Bengels 30 coupe build thread...

[M.T.]

The Reasoning
So I have been doing a lot of sole searching as of late about my priorities in regards to my personal projects. I've always had several projects going at once as I tend to get bored and jump around for a change of pace. Anyway that's the excuse I been using on myself for years. Ive come the conclusion that I had better start tying up some of these loose ends on the projects so I can actually enjoy the fruit of my hard work and drive them for a while. Not only that but my grown kids are starting to call dibb's on different projects and Id like to leave them something worth having. So for now the COE, Falcon, VW, Zephyr, and a few others are on the back burner.


The BIO
My very first car was my Model A Five window coupe. My dad acquired it in a trade when I was about 11 or 12. It was a beauty when he brought it home and It was love at first sight! Deep dark metal flake red paint, 53 Ford flat head hooked up to a 39 3 speed with juice brakes... What more could a kid want? On my 16th birthday I took it for a drive and never gave it back to Pops. I think it was the plan all along but he never would admit it. On my 21st birthday I went to work in the evening and pops was going to change the fuel filter for me on the coupe while I borrowed his car for the night. At 12:30 am I pulled into the drive way to see the Model A burnt to the ground covered in white foam. Now my Dad was a guy that seemed to be as hard as a rock emotionally as years of being a deputy coroner had conditioned him not to get emotionally involved in anything unpleasant. So I'm standing there in disbelief of what had happened when my Pops and my hero came around from the back side of the car. He was all tore up weeping and apologizing to me for what he had done to my car. I don't know what was worse, seeing Pops crying or seeing the smoldering mess in the driveway. Either way it left quite an impression on me and a new and different kind respect for Pops.

Just so happened I had Joined the Air Force a few months earlier and only had a few day left before I had to show up to boot camp. He and I cocooned the chard mess up and put it in deep storage. Four years later I had some money saved up as well as a well thought out build plan, and being single I had plenty of free time so I got after the Model A one more time. I threw away the flat head and crash box and replaced it with a 68 327ss power glide combo. I went through the motor with a level 4 street strip cam from Crower, a gear drive, tunnel ram, and dual quad Holley's, with a 2000 rpm stall converter. You know Kid stuff! Got it pretty well along and Life happened, got married had kids and the car budget was put on hold through that time stretching over 14 years. Then the divorce and divorce recovery. Since then Ive built dozens and dozens of cars for customers, friends, and kids. occasionally pulling the coupe out for a spurt of quality build time. A roof chop got me through the hard times of the divorce and kept my mind off the tough tasks of the separation. But it went quickly back into the shadows for storage. I started a start up business that has taken way too much of my time. The days and weeks continue to slip by quickly and so has the Model A's progress. Pops is a very spry and young 80 years old this year, I just turned 59, I think its time to get the old gal finished up and on the road so I can remember what it was like driving her once again and if I'm lucky maybe even give pops another spin around the block in her.


The Plan:
For the past week Ive been gathering up the stored parts that I have had pigeon holed all over town for almost 40 years now and I have everything in one pile. In the 70's when I worked on it last smoothed cars in bright colors was the fad. Not so much now. So I'm going to pull the body off one more time and paint the frame and suspension black once again and loose the blue. The firewall is going black as well as the top. The bottom half of the car is going Bengels Hot Rod Seat Orange. Bad Ass color by the way! I'm going to pull the motor and go through that just to insure it's good enough to light off. While its out the Powerglide will get new seals and a shift kit just because. I need to do a little work on the custom fuel tank I built for it then it going back together for the final time in my lifetime. I will be building a custom seat frame for it using our new Bengels A.S.S. System and a few other little things I have in mind. An ole school logo will be going on the door and then it is go time.


The Car
She aint pretty but I love her just the same. This old gal and I have a life time together and I need to see her dance one more time!

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