posted
Thirty-five years ago I started a hot rod project. It was low budget, literally built with pocket change which I threw into a jar each night. I scrounged all the bits and pieces, fabricating much of the car with basic hand tools. My buddy helped out with the welding. I fashioned the car after a 1910 Overland although there were no original pieces in the car. It sports a Buick V-6 motor and an auto transmission. Over a period of years I managed to get it running but not quite finished.
Life was busy back then and with other pressing concerns the car was eventually pushed to the back corner of the garage, gathering dust for years. About ten years ago I gave it to a neighbor kid who worked on it a little but eventually it was pushed to the corner of his dad's shop and again gathered dust once more.
In December I got the itch once again and my neighbor gave the car back to me. I stripped it down to the frame and basically started over. My standards of fabrication, skills and selection of tools had vastly improved over the last decades. Using our CNC plasma cutter and a MIG welder I fabricated a whole new body from scratch. New motor and transmission mounts and a new rear suspension along with new exhaust and just about everything else too.
I'm down to the small stuff now like wiring and soon the car will be ready for the first test drive up and down our long driveway. When this COVID thing is behind us it will be inspected and then licensed.
It's been a very fun project and should be even more fun to drive. It's a showcase for our fabrication skills too.
grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8762 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Gotta love it. Funny how we hang on to old ideas and years later fulfilling our dreams. Great job. Enjoy.
-------------------- Bob Moroney The Sign Guy 310 Club Valley Drive Falmouth, MA 02536 508-259-6297 Posts: 224 | From: Falmouth, MA | Registered: Jul 2008
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-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3936 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Did you mean El Cucarachon ? The cockroach? Not sure how to take that? Perhaps you mean the project that wouldn't die? 😀
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8762 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6807 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
It's cute, plus it needs a horn that sounds like the classic Cucurancuh song. Is it gonna be street legal? And as they say, "What under the hood?"
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3936 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
The heat shields on the exhaust are on my fabrication list (next week) and are required by local laws. I will also wrap the exhaust pipes with insulated heat tape in this area to further reduce the heat and possibility of burns.
It will have an ahoogah horn plus a squeeze bulb.
It will be inspected and licensed legally once we are clear of this COVID thing.
It has a Buick V6 engine and an auto transmission (Simpler than fabricating clutch linkage)
-grampa dan
-------------------- Dan Sawatzky Imagination Corporation Yarrow, British Columbia dan@imaginationcorporation.com http://www.imaginationcorporation.com
Being a grampa is one of the the most wonderful things in the world!!! Posts: 8762 | From: Yarrow, B.C. Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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-------------------- Jackson Smart Jackson's Signs Port Angeles, WA ...."The Straits of Juan De Fuca in my front yard and Olympic National Park in my backyard...
"Living on Earth is expensive...but it does include a free trip around the Sun" Posts: 1002 | From: Port Angeles, Washington | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted
Dan, now you need to make a couple trailers that match the car. One as a utility /cargo trailer and one some variation of a two person teardrop weekend camping model. That might keep you busy until the world heals?
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6807 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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