THE BODY RETURNS HOME

Due to budget constraints, we've pulled back the reins a little bit and are temporarily slowing down on the build. As such, I brought the body home and Marty is going to focus on finishing the frame fabrication, hanging the rear end, setting up the front shocks and finalizing. In the meantime, I'm going to order the cut-to-fit axles and get some of my spare parts listed to generate some more scratch for the built. Our initial goal of having the car running in early April may be in jeopardy, but what the hell, we can only do what we can do.  In anticipation of the roadster body returning home, I went out and bought pieces to make a dolly for the body, consisting of 4X6's, casters, and metal brackets. Drew and I finished up the dolly after running the body back from Marty's. The dolly turned out pretty beefy. On the downside, I killed my Skil saw. I'll fire off some shots of the dolly tomorrow.

Weesner -- Another Reference Point

For months now, MArty and I have been drawing inspiration for my roadster from this Keith Weesner sketch. It's informed my wheel choice, my header selection, my colors.

Wiring Supplies and More Inspiration

Well, we're getting pretty close to needing to figure out the wiring for my roadster. I'd read somewhere that The Hot Rod Company had a nice selection on old school wire covers in different diameters and a quick trip to their website proved it was so. I also spent some quality time on Pinkee's website schooling myself on wire routing and brake line routing techniques at Marty's behest. For those who haven't had a chance to look at their workmanship, it's amazing, as evidenced by the wire loom running from the headlight bucket into the frame shown below on the green 32 they're building.

THE NARROWED 9"

We made a pretty extensive list of items that still need to be sourced for the build. It's now about prioritzing the items in the right order so that we can move forward at an efficient pace. High on the list are the cut-to-fit rear axles we'll be needing for the shortened 9". I took measurement of the remove axle tube and added 1/8" for each of the four cuts. Noting that the 9" is offset from the factory, we centered the pumpkin, by removing 6 1/2" inches from the driver's side and 3.0" inches from the passemnger side. So in all, we shortened the rear somewhere between 9 & 1/2'' and 10", allowing for an 1/8" of removed material for each cut. Now I'm off the find some axles.

SCORED A '37 CHEVROLET STEERING WHEEL

So much for my grand plan to use the 13.5" wheel I purchased from the hot rod company has hit the skids. I'm sure it will be of use sometime down the road. The trouble all started when my son Drew came across a vintage Chevy wheel on craigslist. We went to look at it on Saturday and it was too cool to pass up. It came from a 1937 Chevrolet passenger car. We had it out to Marty's on the weekend to see how it looked in the car and we all dug it. Because it's larger than the wheel I bought from The Hot Rod Co., column, pedal and wheel placement will be all the more critical in order to make shifting the 4-speed Muncie possible. We also dragged the John Deere seat buckets with us and while they're too wide to clear the driveshaft tunnel, we're going to try to cut them down to fit because they seem to do a lot of things well-- low in profile, subtle and utilitarian in design, able to accept custom cushions, etc.
Time will tell.

FRONT SPRING PERCH

Went up to Marty's today to see the progress on the frame. The front spring perch is fabbed and the motor mounts have been integrated into the frame. Here are some progress shots.

Slide show of car before teardown

Here's a slide show I made of the '29 when we first got it. By the time the rebuild is done, you'll be hard pressed to recognize it as the same car.