Triple Nickel inspired '29 Ford Roadster drag car

[Bernard Kron]

This is a project I’ve started for a CPB on the Vintage Drag Racing forum based on a Little Pages theme. Inspiration came from the current issue of TRJ which features the Murray & Waters Triple Nickel, one of the most iconic early drag cars to grace the quarter mile. Ultra-light and very sophisticated for its time it was virtually unbeatable in its class. I’m no replica builder so I generally use an historic machine as inspiration for my own take on these cars. That will be the case here.

The thing that I’ve always liked about this car is that, as nicely finished and turned out as it is, it still shows its track roadster roots. It has a certain primitive funk that, as an example, Tony Nancy’s two 22 Jr. A roadsters lack. I think the key is that Murray & Waters chose to use a Model A frame instead of the ’32 rails that most people ran. At first it was because they were cheap and plentiful, but then they realized that properly set up they could make the car exceptionally light and yet rigid. One trademark of their A-bone frames right from the start is that they removed the stock front cross member and ran a tubular member in front of the grill. This lengthened the wheelbase, effectively setting the motor back in even their earliest car, and saved weight and added rigidity at the same time. I’ll be doing the same thing on this car.

I’ll be borrowing other visual cues from the Triple Nickel, such as the roll hoop, the tubular inner structure, the tonneau cover and the flat aluminum sheet wheel covers. Also, like the 555 car, my machine will have early small block Chevy power. And of course, I’m resisting the temptation to use a Deuce grill, which would destroy the entire point of the exercise.

To get started I tackled the signature bits to make sure I could do them. I set up the tonneau cover to be removable to show off the interior. The hood and grille shell will be a single removable piece but the grille shell will remain chromed. Below are pictures of the second and third Murray & Waters cars and a summary photo of what I’ve got so far. My car will sit more like the second version of their car since I’m not running a narrowed chassis and torsion bar rear suspension like the Triple Nickel had.

The second Murray & Waters roadster which became the first 555 car.

The Triple Nickel car as it stands today as featured in the current TRJ. This was the third car the team built.

I started by finding some wheels in my stash that I knew would fit the tires I was going to use (Modelhaus T110B's at the front, and Firestone directional 7" pie crust slicks from Ma's Resin at the back). Since they would totally disappear behind the covers I could use anything of appropriate width and diameter. So I found some billet-ish mags from an AMT '36 Ford kit that I knew for sure I would never use otherwise and stripped them of their chrome.

The front wheels required more work because I had to make the little covers for the axle ends, so I'll describe the steps for those.

First off I cut some circular covers of the same diameter as the donor wheels out of .010" styrene sheet. At the front I started by drilling a hole through the center of the wheel. I used 1/8" styrene rod to make the axle end caps. I countersunk the hole I had drilled to fit the "cap" so that the proper amount of rod stuck out, then glued the rod in place. For the back side covers, I drilled a 1/4" hole to accept the post for the wheel mount. For the rears all I did was cover them, and add some Monogram '40 Ford style brake backing plates. Then I finished everything in Testors Metalizer Aluminum plate

Here are the wheel sub-assemblies before finishing.

Next up was the frame. Starting with an AMT ’29 Ford Roadster kit which contributed the body, hood, grill shell, rear spring and front axle, I cut off the frame horns just in front of the grill shell and installed a tubular cross member and fabricated a suicide axle mount from styrene stock. The front axle uses cut down brake backing plates to model the axle bearing housings on the 1:1.

Here’s an early picture of the frame before the roll hoop braces were added. The short block is a Revell Parts Pac 283 Chevy which will have Hilborn injectors. The center cross member came from the AMT Ala Kart frame and the front engine mount is the piece from the Parts Pac.

This is a composite picture showing the status of the build just before starting the paint process. You can see the additional bracing for the roll hoop. The roll hoop itself is made from polished aluminum tubing to simulate chrome, and will be removable so that the completed chassis can be displayed separate from the body.

This is the body in basic paint. Colors are Tamiya TS-31 Bright Orange and Duplicolor Wimbledon White. The radiator is in place only for mock-up purposes and will be replaced by either of two schemes: 1) a plain panel finished in one of the body colors with some sort of graphics, or 2) a transparent orange plexiglas panel. The bottom of the radiator shell has been removed to clear the front cross member.

