Thread: The Roofus Special

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I don't know... It looks like you are cutting up a side of beef.
Certainly,...... you have vision!

Originally Posted by ScooterCO

Certainly,...... you have vision!

Using as many "found shapes" as possible is kinda getting out of hand, but it is fun. ...and it makes for good conversation at car shows.

All of our cars have interesting stories behind them. We usually drag pieces and parts from all over the country to build something. A 500 mile roadtrip to pick up parts is common.


Back to this one.

I'm debating on sticking headlights above the pods or in the pods like this Mercedes from the same era, except I would use smaller lights and move the grills outboard a little.



The pods may help me speed up the build quite a bit too. I may be able to modify the jag front crossmember enough to fit in the pods. If I can, I will be able to use the jag steering and lower control arms (save lots of headscratching time). I think I can get away with cutting off the upper mounts and the spring pockets and then make new upper arms and mount a transverse leaf spring (maybe 2 quarter eliptics) that runs between the upper and lower a-arms. The barely exposed leafs will give it that old racecar feel that the rear leafs have.

If I do the Miller inspired front suspension, everything between the spindles will have to be fabbed from scratch.

I cut the caddy hood apart and mocked-up the front end (I'll post pics tomorrow night when I get back home). It really changes the look of the car. I think it is cool.

I also realized the low seat/high & wide dash thing sucks for visibility. The cowl is going to be a little slimmer.

Overall, I think the car is moving from the late 20's to the late-40's - early 50's sports racer feel. I need to figure out how to take a little length out of the nose/cowl...right now it looks to be about a 115-120" wheelbase.

Death to the Caddy hood!

It doesn't fit as well as I hoped it would. The shapes would do better on a single seater. It's gonna take some pie cuts to make the nose act right and the the back line up with the shape of the main body. I think I can make it work.

The thought crossed my mind to build it like a 2 seater bonneville streamliner... move the nose forward so the end of the caddy hood ends at my original firewall. It would probably be a 140" wheelbase but it should be very fast looking.

What do y'all think?

Are you thinking of something like this?

Originally Posted by stovens

Are you thinking of something like this?

More along the lines of this one.

JMO, but I like the Mercedes/Alfa look much better. It also fits better with the Jag engine/wire wheels that you have. Also, a 140 inch wheelbase would be very unwieldy on the street. You'd have to hang one of those "beware of wide turns" signs on the back.

Originally Posted by RestoRod

JMO, but I like the Mercedes/Alfa look much better. It also fits better with the Jag engine/wire wheels that you have. Also, a 140 inch wheelbase would be very unwieldy on the street. You'd have to hang one of those "beware of wide turns" signs on the back.

Thanks for the input.

Yeah it was a dumb idea. ...going back to the racecar/sports car idea.

We scored a couple of neat parts at the swap meet at the Bowling Green Hot Rod Reunion that may alter the build (not sure yet).

Dad bought a Whippet radiator and shell and I bought a Jaeger 5" speedometer and mechanical tach.

I have searched a little and think the gauges are 1953 MG TD. They look cool no mater what they are.

If the caddy track nose doesn't work out, I have a cool backup.

Pics

5" Jaeger speedo and tach



Whippet radiator

Nice gauges. What's the little one on the bottom of the tach, a clock?
I think your parts will start dictating your total design, although I wouldn't use that fish tank, too big for a functional overflow tank!

Thought about it a while.... I am going to continue to work on the track nose. The car needs to shrink a little though to pull it all off.

The cowl will need to be pinched a little to get the lines to work out right (who really needs THAT much foot room anyways?). The nose is gonna get a little smaller and a little lower at the front. Those pretty cam covers are actually going to poke through the hood a little at the front. The door openings are also gonna get smaller (shorter front to back and shallower).

I'm going to try and pack everything into a 100" wheelbase.


The Whippet radiator and MG gauges will go towards dad's T rebuild.

I spent a couple of frustrating days working on roofus. The heat and humidity in Memphis was aweful.

I had a heck of a time trying to make the transition from the boat tail to the track nose.

I started trying to mock up the original roof pieces.









Kinda OK, but I wasn't really feeling it.

On to plan B.