Thread: Roadster pickup getting closer

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I figured I would start a thread on this build. As most of you know already, my Son Dan has been building his car for the past four years. Along the way it has evolved from one thing to a totally different car.

He started out building a 1929 Murray Ford fordor sedan on a chassis he built himself. Initially it was airbagged and powered by a 455 Olds engine. A couple of years ago he found a very nice tudor body and decided he didn't want to own two sedans, so he cut up the fordor and made a roadster pickup out of it. That car was coming along pretty well and was nearing completion when he decided he didn't like the proportions of it and no longer wanted it to be airbagged, so he cut it up and started over.

The latest variation is built on an entirely new frame with a suicide front end an a 9 inch Ford rear suspended on quarter eliptic springs and four bars. He gave me the bed and louvered tonneau cover to use on my Dodge truck and he bought a new Brookville Model A bed to use instead. A couple of weeks ago he decided to also buy a Brookville 30-31 roadster pickup body because it would be much easier to finish up than the 80 year old body he had been using. Again, I inherited the old body. (I asked him to give me the new body instead, but he said he didn't love me THAT much.)

So, essentially the only thing left from the first two cars is the engine and 350 turbo transmission, everything else is brand new. I am picking up the body at UPS this morning and we plan to start assembling it this week. Thanks to Bob Parmenter I found out Brookville will sell an unassembled body so that is what we bought. That way we not only saved some money but can make sure it is put together with close tolerances.

In preparation for getting the body Dan and I built a wooden platform to assemble it on. We made it totally level and square, and put markings down the exact centerline and crisscrossed every 6 inches. This way when we fasten down the subframe it will be square and true, which should ensure a straight body as well. Here are some pictures of the platform and also some of the car in all of it's configurations. I think this one will finally get done, as there aren't too many more changes he can make to it.

I'll continue posting pictures as we get the body assembled and the car completed.

Picture 1 is the car as a fordor, picture two is the first roadster pickup he built from it, picture 3 is the latest version on the new frame, and pictures 4 and 5 are the platform we built.

Don

Oh, and here is what I am going to do with the old body he gave me. I am going to put a flathead in it and build it very oldtimey. If things go right I plan on having it done for Turkey Run in November.

I always liked this car from the first time I saw it and plan to copy it pretty closely.

Don

Just got back from picking up the body at UPS and stopping at the shop to drop it off. I opened each of the 10 boxes to see if we had any damage and luckily only one panel got kissed a little, it is the very rear panel. I took the pictures to Dan and he says we can easily straighten that out, but just in case I alerted Brookville about the dent.

Looks like one giant jigsaw puzzle, but all of it looks really well made. Tonight we will start sorting it all out to see where we should begin. The picture of the big rear panel shows the dent, plus there are a couple of small dings that will be no problem to work out of the panels.

Don

And a few pieces more............

Don

Don wrote:

He started out building a 1929 Murray Ford fordor sedan on a chassis he built himself. Initially it was airbagged and powered by a 455 Olds engine. A couple of years ago he found a very nice tudor body and decided he didn't want to own two sedans, so he cut up the fordor and made a roadster pickup out of it. That car was coming along pretty well and was nearing completion when he decided he didn't like the proportions of it and no longer wanted it to be airbagged, so he cut it up and started over.

Does Dan have a "staying focused problem"???


In any case, the Brookville parts look like they came thru really well. This is one project that I will be very interested in following because I am sure that it will be very important to me one day. Besides your documentation is always top shelf.

Thanks Bob. Yep, he has AADD......Automobile Attention Deficit Disorder.

I think he is focused on getting it done this time, he is tired of Don and I having cars and he doesn't.

Don

Don, do you have any pictures of what the finished roaster pick up will look like? I thought Dan's 4dr. looked good, and the 4dr. turned roaster pickup really looked good. It must be nice to have vision's to change your mind, and the ability to make it work. That's a plus of being young without limits. Can't wait to see it come together.

Richard

Thanks Richard. It is essentially going to look like the picture below, but 6 inches shorter. The new cab is that much shorter than the old body, so we are going to have to take that amount out of the frame too. But that is easy to do.

Don

They best thing about Dan, is he provides us with tons of great ideas, and it's fun watching his ideas take shape. I hope he stays focused, gets it done, and gets back to the fordor chop project which was also fun watching it evolve! Just don't let him paint it PINK!!!!!

Don,
This is going to be fun to watch, with all these projects you should try and get into Street Rodders Garage Scene, they have features on guys home garages with there projects in progress. Haven't you ever seen them?
Your Friend,
Ken

Yeah Ken, I sort of remember some Celebrity on CHR was featured there.......had something like a four page spread. I just can't remember who that was though. Maybe when we get some stuff further along so we have something they might be interested in, but now all we have are 20 cars all in pieces.

Uh Steve, IT'S PURPLE !!! Thanks though.

Tonight Dan and I went to look over his new body. The little dent from shipping pounded out pretty easy, and that was the only real problem we had. Brookville really packed the stuff well, their boxes are a box within a box. I also picked up the stuff right at UPS which saved any damage that might have occurred in the delivery truck on the way to us.

For the most part what we got done tonight was simply to see what all came with the body and what we needed to do to put it together. There are 10 boxes of parts with this thing and although it is pretty straightforward for the most part, it is certainly no piece of cake to put together. There is some pushing and bending involved to get things to line up, but the metal is really thick on this thing, so it should be strong when done.

The first thing we did was screw down the back part of the subframe to the platform we built. Off of that we squared up the middle crossmember and then installed the two side pieces. We had planned to modify the subframe before we started putting the car together because the body is going to be channeled 4.5 inches. But after talking it over we decided it would be better to build the cab as if it were going to be stock and then cut out the subframe to drop it over the rails. We felt the body would have a better platform using the subframe as it was designed, rather than try to make the panels fit a modified subframe.

Here are some pictures of what we got done tonight. Picture one is the rearmost crossmember. Picture two are some risers we built to hold the two crossmembers slightly off of the platform. The body has lips that have to slip under the subframe and if it were clamped tightly to the platform you couldn't slip the panels under it.

Picture three is the middle crossmember installed. Picture four are the two side members of the subframe temporarily cleco clamped in place. Dan ground off some of the primer so he can weld these together at some point. Picture five shows the underseat pan installed where it will go.

Don

If you have ever put together one of those backyard aluminum or steel buildings, this is a lot like that. You have to build the floor first and then attach the sides. In this case, we have screwed the subframe squarely to the platform and will then build the body from the back forward.

Here are some more pictures. Picture one shows the wooden floor Brookville throws in with the deal. We won't be using it, but it came in handy to get our gaps straight. Picture two through 5 are after we temporarily installed the back panel of the body, just to see how it would look and line up. It has a lot of fitting to be done to it, but it at least gives us some hope that this might turn into a body after all.

Thanks for looking.

Don

that is going to be one really sweet ride.

Don,

I see you got some of the "famous" Brookville primer.

Now that Boyd's gone, maybe there's a reality show in it for you . . .

Thanks Barb.

Yep Jack, for some reason they said the doors had to come that way, but at least most of the other stuff was bare steel. The primer they use is terrible, about an 1/8 inch thick and it doesn't really bite in well. The only saving grace is that if we would have gotten a finished body the entire thing would be coated with this stuff.

As for the TV show thing, I don't know. People want to watch a show where cars actually get finished some day............

Don