I'm currently working on the inside tinwork and drive train so I can get the car up on its wheels to take some properly proportioned pictures to design decals for it.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Bernard Kron

[Old Coyote]

I don't know if this is the same car or not ............. but there was a '29 Ford "Triple Nickel" in Amarillo, Texas in the early '60's ............ it was owned by Don Burch and sponsored by Amarillo Car Bath ............. however, it was powered by a blown Chrysler hemi and was painted black .............. it was replaced by a "T Bucket" which kept the "555" name ............ wonder if this might be the same '29

[Bernard Kron]

I don't know if this is the same car or not ............. but there was a '29 Ford "Triple Nickel" in Amarillo, Texas in the early '60's ............ it was owned by Don Burch and sponsored by Amarillo Car Bath ............. however, it was powered by a blown Chrysler hemi and was painted black .............. it was replaced by a "T Bucket" which kept the "555" name ............ wonder if this might be the same '29

Yes, it's the same car. I have always preferred the car in its black form - very purposeful looking. In fact I've also seen pictures of a very similar black '29 A-bone at Bonneville from the same period and wondered if it wasn't the same car. Here's a quick run down on the car's history I posted on VDM:

...Waters & Murray sold [the Triple Nickel] in 1958 to Jim Earp, a body and fender man from Wichita, Kansas. Jim Earp Motors was a used car dealership he started in 1955 which would eventually morph into a Chrysler dealership in 1965. Earp went on to build a small empire of new and used car dealerships in the greater Kansas and Nebraska region.

Earp ran the car pretty much as-is except for proper Moon discs and sold it in 1960 to Bob Johnson and Don Morgan of Amarillo, Texas. Johnson owned Custom Car Supply and these guys stood ready to take full advantage of the fairly advanced structure that Waters & Murray had created in their final car. With its tubular superstructure and trick front and rear suspension it was ready for bigger power and Johnson & Morgan obliged, dropping in a blown '58 Chrysler with Hilborn 2-port injection, state of the art for 1960, While they were at it they painted the car black, but kept the legendary 555 moniker, as all owners have from the beginning.

In '65 it moved on to Kansas City, Mo. to run under the Arrow Speed Shop banner, still in black but eventually in candy apple red until it's virtual retirement in 1966, when it was sold to Barry Darlington who intended to restore it but never completed the work. Coming full circle, he handed it back to the Murray family in 2007. ...

You'll note that I was unaware of Don Burch. I don't recall him being mentioned in the TRJ article which got the ball rolling for me. There's a January, 1963 HRM article about the Amarillo-based black version. It shows both Custom Car Supply in some photos and Amarillo Car Bath sponsorship on the hood in others. Did Johnson & Morgan sell the car to Burch before it moved out of the area? I'd love to know more about the T-Bucket - looks cool and similarly purposeful... A web search on "Don Burch 555" yielded a National Dragster article about the T-Bucket from March 9, 1962 as follows: "Don Burch, driving his popular '555' A-roadster from Amarillo, Texas, upped his class' 148.51 marks to a new, official 153.04 mph. Don's roadster, a '23 'T' using a '56 Chrysler for muscle, runs e.t.'s in the low 10's. The haulin' Chrysler is blown, uses Isky cam, Hilborn injection and Schiefer clutch assembly". If the car changed hands it was sold to Burch long before the HRM article. I'm more inclined to believe that Burch's car ran in the same period as Johnson & Morgan, had a surprisingly similar motor, and the 555 number. The confusion would come from the reference to "A-roadster", the class of both cars, rather than the model of car it was based on. I know it sounds pretty far-fethched but I have seen references to as many as 4 different cars using the number 555 during that time period. Either way the Burch T-Bucket is a very nice car with a neat stance.

Here's the HRM article:

Edited January 20, 2014 by Bernard Kron

[Old Coyote]

You'll note that I was unaware of Don Burch. There's a January, 1963 HRM article that shows the Amarillo-based black version that shows both Custom Car Supply in some photos and Amarillo Car Bath sponsorship on the hood in others. Did Johnson & Morgan sell the car to Burch before it moved out of the area? I'd love to know more about the T-Bucket - looks cool and similarly purposeful...

