Dennis Lacy

Were there cases where George took credit for cars his shop didn't even touch? In hindsight I probably should have stayed out of the conversation because I really don't know much about him.

I like the way that you rerouted the exhaust pipes and that the mufflers are parallel with the trailing arms.

"If you think you hate it now wait 'till you drive it!"

We don't have employees. Just him and me. I would have to think that people who are Barris enthusiasts must know the names of at least some of the craftsman that worked there over the years and contributions they made to specific cars?

This is an excellent perspective and it is true of any automotive customizing shop. The vehicles produced by that brand are a product of that brand. Not Joe, Dave, Steve and Nick that work there. For example: My Dad and I have a shop called the Early V8 Garage and we specialize in flathead-era Fords, particularly in the 30's. We have our own product line and do mechanical work ranging from basic repairs to every last nut & bolt restorations or hot rods. My two hands produce 80% of our products but my name isn't on the box. When I complete a car build it is not built by Dennis, it is built by Early V8 Garage. Our shop is a brand just like Customs By Barris and anything that leaves the shop is a product of our brand. Doesn't hurt my feelings any. However, when someone compliments a particular project or car entire car that came out of our shop to my Dad and he had no little or no involvement in that particular project he is quick to point out that it is Me who deserves the credit, and visa versa. I don't know a lot about George and am only familiar with a few of the vehicles to come out of his shop because I'm not into customs. I do know that it was George out there hustling his brand and promoting the custom car hobby in general, not his shop employees. It was his name on the sign, he payed the salaries and the bills and his butt assumed all of the liability. If it wasn't for George those employees wouldn't have had a shop to build cars in.

The problem with the little V8-60's is that even in fully hot rodded form they don't make a lot of power and because of they're small displacement they're really short on torque so putting one into a small, light car like a T Roadster (or midget oval track racer) is about the only thing that makes sense. The performance would be pretty uninspiring in a '32 and especially in a '40. I have driven an all-original '38 Sedan that had the V8-60 and it was dreadfully under powered. I'm really surprised sales supported keeping that engine option for 4 years.

That actually happened with the coupe. Look really close and compare the shape and proportions of the body, particularly the windshield and side windows and their relationship to one another. It's exactly the same as Revell's current '34 Coupe snap-tite. The grill is the same shape, too. For some reason, though, the hood on the snap-tite is too short. It's not the greatest chop in the world. The shape of the side windows is a bit wonky. I was a kid when these came out and I wanted them really bad. I'd still like to have them for nostalgic reasons. They show up on Ebay fairly often but are usually priced in the $50 - $70 range. One of these days...

Johnny Callaway! Very nice overall representation of the movie car. The only thing out of place are the short / fat rear tires. I was at El Mirage with my roadster club watching the racing the day she was filming the scenes with Gene Winfield. Her and her "crew" (all 2 of them) filmed a driving scene with our cars in the back ground since they're all period correct but that scene didn't make the final cut. Those Edelbrock script valve covers are awesome! What's the source?

I think deleting the Kurtis nose was the right thing to do. Every morning when I get my car out of the garage for work and every night when I come home and put my car back in the garage I stop and check out this project still mocked up on my work bench. Every time I look at it I'm happier with the decision.

The body actually sits where it does because if it were any further forward the magneto (not shown in any of the mock ups because I keep forgetting to drill the mounting hole in the engine) wouldn't fit. So the finished car won't have that void between the engine and firewall. I do have a new plan for that Kurtis track nose and it will eventually be a 40's vintage '25 Roadster dry lakes car, not powered by a V-6 but a flathead V8-60. That's a ways off, yet.

A car like this would have no cooling system to speak of. It would be pushed to the line, fired, do its burnout, make its run then shut down after the finish line and towed back to the pits. That being the case, engine temperature wouldn't be a concern. In a lot of cases the oil galleys in the block would be tapped into and tubes set up to spray the interior of the engine. Oil spray cooling is incredibly effective. A good friend has a current '29 Roadster Bonneville car that is 300 MPH capable. The engine is repurposed from a top-fuel dragster and has oil spray cooling only. Running the 5 mile course wide-open the engine barely breaks 160 degrees. In fact, they had to dial back the oil cooling at some point because the engine wasn't getting hot enough.

It's the same problem the current roadster kit has. It's a mile high in the front.

Here are some mock ups with all of the latest additions. I decided to forego the track nose and make a filler panel for the T shell that I'll put a shop decal on. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki I installed mounting pins in the log intake and drilled corresponding holes in the bases of the carburetors. I also modified the headers from Revell's Slingster dragster by shortening the engine side of the tubes 1/4" to suck the headers up closer to the engine and clear of the frame and suspension. Hosted on Fotki The Moon fuel tank is visible in the empty cavity behind the seat. Hosted on Fotki At this point most of the fabrication work is done other than the drive shaft and body mounts I mentioned in the chassis pictures above. Once I complete those the model can be prepped for paint which means lots of clean up work. I'll get everything ready but I'm not so sure when I'll get to actually painting it because I do all of my painting at work and right now all of my spare time at work is dedicated to a real 1932 Pickup that I'm building for myself.

