Art & Inspiration to rare to cut up

ls56;
Nope, that'd be the way to go. At least the car won't be messed-up. Would make a rather interesting nice weather runner. .
Marcus...

 

Unless you go with major mods like in Darryl Starbird mods that car is really only good for a resto rod, like they did in the '70s. No offense intended here. That is about what you do with a basically unknown car unless you do a full restoration and plan on looking at it and trailering it.

 

I had reservations, but I cut the crap out of a 1933 Buick 90 series Victoria, one of 556 built that year. It is a model that has full recognition by the Classic Car Club of America owing to its rarity and style. When I got the car it had sat in a restorers garage for over 12 years. The owner gave up and sold it to me as it was too far gone to think about restoring...or so he said. I had always wanted a big American classic and here was my chance to get one.

As I said it was BIG, featuring a wheelbase of 138", but it was the style that had me from the start. It was a sedan but with the looks of a coupe. Mt dear friend Marty Pierson (who was another victim of that fucking miserable disease cancer!) took on the task of transitioning this humongus beast into a mouth-watering hot rod. And he did a fabulous job, chopping and filling the top, making a three piece hood which hinged forward, an entire custom interior, a complete new frame. a 455" Buick engine with Turbo 400 linked to a Ford 8" rear on custom coil springs.

It was gorgeous and was featured in the October, 1995 issue of Street Rodder. My wife Willie and I were very proud.

If the car had been in better shape, I might not have gone down the road I did. But, looking back on it now, I loved the results and don't regret ever getting out the cutting torch and getting after it. I WOULD do it again. Check out my avatar and you will see the Cadillac that replaced my Buick. I do like me some big old American cars.

 

With the numbers of stock pre-war vehicles unable to increase & rather inevitably decreasing, as well as the ratio of stock verses modified, if the goal is, A, to be unique, and B, attaining the stick-to-it'veness you need to complete the project, remaining stock concerning some of the rare stuff is a greater challenge than a familiar rod building blueprint on several fronts. Finding parts, research, etc. The more you think it through, the more factors to consider in making the decision. Just so you ,the owner(s) aren't unhappy with the result when it's all over. These days there are more stock vehicles that show unique partially on account of how few remain. Subtle things can be done to improve reliability/drivability without hardly impacting stock appearance. Good workmanship/design is, whether mild, wild or in between.

 

Didn't Brizio redo a Cord sedan for a customer with contemporary running gear. I recall something about using a
Porsche transaxle with a SBC up front.

 

He actually builds them from scratch and is unveiling a twin turbo Tucker the year at sema also all metal car

 

Yes, he did and it looks very nice. There are more Cord resto-rods out there then people realize.
http://www.roybriziostreetrods.com/progress/thornton_37/index.htm

 

they did a damn good job of keeping look stock

 

I am currently building a resto-mod out of a 1932 Plymouth PB Sedan Convertible. One of less than 690 Sedan Convertibles built by Plymouth out of a run of nearly 90,000 PB cars. That makes it rarer then a '32 Ford B-400.

The car was disassembled in the 70's and stuck in the hay loft of a barn. There wasn't enough left to do a proper restoration, so hot rod it is. '58 325 Dodge Hemi and all Mopar driveline.

To me it really depends on what you are starting with. Sure a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO that was disassembled and parked in a barn 40 yrs ago might be worth restoring, mainly becuase there is a 7 figure pay day coming at the end. The Plymouth, despite being rare will probably be more valuble as a nice, clean driving hot rod, then it would be in its original form.

 

Its not a whole car but I am getting ready to weld two 40 Ford hoods together to make a snout for a project car. I have heard that some people think that it should not be done, but what ya gonna do right.

 

That's a great idea beaner. Here's a model I built many years ago using two 40 Ford hoods

 

Actually the idea was from the original builder of the car but it is one that has floated around in the back of my head for a while. I have seen a few done that way from way back when and it is just neater than sliced bread.

Sweet little model by the way. Makes me want to build another car after this one is done.

Wish I knew someone who was good at pulling molds, I would make my front from glass if I knew how.