The official Hot Rod & Street Rod thread
#1
07-19-2010, 07:12 AM
The official Hot Rod & Street Rod thread
this is kick ***.
Theme cars are a risky business for sure. It’s easy to lose sight on just what a hot rod is in an effort to work in that last design idea or cue… and when those ideas are taken too far or too literally, you are often left with a car that looks more at home on the Discovery Channel than it does in the hot rod or custom world. A risky business for sure…
Back Seat Betty – a WW2 aircraft themed model-a coupe. This is the type of car that is gonna split people into camps – people that absolutely love the creativity and thought that went into implementing the theme and purists that just can’t find the relevancy. Regardless of what camp you are in, I think it’s pretty tough to argue the details independently and the craftsmanship throughout.
From the outside, this car is dominated by three features. The first and most obvious is the unusual choice for a grille shell. The 1937 Plymouth shell is big and matched nicely with the large torpedo headlights. Together, they kind of emulate a fighter plane’s front-heavy profile. This isn’t a package that would work on most small coupes, but this little car pulls it off gracefully.
Then there is the body… Every panel has been worked (the top and deck lid are actually redone in aluminum), painted silver, and outlined with aircraft style rivets. The time invested here has got to be outrageous, but the reward is certainly inspiring. I’m not crazy about what appears to be faux machine gun barrels and casings riveted to the cowl (Edit: turns out these are actually marker lights off a Buick and house turn signals set up like recognition lights – one side red, one side green), but one can’t argue the craftsmanship behind such handy punch work.
Finally, there are the roof inserts. The fellas over at HRCC filled the stock model-a top and then proceeded to work in some tinted plexi to imitate the fighter look-outs often found on era bombers. If you have spent much time at air shows, you are familiar with the soft light that protrudes through these look-outs to paint the interior with a light shade of bluish green.
And that leads us to the part of the car that interests me the most – the interior. I mentioned earlier that studying theme cars is all about the details and what we can learn from them. The dash on this car is one of those details that really caught my eye. After removing the stock gas tank, a new dash was created out of aluminum that houses a huge center mounted speedo flanked by two aircraft accessory gauges and various switches and indicators. The obvious intention here was to emulate a fighter’s cockpit but I think the look could just as easily be sold as “early sports car”. Either way, I love the idea…
The dash is complimented by various aircraft parts such as P47 throttle levers, a Douglas steering wheel, tags, jump lights, bomber seats, etc… The owner wanted the interior to feel like that of a B25 Mitchell and that’s exactly what he got – green glow and all. Which leads me right back to those roofs inserts we spoke about earlier. To pull these off in the interior, HRCC built some amazing roof supports using riveted aluminum beam construction as commonly found in aircraft. These beams along with the complimenting aluminum door panels and garnish moldings make up the most impressive fabrication work on the car – all of which are absolutely gorgeously done.
When it’s all said and done, you end up with a hot rod that’s just as much to drive as it is to look at… And isn’t that what it is all about?
Theme cars are a risky business for sure. It’s easy to lose sight on just what a hot rod is in an effort to work in that last design idea or cue… and when those ideas are taken too far or too literally, you are often left with a car that looks more at home on the Discovery Channel than it does in the hot rod or custom world. A risky business for sure…
Back Seat Betty – a WW2 aircraft themed model-a coupe. This is the type of car that is gonna split people into camps – people that absolutely love the creativity and thought that went into implementing the theme and purists that just can’t find the relevancy. Regardless of what camp you are in, I think it’s pretty tough to argue the details independently and the craftsmanship throughout.
From the outside, this car is dominated by three features. The first and most obvious is the unusual choice for a grille shell. The 1937 Plymouth shell is big and matched nicely with the large torpedo headlights. Together, they kind of emulate a fighter plane’s front-heavy profile. This isn’t a package that would work on most small coupes, but this little car pulls it off gracefully.
Then there is the body… Every panel has been worked (the top and deck lid are actually redone in aluminum), painted silver, and outlined with aircraft style rivets. The time invested here has got to be outrageous, but the reward is certainly inspiring. I’m not crazy about what appears to be faux machine gun barrels and casings riveted to the cowl (Edit: turns out these are actually marker lights off a Buick and house turn signals set up like recognition lights – one side red, one side green), but one can’t argue the craftsmanship behind such handy punch work.
