Square’s 38 Chev taildragger

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Hi !! I like to watch but rarely contribute, but I did build a car recently which is now all but done.

 

Abuse : 

So Ive have done the airbag thing with a few cars, had a 53 2 door sedan which was a great driver and I did a heap of miles in it but got tired of people calling it a rat rod and wanted something a bit more rowdy, so I bought this :

found in San Fran on Craigslist, usual painful process but I got it in through Chucks, which I have used before and would use again, he makes it easy. 

I knew what I wanted to do from the start so got a hold of a Gambino 4 link and notch kit, and Heidts IFS ( to avoid design approval which took months on the 53 )

 

 

 

got it home, pulled the body of, sorted some rot, cut shit out of floor 

 

 

 

 

 

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found lump, 54 olds 324, 371 heads, OE7 manifold, 6 x 94's, Bendtsen adaptor, WC T5 gearbag. It runs into a 95 ish Explorer posi axle, 3.73 gears, 8.8 " crown wheel ( I think ), discs etc. Axle width is key, I didnt want to be shortening etc, I think these are 59" hub to hub or something, whatever it was it was right for the offset I have. Also found out I had staggered width wheels which I didnt realise, spent a couple of hours cursing as to why frame/ guard spacing was off, reason being I had 7 inch rims on one side and 6 on the other ( spoon ). 

 

 

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Blasted frame, Installed bits and bobs, cut stuff off, stuck stuff on, Im too lazy to get things machined so I make everything out of RHS and plate. Brake booster under drivers floor, tanks and pumps on rails etc 

 

 

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Body on, body off, body on, body off 

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Then off to Michael Stewart Restorations in Cromwell, these guy know their shit, Stewie and Chiz have both worked in body shops offshore and are the only guys I spoke to round here that could actually see what I was trying to achieve with it. Chiz raised the front fenders 5 inches ( OMG ! ) and only the purists seem to notice , and they hate it anyway. I wanted the factory line from the fender through the door kept, and didtn want the gap between the fender and headlight closed too much.   

 

Got it home, started scratching it 

engines in the background here are T58 gas turbines we race in jet boats, see 777 river racing on facepalm. I build the motors ( Im a helicopter mechanic by trade ) 

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I wired it up with a Painless harness which was painless, then took it outside , and thought I was really cool

 

Took it to the Lurkers creepout won best Hotrod , my first Trophy for a car, and really the only one I care about, solid peer review, then to the great cromwell standaroundathon. the chopped 51 belongs to Stewie the painter, its a mans car. Also pictured is some kid and some dudes gut. 

 

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Somewhere in there I took it to Winton Upholstery and Chop packed it out with Cow skins, I wanted it basically stock looking with lots of soothing browns, he did that, super clean and easy to deal with. 

 

The 6 weeks of to and fro with the TAC and its legal, I missed the hop and nostalgias which I was fuming about but it would probably not have been that smart to drag it straight up there, now I just to get the carbs talking better and maybe sell it or not, havent decided yet. 

 

 

 

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Also Craig at Hillside fab whipped me up a sweet stainless tank, 70L or so, Hobby car manual has really clear criteria for these so it was easy to make to spec. Ill get the trunk upholstered by Chop at some stage.