Chopped '31 Ford Dry Lakes Car

[Bernard Kron]

Sometimes when you do a largely scratch built and kit bashed project you have to go a pretty long way into the build before you know if it will actually work out. That’s certainly the case here. I’ve wanted to do a chopped ’31 Ford sedan from the venerable Revellogram ‘29/’31/RPU Sedan kits for quite a while. Those kits are important parts kits for me and as a result I have plenty of spare bodies lying around. A few years ago I started to chop a sedan but landed up wiping out a fair amount of the window and beltline molding during sanding and cleanup.

This time I was more careful and the idea I have is to do a late 50’s/early 60’s dry lakes care, a period of time when these cars were becoming increasingly sophisticated while still preserving much of the traditional hot rod look of the mid-50’s. Safety was emerging as a major consideration as 200+ MPH speeds became more accessible to some of the lower performance categories. By the late 50’s, too, welded tubular frame construction was beginning to dominate competition machinery of all sorts, not just Grand Prix and sports cars, but circle track and straight line racing as well. So this is a ’31 sedan with a 3 ½ scale inch chop, lightweight space frame and a Putin blown V8. An attempt to push the decidedly “barn door” aerodynamics of the Model A sedan past the magic double century mark.

The chassis is scratch built from .080 (2 scale inch diameter) styrene rod. The suspension, front and rear, is adapted from the Revell ’32 Ford street rod kits and the motor is cobbled together from parts box leftovers including a Plymouth 436 Wedge block and heads from the Revell Tony Nancy double dragster kits and the Potvin blower rig from the Revell 283 Chevy parts packs. It all just barely fits in this relatively diminutive sedan. The engine cover is Revell Deuce in origin.

Below are initial mockup photos, the whole shebang barely held together with white glue. Now that I know it will work it’s time to get real about finishing things out and adding some believable detail.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Phildaupho]

Another very interesting project emerges from your workbench which I look forward to following.

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Bernard!

I will follow: there can never be too many Bonneville cars!

CT

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nice start.

[Straightliner59]

Oh, yessir! It looks soooooo right! Looking forward to watching this come together, Bernard.

[bisc63]

Oh heck yeah, this is FUN!

[misterNNL]

Looking Very interesting! I'll be following along for sure.

[espo]

Great looking chassis and roll bar setup. The body proportions look good. 

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks everyone!

It took a heck of a lot of scratchn’ and bashin’ but I have a completed chassis, suspension, motor and driver’s compartment to show for my efforts. Amazingly everything fits inside the ’31 Ford Tudor body shell as I hoped it would. The front and rear suspension are both made 100% from Revell ’32 Ford kit parts except for front friction shocks from a Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit. The cockpit details are all fabricated from various shapes of styrene and aluminum sheet, channel and rod with a seat and battery from my parts box. The fuel tank is from an AMT Phantom Vicky kit and the steering wheel from a Revell Miss Deal kit. Since the car has a simple in-out bar box it would need to be push started so I added a mounting bracket for a removable push bar which inserts through the rear bodywork. The chassis is painted in Tamiya TS-13 Camel Yellow. The motor is largely as described in my last update with headers fabricated from butyl covered wire. I fabricated a bellypan from styrene stock. It features a removable rear fairing to clean up the rear axle and shock absorber protrusions, and a fairing for the oil pan, bell housing and transmission.  The rear panel is located by the bracket which also locates the push bar braces. The model is designed to have a removable body so that it can be displayed as a bare chassis as well.

Below are photos showing a mockup with the body installed, photos of the rolling chassis, and detail photos of the front and rear suspension, cockpit, motor and bellypan.

Now it’s time to focus on the bodywork, paint and decals.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Claude Thibodeau]

Hi Bernard!

As you eloquently demonstrate, "packaging is everything" with those cars. Hope your driver is a non-smoker... The fuel cell is seriously close!  LOL.

CT 

[espo]

Watching this build come together is almost like viewing a 1:1 in appearance. All the planning and fabrication is very informative to see. I like the little touches like the tinted window for a grill insert.  

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks guys!

The body work, paint and decals have been completed. I wanted a pure icebox white and didn’t have any in my stash, so I shot some base coats of Duplicolor white primer and then applied four coats of Duplicolor clear lacquer. It did the trick. I made my own decals. The scallops were redrawn using a scan of the right hood side scallop from the .1997 edition of the Revell ’32 Ford Roadster Street Rod kit. The trade decals were redrawn using web images as a basis. All that is left now is to finish up the wheels and wheel cover, make the red Plexiglas windows and do final assembly.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Lookin' good, B... -RRR

[stavanzer]

Wow!

Outstanding Work!

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks guys!

This project is now completed. I installed red “Plexiglas” windows, painted the wheels red and mounted spun aluminum Moon discs from Parts by Parks and did some final fettling on the suspension and hood to get t=everything fitting right. I’ll do final presentation photography tomorrow. In the meantime  here are a few detail shots.

Thanx to all who followed along and…

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

 

[Kenmojr]

Love the results. Looks cool...

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Ken!

Here's a cutaway shot. All the final presentation photos can be found Under Glass here:

Thanx for lookin',
B.

 

Edited August 15, 2022 by Bernard Kron

[Kit Karson]

Seriously 

[Bernard Kron]

36 minutes ago, Kit Karson said:

Seriously 

Thanx KK!

[ea0863]

The concept was great, the execution beautiful. But the cutaway drawing? - - - now you're just showing off!  

[Bernard Kron]

7 hours ago, ea0863 said:

The concept was great, the execution beautiful. But the cutaway drawing? - - - now you're just showing off!  

LOL! Thanks!