Post by Dennis The Menace on Jan 5, 2011 3:01:50 GMT -5
New year, new project!
Above is a picture of a ‘29 Roadster owned by a guy named Frank Barone from Los Angeles, Ca. This picture is from the starting line of the roadster Reliability Run hosted by the Pasadena Roadster Club, of which I am a member. Frank is a hell of a nice young guy and built this extremely bare bones hot rod about 10 years ago. I’ve always really dug this car because it literally the bare minimum of parts needed for the car to drive, not a sliver more. And, drive it he does! In fact, it was his only car and daily driver for quite a while. At first glance you might think it’s just another ratrod, but I would disagree. This car was built before ratrods were a trend, before guys were building pieces of shit from any old parts for the sake of doing it, before they were hanging iron crosses and other retarded junk on their cars. In fact, this little roadster is built from all genuine old parts that your average roadster guy would have had access to in the latter 1940’s. It’s home built on a modest budget and he drives the wheels off it! The essence of any real hot rod.
Now, I’m not going to do an exact copy of Frank’s Roadster, but I am going to build a similarly simplistic car that still captures the flavor of my inspiration. It will have all the right period stuff and may even be a little more cosmetically “finished”.
To get started I set up the basic chassis. The AMT ‘29 Frame was treated to a healthy kick at the rear, a custom tubular k-member and a custom front engine mounting cross member all courtesy of Evergreen styrene bits. The front axle comes from the modern-tooling Ala Kart. The goofy air springs were removed and a traditional leaf spring installed that was originally part of the ‘29 kit axle. The split wishbones and steering linkage (not shown) from the Ala Kart will also be used. The Halibrand Quickchange rear axle came from AMT’s ‘25 T with the wheel mounting stubs from the Ala Kart added as well as the ‘29 kit rear spring. A new, longer, torque tube replaces the molded-on original so that it will actually reach the transmission. The wheels & tires are also from the Ala Kart and in the end will be de-chromed and the white wall inserts painted black. The engine is the early Dodge HEMI from the ‘29 kit and has been upgraded with the front cover / water pump / fan belt / starter from the Ala Kart. I also replaced the molded-on magneto with a standard distributor. Later the engine will get a 3-carb setup and custom headers.
The AMT ‘29 Roadster body was channeled over the frame. The windshield frame and posts have been cut away leaving only the cowl header strip and dash. I have also cut down a Revell ‘37 pickup grill shell and insert which will get shown once it is mounted to the frame. The chassis is going to be black with white wheels, engine and other details. Not sure on body color yet.
Above is a picture of a ‘29 Roadster owned by a guy named Frank Barone from Los Angeles, Ca. This picture is from the starting line of the roadster Reliability Run hosted by the Pasadena Roadster Club, of which I am a member. Frank is a hell of a nice young guy and built this extremely bare bones hot rod about 10 years ago. I’ve always really dug this car because it literally the bare minimum of parts needed for the car to drive, not a sliver more. And, drive it he does! In fact, it was his only car and daily driver for quite a while. At first glance you might think it’s just another ratrod, but I would disagree. This car was built before ratrods were a trend, before guys were building pieces of shit from any old parts for the sake of doing it, before they were hanging iron crosses and other retarded junk on their cars. In fact, this little roadster is built from all genuine old parts that your average roadster guy would have had access to in the latter 1940’s. It’s home built on a modest budget and he drives the wheels off it! The essence of any real hot rod.
Now, I’m not going to do an exact copy of Frank’s Roadster, but I am going to build a similarly simplistic car that still captures the flavor of my inspiration. It will have all the right period stuff and may even be a little more cosmetically “finished”.
To get started I set up the basic chassis. The AMT ‘29 Frame was treated to a healthy kick at the rear, a custom tubular k-member and a custom front engine mounting cross member all courtesy of Evergreen styrene bits. The front axle comes from the modern-tooling Ala Kart. The goofy air springs were removed and a traditional leaf spring installed that was originally part of the ‘29 kit axle. The split wishbones and steering linkage (not shown) from the Ala Kart will also be used. The Halibrand Quickchange rear axle came from AMT’s ‘25 T with the wheel mounting stubs from the Ala Kart added as well as the ‘29 kit rear spring. A new, longer, torque tube replaces the molded-on original so that it will actually reach the transmission. The wheels & tires are also from the Ala Kart and in the end will be de-chromed and the white wall inserts painted black. The engine is the early Dodge HEMI from the ‘29 kit and has been upgraded with the front cover / water pump / fan belt / starter from the Ala Kart. I also replaced the molded-on magneto with a standard distributor. Later the engine will get a 3-carb setup and custom headers.
The AMT ‘29 Roadster body was channeled over the frame. The windshield frame and posts have been cut away leaving only the cowl header strip and dash. I have also cut down a Revell ‘37 pickup grill shell and insert which will get shown once it is mounted to the frame. The chassis is going to be black with white wheels, engine and other details. Not sure on body color yet.