Finally, there are the roof inserts. The fellas over at HRCC filled the stock model-a top and then proceeded to work in some tinted plexi to imitate the fighter look-outs often found on era bombers. If you have spent much time at air shows, you are familiar with the soft light that protrudes through these look-outs to paint the interior with a light shade of bluish green.
And that leads us to the part of the car that interests me the most – the interior. I mentioned earlier that studying theme cars is all about the details and what we can learn from them. The dash on this car is one of those details that really caught my eye. After removing the stock gas tank, a new dash was created out of aluminum that houses a huge center mounted speedo flanked by two aircraft accessory gauges and various switches and indicators. The obvious intention here was to emulate a fighter’s cockpit but I think the look could just as easily be sold as “early sports car”. Either way, I love the idea…
The dash is complimented by various aircraft parts such as P47 throttle levers, a Douglas steering wheel, tags, jump lights, bomber seats, etc… The owner wanted the interior to feel like that of a B25 Mitchell and that’s exactly what he got – green glow and all. Which leads me right back to those roofs inserts we spoke about earlier. To pull these off in the interior, HRCC built some amazing roof supports using riveted aluminum beam construction as commonly found in aircraft. These beams along with the complimenting aluminum door panels and garnish moldings make up the most impressive fabrication work on the car – all of which are absolutely gorgeously done.
When it’s all said and done, you end up with a hot rod that’s just as much to drive as it is to look at… And isn’t that what it is all about?
#5
07-22-2010, 06:11 AM
More Awesomeness
Ryan and his dad spend their days building rods and customs at Daves Fabrication, so the Ford became Ryan's on-again, off-again project after work and on weekends. Considering the car's clean condition, Ryan was able to dive right into the metalwork by shaving all the side trim, emblems, and handles. He filled and peaked the hood, frenched the headlights using '57 Ford rims, and gave the taillights a similar treatment using frenching buckets and lenses from Mooneyes.
Things went from subtle to serious when Ryan cut into the Ford's lid. With help from friends, Ryan chopped the top 5 inches in front and 7 inches in the rear, V-butting the windshield and moving the rear glass forward 10 inches in the process. The significant slice was followed up with an equally bold finish of yellow seaweed flames over a bright DuPont Bombay Blue finish.
The top wasn't the only thing Ryan lowered. He achieved a lakes-pipe-scraping stance using air springs at each corner complemented with Fatman spindles in front and an Air Ride Technologies triangulated four-link and step-notched frame in back. The stock Flathead was dolled up with goodies from Speedway Motors to help get the painted steel wheels and wide whitewall radials rolling.
A much more understated treatment was given to the car's cabin. Bill Purkiser used simple patterns and stark white vinyl to wrap the cut-down seats and door panels, while Ryan shaved everything but the essentials off the stock dash and plugged a quad gauge from Classic Instruments into the original speedometer opening. Black carpet helped make all of that white really pop.
Ryan finished the Ford just days before the 2007 West Coast Kustoms gathering in Paso Robles. The slammed stance and wild seaweed flames garnered an abundance of attention there-and everywhere else the Shoebox went. One person who noticed was Australian Arthur Matsakos, who eventually made Ryan an offer he couldn't refuse. Now the Ford is turning heads and winning awards on the other side of the globe-and giving everyone down under a taste of Bakersfield style.
Things went from subtle to serious when Ryan cut into the Ford's lid. With help from friends, Ryan chopped the top 5 inches in front and 7 inches in the rear, V-butting the windshield and moving the rear glass forward 10 inches in the process. The significant slice was followed up with an equally bold finish of yellow seaweed flames over a bright DuPont Bombay Blue finish.
The top wasn't the only thing Ryan lowered. He achieved a lakes-pipe-scraping stance using air springs at each corner complemented with Fatman spindles in front and an Air Ride Technologies triangulated four-link and step-notched frame in back. The stock Flathead was dolled up with goodies from Speedway Motors to help get the painted steel wheels and wide whitewall radials rolling.
