34 Ford 3W Coupe

[ModWrench]

This is my first WIP on this forum site, looking forward to learning the process here!

I am gathering parts for a 34 Ford LSR-style three window coupe. My initial pile consists of a Flintstone resin body, '32 frame, V8 Caddy and trans from Revell parts pack, rear spring and quick change from Mapleleaf Model Works, and an assortment of odds and ends from the recent Revell '29 Model A kit. Still trying to decide on wheels and tires, but leaning towards a set I picked up from Modelhaus Tires.

Open to comments or suggestions as I get this build started.

[DustyMojave]

Looks like a great start. I checked out the Maple Leaf page and like what I saw there too. I have some hotrod projects lined up and wanted some vintage style rear axles other than the modern stuff that Revell provides.

[Misha]

Welcome to the Forum Mark! 
For your first WIP it is certainly intriguing and you are off to a great start with the parts you’ve gathered. Your subject is a favourite of mine and I’ll be following your build with great interest. How are you liking the Flintstone body and will you be cutting into it to open up hood, door…?

Cheers Misha

[Straightliner59]

A great source for vintage parts will be Revell's Model A Pickup. It's got a ton of nice stuff--two front axles, one of which is a dropped beam. Friction shocks, brakes...it's well worth the price of admission!

[ModWrench]

10 hours ago, Misha said:

Welcome to the Forum Mark! 
For your first WIP it is certainly intriguing and you are off to a great start with the parts you’ve gathered. Your subject is a favourite of mine and I’ll be following your build with great interest. How are you liking the Flintstone body and will you be cutting into it to open up hood, door…?

Cheers Misha

Misha - Thanks for the note! I haven't worked with a lot of resin bodies, but the Flintstone coupe seems to me to be a nice casting. It is however really thick and I spent a fair amount of time sanding and grinding the interior side of the body to bring the appearance into a more scale-appropriate thickness. I did this because yes, I will be opening the doors and hood - undecided about the trunk at this time. Started making the first cuts and got one door opened up. Notice the top of the door is still too thick and needs the attention of a file and some more sandpaper!

[ModWrench]

3 hours ago, Straightliner59 said:

A great source for vintage parts will be Revell's Model A Pickup. It's got a ton of nice stuff--two front axles, one of which is a dropped beam. Friction shocks, brakes...it's well worth the price of admission!

Thanks for the tip Daniel. I'll search for this kit, as I definitely want to use a dropped beam and friction shocks.

[Straightliner59]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353941136052?hash=item52688922b4:g:gMYAAOSwFbNiHwQO

Here's one that's reasonable. I think the latest version is a rat rod. It's been around a long time, in several boxes. It's definitely one of the better sources for vintage hot rod parts!

[ModWrench]

On 6/2/2022 at 5:35 AM, Straightliner59 said:

A great source for vintage parts will be Revell's Model A Pickup. It's got a ton of nice stuff--two front axles, one of which is a dropped beam. Friction shocks, brakes...it's well worth the price of admission!

Thanks for the tip Daniel. I'll search for this kit, as I definitely want to use a dropped beam and friction shocks.

I found a Rat Rod version of this kit for a reasonable price. On it's way to me, should have it in a couple of days. Thanks again for the suggestion!

[Straightliner59]

21 hours ago, ModWrench said:

Thanks for the tip Daniel. I'll search for this kit, as I definitely want to use a dropped beam and friction shocks.

I found a Rat Rod version of this kit for a reasonable price. On it's way to me, should have it in a couple of days. Thanks again for the suggestion!

You won't be disappointed!

[chris chabre]

Ill be watching! I love early land speed and drag cars. I also use to race on the salt

[DustyMojave]

Long way from Connecticut to any place to race on salt.

I live within sight of El Mirage Dry Lake, where the salt flat racers race most of the year (even though El Mirage is not salt, but desert alkali dust leveled and compacted by winter and monsoon rains when they happen), except for during speedweek in August. In a lifetime of involvement in motorsports, the 1st race car I ever sat in was my dad's best friend Tom Beatty's belly tank, which is now in the Henry Ford Museum. I was 2 at the time, but remember it still at 66. Of course, at the time, dad had a 34 coupe in the garage that he sold to one of the Pierson brothers, famous for their 34 coupe. Not the same 34 coupe. At the Muroc Reunion in '96, dad asked the brothers what they had done with the coupe he sold them. They remembered him and buying a coupe from him, but couldn't remember what they had done with that one. But Dry Lakes '34 coupes are close to my heart.

I have lots more to tell about such things if any are interested. But I'm not gonna take over this thread about a cool model build.

[Straightliner59]

12 hours ago, DustyMojave said:

Long way from Connecticut to any place to race on salt.

