Thread: The Roofus Special

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I was thinking from the stanpoint of handling and weight distribution, it might make you feel your driving an overloaded pickup if you get another person that far back on the body. I too like the sleek old time racing look with just the driver's cockpit. Maybe a small wire rack to carry stuff? What ever you choose it is a fun build for me to follow, keep up the good work. Steve.

I did more work on the rear of the body. It took a lot of fitting, but I finally got the tubes ready to weld.







And trimmed the other quarter so that it will fit over the axle.

I also played around with the rumble seat idea some more. There is room to do it.

The thought behind the rumble seat is so that both kids can ride around with me at car shows. It would also serve as a trunk when there was not a 2nd passenger.

He does look beat doesn't he? But hey, building a cool race car from a '54 Caddy roof must take a mental toll on one's body

More work on the rear framework today. I added some diagonals. They hug the body really nice.

Played around with sticking a 8 gallon fuel cell in the back (so I could do a 3rd seat). It fits pretty good. If I don't add the seat, I will still have one heck of a trunk back there. Not 100% sure 8 gallons will be enough though.

I also added some diagonals to the passenger compartment to help support the rear diagonals. This thing is slowly turning into a battleship.






I also got around to trimming the passenger side door opening.

....and played with adding a wheel under the tail.



...and trimed the tail a little more. Not 100% there, but closer. I'm sneaking up on it.

I have a little bit more to do to the rear frame. I want to add a second horizontal tube at the very end. It will be lighter weight material than the cop car stuff.

I would have done it this weekend, but I wanted to put more thought into the vertical piece at the very rear. It needs to have a neat way to mount the sheetmetal ...and maybe the ability to mount a "push bar" type bumper.

Anybody have suggestions for making the vertical?

I realized I forgot a pic. I didn't have room to get full spline engagement, it hits the table. It is just hanging on the threads.

This thing is turning out lower and sleeker than I had first imagined. I think the front end sheetmetal needs to be swoopier than the first cars I pictured.

Would a nose kinda like this Alfa be too far of a stretch? a clash of eras/styles?

I don't think it's necessarily a clash of eras. Take a look at the Miller-Ford cars from 1935. They used a tail similar to what you have built and have a modified '35 Ford grille laid back at a pretty swoopy angle. They look really cool. If I could come up with a set of wheels, I'd be tempted to clone one of them...

Originally Posted by Flipper_1938

This thing is turning out lower and sleeker than I had first imagined. I think the front end sheetmetal needs to be swoopier than the first cars I pictured.

Would a nose kinda like this Alfa be too far of a stretch? a clash of eras/styles?

I think that Alpha is way cool!

quick chopping of caddy hood

Nothing like ready made, precurved american sheet metal!