If I remember correctly (and that's a chore anymore), Bob Johnson sold the car to Don Burch in late 1963 ........... Burch was another of the avid Dads hot rodders there in Amarillo .............. and he owned Amarillo Car Bath ............... Another of members of the Dads Hot Rod Club was Lyndall White, who lived right across the street from me

It was these men, along with Jack Moss, Gene O'Tanger, Carroll Caudle, James Gipson, and Jim McGinnis that got us youngsters interested and involved in drag racing ............ and speaking of Jim McGinnis, he drove the T-Bucket version of the "555" ......... here's a pic of McGinnis in the roadster (which was sporting Custom Car Supply sponsorship at the time)

..... and here's a pic of McGinnis having a go against Jack Moss' single Chevy dragster for Top Eliminator at Oklahoma City

Edited January 20, 2014 by Old Coyote

[Bernard Kron]

Coolness. Thanx for the background and the missing link.

One thing that's fascinating in all this is that as late as '63, even though the SoCal scene was starting to get pretty slick when it came to competition machinery, in Texas the ties to the '59-'61 period were still pretty strong in terms of the style of cars being run. The Texas iteration of the 555 '29 Roadster, first built in 1956, shows just how sophisticated this approach could be. Most parts of the country lacked the deep infrastructure of circle track race shops with roots reaching all the way back to the Miller era in the '20s that formed the backbone of the Cali race car scene. For example even died-in-the- wool Indy guys like Eddie Kuzma and Wayne Ewing built bodies for Top Fuel dragsters! This is especially interesting since, when it came to national competition, racers from Texas and other parts of the center of the continent certainly had no problems handling the California boys. I'm sure to anyone reading this it may seem like an almost trivial difference in dates, but in drag racing at that point things were evolving on an almost month by month basis.

[Old Coyote]

Most parts of the country lacked the deep infrastructure of circle track race shops with roots reaching all the way back to the Miller era in the '20s

Agreed ............ Amarillo had the Amarillo Speed Bowl, a quarter mile clay oval ............. it was the site of weekly battles with the main event being the war between C.J. Biscel in the Plains Chevrolet sponsored sprinter versus Kenny Stidd in the Sid Stout Ford rig

[GoatGuy]

This is looking great. I'm looking forward to more. Enjoy reading the history, too.

[Jimmy Wilson]

Agreed ............ Amarillo had the Amarillo Speed Bowl, a quarter mile clay oval ............. it was the site of weekly battles with the main event being the war between C.J. Biscel in the Plains Chevrolet sponsored sprinter versus Kenny Stidd in the Sid Stout Ford rig

What a great picture ! I went to the Speed Bowl, and Amarillo Drag Way when I was a kid. Plains Chevrolet also sponsored a '65 or so Chevelle Drag car. Seems every summer there was a Texas vs California drag race.

[Bernard Kron]

 

Many of the photos from my original post have been wiped out by the Photobucket debacle so here is a repost of the introductory material from back in 2014. Next ;up is the update from this evening as I finally pick up this long stalled project. I can;t edit the old post so here are the photos from the original post.

The second Murray & Waters roadster which became the first 555 car.

The Triple Nickel car as it stands today as featured in the current TRJ. This was the third car the team built.

 

 

Here are the wheel sub-assemblies before finishing.

Here’s an early picture of the frame before the roll hoop braces were added. …

This is a composite picture showing the status of the build just before starting the paint process. …

This is the body in basic paint. …

 

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Bernard Kron

[Bernard Kron]

Overall, I tend to finish most projects I start. But over the years I’ve accumulated a fair number of unfinished projects. Like most of us, of course, I intend to finish them “someday”, but some projects stick in my mind more than others, and I intend to finish those sooner rather than later. This was one of that category of stalled projects. Now, some 6 years later I at last am on the path to completing it.

What stalled it was some minor paint flaws and problems getting serious about the motor, originally a small block Chevy which was slated to be injected. But the Triple Nickel is more of a classic late 50’s car rather than an early 60’s machine like the Tony Nancy 22 Jr. ’29 roadster with its injected Buick nailhead. It’s roots are in a dry lakes/drag hybrid rather than a pure dragstrip car like the 22 Jr. This is especially true since I chose to emphasize some of the earlier 555 details in my version. So when I resumed this project the other week one of the first changes I made was to choose cubic inches and big torque over light weight and revs by going with a Revell Parts Pak  Cadillac 354 with 6 ‘97’s. The other change I made was to use AMT 8” M&H slicks with their higher profile and larger diameter rather than the Ma’s Resin 7” pie crusts. They sit in the wheel arches better and are more in keeping with the big cubes/big torque approach.

