'Twas the morning of the day before Xmas etc etc

Had to go over to the Silichs home yesterday, to help fit Vickies coupe body to the frame Darren has built.....this car is so nice and original, the body is dam near perfect.....(I shoulda kept it!!!)

Now the fun begins, have to cut this up to get it around the Chevy, "Take a deep breath...start cutting!"....the Eric Vaughan wheels look great...wait until you see the 8" rears...amazing! Not bad for a car that was only started on 5 weeks ago!!

While I was down that way, called in to check progress on Dave Winters 32 tudor...impressive to say the least...Looks great with the wheel combo, and naturally, a Winters Quick Change, this will be one bad looking highboy...only decision to make now.......to cut or not to cut?

Electronic injected Hilborns on a hemi, with goodies from :Hot Heads"...rump rump!!

Work has just about stopped on the roadster, as Xmas is here tomorrow, but at least the fenders are done , Moon tank and headlights mounted properly, the correct wheels and tires I will use are the Halibrands that were on the Tudor, so if I have time in the next few days, I will start mounting the fuse box/wiring/switches etc.

 

 

All the best to everyone for Xmas, stay safe, and catch you on the next blog...

end of the world...special edition.

Trying to get my fenders finished before Fridays 2012 end of the world deal!!!haha.

So, I started off with making the brackets from flat steel, but they looked too bulky, so I bent some scrap 12 mm round, it seemed nicer, so I thought, "let's try 10mm...that should work!"....so between a scrap of box tubing, an old Moroso pulley, the 12mm piece welded to bench, and a convinient hole, I had my jig...made 4 identical shapes.

These are welded to tabs that bolt to the ears on the disc brake adapters, and to add strength, a 25 mm flat is welded between upper and lower...reasonably rigid now, but I think I will also weld the fenders to these brackets, rather than bolting.

I had to curve the metal to certain diameters, so took a couple of hours and some scrap steel to make this dodgy brothers roller assembly..bit rough, but it works!

As you can see, the fender brackets shaped, and the rolled material....think I should go into marketing these items under "dodgy bros" brand....or maybe "super super cheep"...it is so handy to be able to do most of your work at home!

Rear fenders up until yesterday a'noon..I have to go buy more steel flat today to strenghten these..these bolt to a pre drilled brace I welded in next to the buggy spring mount, so it serves two purposes.

Here's my "dodgy bros." bender, I made this from two old fence posts, part of an old towbar, and quite a bit of leftover scrap metal, but once again, it works fine...I used it to fold a return lip on some 12g sheet metal I had lying around, to see if I could use my home made roller to make the fenders.

As you can see, it does work, and if I spent more time being more accurate with my measurements..(I cut this all out with a cut off wheel and used my eyes as to where to fold)...anyway, it works, but I am having www.oz-rods.com roll them up properly for me..will have them sometime this week and the fenders will be on before the end of the world!!

Some guys have all the luck!

Sometimes a fella gets lucky, and last Friday, as usual, I bought the 10 number Keno....20 games worth...the return is always either nil, or maybe $2 or $6  or something trivial, but you just hope that one day........well, $20 in and $10,004 back wasn't bad....no going to ALDI anymore, I've moved up to Woolies!!

 This will come in handy, but not for the hot rod.....(well, I did go straight out and ordered more tyres..)...but it will go towards a trip we have been planning for years!

 

Back to working on the hot rod now, I had a week off to clean up the acreage for Xmas, now to start on the fenders...I kinda like the 32 with the American Tork Thrusts on it....

But then I came home with the new steelies that are destined to go on the Tudor, and couldn't resist a peek...not sure if I like it or not....maybe if it had the caps on might help....probably needs different paint, and I do like the flat black look.

Stuff it, I said...lets just make three sets of fenders for each set of wheels, so I can mix and match, but will start off making them fit the Halibrands. I experimented today with some flat bar brackets, and some round bar..think the round looks better.

When I saw this car on the www,nzhrm.com website last week, it had me thinking hard about "proper" paint...this looks like the lemon we used on the last race car...might even be that recent Suzuki colour.....but to me, this car looks "spot - on".

 

This is the best you're going to get from me for a Xmas scene....under the Mistletoe..(Poincianna)....so in case I don't blog next week, Merry Xmas to all who read this, hope my twisted humour has brightened your year, stay healthy, we've only got one shot at this life, so enjoy it!

