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Post by aaronfurlotte on Feb 22, 2010 22:22:44 GMT -5
I've been away from models for the last 2 months, but i'm planning on getting back to work this week. I was talking to the car's owner this past weekend, which got me intersted in this project again. He's boxing the original frame and installing a 9 inch rear end and 4 link. It was in rough shape when he started. Back in the 60s it wasn't reinforced at all, the 327(bored out .060") was dropped into the stock frame with a gm 3 speed. It later had a hydramatic, and then a push button torqueflite. It once ran 13.08 at 108 mph. That explains why it was badly twisted and cracked.
I`m planning what i`m going to do next; probably finish the frame and suspension.
I like this car because it's 100% traditional, but looks totally different than what everyone thinks a traditional hot rod should look like. The traditional rods built today are cool, but I have a feeling that this car is a more accurate representation of what they actually looked like.
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Post by aaronfurlotte on Feb 24, 2010 21:16:08 GMT -5
A small update; This is the first mock up with the engine in place. The moon valve covers are from the Monogram Badman '55 Chevy. I also rebuilt the ladder bars because the first set got damaged. I found a better pair of front tires too.  I fussed with the suspension trying to get it to sit right, and I think the stance is damn near perfect now! |
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Post by RodBurNeR on Feb 24, 2010 21:24:42 GMT -5
looks killer with them fenders, nice all around!
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Post by Olskoolrodder on Feb 25, 2010 8:22:39 GMT -5
looks killer with them fenders, nice all around! Yes it do! ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by paraphrenic on Feb 25, 2010 8:25:46 GMT -5
;D ;D ;D
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Post by noname on Feb 25, 2010 11:03:22 GMT -5
Looks excellent Aaron. I like the fact that the roof isn't chopped. I also like that fact that your reproducing an original maritime drag car. This car is going to be totally cool when finished.
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Post by aaronfurlotte on Feb 25, 2010 22:26:28 GMT -5
Thanks everyone.
Matt, when I first heard about this car I was totally blown away. I never realised that there were cool hot rods built in Nova Scotia in the '50's-'60's. The local hot rods and drag racing never had magazine coverage, so information is hard to find. I'm sure a lot of people have old photos hidden away of local tracks and car shows, but nobody gets to see them because there are no websites or magazines devoted to them. California's car culture was always well documented in magazines and other media, but ours never was. That's why I want this model to be as accurate as possible; to show people what hot rods/drag cars in Nova Scotia once looked like.
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Post by aaronfurlotte on Feb 27, 2010 21:51:27 GMT -5
Here's today's progress:  The rader wheels on the real car had a deeper offset than the ones I have. I removed the rim from another set of wheels to make them deeper.  I made the split wishbones and shock mounts. They're crude looking but that's the way they were.   The rear shock mounts.   |
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Post by noname on Feb 27, 2010 22:54:23 GMT -5
Well, the details are really looking good. I think having access to the 1:1 and vintage photos are really helping you here. Keep up the good work.
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Post by aaronfurlotte on Feb 28, 2010 16:49:13 GMT -5
You're absolutely right. Having access to the real car and vintage photos has been a huge help. I was also fortunate enough to have seen the car before the rebuild started, when all of the old brackets, engine mounts and scatter shield were still on it.
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Post by Dennis on Mar 1, 2010 15:39:08 GMT -5
Very nice progress Aaron. You've really nailed the details of the real car. I think many, many cars all over were built just like this - crude! Not a lot of attention was paid to propper reinforcement on the chassis. Being in the business we've seen this time and time again.
Awesome work man, awesome!
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Post by aaronfurlotte on Mar 1, 2010 15:45:28 GMT -5
Thanks!
In the last picture I posted, the passenger side frame rail is slightly visible. Take a look, it's got pretty good bend in it! That's the spot where the ladder bar crossmember was welded.
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Post by aaronfurlotte on Mar 4, 2010 21:48:23 GMT -5
I decided that the front tires shown in my last update still didn't look right. They're too small. This has been the most difficult part of this build, because all of the good period correct tires are 1/25th and look way to small on 1/24th models. The new ones are BF Goodrich Silvertown's (the tires on the real car were Goodyears but if I get that fussy this will never get done), which can be found in a few AMT kits. They're supposed to be 1/25th scale but they look more like 1/24th, which is perfect for this application. Anyway, I opened up the whitewall inserts to fit the larger wheels. The inserts will be painted black later, and the ridge around them painted white.  I bobbed the fenders, added the lip around the edge and extended the roll pan slightly.   Cycle fenders kick ass!  |
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Post by noname on Mar 4, 2010 22:24:19 GMT -5
One thing I've never cared for is Gassers that sat high on all four wheels. But for some reason it looks totally right to me on this car. Everything is looking super here Aaron.
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Post by aaronfurlotte on Mar 4, 2010 22:43:10 GMT -5
Thanks! The real car had had a cool stance, i've been trying to capture it perfectly with this build. It didn't always sit that high though. In its early days, it sat as low as possible with full fenders. It was raised sometime around 1965, when the ladder bars were built and a peice of rectangular steel tube was welded to the front crossmember. Not really the safest way the raise the front, but there were no standards for chassis fabrication at the time.
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