Yes folks, the owner of this Dodge A100 pickup will drive you to your final resting place in your very own custom pinstriped coffin in the back of his hot rod. I'd rather go in a Ute myself, but hey! Thats just me.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Going in Style!
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to give Bob that big hot rod send off to the great drag strip in the sky."
Yes folks, the owner of this Dodge A100 pickup will drive you to your final resting place in your very own custom pinstriped coffin in the back of his hot rod. I'd rather go in a Ute myself, but hey! Thats just me.
Yes folks, the owner of this Dodge A100 pickup will drive you to your final resting place in your very own custom pinstriped coffin in the back of his hot rod. I'd rather go in a Ute myself, but hey! Thats just me.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Catalogues and Car Parts
My latest project got me to thinking how spoiled we have gotten in recent years. We can open a catalogue from a variety of vendors and purchase almost anything we may need for our cars. Admittedly it's a bit harder for those who enjoy the early A body cars from Plymouth and Dodge than our E and B body brethren but you get the picture. There is so much available now then there was 10 years ago.
It's gotten easy to buy a kit, bolt it on and call it done. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to see all that is available and am not knocking anyone who goes this route, but for me the fun is in the rebuilding. The act of taking some thing that would be considered a used, spent component and making it fully functional again.
Even for something as simple as an aftermarket air cleaner. I searched through swap meets, ebay, Summit racing and many other vendors looking for the right one for me and my car. Nothing looked right. They all reminded me of the same parts I have seen on every car at any car show I have ever been to.
I got to thinking about some of the Rat Rods I've seen at my local cruise night and how the early 50's hot rodders fixed their cars. They scrounged through junk yards looking for different parts to make their cars look different or perform better. They did this out of necessity. In the beginning, they had very few speed shops to go to let alone any catalogues to buy from. They made what they needed.
As my project has progressed, I to have had to make many of the parts I needed to move things forward. I didn't buy trunk panel extensions or inner fender lips, I made them from scrap panels. I didn't install a front disk brake conversion kit, I rebuilt a used factory 4 piston caliper setup and installed it myself. When I upgraded to electronic ignition, I didn't buy the readily available kit, I used the spare parts I already had and found the used parts I needed to make it work.
And when it came to a new air cleaner, I did not buy one from a mass merchandiser, I made one from a swap meet part. Many pieces I have used were swap meet or junk yard finds that I had to clean up and re work before I could use them.
Granted, I am thankful for all the items I can get for my car from a catalogue company, without them the car would still be on jack stands, but by taking this frugal approach I have saved a lot of money building my car.
My point is that by taking your time with some used parts and ingenuity you can make your car a little more unique than the guy next to you at the car show and save some cash too. So don't be afraid to skip the catalogue and try something different, you may like it better in the long run.
It's gotten easy to buy a kit, bolt it on and call it done. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to see all that is available and am not knocking anyone who goes this route, but for me the fun is in the rebuilding. The act of taking some thing that would be considered a used, spent component and making it fully functional again.
Even for something as simple as an aftermarket air cleaner. I searched through swap meets, ebay, Summit racing and many other vendors looking for the right one for me and my car. Nothing looked right. They all reminded me of the same parts I have seen on every car at any car show I have ever been to.
I got to thinking about some of the Rat Rods I've seen at my local cruise night and how the early 50's hot rodders fixed their cars. They scrounged through junk yards looking for different parts to make their cars look different or perform better. They did this out of necessity. In the beginning, they had very few speed shops to go to let alone any catalogues to buy from. They made what they needed.
As my project has progressed, I to have had to make many of the parts I needed to move things forward. I didn't buy trunk panel extensions or inner fender lips, I made them from scrap panels. I didn't install a front disk brake conversion kit, I rebuilt a used factory 4 piston caliper setup and installed it myself. When I upgraded to electronic ignition, I didn't buy the readily available kit, I used the spare parts I already had and found the used parts I needed to make it work.
And when it came to a new air cleaner, I did not buy one from a mass merchandiser, I made one from a swap meet part. Many pieces I have used were swap meet or junk yard finds that I had to clean up and re work before I could use them.
Granted, I am thankful for all the items I can get for my car from a catalogue company, without them the car would still be on jack stands, but by taking this frugal approach I have saved a lot of money building my car.
My point is that by taking your time with some used parts and ingenuity you can make your car a little more unique than the guy next to you at the car show and save some cash too. So don't be afraid to skip the catalogue and try something different, you may like it better in the long run.
Monday, February 9, 2009
From "Da Prez's" Garage
Has this happened to you? You've been working in the garage all day any your significant other comes down to see how things are going. You get close to get a little kiss and you get this. " Eww, you smell like car." How do you respond to that? I mean, what can you say to that?
" Well, Hell Yeah I do!" "It's my new cologne, ode de car guy." "Huh, I don't smell anything except the burritos I had for lunch."
Space heaters are not overated. I got a good sized kerosene heater to warm the garage so I can get some work done on the car this winter and I have made some good progress. "Heat, it's not just for Summer."
Air Compressor. Don't forget to turn it off when your done or it will leak pressure slowly to the point where the low pressure switch trips and the compressor turns on to refill the tank. This is only a problem if your garage is directly below your bedroom at it kicks on at 3 AM.
When using a can of brake cleaner to clean a transmission valve body, wear a face shield. That stuff burns.
To wrap things up, don't lie upside down to take pictures under your dash with a head cold. The pressure is too much and your pictures look bad.
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