 

I will have a listing of "events" for 2013 soon, but pencil these in...Jan 27 Chev club swap,... Feb 2&3, Toowoomba Swap,.. March 8/9/10 Toowoomba Rodrun,.. March 17 Northern Districts swap,.. March 24 Ormiston Swapmeet,.. Easter, March 29/30 April 1/2 Street Rod Nats,.. April 14 Willowbank swap,.. April 23 Banyo swap,..May 26 Capalaba swap,..July 14 Bruinswick rodrun,..July 27 Nambour swap.

The silly season is upon us!

Well, Xmas is just about upon us..(click on the arrow above to play video..), anyway.. there always seems like so much to do in December, weird  that even when you are retired, the days just get gobbled up, and this year is the no different...every weekend, on both days, we have somewhere to be., or something to do in preparation...but, little jobs on the hot rod can get sorted, as all the major work has now been done.

Off the subject, but as you probably know, I spend at least 3 hours a day on the computer, and look at all sorts of things...recently I needed a new electrode holder, and saw this complete welder with no bids on it on e bay....I chucked $10 on and forgot all about it until Saturday.....I won the darn thing for $3:50!!.....it works like a beauty.....you can have a win sometime...trouble is, now I own three arc welders!!

Darren came good with the stock hardware for the hood, so these are now done...as usual with Deuces, you have to put some spacers under to achieve the correct clip dimension, so a piece of scrap 3/8th alloy was whittled to shape and all works well. I even started on the dreaded....ffff..fenders...well, made a paper template anyway.

The seat belt mounts are now in, I wanted plain black lap belts, and just used some 3/8th steel tapped to suit, and zapped them in...plenty of room to go around my gargantuan gut, and holds at the correct angles...another win!

Nothing much different here, but I had to cut the hole for the gearbox, and once I clearance the f'glass hump a bit, and bend the stick a bit straighter, it will be done, the pedals are back in with their bolt on pads, and home made connections underneath and now they work the clutch and brake cylinders...I've done the trial sit and all feels good...will fit an inside firewall panel out of  sheetmetal next and work the wiring panel into it somehow, so it flips down...user friendly style.

The double D shaft is in, and radiator hoses have been sourced, and on the other side, the low mount alternator is mounted....(need to get some flat black paint on that Griffin alloy radiator though, it stands out like 3 breasts on a woman....hang on ..that's not so bad..."there's one for the money..two for the show, three to get ready etc etc")

Have to make a decision soon on the new steelies...should I put them on the Tudor...or keep them for the roadster...I have to make up fender brackets soon....probably just make three sets so I can change the look between the steelies, Halibrands, and Americans.............Decisions??

 

Finally, when researching abot the hot rod clubs in Qld...came across the add section in the old Hot Rod mags...don't you wish you had the foresight to buy and put away..

."36 Ford roadster, 48 Mercury motor, hydraulic brakes, twin Lukey mufflers, new brake linings, battery, tyres,Turquoise Mist paintwork,red upholstery, ready to register, $350.00 o.n.o. Rodney Boscoe, 4 Hibiscus Haven, Burleigh Heads, Qld 4220 Ph 5-2081"   

Why didn't we call!!!.

 

Many thanks once again to Glenn and Sue Watts for putting on the coffee morning this time, and providing all the eats and drinks...especially those yummy muffins.....Glenn organised a tin for donations, then passed it all over to the SALVOS....job well done!!..Thanks.

 

 

Coffee time at Cleveland.

Had another great "coffee-catchup" at Glen and Sue Watts shed in Cleveland...for those that don't know them, the Watts brought their kids and hot rod up to one of the first Parklands shows in the 90s....they fell in love with Qld., went back to Bendigo and did the seachange to the bayside.

Another car we don't see out and about much is Eric Cornes '37 coupe...Eric migrated here from England in the early 80s...once again...did the seachange to the Redalands...I asked for photo albums to come along to this morning, Erics were cool, as he had all the pics from the 70s-80s hot rod scene in Pomania...more regulars here with Chris Dansies coupe, and the roadsters of Tony Fox and Dave Winter.

Local TAC inspector John Wilkinson had this T bucket sparkling with the bright green paint...Gasser style front wheels looked great!

Long time hot-rodder Mick Dillon must be getting close to finishing his 3 window coupe, but until then, the trusty roadster comes out to play...Mick has been playing with hot rods now for over 50 years!.(see further down, the pic. he brought along)

Nothing like organising a coffee morning, to also have a shop cleanup....normally, Glenn has his every space being used as he works on his next project....The photo albums were getting a workout here.