UPDATE Spent some quality time at my workbench today and now have the chassis fabrication nearly finished. Just a few odds & ends left like making a drive shaft and creating some rear body mounts. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki The steering system is complete. I used the pitman arm from a Revell '32 Ford kit, cut the linkage away and drilled both ends for pins. A drag link end was created to attach to the bottom of the pitman arm, between it and the steering mount upright. The drag link is left as a slip fit into the end of it. I also made a steering wheel shaft and attached the butterfly wheel from the AMT '23 Roadster parts pack. Hosted on Fotki I built a drag link that passes through the dip in the headers and attaches to the hoop steering arm that I previously added to the front axle spindle area. Hosted on Fotki The steering pitman arm and drag link end just barely fit inside the small T cowl. Hosted on Fotki The reason I left the drag link as a slip fit into the inner tie rod end is because it has to pass through the edge of the firewall. I was originally going to mount the pitman arm on the side of the cowl but the shape of the headers dictated this arrangement. I think it's pretty neat and a little more interesting than the typical cowl mounted steering. Hosted on Fotki I mounted a pair of lever shocks to the front which are cut down versions of those found in Revell's '29/'31 Model A kits. Hosted on Fotki I also installed a simple .060" rod cross bar and mounted the nicely rendered Moon fuel tank from Revell's '32 5-Window. Hosted on Fotki

I swiped these pictures from another forum that I visit. Evidently, these came from the mans Facebook page that builds box art models for Revell. Looks like we're getting closer to having the '31 Coupe variation! Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki I see some very interesting things based on these pictures. One is that it appears as though there will be two different sets of wheels included. The "steelies" from the '29 Roadster and new Halibrand style wheels. Another is a "bare bones" style interior that represents the steel inner body structure without upholstery and good looking aviation style seats for the channeled option. The extra dash board that showed up in the '29 Roadster is obviously put to use in the coupe with a good looking gauge panel. The "hiboy" version looks to have a very nice traditional pleated interior. Both late Model A and '32 radiator shells! Lastly, other than the Chevy engine it appears as though the entire chassis is a direct carry-over from the '29 Roadster.

In fact, I'm pretty sure the NHRA rules from the 50's and 60's regarding gasser class state that the front of the car can not be higher than the rear. I think there was also a limit on how high the car could be, overall. Neat project idea, Bill! There's something about making a race car out of a big old family wagon that I've always just loved.

Very cool! And very nicely done. This has always been my favorite version of the car. I always thought the Mr. Fusion thing on the back looked hokey.

You guys aren't alone, I still use Testors tube glue to some extent on every model I build. At the very least I use it to bond engine halves together and other non-structural purposes. I don't know why so many people turn their nose up at it because when used correctly it's a very good glue. I also use Zap-A-Gap, especially for custom chassis work on old hot rods where you need the parts to attach immediately.

Thanks, guys. Glad you're both diggin' it! Hand operated master cylinder is very common on 50's and 60's drag cars like this and rails with rear brakes only.

Thanks! It's not easy sneaking a hemi into anything...

Work continues on my T Retro Drag... Today I made tabs on the frame and fitted the roll hoop, forward down bars, steering gear and seat from AMT's recently reissued parts pack Competition Roadster body kit. I changed the rectangle clutch pedal pad to a round bullseye pad. I mounted a Moon gas pedal and hand operated master cylinder from AMT's Double Dragster. The floor pan was cut down from the one in Revell's Orange Crate '32 Sedan. It still needs just a slight tweaking to fit perfect at the rear edge but it nearly matches the shape of the frame as-is. The "interior" is going to be very spartan, just the bare necessities with none of the components dependent on the body being in place. I also made a firewall from .040" styrene sheet and cut notches into the wheel wells to clear the axle tubes and spring. The new mock up pictures show the car up on all four wheels for the first time, too. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

Thanks for all of the interest, guys! I've had this T body for a little bit now and have been itching to make it into something. It's been a wicked busy week but I'm really hoping to get some quality seat time at my work bench this Sunday. The frame is a modified AMT '25 T hot rod frame which has a suicide perch up front and is Zee'd out back. I doubled the height of the front perch and Zee'd it some more the thickness of the back frame rails. Hosted on Fotki

About a month ago I started a thread showing a '25 T tall coupe that I had randomly started: http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/105906-25-tall-t-show-go/ I got to playing around with it some more and decided to re purpose the basic chassis from it. I changed the Chevy engine to the 1st generation Chrysler Hemi from Revell's Slingster dragster but will be using a 6-carb log manifold instead of that kits fuel injection or super charger options. Since the Chevy was also from the Slingster the front engine mounts still worked and so did the early Ford 3-speed trans. The front axle and hairpins are modified Revell '32 Ford. The front wheels and tires are from the Slingster, rear wheels and slicks are from the recent Monogram Blue Bandito '29 truck retro reissue. '27 Roadster body is from Altered States and is a much improved version of the T roadster body that has been offered by several other resin casters over the years. Track nose is from Revell's Kurtis Midget's. The idea behind this is a mid-50's dragstrip roadster that has just evolved into a track-only car in an effort to be competative, having its hopped up flathead replaced by an early Chrysler and it's steelie wheels with caps & rings replaced with America mags & race tires. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki

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Neat project! I redid the body character lines and added a bunch more using .040" half-round strips around the "C" openings, to the back of the cab and around the back window. Getting it to conform around that back window took some major patience! Something has to be done like this or that body looks like a slab. Hosted on Fotki Hosted on Fotki