I live within sight of El Mirage Dry Lake, where the salt flat racers race most of the year (even though El Mirage is not salt, but desert alkali dust leveled and compacted by winter and monsoon rains when they happen), except for during speedweek in August. In a lifetime of involvement in motorsports, the 1st race car I ever sat in was my dad's best friend Tom Beatty's belly tank, which is now in the Henry Ford Museum. I was 2 at the time, but remember it still at 66. Of course, at the time, dad had a 34 coupe in the garage that he sold to one of the Pierson brothers, famous for their 34 coupe. Not the same 34 coupe. At the Muroc Reunion in '96, dad asked the brothers what they had done with the coupe he sold them. They remembered him and buying a coupe from him, but couldn't remember what they had done with that one. But Dry Lakes '34 coupes are close to my heart.

I have lots more to tell about such things if any are interested. But I'm not gonna take over this thread about a cool model build.

I have Tom Medley's book, entitled "Hot Rod History". There's a ton of stuff in there about the early days--El Mirage, Muroc, Bonneville... There was an obscure car called "The Coca-Cola (Coke) Stand", so called because it looked like a big aluminum box. It was built on a T chassis. The car eventually became Chrisman's No. 25 dragster! 

At any rate, this will be a fun project to watch!

[ModWrench]

I wondered when Chris made that comment if his salt attraction was self-induced, or influenced by those Rolling Bones guys??

Dusty - I am interested in hearing more, so feel free to post up your insights and stories. You won't offend me if you do it here!

Life has slowed my progress a bit on this build. Between moving one of my daughters to New York City in June, working 50+ hours/week the past month and getting our race car prepped for the season, build time has been minimal. However, I have made some progress on the chassis and am getting the suspension hung and the stance dialed in to my liking. I hope to make enough progress this weekend to post some updated pics.

[Zippi]

That 34 is looking good so far.

[DustyMojave]

Just 'cuz ModWrench said a while back "I am interested in hearing more, so feel free to post up your insights and stories. You won't offend me if you do it here! " And I was struggling with cancer at the time, I didn't follow up. Doing better now after some radiation treatments and some medicine. So I was checking out the thread and thought I'd throw down a few photos from the Muroc Reunion from 1996.

The organization that has run events at Bonneville each August and aside from August, from April through November at El Mirage is SCTA. A few dry lake beds in SoCal were used before WWII and up into the 1950s.

-Muroc Dry Lake: Since WWII has been Edwards Air Force Base. The space shuttles landed on this dry lake bed. The 1st plane to break the speed of sound did so above this lakebed after taking off from it. So racers had not been allowed to use it since the Army Air Corps took over. But in 1996, the commander allowed an event to take place. Most all of the modern Air Force planes, like SR71 Blackbirds, F16s, F22s, F117 NightHawk (the 1st stealth fighter), B1B (1st stealth bomber), B2, F35 and many more have been test flown from Edwards.

- Harper's Dry Lake: Northeast of Edwards and northwest of Barstow. Mostly used by Russetta Timing Assn, who competed with SCTA and allowed coupes when SCTA did not.

- El Mirage: Southeast of Edwards and not far from my house. This was the most used SoCal dry lake bed. An old friend of mine, Wes Cooper, told me when he was 14 in 1927, he and his mom had taken a drive in mom's Model T and were stopped in what later became the City of Santa Clarita getting gas and some dry lakes racers came in for gas. He was checking out the race cars and talking to the guys, when they told him and his mom about the races they were going to out at El Mirage. He was so enthused, that mom agreed they could go out to the race. So they tagged along. The roads were mostly dirt from there and the next 50+ miles through the Sierra Pelona Mountains to Palmdale, and then across the desert to El Mirage. He was hooked and attended nearly every event until he passed away in the mid-90s near the finish line holding a time slip from his 34 Coupe (Cooper, Donovan & Creel) having just set a new record for a flathead powered coupe. El Mirage is still the location for races for most of the season.

[DustyMojave]

After posting those I had the thought that maybe I should provide some captions for those pics.

- The '34 Coupe pushed by the F1 is close to the model in this thread. Above them the NASA rocket engine test facility is visible on the hill. Rocket engines get mounted in test stands up near the top of the hill with the exhaust deflected horizontally out over the desert.

- Belly tank with flathead power and stretched tank body. The driver is laid down with those small side windows and a little mirror periscope above to see forward.

- The fairly famous Scotty's Muffler '34. This car was originally a Coupe. The roof was cut off WAAAYYY back when. It's been raced by the same owner/ partners and family for many decades.

- The 2 characters next to the '29 Street Roadster in cowboy hats are me and my then 2 year old son. He's now 28 and going to work in an aircraft factory on advanced stuff that he can't tell us about. He's spent much of his career since he was in High School making a living fabricating offroad race cars and is a Baja 1000 Champion.

- 53 Studebaker with Chevy small block with Hilborn stacks

- 51 Merc with Merc flathead

- Deuce Street Roadster with flat motor

- Another Roadster. This one a '27. Since these are pre-digital from prints, the developer flipped the negative for this shot.

