Ace-Garageguy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRHqCastREw&ab_channel=MysticRhythmsLive

Yup. Ran the first big truckload the middle of June. Lots of I-40 was in much worse shape than back in 2011 when I drove out last time, but only in some states. And lotsa construction delays. Hammered the holy bejiminy out of the truck. So much for "infrastructure". Still, only one small thing actually got broken, and that was really my fault. Got there during the heat-wave, unloaded the truck in 115 deg. weather, lost 2 more pounds in the process. The house AC quit, the fridge broke down, and I couldn't get a rental car to get to the airport in Vegas for a week...and they charged an arm and most of one leg when it finally became available. Pretty much clusterpuke SOP when trying to do anything other than sit like a bump these days, but the sunrises, sunsets, low humidity, and the similar life outlooks of my neighbors make it worth the effort. And I came back with a tan. I still have a couple more months of endgame work to finish up here before I can run another load, and start moving the cars.

Got a new pair of Belleville 320 One Xero Ultra Lite "Assault" Boots. These are hot-weather military style boots. Light, well built, ventilated, and comfortable. Good fit right out of the box, no break-in required (for me, anyway), supportive, and high enough to give protection from cactus and critters while hiking in the desert. I recently got back here after running my first 26' truckload out to the new place out West, and tried the boots for a hike up ol' Kennesaw Mountain. I'm very pleased.

I did (for the double kits)...having believed the "experts" that constantly rebleated that the tooling was lost-'n-gone-forever. I've paid stiff money for them, but I'll be happy to see 'em all readily available again anyway.

Kinda surprising most folks don't seem to know that...or how to look at the National Weather Service forecasts, which are generally fairly decent (for my current area, anyway). AND, when the NWS rolled out its new-improved "live" radar (updated every few minutes, with a moving map) a few months back, it was pretty buggy, but it's getting better almost daily. Somebody with a semblance of a functioning brain can come up with a quite accurate forecast from the info available...much better than the local weather talking heads seem to be able to do. You can SEE weather systems and storms coming (in almost real-time), and figure the ground speed and thus the local ETA of a "weather event" quite easily with just a little applied effort. EDIT: The algorithms the NWS uses to predict weather have improved dramatically in the recent past, and quite often they can predict things like "pop-up" thunderstorms that don't show on the radar until the moment they happen. But there are so many random variables that influence weather, prediction is still at least as much art and educated guesswork as hard science.

Absolutely beautiful.

I always loved the little Fiat Topolino altereds. This thing is even cooler.

Wow. Superb.

Man, that thig is a real beauty. Nice score.

Many model A bodies were and still are installed on '32 Ford frames. The model A frame has a wheelbase of 103.5" and is built quite lightly. The '32 frame has a wheelbase of 106", and is considerably stronger. The additional length makes it easier to put a V8 engine in the car (it came with Ford's first flathead V8), and the additional strength from deeper rail stampings is better for higher performance applications. The proportions of the A body and the '32 frame also work well together visually, assuming the body is correctly located. The '33-'34 frame was not as popular a basis for model A body swaps, as it has a still longer wheelbase of 112". But because it is even stronger, and wider, it's a good choice for a big honking engine like a hemi, and the '33-'34 chassis X-member was often swapped in to A and '32 frames too. NOTE: One of the most important things you need to be aware of, as with any build, is the proportions you end up with at the end. Proportions make or break a hot-rod, and the same parts can make a fast looking, graceful car, or a goofy looking joke. Here's a HAMB thread regarding '32 vs. '33-'34 frames... https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/32-versus-33-34-frame-rails.787542/

And unfortunately, there's a very high percentage of the population who simply can't tell quality from crappola. To paraphrase Mr. Geiger, they will never get it, they're just wired differently. That's the reason a true craftsman doesn't work to please his clients or his audience...whatever field he works in. He does what he does to please himself, to work up to his own standard of excellence, and isn't centered on approval or praise from others.

A rare bird, for sure.

Wow. I sure didn't expect that when I clicked on the header. Well executed and creative spin on the kit. Kool indeed.

I'm all for seeing you rebuild the ol' '56 as a show-worthy gasser. Correcting the apparent sag and slump on the right rear quarter, where it looks like the builder used a half tube of glue to mount the taillight, might be the toughest part of the resurrection. Some of my most satisfying work has been done reworking somebody else's sorry mess into a decent model. I've never understood the penchant for saving mediocre or just plain awful workmanship done by some unknown entity...though I have preserved a very few extremely clean and competent built-ups.

Looking good. With care and intelligence applied, this kit builds a beautiful model.

VERY nice. Any more pix?

Long as my new EV comes with a hamster babe in latex, I'm down with it.

First you'd have to teach them the concept of "pencil" and how it is used to make intelligible marks on paper by carefully controlled contractions and extensions of multiple hand muscles...kinda like non-digital art.

Well said, sir.

4th car on the first page of this thread...

Cool project. I love these things. A few were still in service when I was a much younger man, and our local fire department and forest service guys used surplus units when I was a kid. As usual, your work is first-rate and very inspiring.

I don't see how gluing a bunch of ugly stuff to a car is "art". EDIT: Maybe the FIRST one was "art", but it's been done so many times now, it's devolved to mindless imitation. But I don't understand why a photo of a crucifix immersed in the "artist's" urine (look it up) qualifies as "art" either. And it's just more of the "everyone's a winner" mentality, being celebrated by non-critical-non-thinkers who have to demonstrate how "accepting" and "open" and "forward looking" they are. All that's ultimately accomplished is the devaluing of real art that requires talent and skill and technical discipline to produce.

Looks like a real tank built by somebody who actually knows and understands what he's doing.

Or quite possibly it IS malicious software packaged to look like a genuine Microsoft update...as long as you don't inspect it too closely. You know the bad guys can can do that, right?

Actually, it's more that excellence...or even competence...is not politically correct. Doing a beautiful job, or even one that's just barely acceptable, is now an affront to anyone who's either incapable or lacks the motivation to get things right. And it's exactly what you should expect from teaching multiple generations that "everyone is a winner" no matter what kind of sorry mess they turn out, that self respect is an entitlement rather than something to be earned through achievement, that excrement smeared on a wall is "art", etc., etc., etc. It is also an effect of an over "educated" but still largely ignorant-of-physical-reality "workforce" that looks down on those who have physical skills, mistakenly believing the world revolves around their pathetic little universe of apps that are usually as poorly built and functional as that fuel tank mod the OP put up. Yes boys and girls, IT does make possible our modern world, but it's not the center of it. IT is nothing but a tool that replaces old-school record keeping and information exchange. The world worked just fine prior to everything being so much more-better-with-IT (with some admittedly notable exceptions where IT does in fact wonderfully streamline certain operations...IF IT'S DONE WELL). It also, of course, makes things like this online forum possible. However, it's also a potential nightmare waiting to happen, like industries being shut down by hackers for ransom. Recently the entire southeast was semi-crippled due to fuel shortages for weeks, after a major pipeline's computer operating systems were breached by hackers. Remember? And the operations of a major meat packer were likewise disrupted more recently. Nice work there, little IT fellas, leaving your oh-so-special apps so full of exploitable security holes and back doors you can drive a garbage truck through 'em. You should be very, very proud. EDIT: I've been ranting about the almost universal lack of competence in the automotive field (and the workforce as a whole) for years, but I've generally been written off as an angry old geezer shouting at clouds. Funny how perceptions change when somebody is personally affected by the phenomenon.