Saved a fragment of an A

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sandmountainslim

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Not the type cars built by most of you guys BUT I just couldn't let a piece of history be recycled.

I found a fragment of the cowl top/gas tank from a '28-29 car which a friend had saved from a salvage yard. Someone had removed the side panels and cut the cowl top with a blow torch at some point.

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I took the fragment home and a friend and I began trying to replace the cut away pieces and build our own sides and firewall from sheetmetal

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and ended up with something that looked like this

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It sat that way a few months and we began work on building a home made body frame and trying to turn it into the cab of a roadster pickup streetrod

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ended up cutting one side rail off of a '48 Chevy pickup which we are going to fashion into a short bed for our RPU

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A couple days later I found a Model A windshield and the frame for twenty bucks for the project

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I also ran across the missing gas cap and the steering wheel from a 1930 which I plan to use as soon as I find a steering column and steering box.


We built our own frame from square tubing and based it off of a Spirit Industries T-Bucket frame and I have the front end I salvaged off of a '48 Ford Coupe.



I know it is NOT the type Model A that is normally posted about on this forum and the mods can feel free to delete my thread if it is inappropriate but I just wanted to share what we are trying to do with a piece of a Model A that we saved from the scrap pile.

Wp
 
If you happen to be going to Hershey, you could get the rest of the parts to finish that project.
 
Your a Man who has a Vision, and can see Beyond the Bushes. You can make something out of Nothing and spare Parts. I wish someone like You lived next door to me. I do the same.

As you can see by the Photo in my advatar, the Huckester Van built from a pile of Local Rough Sawn Oak. Maybe you might be Interested in one as such, or a C cab Truck Body built out of Hard Wood, would be a easy way to complete your Project. Keep us informed on the Roadster Build.

Here is a Photo of a 1968 El Camino 4x4, thats right 4 Wheel Drive, I built, incorporating 4 wheel drive Chevy Pick-up Truck, Front and Rear axles, on to the Original El Camino Frame.

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Thanks for the welcome, men :)
That Huckster Van is AWESOME!

I was afraid I would be beaten with squirrels and rode out on a rail for the project I am working on.
Wp
 
Nice looking start to a huckster Jazzjr. Let us see it when you get it finished.

Also welcome sandmountainslim. Get a little more stuff and you will have a body.
 
It's great to see how you salvaged some Model "A" parts and are creating a unique vehicle. You've got a lot of talent & I'm glad you're sharing this experience with us.
On the other hand, I've met at least one person who could have done what you're doing. Instead he took an incredibly complete "A" which had won prizes and turned it into a street rod. What you did is exciting. What he id is a tragedy.
 
Mitch Bunkin in PA said:
I've met at least one person who could have done what you're doing. Instead he took an incredibly complete "A" which had won prizes and turned it into a street rod. What you did is exciting. What he id is a tragedy.
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To each their own but I for one would never turn a complete antique car into a street rod or rat rod.

It's my belief that Rods should be built out of bodies and partial bodies that are pretty much beyond use as a restoration project.

Cowls and cowl fragments like I used, rusty Model T or Dodge Brothers roadster bodies or the front half of a Touring car make excellent street rod projects.
Wp
 
In this photo U can see the damage done to the cowl top by someone with a blowtorch at some point in it's history. U can see where we grafted new sheetmetal to the old. Will have to try and smooth this up later on in he project.

I have no idea what kind of idiot would have taken a blowtorch to an early Model A.

Is there anyway to tell from the remaining cowl whether this was a closed or open car originally?
Wp


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Body panels mostly attached but now we are gonna have to figure out how to lower the cowl a couple inches then start work on mounting the windshield.


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A real man with a true vision. Start with nothing but a vision and build on it. Good for you! I'd sure like to see updated pic. periodically. Keep up the good work.
 
Cowl properly lowered. Also sat it up on the frame today and decided to go with a Model A front axle rather than the '48 I had originally planned to use.

Post Scriptum: Thanks for the kind comments and to detractors, Better Bubba'd than scrapped in my opinion. Saved this stuff from the scrap pile not from a mint showcar.


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I've no problem with what you are doing! Nice work!

I'd much rather see street rods built up from parts that were going to be scrapped than complete cars cut up!!!
 
Have "The Ghost" as we are now calling it up on the frame in my garage and today I acquired two bottoms of schoolbus seats from a scrapyard in Tennessee, the two seat bottoms will make a FINE little bench seat and fits the cab perfectly.

This weekend we plan to try and get the body primered and maybe get the windshield mounted. I have been searching for one of the original body posts that go on an A to hold the windshield but so far nothing in my area for a reasonable price so if it comes to it we shall just make our own way to hold the windshield frame to the cab.

Also no one in NE Alabama seems willing to part with an A radiator shell so I guess I will just use the Model T shell that I have in my shop.

Wp
 
I have 3 1929 shells in my scrap pile, but the bottoms are rusted beyond use, and they wouldn't even be worth the cost of mailing them.
 
Tom Wesenberg said:
I have 3 1929 shells in my scrap pile, but the bottoms are rusted beyond use, and they wouldn't even be worth the cost of mailing them.
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If we lived closer to one another I would offer to buy one from ya and see what I could do with it but I know that shipping is murder on things of any size.


I found a guy who was trying to sell a Rat Rod '47 Ford pickup that had a surface rust covered A shell on it. I offered to buy the shell from him and offered to trade him my (much better condition) Model T shell for it but he wouldn't budge because the A shell "matched" his truck :rolleyes:
I would be happy if I found HALF of a '29 A shell around these parts but the folks that have 'em won't let go and most just don't have em.

Wp
 
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