Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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I'm starting this thread cos ive got a bit fecked off walking past this every day, when ive either not had the chance, or not had the motivation to do anything on it for the last 3-4 months. after building rods or customs for other people during the day, its hard to then carry on and work on your own after hours when youre totally knackered. so with a bit of jiggery-pokery with my hours, I'm now going to be having the odd day off to do a full day on it. a bit of history on the car. I bought it last november. at the time, I had a '66 13 window deluxe splitscreen van- you know, my reeeeeeeeally low white one. id got a bit fed up with VWs, so I sold it, bought this model A, and got 2 grand change shows how crazy the price of vws is these days, as my bus was pretty rough. when I collected it looked like this- the spec was- '28 A sedan body, '31 model A visor, 'glass deuce style dash. repro bonnet, loverd ally sides, original 30-31 A grille shell. body was essentially rustfree and original. boxed chassis with frame horns, kicked 6" at the back, box section rear crossmember, stock front. 3.5L rover v8, 5 speed manual, lightened flywheel, new clutch, malloy unilite dizzy, offenhauser manifold, holley carb, pop browns blockhugger headers. chevy 10 bolt rear axle, austin somerset 16" steels, hung on ladder bars and coilovers with panhard rod. VCW 4" dropped model A i-beam, tci hairpins, posies reverse eye spring, transit spindles, cortina discs, hillman minx 15" steels, cowl steer with vw steering box. morris minor wheel, triumph seats. sounds good yes? well, I only wanted about half of it!! but at the price, it was too good to pass up, I sold on a lot of bits, and directed some towards other projects.
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Last Edit: May 17, 2016 8:30:14 GMT by Dez
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,950
Club RR Member Number: 174
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Is that dustys old car? Looks like a good base for a project - what about boso style lol
Matt
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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I left it more or less along til id moved house in feburary or so, then I tore it apart. I sold off the camaro rear axle as I already had a ford 9" from a '59 galaxie for it, which id ended up with for more or less free through a bit of horsetrading, so I ended up £150 up there. id also already made a set of 15x6 reverse rims and welded the holes up in the centre of them, and I had a set of 8.90x15 crossplies fitted to them, so I had my rolling stock for the back and I didnt need the austin wheels. I then sold the dash, steering wheel, the spare 28-29 model A visor, the front brakes and spindles, the grille shell, and the headers. I then bought a complete front i-beam with spindles and refurbed brakes and 15" steel wheels form a guy in essex who was IFS-ing his '53 F100 pickup. he'd fitted all new shoes, cyls and bearing to get it MOTed and inspected before starting to cut it up. so I then had a set of massive 12" diameter drums in vgc for the front- much more in keeping than the discs. I then bought some 6.50x15 X-plys for the front, meaning my front rolling stock was complete again, save for some new shackles as the ones on were damaged, and the spindle kingpins need rebushing as they're a little worn. I cut down and reshaped the steering arms, smoothing them all out nicely to generally improve their appearance. and thats about as far as ive got with the running gear, i think.
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Last Edit: Aug 3, 2007 22:17:09 GMT by Dez
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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but, ive done a fair bit on the bodywork. when i got it, the body was stock, but shonky. its not got much rust, but most of the supporting subframe had been cut out to channel it, and erm, not put back in!! if you pushed the body with one finger, it would wobble from side to side, and it was all out of line in all directions. it was channeled, about 3" no one side and 2" on the other so, i set about rechannelling it, 4" this time, and pulling the body square, and setting it square on the chassis. i added some 1" thinwall box in as the floor subframe, theres a lot more it go in yet, but the body is now pulled straight and tack welded to the chassis to keep it that way until all the steel re-enforcing is in. i also returned the firewall back to its original position(it had previously been recessed), and repaired all the holes that had it been cut in it over the years.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Is that dustys old car? Looks like a good base for a project - what about boso style lol Matt yeah, it was dustys, i got it at what i think was a pretty good price. i know he'd had it in bits for quite a while, i think he was fed up of it as he sold this and his jago coupe and then bought a pretty nice steel '31 coupe, the red 'devils brew' one.
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stealthstylz
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,950
Club RR Member Number: 174
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My mate bought the original fibreglass body off it and we chopped it down into a pickup body. His steel coupe it looks really cool.
