23 T bucket rat rod

[Sixties Sam]

I found this beater on ebay for $5.00 and decided to make a rat rod out of it.

The idea is that a young car nut finds his late Grandpa's hot rod built in the 1950's rusting away in a barn and decides to get it running again. He cleans up the 32 Ford wheels and the wide whites, and gets the old Model A engine with a Riley OHV head running again. The seats are rotted, so he hacks up a pair of Walmart lawn chairs to make seats.

He gets it licensed and puts on a PA vanity plate. Rodent sounded good since the rod looks ratty, and hey, it has the word "rod" in it!

Here it sits along a country road where it shut off on the test drive. He imagines his Grandpa standing there looking at it and wonders what he would think!

Here's a front view of it along the road. Don't worry, he'll get it running, and have it ready for car shows and cruising this summer!

The rust is real rust from a Brillo pad sprinkled over wet red oxide primer randomly sprayed over a flat black body, and tan frame. The whitewalls were done with a Wite-Out pen. Lots of part box stuff was used to finish it. I hope you like it. I had fun building it!

Sam

MAJOR OOPS! Not sure, but I think the cyl. head is on backwards! I just found photos of a real one and the intake and exhaust are both on the same side (the right).

I fixed it. I turned the head around. It should run better now!

Edited February 28, 2010 by Sixties Sam

[VW Dave]

Nice job! Cool save of that cast-off T....my question is: where did you get those SEATS?? They're great!

[Sixties Sam]

Nice job! Cool save of that cast-off T....my question is: where did you get those SEATS?? They're great!

Dave, I made the seats from paper and craft wire. I drew the webbing in AutoCAD, printed them out, cut them out and glued them to a wire frame. The ends and sides wrap around the wire frames and are glued on the back side. It was a little tedious, but not real hard to do.

Sam

[walt francis]

I really love the story but I really love the seats a real lot Real cool.