Other than these two changes I was pleasantly surprised how much progress I had made before I put this project aside. The chassis had been finished out and painted, the tin work cut, fit and painted and the basic suspension completed and fitted.

So far I have finished up the suspension, fabricated the steering parts based on the steering gear from the Tony Nancy dragster part of the Revell Tony Nancy Double Dragster kit, .completed and finished out the wheels, and begun the final fitting of the body and chassis for final assembly. The big Caddy mill has been started and will feature 6 Stromberg ‘97’s in keeping with the late 50’s theme.

The pictures below show most of the new work except for the suspension arms front and rear and the steering gear. These parts are completed but missing from the photos. The gold numbers are from a set of numbers I had printed earlier this year. I’ll add gold striping tri and, team and trade decals during the finishing up phase. Next is .building out the motor and then final assembly.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

 

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nice work. Looks great. The chassis work is nice. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Bob!

The motor is built and installed. As mentioned earlier, it’s a Revell Parts Pack Cadillac 354, built pretty much out of the Pak with the 6-carb option. A sheet metal “doghouse” flame protector for the carbs was fashioned from sheet aluminum and the exhausts extended using aluminum tubing. The fuel tank is from an AMT ’59 Ford kit with a gas cap added. The suspension is completed and installed. The front wishbones are split Model A items from the AMT kit and the rear traction arms are from a Revell ’32 Ford kit. The Pitman arm and steering link are scratch built from styrene stock. The rear slicks got switched out one last time, this time to the 2-piece pie crust items from the recent Round 2 ;36 Ford Coupe re-issue. They’re just the right diameter and width.

Below are pictures of the completed rolling chassis and a mockup with the body in place. I made a new “soft” tonneau cover to replace the original item. It’s fashioned from thin styrene sheet and masking tape. It has yet to be painted and I still have to work on fastening down the edges. Besides the tonneau cover, I have to work some more on the graphics and paint scheme, but I’m quite close to done now.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

 

[alan barton]

I like this one a lot, Bernard!  The chassis details are perfect and the colour scheme fits the era beautifully.I am very familiar with this type of car as many years ago I built a replica of the famed Tony Nancy 22Jr roadster, the tube framed, Nailhead powered, second generation car, as distinct from the Deuce framed flathead version.  There are a lot of similarities between your chassis and mine, especially in the roll cage construction.

The way I got around the tonneau cover issue was to blank off the interior opening of a spare body with a piece of plastic taped tightly in place.  I then filled it with plaster of paris.  When it was nice and dry, I removed the plastic tarp and used the plaster filled body as a mould for a vacformed piece.  It turned out a treat and literally clicks in place.  One day when I run out of AMT roadster bodies I will dig the plaster out and use it but in the meantime it is handy if I need to make more.

Thanks for sharing this beauty with us all.

Cheers

Alan

[alan barton]

Hi Bernard, back again!

I am notoriously unreliable for getting things done BUT I want to send you a vacformed tonneau cover for your triple nickel.

I don't have any lying around at the moment but I do still have the mould.  I am currently travelling a lot for work but in the next few weeks I will be home so I will get the vacformer down from its shelf and pop out a few new copies.  I need a few myself! 

This will be just the finishing touch you need for your car.  I have included a shot of my Tony Nancy 22jr so that you can see what it looks like.

 

Cheers

Alan

 

 

[Dogfish_7]

Great job Bernard.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Bruce and Alan. I'm on the homestretcg now, working on final decals and detail assembly. I should post something in the next few days.

On 11/26/2019 at 12:46 AM, alan barton said:

I like this one a lot, Bernard!  The chassis details are perfect and the colour scheme fits the era beautifully.I am very familiar with this type of car as many years ago I built a replica of the famed Tony Nancy 22Jr roadster, the tube framed, Nailhead powered, second generation car, as distinct from the Deuce framed flathead version.  There are a lot of similarities between your chassis and mine, especially in the roll cage construction.