This is now the current project.....Glen finished his 30 coupe, then built up the 54 Ford convert for Sue, then the chassis and drivetrain that was under this US imported coupe went into the recently finished roadster, .....now this former channeled coupe is raised up, new steel fenders, injected flathead, 5 speed box, Rod Tech independant frontend, with a coil sprung 9" rear....The way Glen works, it will be on the road in no time!!

 

 

Cool pic below was from Mick Dillon, and shows him riding in Evan Isaacs channeled 29 roadster back around 1964......good times.....3 buddies, out havin' fun!!

Research from the 60s..Brisbane based!

For a long time, I've been thinking of trying to put together something, somehow, on the birth of hot rodding in South East Queensland, and decided it was best to categorise it into the 1960s, as we all believe the formation was loosely based around Roadstars,(1962)....Rods Inc.(1964), and Cheetahs, (1965)..........now without getting into the politics, lets say this is sort of correct, as some Cheetahs members were in Roadstars at first anyway, and R'stars & Ch'rs had cars....Rodsinc only had push bikes....haha....but we didn't lack for enthusiasm, and are always grateful to the older rodders in helping us young kids get established.....A couple of years back, I wrote a very detailed list on this, but with my age...I've lost the F*#k'n thing..(cancel that, just found it and added more names)...but wouldn't it be good to try to collect names...photos..stories anyway..
 Even later 60s clubs figure in this history...Eliminators, Bay Area, Lively Set, Gladiators, Northern Suburbs, Hornets, Colonials, Hustlers, Wheels Inc., Rebels..Southside, Then the drag offshoots, Performance Associates, Queensport ,Drag City, United Drag Team....how many more do you know of???

This is what I can remember of Roadstars...George Watson..Clint Rose..Keith Cunnington..John Cowling..Neil Duncan..John Anderson..Vic Blommer..Ron Drysdale..Barry Covington..Ron Barker..Gary Wright..John & Mick Murray..Norm & Phil Dean..Bill Tozer..Bruce Welsh..Phillips Family..Mike Clarke..Bob Hilton..Bob Maxted..Ralph Donahue..John Loxton..Don Seaward..Dave Gardner..Gordon McManus..Rod Foote..Keith Draper..Doug Pepper..Jeff Amos..Jim Dragona..Barry Mclennan..Ken Stewart..Bruce Panton..Barry Taylor..Bill Smith..Grant Cox

From Cheetahs..Evan, Ken & John Isaacs..John Davies..Mick Dillon..Ron Solomon..Trevor Sweetman..Craig Pearce..John Naggs..John Philpot..Wally Deskins..Jim Rose..Ken Sherwood..Kevin Devenney?

Of course, I have a detailed list of Rods Inc...from 64 to now, but the earlies were Tom Fulton..Peter Crain..Greg Thomsen..Graham Burling..Gary Aumann..John Guerin..Ken Brown..Graham North..Geoff Hayes..Hans Zandbergen..Danny Morrissey..Bob Shewan..Rod & Gary Ward..Gavin & Callum Edwards..Klem Keller..Elwyn Bess..Trevor Minehan..Kevin Kennedy..Frank Nolan..Tony Castles..Graham Hubsher..Des Skenner..Sid Dixon..Gary Muller..Tom Mellors..Herb Jensen..Ken Stewart..Ian Wallace..Russell Nagle..Gary Dryden..Kev Myers..Eric Elhers..Phil Ketter..Bill Sowerby..Peter Milton..Maurice Cane..G Cotterell?..and many many more..This should jog quite a few memories......so who above did I miss, or get wrong, let me know at greg@comstar.com.au

Fridays forgotten & found fotos

Last week, I mentioned the big snake, and it got me thinking of where all the photos got to from the old computer....so thanks to my son Danny....in his words.."get away from the computer...see..click here..then here...there they are...how hard was that!"

So now I have about another 1000 photos to choose from, and this one of the big carpet snake that ate my last chook is a reminder about them being on the move this summer, I find skins in my shed regularly....and sometimes, some live ones!!!

Found the pic of Glenn and Sues 53 convertible when he first bought it...it looks not too bad, but it was a challenge to bring it up to the finished product you have seen on this blog....can't wait to post pics of the new project 5 window 34.

