Tommy Ivo T-Bucket Tribute

[Dave Darby]

Here's a little something I started on 20 years ago, and never got around to finishing. Two sticking points were the headers, and the Crescent moon back window. As you will see in the later photos, both of those issues have now been resolved. 
I present to you (still in progress)
My tribute (but not a clone) of the famed Tommy Ivo T bucket. It's an AMT 25 T, with the chromed rear end from Revell's Rat Rod Model A, and the Buick nailhead from the AMT 40 Ford Coupe. The heads, and injectors are from the Tommy Ivo Showboat dragster. 

Here is the roadster in its infancy, way back 20 years ago in 2002. 

The rear wheels are from the AMT 49 Ford, fronts are from the AMT 56 Vicky. Hubcaps are from an older issue 57 Ford, and the front tires are from the Revell Wheels of Fire 57 Chevy. Bringing up the rear are of course, a pair of early Trophy Series slicks. (Who says you can't hand paint whitewalls?) 

The bed is two Tweedy Pie boxes grafted together to make a longer one. Paint is Testors Candy Grape over Ruby Red Metal Flake.
This next photo is where the project stalled, back in 2002, 

Those headers were a big question mark for me, but the Revell Tweedy Pie 2 kit came to the rescue. Still, being for a small-block Chevy, they were going to require some reworking to work with the Buick Nailhead, I started by drilling holes in the exhaust  ports and header tubes to accomodate paperclip wire to use as locating pins.

Then, using two sets of headers, lengthened and shortened the two center pipes to match the Buick port layout. The unmodified header on the left, modified on the right. Still not quite accurate for Tommy's car, as his were a pair of two into ones, meeting in a collector. But Tommy also started with a shortened touring body he found in a desert, and this build isn't going to be that ambitious.

 

So far, so good, but the way that top just teetered on top of the interior tub, instead of sitting on the body as it should bugged me.. That windshield frame, by the way, is from the Monogram T bucket.

So, using another top and body, I marked the relationship of the top with the body as shown in the below photo.

I then set an interior tub in place, and transfered the marks to the tub. (Not this one.  I had already trimmed the other one before I thought to grab a photo.)

I then drew a line around the perimeter of the tub where the top sits so I could trim the that part of the tub even with the inside edge of the body to allow the top to sit down around the tub.. As shown below.

And now, the top sits directly on top of the body like it's supposed to. I should mention that it will also be necessary to thin the sides of the top down from the inside for it to fit properly. They are pretty thick. I used a flat jewelers file for that.

Now that the top fits correctly, I turned my attention to the iconic crescent moon rear window. (Casual tribute or not, that had to be!) According to Ivo, the top reminded him of an outhouse, hence the crescent moon rear window. I found a straight on rear view of the car online, and brought it into Adobe Illustrator. I had already measured the opening I was going to cut out of the roof, and drew a rectangle the correct size. I then sized the photo to fit the rectangle, and traced the moon, using two elipses, and then printed off a paper pattern, which I then taped to some .010 Evergreen sheet plastic.

After the old panel was cut out, I laid in some small strips (not shown) around the perimeter for the the panel to sit on, then glued it in place.

A little super glue (I like JB Super Weld) filled in my sloppy gaps. Speaking of gaps, that Monogram windshield is not quite as tall as the AMT windshield, causing the top to lean forward, creating the gap you see between the top and body at the very rear. Later on, I did some filing along the sides to bring the top down to sit fully flush.

Turning my attention back to the ancient AMT Nailhead from the 40 Ford Coupe (don't ask me why I used two different color engine block halves - I don't remember.) I wanted a more accurate looking magneto, and a finned valley cover. For the latter, I used an MPC 32 Ford Grille insert.

 

You may notice that I flattened the molded in valley cover, and drilled a mounting hole for the magneto.

I later cut a hole for the valley cover to sit in, so it wouldn't be sticking up from the top of the engine as high.

Again not shown, but I glued a pair of thin styrene strips to the sides of the opening for the valley cover to sit on. I also added another element missing from the old AMT engine, the water crossover, using a piece cut from the Cadillac engine in the 49 Ford.

That's pretty much where this sits at the moment. Stay tuned for further progress. Hopefully it won't be another twenty years!

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Dave Darby

[espo]

I like how you used so many parts from so many different kits. Glad you explained as otherwise viewers may not realize what all went into the engine. 

[OldNYJim]

Great kit-bashing!  That's a really nice looking project, and a fine tribute to the 1:1 that inspired it.  Way cool!

[Hoffman]

Dave, I love it! Excellent work. Now bring it on home! Looking forward to the completed model. ?

[bisc63]

Nice work! This should turn out very well.

[Dave Van]

WOW....some nice work and great details!!! This is one I'd like to build. Dad was friends with Tommy as he was racing director at Valvoline 1960-70. It was a big deal at my house because Mom thought Tommy was cute!!!!! 

Can't wait to see finished! 

Dad on left

[Dennis Lacy]

Excellent Ivo tribute, Dave! ?
 

Clever work on modifying the headers to fit the Nailhead and I love your solution to make the top fit properly. That makes a world of difference! 

[Dave Darby]

6 hours ago, Dennis Lacy said:

Excellent Ivo tribute, Dave! ?
 

Clever work on modifying the headers to fit the Nailhead and I love your solution to make the top fit properly. That makes a world of difference! 

Thanks Dennis, I'm in the process of finishing up the next Vintage Workbench column, but as soon I get that complete, I should be making progress on the engine and interior. Love your 60's T bucket.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Nice work, Dave. I too have been toying with a Fad-T recently. I love your use of the '32 grille for a finned valley cover. I'm filing that trick away for possible future use.

The top fits nicely with your mods. Bring it on home! -RRR

[MAGIC MUFFLER]

I did lots of work on Ivo's T Bucket over the years. I worked with Tommy on several projects.  I have a bunch of old photos somewhere I'll have to dig out after detailing the motor etc.  I even have photos when Pat Ganahl ( photo journalist ) was shooting it for an article back in about 1997.  Pat taking pics of the T and me taking pics of him taking his pics.  Pat G recently was killed in an accident as you probably already know.  

[ea0863]

I am thrilled you picked this project back up, and am learning so many little tricks and nuances from your build. Thank you for sharing!