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!

Model A 001.jpgModelA017.jpgCIMG3421.JPGseats 077.jpg

[34_40]

Yep.. this one deserves a "SAH Weet"!!! I love the air filter housing.... and the roll pan.. I need to go take another look.. what else did I miss?

[40FordDeluxe]

Wow, what a great story! It's awesome to see you kept it and fixed it later as well as kept it all these years. I figured the wood and body would be trashed after a bad fire. It sure looks fine though. That is a pretty cool time capsule IMO. Good luck keeping on it!

[M.T.]

The wood was toast except for the wood around the back window. I made new wood and metal bows for it. The body was pretty hammered and warped as well. it took a lot of hammer dolly work and shrinking to bring it back in. It's really close now so as long as it doesn't get hot again it should be just fine. When it caught on fire the fireman pried the hood off with a shovel as well as the gas tank filler. Filled it and everything else with corrosive foam. It was a Big Time mess too fix. Thanks guys and call me out once in a while to keep me honest and moving on this thing.

[Scooting]

We will be watching and waiting...

[sharpmark]

cool story- looking forward to watching this.
thanks


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[M.T.]

Yep.. this one deserves a "SAH Weet"!!! I love the air filter housing.... and the roll pan.. I need to go take another look.. what else did I miss?

Didn't miss a thing... I started that scoop a while back but couldn't decide if I liked it enough to finish it. Ive turned down a couple of offers for it and its different so I most likely will finish it up. Its blocked off in front and gets the air from under neath. The roll pan I built and I got an offer for it that I couldn't pass up so I sold it along with about a dozen of its brothers. LOL One of these days I'm going to finish one and weld it on so I cant sell it. Thanks for the kind words and response. Here it is 1:22 in the morning and Ive been tinkering on it since 5:00 pm last night... Now I remember why I enjoyed it so much... Its Fun!

[Mike P]

The car and story both brought a smile to my face. It's hard to beat a project that's not only neat but brings back good memories.


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[rumrumm]

Cool! I am looking forward to following your build. I have a soft spot for Model A coupes.

[40FordDeluxe]

That scoop is definitely cool! I figured your roll pans would sell. They are unique and fit like it should have been there.

[M.T.]

Not really much headway to report mainly because its sooo blasted hot I'm not doing anything that requires movement! But I did dig around and found a lot of things I forgot I collected over the years. One of the items took me a few minutes of wondering if I was really going to run it. Then I thought I most likely out grew it and shouldn't even think about it. But on second thought maybe not! Ive never played with a roll lock before but it seems like it would be a lot more fun than slipping the brake. And just because its there ya don't have to use it right? yeah right... anyway is there any negatives to these things besides the price of rubber?

Model A 005.jpg

[rspears]

t... anyway is there any negatives to these things besides the price of rubber?

Nope. Pure fun.

[sprayed99]

I have had a few of them fail on street cars. One locked out on me and the other blew a seal and I lost brakes. Just food for thought and if its an old one be careful. They are just like nitrous and fuel solenoids, when old they like to leak and stick.

Its been a while where is all the progress???? LOL

[stovens]

very cool story and brought back fond memories from times past now. Looking foward to watching this one hit the road again.

[rspears]

I have had a few of them fail on street cars. One locked out on me and the other blew a seal and I lost brakes. Just food for thought and if its an old one be careful. They are just like nitrous and fuel solenoids, when old they like to leak and stick.

Its been a while where is all the progress???? LOL

Sprayed99 has a very good point. That antique piece would probably be best be left on the shelf, or in your collection of "remember when..." pieces. Losing front brakes due to a piece that serves no good purpose for your day to day operation would not be good.... Pure fun, but maybe not worth the risk. I defer to the safer approach