Dennis Lacy

Eww...

Killer, killer work! Love the drilled brake plates.

Cool idea building a hot rod Deusenberg. FYI: Fenders are not allowed on TROG cars per their rules.

I absolutely LOVE this. One of the most original themed hot rods I've seen in a long time. The color scheme and wheels & tires are killer and the rear "office" is awesome.

One thing to keep in mind is that often times when these cars are "restored" the engine (while a flathead) isn't necessarily the correct year of flathead. A very popular upgrade is to use a much more durable '36 engine which had larger crank shaft journals and insert bearings instead of soft poured babbit like '32-'35. The '36 engine commonly had cast iron cylinder heads and was the last year that the water pumps were up on the heads so they interchange into '32-'35 cars easily.

That's absolutely incorrect. All 1934 Ford passenger cars and light trucks were built with aluminum cylinder heads. Some commercial trucks were built with slightly higher compression cast iron heads, but not cars or light trucks.

I need to remember to check out the Drag section more often. This is gonna be good!

killer line-up, Brother! Heck of a lot more productive than my year. All I did was start a bunch of stuff it seems. I'm thinking our GNRS invasion with KK next month should be good for lots of fresh inspiration!

I was really hoping that the new ZZ Top release would feature the updated chassis from the Thom Taylor cabriolet kit. While it's still inaccurate it's way more passable at a glance because of the dropped tube front axle with 4-link, 9 inch rear axle with coilovers and disc brakes. I was also hoping it would be molded in white. The real car uses a modified original '34 frame that was built by the original Pete Chapouris & Jim "Jake" Jacobs of Pete & Jake's when they were in their Temple City, California shop. The rolling chassis was then sent to Don Thelen's shop in Paramount, California, Buffalo Motor Cars, where it was completed.

You've never seen pictures from Viva Las Vegas, have you?

Glad I could be of service! Can you send some of that motivation back this way? I sat at my bench for two hours today and did nothing. Finally got a chance to get on the big 'puter and have a look. I think it looks awesome!!! If this was sitting on a table with no name tag I'd know you built it. Got your signature "look". I like the exhaust soot on the body and those "riveted" interior panels. Man, I need another roadster...

Apparently...

This needs to be built full scale!

Very neat project! Great work building the pedals and belt drive. At first I was surprised to see the trans and pedals intact then it occurred to me that you could run the saw at 3 different speads.

Your text implies that a roadster cab is just the front half of touring. Very misleading. The roadster cab has specific quarter panels and rear panel that are nothing like the touring body pieces. Cowl and doors are the same and that's where it ends.

I think you're right about the newer A-kit frame being a better starting point. I'd also thing the Ala Kart body would be too since it has the stylized back area that more better matches the inspiration.

As Eddie Murphy said in his stand up comedy movie, RAW, "HALF!"

Definitely shiny. For what it costs to properly restore and tune '57 Rochester unit no one would ever put one on a primer or beater car! Haha. Actually, since responding last time I got to thinking that I like the way it looks white, so maybe Pearl White...

This is a super rough mock up so the seats are just there. I plan to remove the mounting "tracks" and put them right on the floor. That will get the backs just below the body so they're tucked down in there. Haven't given much thought to color yet. I'm open to suggestions, though!

Today I made a trip to the hobby shop for supplies and found that they still had a couple of the discontinued Revell '29 Roadsters on the shelf. Armed with a $50 bill that my MIL gave me for my birthday (today's my 38th!) I grabbed a roadster kit for parts - or so I thought. Got home and sat down at the bench but just didn't feel like working on my projects and ended up playing around with the roadster kit. The idea here is to make a "New-Stalgia" style rod, that being a combination of vintage and contemporary parts which is a very popular style today and what the roadster kit actually already is. This is a very rough mock-up but the roadster will use the channeled frame and interior option and get mixed up with a bunch of parts from the sister '30 Coupe kit such as the basic Chevy small block engine/auto trans, Halibrand Sebring style knock-off wheels (a second pair modified to fit the big rear tires), the "aluminum" aircraft seats and dashboard with 5-gauge chrome panel. The car will sit much lower than the kit provided mile-high stance (channeled cars gotta be LOW to look right!) with front and rear axles from Revell's '32 Ford series. I will ditch the disk brakes and replace with early Ford drum plates and the '29 kits finned Buick drums all around. The engine will keep its front timing cover/water pump, belt drive, alternator and headers but will get a Revell '57 Chevy Black Widow stock oil pan, Ed Roth Tweedy Pie chrome Chevrolet script valve covers and the Rochester fuel injection unit from the Black Widow. To tie in with the unit (mostly used on Corvette's) I will use a Revell '62 Corvette steering wheel. Playing with the idea of a track nose from the Revell Kurtis Midgets but it will get re-worked to be more in proportion with the rest of the car. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Comments welcome!

Excellent! It's cool to see you (and RRR) putting these often overlooked wheels to use. I've been wanting to put them on something over the years but just haven't managed to. I must say, I sure wish Revell had done separate center caps so that they could easily be stripped and painted.

Thanks, Tim! Always nice to hear from you on my projects. I've been thinking a lot about color and I think I've got it. Body, firewall and grill shell will be Tamiya Nato Brown with a glossy clear, black chassis and engine with a sprinkling of metal tones and chrome, Tamiya Racing White wheels.

Did some more work on this thing today. Decided to get the front and rear axles mounted. Out rear I removed some more of the molded in floor then trimmed and installed a Revell '40 Ford cross member to mount the Revell '48 Ford axle & spring. For this spring to fit into the cross member it needs the u-bolt detail removed from the spring leaves then it slips right in. The alignment tab is even the same shape as the notch in the cross member. I also had to extend the drive shaft notch in the floor all the way to where the floor steps up at the back to make clearance for the torque tube. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Up front I lowered the front by trimming the mounting tabs on the front spring to allow it to suck up into the cross member. The shock mounts had to be trimmed and raised then were pinned so that they could be taken on and off. The hairpin rods were pinned to the frame rails. I adapted a set of Revell '40 - '48 Ford brake plates and finned Buick drums from Revell's recent Model A roadster and coupe kits. I also changed the front wheels and tires to those from the Model A kits which are basically the same wheel and tire, just shaped a bit different. Hosted on Fotki And some mock ups with the axles installed and the wheels & tires finalized. The track - widths have also been corrected now that the front brakes are installed pushing the wheels out where they belong and the rear wheels are properly mounted sucking them in tighter to the body where they belong. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki More to come! Comments welcome!

The woody cowl opening is also different to accommodate the custom chrome firewall and wont accept the stock firewall from either the coupe or cabriolet.

Funny you should mention Nirvana, I was listening to them while I worked on it yesterday! But, you're right. It's not easy to make a channeled 32 roadster look right. It'll definitely have a cut down windshield before the end.