A much more understated treatment was given to the car's cabin. Bill Purkiser used simple patterns and stark white vinyl to wrap the cut-down seats and door panels, while Ryan shaved everything but the essentials off the stock dash and plugged a quad gauge from Classic Instruments into the original speedometer opening. Black carpet helped make all of that white really pop.
Ryan finished the Ford just days before the 2007 West Coast Kustoms gathering in Paso Robles. The slammed stance and wild seaweed flames garnered an abundance of attention there-and everywhere else the Shoebox went. One person who noticed was Australian Arthur Matsakos, who eventually made Ryan an offer he couldn't refuse. Now the Ford is turning heads and winning awards on the other side of the globe-and giving everyone down under a taste of Bakersfield style.
#9
08-08-2010, 12:26 AM
1932 Ford Roadster - The Liberace Lowboy
1932 Ford Roadster - The Liberace Lowboy
A big part of the appeal of show rods like Craig Smith's wild customized '32 roadster is nostalgia for the early Sixties. It was a time before assembly-line musclecars replaced hot rods, before brightly-colored bell bottoms replaced indigo dungarees, and before some British mop tops elbowed out American-born musicians like Elvis and Jerry Lee. Of course, not every music star of the era was playing rock 'n' roll. One wavy-haired young piano man was making the ladies swoon with his showy interpretations of the classics.
How appropriate that Craig Smith's interpretation of a classic show car would share its name with that star. "I call the roadster The Liberace," he explained, "because it's so flamboyant. The story is that I found the car behind a bunch of pianos at a Liberace estate sale. The car was built for the musician by Barris, but never driven-so there's not much documentation. Liberace always said he wouldn't drive the roadster because it messed up his hair and because he had a hard time steering it with all his rings."
"Of course," Craig continued, "that story is BS."
We almost believed him too. As it turns out, the real story is just as interesting, even if it's not quite as crazy.
Craig was looking around on the Internet trying to find a T-bucket, when he saw the Deuce instead and decided he would make it into a simple driver. We're glad his plans went in a completely different direction and he ended up building it as an early Sixties show car.
Working with fiberglass is quite a bit different than working with sheet metal, but Craig had done some personal water craft repair in the past, and practiced on a friend's T-bucket. That experience paid off during the majority of the work on the body, but didn't prepare him for creating the one-of-a-kind nose. His first attempt, a quad-headlight design, was not a success, and was dubbed "the four-eyed monkey" by his friends. Discouraged, Craig was tempted to go back to the familiar Deuce tombstone grille shell, then decided to try again. This time he went for a nose somewhat in the style of the Ala Kart, but with a personal twist or two.
After the nose, the biggest attention getter is the panel paint. As with the 'glass, Craig had painted cars-and some bike tanks-before, but nothing requiring this level of effort. It took a month to finish, but the results are great, and the white pearl and purple 'flake candy fit the period perfectly. So much so that dozens of people have approached him claiming to remember the car from the R&C "little pages" or from the Oakland Roadster Show in 1962-asking him where he found it and how long it took him to restore it. He takes all the comments as compliments, and as proof that his interpretation of a classic show car is a success.
But we still don't understand why Liberace never drove it.
A big part of the appeal of show rods like Craig Smith's wild customized '32 roadster is nostalgia for the early Sixties. It was a time before assembly-line musclecars replaced hot rods, before brightly-colored bell bottoms replaced indigo dungarees, and before some British mop tops elbowed out American-born musicians like Elvis and Jerry Lee. Of course, not every music star of the era was playing rock 'n' roll. One wavy-haired young piano man was making the ladies swoon with his showy interpretations of the classics.
How appropriate that Craig Smith's interpretation of a classic show car would share its name with that star. "I call the roadster The Liberace," he explained, "because it's so flamboyant. The story is that I found the car behind a bunch of pianos at a Liberace estate sale. The car was built for the musician by Barris, but never driven-so there's not much documentation. Liberace always said he wouldn't drive the roadster because it messed up his hair and because he had a hard time steering it with all his rings."
