Thread: Project $ 3 K Is Underway

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Nice ride man! Is that a Speedway Motors body? I didn't even go back to read your first page, I read this all before and keeping up with it. I am wanting a 30's vehicle right now very badly and found an original 31 4 door sedan but was really wanting a pickup, 5 window coupe, roadster or T and I like the stance of your T a lot! I wanted to do a early 50's I guess it would be style with bomber seats, plane or bomber looking guages, brown interior and black paint with the spoked wheels, and NON white walled tires. I like the cheater slick look too but first want what I just explained. Anyways, great progress!

Thanks alot. Yeah, I think it is a Speedway. I bought it on Ebay, and it was advertised as a Total Performance body and frame, and it was only about 150 miles from here, so I bid and won it. When I picked it up it wasn't a TP, but the guy seemed legit that he honestly had been told that when he bought it ( he also bought it used) plus, it had never been cut or mounted, so I paid him. It is just the typical T fiberglass body, nothing fancy, and you still have to do all the finish work and wooding. My '27 body is a Speedway, and it was in daily use for years and never developed any stress cracks or problems, so I think they are a good value.

Don't discount the 4 door body, they can be built into a really cool rod. However, you must know up front that the entire subframe on a 4 door is WOOD. The tudors ( 2 doors) coupes, etc. all use steel for the most part. The bear is that the wood rots and you really have to use box tubing to build a suitable new subframe. The wood kits are like several thousand dollars, and are still wood, and will never be as strong or resistant to flex as steel.

As I have mentioned about 30 zillion times (sorry to be so boring) my Son is building a fordor, and he said he never realized how much work it would be to subframe it. He also bought a tudor that he is storing for the next build, and it requires a fraction of the work to get it strong. And, just in case I haven't personally bored you enough times with pictures of his fordor, here are a couple. I thought they may give you some idea of what is involved.

Thanks again for the nice words.


Don

PS: That interior shot is just the first stages of the resubframing. The entire body, including the door jams, roof, etc are now steel tubing. The body is just a sheet metal skin with no strength of it's own. The subframe is the real strength.