1931 Ford Coupe

[froghawk]

That purple body is beautiful, Aaron! Hope to get around to doing something with it; looks very "'60s" with that metalflake.

[aaronfurlotte]

More updates are coming soon, so keep watching. Here's what the real car looked like in 1966:
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The car was hauled to the track behind that blue merc, with a home made tow bar.The body is pretty much in the same condition today, the paint has some wear though.

[gonzo64nova]

I have to say I agree with all the previous statements...the details are what is making your 31 a real kick-ass build and the fact that its an actual car is just an added bonus. Your attention to detail is excellent. Are you going to build the tow bar too?

[aaronfurlotte]

I managed to get a few things done over the past few days. The headers are scatchbuilt and I just need to add flanges and they'll be done.

Here's the real ones:

Custom firewall to provide engine clearance:

Here's the firewall on the real car.

I scratchbuilt the ultra rare Man-A-Fre intake from 11 pieces of styrene. The rochester carbs are from the AMT '32 vicky. They were connected in groups of 3 so I had to cut them apart.

The real car had a narrowed '40 dashboard and luckily Revells new '32 5 window kit has one that fits perfectly!

Rear crossmember cover.

Here's the front of the firewall and the front engine mount.

Here's the real stuff:

[Dennis]

That's some great progress Aaron. The headers really look good, nice detail on the collectors.

The real car definately has some crude work done to the firewall, very typical of the era, but you did a great job replicating it!

[paraphrenic]

Some serious attention to detail there Aaron... The 1:1 is really neat looking... Great choice in subject and fine execution so far!

[roddratt]

I'm liking all the detail scratch-building work going on here.

[abedooley]

HOT DAMN!!!!! That is some serious scratchbuilding!!!! One question. How did you do the channel in the door skins??? I really need to learn how you pulled that off!

[aaronfurlotte]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

The channel in the door skin was done with a needle file.

[abedooley]

Did you just draw out the design and gouge it out with the round file? I bet a small round wood chisel type of tool could work as well. However ya did it, it turned out killer!!

[aaronfurlotte]

I drew the design first, then scribed it with an x-acto knife. I used the file to finish it. The scribed line was just a guide, most of the work was done with the file.

Thanks

Aaron

[froghawk]

Impressive scratching, particularly on those headers!

Love the shots of the original car with the Merc! Will you do it with the Radirs and narrow WWs all around? Any details on the headlight setup? They look like small Lucas lights mounted on nerf bars at the tip of the frame horns; different, and maybe a little weird looking.

[aaronfurlotte]

Thanks froghawk.

I'm building it with the whitewall slicks/steel wheels, open headers and B/A lettering on the quarter windows. I think your right about the headlights; they appear to be small Lucas's. I've seen them used before on anglia gassers. I also agree with you about they way they were mounted. They would have probably looked better if they were mounted further back, on the shock mounts. That seems to be the most common place for them on 1:1 rods. The headlights on the model will be in the same location as the real car though, to keep it accurate.

[aaronfurlotte]

Here's another bit of info I found about this car recently.

The original owner/builder actually built two of them at the same time. One was built for his wife and the other for himself. That was sometime around 1955-56. They both had the same modifications: channeled, bobbed fenders and I think the other had a clear plexiglass top too. The biggest difference was the engines. One was powered by a 265 chevy and the other had an early hemi. The 265 powered (the one i'm building) car was sold and owned by 2 or 3 other people and was involved in a bad accident with a big pontiac, before the current owner bought it in 1964. I don't know much about the second car, but I do know that it still exists. It has been rebuilt a couple times and now has modern independant suspension.

[paraphrenic]

Very cool that all this history is available to you... Makes your build that much more authentic!

I'm guessing the headlights were an attempt at doing something different... Maybe not something I'd do on my own 1:1... but looks kind of neat to me!

Will set your build apart... and that's always KOOL!

You might consider displaying the build with these photos when done... Especially at contests and shows... Folks would love the history that goes along with this great build!