"Of course," Craig continued, "that story is BS."
We almost believed him too. As it turns out, the real story is just as interesting, even if it's not quite as crazy.
Craig was looking around on the Internet trying to find a T-bucket, when he saw the Deuce instead and decided he would make it into a simple driver. We're glad his plans went in a completely different direction and he ended up building it as an early Sixties show car.
Working with fiberglass is quite a bit different than working with sheet metal, but Craig had done some personal water craft repair in the past, and practiced on a friend's T-bucket. That experience paid off during the majority of the work on the body, but didn't prepare him for creating the one-of-a-kind nose. His first attempt, a quad-headlight design, was not a success, and was dubbed "the four-eyed monkey" by his friends. Discouraged, Craig was tempted to go back to the familiar Deuce tombstone grille shell, then decided to try again. This time he went for a nose somewhat in the style of the Ala Kart, but with a personal twist or two.
After the nose, the biggest attention getter is the panel paint. As with the 'glass, Craig had painted cars-and some bike tanks-before, but nothing requiring this level of effort. It took a month to finish, but the results are great, and the white pearl and purple 'flake candy fit the period perfectly. So much so that dozens of people have approached him claiming to remember the car from the R&C "little pages" or from the Oakland Roadster Show in 1962-asking him where he found it and how long it took him to restore it. He takes all the comments as compliments, and as proof that his interpretation of a classic show car is a success.
But we still don't understand why Liberace never drove it.
#10
08-08-2010, 09:25 PM
Dave Houston's '32 Chevy Coupe - Different Deuce
On paper Dave Houston's '32 could be mistaken for a formulaic traditional hot rod-'32 frame and body, Chevy engine, split 'bones, buggy springs, I-beam, and wires, but even the most cursory glance at the pictures hereabouts will tell you it's anything but! That ain't no small-block and that ain't no Ford three-window body, though they are bolted to a much-modified '32 Ford frame.
Dave started this project in January 2006 with the engine, a '54 Chevy inline-six, and planned the car around it; drawing up plans for the chassis, which was built to his specs by Deuce Steel in San Diego. The '32 Ford frame is stretched 9 inches to accommodate the longer-than-usual engine and is swept up in the front and rear, as opposed to being Z'd. This accounts for the low ride height without resorting to channeling the body, something that's accentuated by the stretched wheelbase. Tucked way up in the rear is a 9-inch Ford axle, which, with its 3.70:1 gears coupled with the tall tires, means Dave is cruising at 70 mph in Fourth gear, and the car is equipped with a Tremec five-speed! "It's geared a little higher than I'd like," he told us, adding, "Those are tall tires!"
Y'know, what with the popularity of eBay and the Internet these days, we sometimes wonder how cars ever got built before everyone had computers. See, Dave's based in northern California but found the body down in L.A. thanks to the Internet. However, it's a '31 and Dave prefers the grille and cowl of a '32 Chevy. The bodies are very similar, but he favors the '32 cowl for its cowl vent, so a little more World Wide Web research unearthed a collector back East who provided the necessary '32 parts in exchange for some fenders and panels that were surplus to Dave's requirements; the guy even delivered them while on a trip out West. Dave is quick to credit fellow Sidewinders CC members Steve, Mic, John, and Skot for helping him with the build, and in particular Danny Angel, who was responsible for much of the fabrication work and the 6 1/2-inch roof chop. All the wood framing in the body was replaced with steel tubing, and once the cowl sections were swapped over and the body prep complete, Skot Randall sprayed the PPG Black.
It can't be denied that the pice de rsistance is the powerplant, or more specifically the induction setup. Dave sourced the reproduction Howard five-carb inlet in Arizona, once again thanks to the Net, the quintet of Stromberg 97s all feeding the engine, which is bored from 302 to 310 ci. We're willing to bet he paid more than the $48.95 that intake cost new from Howard's Automotive in the '50s! The exhaust header was fabricated by Dave and a friend, and then chromed, and, yes, each pipe has a short baffle in it.
