Dennis Lacy Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 Back in the 1930's the term 'hot rod' had not been thought of yet. Modified cars were referred to as 'soup jobs' or 'gow jobs'. The Ford in-line 4 cylinder engines remained the hop up engine of choice thru the '30's as well. It wasn't until the 1940's (especially after WWII) the Ford flathead V8 would dominate the hot rodding world. With all that said, the inspiration for this project comes from the pre-war era and will only use parts available from that time. This 1930's gow job is the culmination of combining AMT's '25 roadster pickup body and one of Revell's model A chassis. The front suspension is based off the dropped axle from Monogram's '33 3-window adapted with the spindles, wheels and tires from Revell's '37 pickup. I'm still working out the rest of the suspension and steering. The rear axle, wheels and tires also come from the '37 pickup but has been reworked so that the spring is mounted ahead of the axle. The spring was replaced with a model A piece. The chassis mocked up shows that the wheel-base has been extended with the re-worked rear axle. This made it possible to leave the radius rods full length. Only a short section needed to be removed from the torque tube so that it would mate to the Revell model A engine. No frame modificatons will be necessary . To make the body look correct in fenderless form, the fenders needed to be cut away leaving only the floor and sub-rail section for the pickup box to mount on. For propper proportion with the extended wheelbase, the truck will use the tall, stock windshield and top. It will also use the '25 T radiator shell and headlights. More to come soon...
Fletch Posted February 9, 2009 Posted February 9, 2009 Looks to be a fun build Dennis. Ya, got to love when the only limitation to a build is your imagination. Looking forward to seeing this one completed.
Dennis Lacy Posted February 17, 2009 Author Posted February 17, 2009 UPDATE! Got some more done on the “gow jobâ€. The first picture shows the breakdown of the basic body components of the AMT ‘25 T pickup. In the foreground is the floor / sub frame assembly after having the fenders and running boards cut away. If you go back to my first post you can see that the platform the PU bed sits on only extends back about half the length of the bed. I didn’t like this so I decided to extend it the full length of the bed. I found some suitable pieces of plastic in the parts bin and first made some thin filler strips to make the sides of the existing platform one consistent thickness. Next, I made the extension pieces and followed up with a new cross piece to tie them together. The next two pictures show how the floor / sub frame assembly sits on the Revell model A frame and the cut-outs required to clear the rear cross member, both in the floor and PU bed floor. The next challenge was to find a way to mount and positively locate the floor / sub frame on the model A frame. I solved it by adding a rectangular strip of plastic (yellow) to the bottom of the floor. I then inserted some plastic pins and match-drilled the center cross member of the model A frame. Not only does this keep everything aligned and located, it also provides a big, discrete surface area for glueing at final assembly.
Dennis Lacy Posted February 17, 2009 Author Posted February 17, 2009 The font suspension is made up of the dropped (and now de-chromed) axle from Monogram’s ‘33 Ford 3-window street rod with the wheel spindles from Revell's '37 Ford pickup, the split-wishbone radius rods from Monogram’s ‘32 Ford roadster, a steering adaptor arm made from an independent suspension a-arm and the drag link and pitman arm (turned upside down) from the Revell model A chassis. The tierod will also be from the Monogram ‘33. I also made radius rod mounts on the frame using some scrap pieces. They are in the rough right now, still needing to be trimmed and shaped. Some other little things: the stock model T firewall and dashboard are installed and I adapted the stock model T radiator / shell to the model A frame by using the lower tank from the model A radiator.
Dennis Lacy Posted February 17, 2009 Author Posted February 17, 2009 Here’s another rolling mock-up with the nearly completed front suspension and the extended PU bed rails. Once again, the wheels and tires are from Revell's '37 Ford pickup. Also visible is the bed cover that I’m contemplating using. It was made from the bed tarp in the Lindberg ‘34 pickup and has been narrowed and shortened. Not sure if I like it?
CB Posted February 17, 2009 Posted February 17, 2009 Excelllent postings Dennis! Love how you use the colors! Coolness---how you got all them parts in different colors. Aint no mistakin' your assemblies! Mockups lookin' good. IMHO, I wouldn't make any decides on that tarp until lots other stuff has been done
Dennis Lacy Posted February 17, 2009 Author Posted February 17, 2009 Thanks CB! Yeah, gotta love the colors prior to what seems a current standardation of white and gray plastic. Your right about the bed tarp. I will finish it and paint it and when the rest of the truck is finished I'll set it on there. Either it'll get tossed or glued down.
Paul Payne Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 DENNIS, GREAT BUILD OF A PERIOD CORRECT HOT ROD! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MORE!
Bernard Kron Posted February 20, 2009 Posted February 20, 2009 I'm really enjoying the detail of your posts and process you are following. I had a question about the pictures. One reason they work so well is the different colors of key parts. Are they really a different color in each case or do you color them so we can see them better?
Dennis Lacy Posted February 23, 2009 Author Posted February 23, 2009 (edited) Paul & Rudy: Thanks guys and more will be on the way soon! Bernard: Thanks and I'm glad you enjoy following along on my projects. I'd like to be able to say that the different colors are on purpose but it's just the luck of the draw. CB brought up the colors too. It seems that it's only fairly recently AMT and Revellogram went with the standardized white and gray plastic. Quite a few of the kits I have collected are older issues from the 70's and 80's and they come in all sorts of colors. I didn't get any work done on this project this weekend but I hope to in the comming week. I ended up starting a new project. Edited February 23, 2009 by Dennis Lacy
Don Banes Posted February 26, 2009 Posted February 26, 2009 Looks like another winner to me! Plus, it's a great idea, and a more than welcome departure from any "modern" hot rod. I'll be following this build also. Great job!
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