- This little coupe is from nearby and has run for years at El Mirage.

- A sweet little 27 roadster under construction with a small block Chevy and a track nose. The shot of the grille may help you guys who want to make such grilles for your models to see how that cast grille was made and how to fabricate one. Many racers with track noses had grilles made of steel strap stock and steel sheet. The original used to mold this one was probably made that way, like most all of them, including Kurtis.

- My then daily driver 1-owner Falcon Wagon. Bought new by my grandparents. Still rolling with a 6-in-a-row. Bit of patina on the Earl Scheib $29.95 paint job from the early 70s when it had been sandblasted in a sand storm near Palm Springs. Put 145K miles on it in 4 years back then. Still have it.

- Cool little 25 T Roadster with a Model C (33-34 with pressure oiling, but otherwise same block as a Model A) 4-banger in it. I've seen this car at El Mirage quite a few times over the years.

- Another 25 T Roadster. IIRC, this one was out of Ed Winfield's shop which then had just recently been moved to the desert west of Edwards AFB.

- Nice Double Nickel wagon.

- 27 on Deuce Rails with a Flathead and a Duval windshield. In the background is George Callaway's 29 Roadster. At that time George's car was running a Toyota 4 cylinder engine. George's home is on the west edge of El Mirage and is the only property that has deeded access to the lakebed. Every one else has to go through the BLM Gate at the east end of the lakebed and pay BLM for entry.

- Some cool cars parked on the lakebed.

- Sweet roadster with a Duval Window. Streamliner beyond it.

Some more pics:

1st is a streamliner that I worked on years ago. Basso, Klos & Kong. One of the partners, Ray Basso was a close friend of mine. Another partner was Kong Jackson, who's Kong ignitions for flatheads famous since shortly after WWII. His brother Pete is famous for his gear cam drives. I'm visible beyond the canopy. Body boy Jocko  Engine is one of many flathead engines owned by Ray Basso and built by Ray and Kong. All of those engines are special in some way or another. Kong heads. Riley Single Port OHV (one intake port per head as required by rules for a certain class of race boats in the late 40s/early 50s). Ardun (Ray had 3 sets of Ardun heads) with SCOT blower. Flat Plane Crank Merc block (sounds like 2 separate 4 cylinder engines running). He had a garage load of engines. 4-Bangers like Riley and Cragar OHVs, V8s, even had an early 50s 255 Offy and a 1970s Turbo Offy Indy engine from Vel's/Parnelli Jones team.

 

Hell, why don't I throw in a picture or 2 of the Tom Beatty belly Tank. One pic is the car at Laguna Seca for the Historic weekend and now lives in the Henry Ford Museum. The other is at El Mirage in 58 to 60. Skinny Tom and Fat Eddy who worked for Tom. (PS: The man went by Fat Eddy. He would introduce himself to folks who walked into the shop that way. VERY nice guy. Used to always give me a nickel to get a soda out of the vending machine in the shop.) That pic is by my dad and is copyright RP 2015. Note the "nipple" on the original to the car front wheel cover in the Laguna Seca photo. Before Dean Moon produced his salt discs, Tom made his own out of lids for wringer washing machines. Took off the spot welded handle and trimmed the edge to fit the wheel. Last is me sitting in the Kelly & Hall Belly Tank also at El Mirage about 10 years ago.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by DustyMojave
Read back through and felt I could help the words make more sense.

[Straightliner59]

@DustyMojaveRichard, thanks for sharing these! They're great inspiration and reference. One of my favorite books about the dry lakes is Tex Smith's "Hot Rod History". I've spent many hours, just paging through that book. 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Straightliner59

[Pierre Rivard]

Mark, welcome to the site and posting your WIP. Personally I find WIP sections great because we all support and help each other. Keeps me motivated and pushes me to complete the project. I look forward to seing how you work with resin and will certainly learn something along the way.

[Kit Karson]

Great to have you @ModWrenchhere!  There are some great members here and so glad to contribute to the forum content.  Keep us updated on your progress. -KK

[DustyMojave]

Just read through my post above with the pictures and captions. Edited it to add a little here and there and hope it makes more sense in some spots.

[ModWrench]

DustyMojave - Great photos, that track nose grill is giving me an idea for this build! Love the Falcon wagon too.

Pierre and Kit - Appreciate your comments. Spent a little time today reacclimating myself with this build. I'll get some progress shots posted soon.

[ModWrench]

Have the front and rear axels mocked up and pretty much locked in. I attempted to replicate some "dog bones" on the front end. Used some #1 crimp beads on the ends of the friction shocks and the inside of the wishbones to simulate the ends on the bones. I'll run some .035 rod thru them to connect the pairs during final assembly. Hoping it looks realistic enough. Rear cross member and quick change are hung and ready for some rear radius rods once I get the mid-frame internal section glued in. 

[Straightliner59]

Those crimp beads look like they'll work, very nicely! Gonna have to keep that in mind.