Nine months after starting the project, Dave had a driver, although the interior could best be described as minimal, and there was no roof insert. The latter has now been completed, with rubberized black simulated leather. The interior panels are next on the to-do list. Hey, a little missing upholstery doesn't mean it can't be driven, and Dave's perfectly comfortable racking up the miles with the sound of an inline-six for company.
Chassis
Deuce Steel started with a '32 Ford chassis, stretched it to a 115-inch wheelbase and swept up the front and rear sections to create a low ride height yet retain the classic lines of the Ford chassis 'rails. With chromed split 'bones locating the frontend, a Pete & Jake's buggy spring suspends the dropped I-beam from the frame, with Delco Lovejoy hydraulic dampers keeping movement under control. Wilson Welding binders do a fine job of looking neat while scrubbing off the high speeds of which this coupe is capable .
Drivetrain
Al Hubard bored the '54 Chevy six-cylinder from 302 to 310 ci, while the head was ported, polished, and treated to a three-angle valve job. The rods and crank remain stock, though JE 11:1 pistons now live in the rejuvenated block, kept company by a Sissell Automotive custom cam, one-off pushrods, and N.O.S. lifters. The Stromberg 97 carbs on that Howard intake are topped with air cleaners from O'Brien Truckers, and certainly make a statement, especially as they rise above cowl level. A Mallory distributor and custom wires light the fire. There's an aluminum flywheel, coupled with a Centerforce clutch, inside the '64 Vette bellhousing, which allows the inline motor to bolt to the Tremec five-speed. A 9-inch Ford rearend proved to be the right width to enable the tires to clear the low body. Dave runs his own company, Advanced Auto, so he tackled the wiring himself, using a 60-amp Powermaster alternator.
Wheels & Tires
Vintique Tru-Spoke wire wheels combine the early look with the peace of mind of new rims; the 16x4.5-inch fronts are wrapped in 5.25x16 bias-plies, and matching 8.25x16 wide whites are mounted on the 16x8-inch rears. Stainless rings and caps round out the timeless combo.
Body & Paint
You'd never know it now, but the body is an amalgamation of a '31 coupe and a '32 cowl section. All the wood was removed and replaced with steel, which significantly improved the structural rigidity, with a large amount of work going into the internal structure of the doors to mount the handles, window mechanisms, and hinges. The '32 Chevy grille now houses a Walker radiator, flanked by a pair of original '32 Chevy headlights. Repro '37 Ford lights bring up the rear.
Interior
The black paint is offset by a white vinyl bench seat and white accented stock dash, which holds a couple of vintage gauges, though the remainder of the interior is next on Dave's list. The LimeWorks steering column is topped and tailed by a '52 Chevy wheel and a Vega 'box. Air conditioning comes courtesy of the cowl vent that Dave went to all that trouble to fit, while in-car entertainment consists of listening to the bark of the six-banger and keeping the bias-plies between the white lines!
On paper Dave Houston's '32 could be mistaken for a formulaic traditional hot rod-'32 frame and body, Chevy engine, split 'bones, buggy springs, I-beam, and wires, but even the most cursory glance at the pictures hereabouts will tell you it's anything but! That ain't no small-block and that ain't no Ford three-window body, though they are bolted to a much-modified '32 Ford frame.
Dave started this project in January 2006 with the engine, a '54 Chevy inline-six, and planned the car around it; drawing up plans for the chassis, which was built to his specs by Deuce Steel in San Diego. The '32 Ford frame is stretched 9 inches to accommodate the longer-than-usual engine and is swept up in the front and rear, as opposed to being Z'd. This accounts for the low ride height without resorting to channeling the body, something that's accentuated by the stretched wheelbase. Tucked way up in the rear is a 9-inch Ford axle, which, with its 3.70:1 gears coupled with the tall tires, means Dave is cruising at 70 mph in Fourth gear, and the car is equipped with a Tremec five-speed! "It's geared a little higher than I'd like," he told us, adding, "Those are tall tires!"
