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'29 Modified Roadster


Dennis Lacy

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Not sure what else to call it? It's an extra Ala Kart body (which was originally made from a cut down touring body) with an extra '25 T turtle deck hung on the back of it. So I guess that could be a modified...

Anyhow, I was sitting there waiting for glue to dry and I started jacking around with some junk in my parts boxes. I had this Lindberg '34 Pickup frame that had its rear cross member harvested for another hot rod, and I had this Ala Kart cab (which comes extra in the last re-issues of the AMT '29 Roadster) along with a stock '29 hood and front shell. A few pieces of tape and some random thoughts later, I had me an idea!

So I whipped out one of my modern-tooled Ala Kart kits which I keep around for hot rod donors and decided I could rework the '34 frame to take all of the AK suspension. Not wanting the usual old wire spoke or solid old Ford wheels I mixed and matched until I came up with a combo I liked. Things are just getting started but so far I have managed to graft the AK rear frame cross member to the '34 frame (luckilly I found another cross member that had already been chrome stripped!), Z'd the back of the frame (will saw some angles off later to make it look right) and modified the front of the frame to take the AK front cross member. I'm gonna keep the rear rails outside of the turtle deck but I might extend the bottom of the deck or something to tie it all together a little tighter.

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All the modern-tool Ala Kart suspension stuff:

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Rolling stock consisting of Modelhaus T120 & T180 tires, some Halibrand kidney bean spindle mounts (not sure the source) and the front Halibrand Sprint wheels from the Revell '32 Roadster. The front ones are a smaller diameter & a little shallower and are a perfect fit in the rear tires:

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Engine is going to be a mix & matched hot rodded flathead. Got the block, headers and super cool finned front cover from AMT's '41 Woody and the dual intake & finned heads from AMT's '34 Coupe. Also a couple of carb options and a beehive oil filter - gotta have a hive!

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As of now all the chrome is getting soaked off. Soon as that happens I can proceed.

B)

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  • 2 weeks later...

UPDATE:

Lots accompished with the frame. Added some material to the top/forward part of the "Z" then angle cut it. Angle cut the lower part of the "Z" to match the angle of the upper/rear part of the frame. Added corner gussets to the rear cross member. Modified the front motor mounts by adding some risers. Made a simple but effective and strong center frame member. The cross pieces have been drilled for exhaust pipes.

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Here's how the engine will sit in the frame. I cut the molded distributor off and carefully drilled the tube to take a Parts By Parks distributor. I also decided to use this Model Car Garage resin Offenhauser intake because it's much more detailed than the dual intake from the AMT '34 Coupe.

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Because of the shape of the frame and that the driveshaft will need to go through the body I had to remove the torque tube and radius rods from the Ala Kart axle. I was able to modify the trailing arms from the Corvette suspension in AMT's '34 Coupe. As it turned out, the "S" offset in the arms was exactly right to come off of the axle and line up with the frame rails. I also added a snout to the axle center housing for the future driveshaft to connect to.

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Here the suspensions are mocked up. The front is untouched Ala Kart.

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Here I'm considering changing the front shell to a '32...

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B)

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UPDATE

And now, for a total change in direction! Sometimes it happens that what you set out to builds ends up very different when all is said and done. I liked the roadster idea but I wasn't in love with it. I probably could have made it work out okay, but I wasn't motivated to. So, I got to playing around with mocking up different bodies and I stumbled onto something that really got me excited...

Here's the chassis up on its wheels, which are the wheels and tires from the Ala Kart. I loved the Halibrand combo, but it just wasn't right for the new sheet metal. To get the front end down low I cut the air springs in half.

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I got to thinking about the way the belt & pulleys were set up out of the AMT '41 Woody and it was bugging me. I scrounged and came up with the belt / pulleys and fan from an AMT '53 Ford Pickup. A little tweaking and it fits. There's also enough room to squeeze an alternator in before the front carburetor. The chrome pieces are out of the box - no fan or generator / alternator provisions.

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Drum roll..... Here's where it's going now. Earlier this year I was given a bunch of old model stuff from my Dad. Amongst it was an AMT '34 Pickup missing the chassis so I thought I would put it to good use. Cleaned all the junk off of the firewall, chopped the top 1/4", shortened the bed 3/4" and gave it a mild channel.

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The bed floor got pitched and a new mounting structure installed. A new bed floor will follow.

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:blink:

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