Also in this lost file was another file just on my son Chris, when he used to do freestyle Motocross.....can you imagine how scary this would be up 20 to 30 feet in the air...and hope you can grab hold again?

Found the pic of our Deuce sedan, the day it arrived from USA. Full credit to Warren Wilkie and Ashley Sokel in Toowoomba for being able to transform this rough body into the car I have now...mammoth effort required! Have a go at the wheel arch in the Camoro....I sold this to old time Melbourne rodder, Russ Humphreys, who now lives in Cleveland. Russ is remembered for lots of things...including his supercharged 34, and his '50 Merc sled at Albury Nats...

Someone asked me how I got the 10 x 15 Halibrands with 285 tyres under my old roadster...here's the photo that shows how good it looked and sat with them on. The frame had been stepped by 50mm straight before the rear fender, therefore Kiwi Pete was able to build the body for me with flat inner fenders, and with the 52 inch wide  Nine inch and 3 1/2" back spacing..."Hello....that's how you do it!"....Nowadays, a floating hub would also be reqd. for Qld. TAC approval.

mid week musing

RIP, Johnny Walker...he made a big effort to get to Yamba rod run, and I had the pleasure to take him for a lap around the Blue Dolphin in the 'ol Model A...this is when we reflect on how life is so precious, as 6 days later, he had passed away.

Another timely reminder for those going to the Street Rod Natsd next Easter, is the closing date for the cheapest entry cost is fast approaching...1st December is the cut-off!  After that, the entry fees go up about 30%, and for those of you trying to get a car finished, rember that the TAC will be snowed under, seeing as there is only approx. 128 days before the event....Well...4 months anyway!!

You probably already know that the McMullen roadster recently went up for auction, and sold for..............reportedly...$700,000 plus commission!!..W.T.F.......who has money like that to throw around....but then it was pointed out to me that to win the Grand National Roadster Show, or the Riddler trophy, most cars are now costing between $500,000 and  a million upwards to build....where will it stop?

 

Last weekend in Sydney was the combined Rocket open day, Nostalgia racers hall of fame night, and Nostalgia drags on the Sunday...was a great weekend from what I hear...here's some snaps from Les Winter...This flattie powered time warp belongs to Charlie Falzon.

More flatheads are turning up in hot rods these days, even though  the telephone number costs to rebuild them....one photo I recently saw was of a fresh supercharged big inch H&H engine on it's way over to repower a 32 here in Aus....cost?....lets say some rodders build complete cars for the same!!, And it's not Ardun headed.  

This primered Brookville bodied highboy belongs to Warren Goodall....Some newby rodders should take a long look at cars like this and realise what rodding is all about....no trick paint or billet, no wrong way opening doors, no weird size tyres and wheels, no out of place billet bling!...hmmm, maybe I should step off my soap-box!

In case anyone needs a Hemi in their future, I still have one spare. It's a basically a long motor with some spares, I have checked and it is std. bore, but has had water sitting in one cylinder. I initially listed it on e buy with a reasonable reserve, close to the buy it now of $1900, so try me at greg@comstar.com.au  or 0437 32 31 33 with a price, It needs to go a new home......go on...you know you want it!!

Sundays end of week wrap-up

Got the call to go help with a forensic search on Macleay Island this week....we couldn't resist seeing how many we can cram in the back of a paddywagon!

Chassis is just about done, but I needed to duplicate where the drive-shaft goes...hence the home made galvo fence post fitted the job requirement! Also, I needed to install the body to frame webbing, to ensure dimensions for final body fit work out.

Here's a sight I haven't seen in a while, body about to be re-united with the frame.

Even the HEI distributor cleared, thanks to my cake-tin baking dish addition in the firewall...at this point, it's looking good again!

Ever tried to fit a 4 piece assembled hood on your own...it was like being on my first date...didn't know where to put my hand first...what to hold next... when to wriggle... but a few grunts and ten minutes later.......it sort of fitted where it should!!

Had to jack the radiator up a bit to get the swedge line somewhere near ok...but have a bit of a gap between the frame and hood side, so need to experiment with the shimming of the body during final assembly to get it a bit closer.

Just a reminder to be careful when driving....don't want accidents like these to happen.

 

All you Brissy followers know that we got hit with our first big storm in a while on Saturday...lots of cleaning up for people, probably might even get SES callouts today, so decided not to go to the QHRP swapmeet as planned. I do hope it is a success anyway, even though the weather today is not good...the QHRP need to be supported.