Y'know, what with the popularity of eBay and the Internet these days, we sometimes wonder how cars ever got built before everyone had computers. See, Dave's based in northern California but found the body down in L.A. thanks to the Internet. However, it's a '31 and Dave prefers the grille and cowl of a '32 Chevy. The bodies are very similar, but he favors the '32 cowl for its cowl vent, so a little more World Wide Web research unearthed a collector back East who provided the necessary '32 parts in exchange for some fenders and panels that were surplus to Dave's requirements; the guy even delivered them while on a trip out West. Dave is quick to credit fellow Sidewinders CC members Steve, Mic, John, and Skot for helping him with the build, and in particular Danny Angel, who was responsible for much of the fabrication work and the 6 1/2-inch roof chop. All the wood framing in the body was replaced with steel tubing, and once the cowl sections were swapped over and the body prep complete, Skot Randall sprayed the PPG Black.
It can't be denied that the pice de rsistance is the powerplant, or more specifically the induction setup. Dave sourced the reproduction Howard five-carb inlet in Arizona, once again thanks to the Net, the quintet of Stromberg 97s all feeding the engine, which is bored from 302 to 310 ci. We're willing to bet he paid more than the $48.95 that intake cost new from Howard's Automotive in the '50s! The exhaust header was fabricated by Dave and a friend, and then chromed, and, yes, each pipe has a short baffle in it.
Nine months after starting the project, Dave had a driver, although the interior could best be described as minimal, and there was no roof insert. The latter has now been completed, with rubberized black simulated leather. The interior panels are next on the to-do list. Hey, a little missing upholstery doesn't mean it can't be driven, and Dave's perfectly comfortable racking up the miles with the sound of an inline-six for company.
Chassis
Deuce Steel started with a '32 Ford chassis, stretched it to a 115-inch wheelbase and swept up the front and rear sections to create a low ride height yet retain the classic lines of the Ford chassis 'rails. With chromed split 'bones locating the frontend, a Pete & Jake's buggy spring suspends the dropped I-beam from the frame, with Delco Lovejoy hydraulic dampers keeping movement under control. Wilson Welding binders do a fine job of looking neat while scrubbing off the high speeds of which this coupe is capable .
Drivetrain
Al Hubard bored the '54 Chevy six-cylinder from 302 to 310 ci, while the head was ported, polished, and treated to a three-angle valve job. The rods and crank remain stock, though JE 11:1 pistons now live in the rejuvenated block, kept company by a Sissell Automotive custom cam, one-off pushrods, and N.O.S. lifters. The Stromberg 97 carbs on that Howard intake are topped with air cleaners from O'Brien Truckers, and certainly make a statement, especially as they rise above cowl level. A Mallory distributor and custom wires light the fire. There's an aluminum flywheel, coupled with a Centerforce clutch, inside the '64 Vette bellhousing, which allows the inline motor to bolt to the Tremec five-speed. A 9-inch Ford rearend proved to be the right width to enable the tires to clear the low body. Dave runs his own company, Advanced Auto, so he tackled the wiring himself, using a 60-amp Powermaster alternator.
Wheels & Tires
Vintique Tru-Spoke wire wheels combine the early look with the peace of mind of new rims; the 16x4.5-inch fronts are wrapped in 5.25x16 bias-plies, and matching 8.25x16 wide whites are mounted on the 16x8-inch rears. Stainless rings and caps round out the timeless combo.
Body & Paint
You'd never know it now, but the body is an amalgamation of a '31 coupe and a '32 cowl section. All the wood was removed and replaced with steel, which significantly improved the structural rigidity, with a large amount of work going into the internal structure of the doors to mount the handles, window mechanisms, and hinges. The '32 Chevy grille now houses a Walker radiator, flanked by a pair of original '32 Chevy headlights. Repro '37 Ford lights bring up the rear.
Interior
The black paint is offset by a white vinyl bench seat and white accented stock dash, which holds a couple of vintage gauges, though the remainder of the interior is next on Dave's list. The LimeWorks steering column is topped and tailed by a '52 Chevy wheel and a Vega 'box. Air conditioning comes courtesy of the cowl vent that Dave went to all that trouble to fit, while in-car entertainment consists of listening to the bark of the six-banger and keeping the bias-plies between the white lines!