The way I got around the tonneau cover issue was to blank off the interior opening of a spare body with a piece of plastic taped tightly in place.  I then filled it with plaster of paris.  When it was nice and dry, I removed the plastic tarp and used the plaster filled body as a mould for a vacformed piece.  It turned out a treat and literally clicks in place.  One day when I run out of AMT roadster bodies I will dig the plaster out and use it but in the meantime it is handy if I need to make more.

Thanks for sharing this beauty with us all.

Cheers

Alan

 

On 11/26/2019 at 1:11 AM, alan barton said:

Hi Bernard, back again!

I am notoriously unreliable for getting things done BUT I want to send you a vacformed tonneau cover for your triple nickel.

I don't have any lying around at the moment but I do still have the mould.  I am currently travelling a lot for work but in the next few weeks I will be home so I will get the vacformer down from its shelf and pop out a few new copies.  I need a few myself! 

This will be just the finishing touch you need for your car.  I have included a shot of my Tony Nancy 22jr so that you can see what it looks like.

 

Cheers

Alan

 

 

Wow Alan! That tonneau would indeed be ideal. Beautiful replica build. Meanwhile I'll continue fiddling with my version in the hopes of developing a workable, repeatable technique for future projects. But don't forget me, LOL!

Edited December 2, 2019 by Bernard Kron

[Ace-Garageguy]

I missed this one. Cool project to bring back from the dead. 

Alan's 22jr is pretty sweet too.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks!

I did several small but important tasks on the way to finishing this up. Most importantly I made an additional layer of decals to outline the numbers in black and add a drop shadow. This serves to highlight the numbers which looked a bit washed out before. Now the gold really up shows up against the body colors. I also added a push bar, constructing a bracing structure and bar from styrene tubing and rod. Lastly I added team and car names. The entrants, Nichols & Dimas, are on the hood. Thus the car number and the car name, “Nickels & Dimes”, a hat-tip to the inspiration for the project, the Triple Nickel.

Now to finish up the grill and fit the hood and then wrestle the tonneau cover into shape. Shouldn’t be long to completion now.

Thanx for lookin’,
B.

 

[doggie427]

Killer ! ???

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks Wayne!

This Project is now complete except for some minor cleanup. Final “beauty shots” should be done tomorrow. In the meantime here's a cutaway teaser.

Thanx to all who followed along,
B.

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Bernard Kron

[Dogfish_7]

Some great photography, as usual and an awesome replica of a bi-gone era. Perfect for the Salt Flats.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanx Bruce!

Here are the final "beauty shots". Thanks for starting this thread and providing an incentive to "get 'er done". If thinking about other unlfinished projects in my stash that might fit in the 3 weeks left in 2019... We;ll see.

And again, thanx to all who followed along,
B.

 

 

 

 

 

[Mike Williams]

On 12/10/2019 at 4:06 AM, Bernard Kron said:

Thanks Wayne!

This Project is now complete except for some minor cleanup. Final “beauty shots” should be done tomorrow. In the meantime here's a cutaway teaser.

Thanx to all who followed along,
B.

 

Wow!  Bernard, the "teaser" is just sensational...respect!

I've never seen this photo technique used for a model car before.

This car is just plain clean, my opinion.  A wonderful replica from the very beginnings of hot rod days, way back when.

Cleanly built and wonderfully presented, this only is a direct result of your intensive search for factual and relevant information about how things really are, and were back in the older days.

I still think you are a treasure chest of valuable information, should one choose to model an actually correct car in the correct scale.

I do wish more guys would follow this path, build a model with research and understanding the "why" it was done the way it's presented.

Thanks Bernard.

[Bernard Kron]

18 hours ago, Mike Williams said:

...I've never seen this photo technique used for a model car before. ...

Thanks for exceedingly kind words, Mike. "Ghost" cutaways like this only can be done if you plan way ahead and somehow manage to take perfectly registered shots while assembling the car, which would require placing both camera and car in the exactly identical position each time with highly consistent lighting. The exception is competition cars like this one, where the chassis and bodywork are entirely separate and the car is designed to be displayed with the body on or off. Only then can you can do it after the fact. I''ve done a few cutaway shots over the years but never had the courage and patience to plan for one where the body and interior are ultimately glued in place.

[bobthehobbyguy]

Nicely done. A genre that is seldom seen in scale. Cool xray shots and photography presentation.