. I said ," No sir I have low and lower. Again he was not impressed. The car had a 2 1/2 " dropped axle reversed spring eyes. 5.60X 15 front tires and 8.20X15 rears. He wrote me up for defective lights, no right tail light (stock), no front bumper, no front license plate, head lights out of adjustment, no windshield wipers. no rear bumper. All "fix it" stuff back then. The law at the time had minors do "service" so their parents wouldn't pay their fines, even if you had a job. I picked up trash along the roads for several Saturdays plus had to fix the stuff and have a cop check it out. I had a month to do that. I was able to convince them that the car came with one tail light. When we were picking up trash it was all boys. We rode in the back of the truck with the trash from place to place. It was a small town and we mostly knew each other. There were no guards just an old cop to drive the truck. Our friends would leave cold six packs along the road ahead of us hidden in the weeds and we'd throw them in with the trash and drink them on the way to the next spot. We never got caught. It was sort of a city sponsored moving party. Of course we were obligated to leave beer for others. They changed the program after a couple of years. All of our cars were legal by then.
Now that's roadside cleanup with a twist...and cold to boot...ya hoodlums and the Hi Beam analogy is priceless ya smartass......I'll bet you had a smirk on your face... Tim ya got those pointers to aid in smoothing out the first roadside communication...
That's looking fantastic Tim!! I like the idea of an old bowl or the like to fill the space between the column and the wheel. Surely something will turn up to be the perfect fit that no one will notice unless they know what they are looking at....those are my favorite details. I'm laughing @Six Ball about the community service. I think that would be something that would certainly be of help today, kids doing service for little stuff....helps them appreciate stuff in the world takes effort and maybe be more careful to not add to the mess yourself knowing someone somewhere has to clean it up if its not you. So far as the beer.....I'll leave that to your best judgment. LOL
The only gap I have now after making a new column and trimming the inside is seeing between the 4 spokes of the steering wheel ito the “bowl” end. I think I’m going to cut a circle of copper and acid etch a knit design into it. I’ll place it between the adapter and the steering wheel. That way if I need to get into the column I can, and it’ll cover the space. Why copper and knit? Well, the wife likes copper and isn’t super into engine turning. A mutual friend of ours is a jewelry designer that has been doing copper pieces with the knit design in them. I contacted her and she showed me a few tricks so I can do it myself. I also have some other plans for some fun etching tricks on the car
Something similar to this. You don’t actually see much of the gap so I don’t need think it’ll be to much. I plan to mock it up to see if it’s to busy looking. Worse case I make a new disc and paint it black
You should be able to take measurements of the bearings or where the bearings go and take those to a bearing shop and cross reference. Wouldn't think there'd be anything special to them. Match housing to OD, match shaft to ID. Do you have any part of the old bearings you might be able to pull a partial number off of? Sent from my rotary phone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Tim , this is becoming a tight little package as only '28-'29 As can be. The few door sedans are just so cool when done right and that looks like where you are headed!
Yeah you could, but there’s not even anything tonlet me know where it’s supposed to be a race/cup/cone or seal etc. it’s all flying blind at this point. I made contact with a guy who I believe will have all my answers but he’s under the weather so we plan on talking later
Lamp Parts gotta have similar shapes with varied rads and worked copper sure... When you talk of pattern Etching I was just thinking Homemadehardtop etched headlights or some metal part way back in his 32 Coupe build... Not trying to sway home ingenuity but a couple more options... ...https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Grant-4257-Steering-Wheel-Adapter-1949-57-Ford-Truck-,277919.html ...https://www.limeworksspeedshop.com/Taper-Key-to-3-Bolt-Steering-Column-Adapter-p/sth3bolttk.htm
Oops....I don't know what happened....I just turned it around in the garage and the next thing I knew it was all back apart. LOL
Back together-ish. Originally put it up to get the suspension dropped enough to drill the bottom holes for the steering box bracket. But once I got it dropped it was still in the way so I took it all the way out. Then figured it was a good time to swap the passenger side fender out for the better one while I was at it. Think I got it on jack stands, front wheels off, suspension out, hood off, hood shelves off,fender and headlight bar off, new fender on and headlight bar back on in about an hour. And that was with bullshitting with the plumber working on my house at the time. I can really see why so many stripped the fenders for racing. With nutserts holding the back fenders ala @Blue One it would take maybe a half hour if you were alone and working fast to strip it down. Having fun hopefully more progress reports this week.
Walking out the door to work this morning it struck me that the front looked sooooo much better with the new fenders on. - new to me, not like actually new- Then I saw it. Look at that body line on what is basically the inner side of the tire. Not quite a crease but a subtle bulge of body line. Scroll up and you can see it really clean in both fenders old passenger fender ZERO body line drivers side barely has any. The both have a little of the shape from the running board side but once it reaches any part that covers the tire it’s gone. Man I knew they’d been worked over, patched and stitched together but I guess even my initial estimate of “a bunch” of bondo may have been been flattering. I’ll have to look under neath and see if it’s been pounded flat or if it’s just filled on the top side. Never even noticed that until I had the better ones on the car lol. Learned something new today
Nah, I'm sure that's just a coat or two of high build on those....a little blocking and I'm certain the body line will pop right back into place.
Lol. I got my first glimpse when the front edge that was chipped fell off and there wasn’t metal under it
I think that line is correct. It goes from the front of the fender to the rear of the fender and matches up with the running boards.
Yup it is, my old fenders were beat to shit at some point and “fixed “ The crummy fenders are still usable, the stock ones just look much better is all. Just thought it was funny that I’d never noticed the missing shapes. There’s a good amount of filler on the top of the fender and a good amount of 1/4 plate on the bottom side who knows what it might be hiding lol
Well, it wasn’t the progress I had planned but progress is progress right? we had planned on thrashing all day bracing the body and patching in all subframe thats two model a’s and a few T scraps for good effect. Well that didn’t happen. Family plans won over hot rod plans and we just made a game plan for next weekend. Much easier to do in person together so at least it’s something jumping ahead just because that’s the way the photos loaded and I’m tired, I mounted the passenger side fuel tank to make sure it actually cleared and fit and after learning some new swear words I had it in and held up the spare tire frame side of the mount roughly where it goes to make sure it would still clear everything. Looks good tank in place. Kinda wondering how these fill because I’m having a hard time picturing a gas spout actually going all the way into a filler neck that short back to subrails. After looking at the head ache of patching 4 different cars worth of patches together we are basically going to make the center 1/3 or 2/3 of the subrails out of square tubing tying into the stock tie board stuff and the stock area under the seat. Thinking some 2x1 and 1x1.5 and we can build it outside of the car. Put it in threw the roof and sit it in it’ll be some back and forth and some hokey pokey but I think we’ve got a good plan and it’ll be stronger than the stock stuff was most likely. this is just to make me chuckle. Frame rail, splash apron, fender, hood shelf. And none of them are curved the same lol that’s what you get when you build a car from a dozen cars still pretty cool to see it out in the open though Hopefully some small progress during the week and the subframe in on Sunday. Which puts the car back in the corner Monday ish. Mama needs her parking spot back
I love the looks of the early A-bone sedans and coupes. I had a cherry early 28 and let it go. Yours has "the look" fo sho.