Matt
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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so, ive channelled it- you know whats coming next I did this- then I cut some out of the pillars- and threw it back on- I then spent quite a lot of time fettling the pillars to shape, it takes a while as they all taper. I still have to finish one rear corner and one door top, but I need to turn the car round to do that. I cant remember how much I chopped it now, 5" possibly?? tbh the roof chop was very easy, the metal is thick and welds well, and the shapes are quite basic- unlike chopping a bug!! after that, I turned my attentions to the dash. I hated the fiberglass one, but id been holding on to a RHD '60 impala dash id got for quite a long time. it would fit the bill perfectly, even if I did have to narrow it nearly 18"!!!! I took a lot of depth out of it, and narrowed the middle so it came to a sharp peak. I kept it so it bolts in so I can remove it if necessary. it still needs bottom mounts sorting, but I cant do them until ive sorted the cowl steer.
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Last Edit: Aug 3, 2007 23:14:51 GMT by Dez
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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next bit, door catches. id got the doors hanging reasonably well, they could really do with the hinges repinning, but they're ok for now. its generally accepted model A door catches are curse word. they look like house door catches, and you know how easy they are to burst open. so i set about looking for some catches that were anti-burst bearclaw type, but still had the old-style twist to release mechanism unlike the more modern push or pull to release type. in the end, i ended up settling on 2CV door catches. they're small, narrow as they fit in thin doors, and even have nice looking handles with good locks, so i used those as well. just don't tell anyone where they're from!! again, ive only done one side, i need to turn the car round to do the other side. and, that is about where I'm up to right now. writing all that shows me how far ive come, but ive still got a hell of a long way to go. I'm gunna go off down the steel stockholds either tomorrow or monday, and buy all the stuff i need to do the rest of chassis and body. ive not really described where I'm going with this project, or how its gunna look, but meh, i bet you can guess ;D
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LEGEND !!! Man , you are good.
Am always hubled by skils like yours. Thanks for the updates.
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qwerty
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,417
Club RR Member Number: 52
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This just basically [glow=red,2,300]ACE[/glow]. Keep up the updates its like my fantasy to build a Sedan rod!
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Stiff
Posted a lot
'kin 'ell
Posts: 3,019
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Me likey.
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Last Edit: Aug 4, 2007 12:58:12 GMT by briandamaged
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Excellent work Dezmond.
You know, when I saw the first picture, inside my brain was shouting CHOP CHOP CHOP. Glad yours was too. Looks great, and nice to see a "progress" of how one of these chops down, not as scary as I'd thought.
14/10 for effort.
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Last Edit: Aug 4, 2007 15:23:09 GMT by briandamaged
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Davenger
Club Retro Rides Member
It's only metal
Posts: 7,272
Club RR Member Number: 140
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That's fugging amazing.
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street
Posted a lot
6.2 ft/lbs of talk
Posts: 4,662
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Awesome machine! Liking the progress so far, and love the chop and channel You are a proper craftsman!
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Ooo, nicey.
I'm after building a model t doctors coupe at some point soon, stock height roof though.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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i like some aspects of the top one, the chop and channel is good but i hate the lack of fornt brakes, the tube axle, and the motorbike tyres. 'lifestyle' stickers get on my tits too. apart form that, not a bad car!! I'm not too keen on the others, and the bottom ones a '32!!
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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Excellent work Dezmond. You know, when I saw the first picture, inside my brain was shouting CHOP CHOP CHOP. Glad yours was too. Looks great, and nice to see a "progress" of how one of these chops down, not as scary as I'd thought. 14/10 for effort. i certainly couldnt own a model A and NOT chop it ;D and yes, the chop is pretty easy- you have to narrow the top bar above the screen, but apart from that its more or less cut all the way round twice, then re-attach.
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Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
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This just basically [glow=red,2,300]ACE[/glow]. Keep up the updates its like my fantasy to build a Sedan rod! it was my dream to build one too- i new i had the skills to build one, but i always viewed them as too expensive for me to afford the basic parts. when i realised how much cash i was sitting on in a vehicle i didn't particularly like (my bus), i sold it off double quick and redirected the cash to building the one car ive always wanted more than any other- a kickass model A sedan 'rod. if i take into account the cash ive got back selling bits i didn't want/need, i think total investment in it so far is still under £4500. itll probably top £6.5k by the time its done because of a full motor rebuild with lots of machine work, but itll be a car that i could sell for £15k.
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Stiff
Posted a lot
'kin 'ell
Posts: 3,019
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I'm not too keen on the others, and the bottom ones a '32!! Yeah I know but it's as near as damn it and it was worth throwing in for the sectioning. roofless looks good too...
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