Tacoma asked for some pics of the project and since he's hooking me up with a transmission, I'm going to do as he asked.
There's been a slight deviation in my build plans after finding something simpler.
About a month ago I picked up a Model T body & ever since I've been keeping a keen eye out for pieces & parts that might come in handy. Last week my in-laws were up visiting and while taking them on a ride thru the country my mom-in-law spotted something neat... an old car tub sitting in front of a antique store.
The store was closed, but I wrote the number down & called back later on. The gal at the desk claimed it was a Willys. I decided to head back yesterday, you know... just to check it out again. It looks like it was a 4 door car, untill someone cut the 2nd set of doors off. There are door latches against the B-pillar, looks like the car had early suicide doors! The gal also claimed it was a mid-30's car, which I'm not too sure about either.
Here's the pics-
After drooling over it and having a vision of the completed project in my head, it ended up in the back of my truck... cost, $150. Thankfully I have a understanding wife, or I'd be sleeping in the new car! After talking it over with the wife, I decided to build this one first. See, this whole hot rod thing is somewhat new to me, and I think this will be an easier project than the Model T will be, so I'm going to break myself in with this one, keep it simple with an opened top and build it on the cheap. I want to do the Model T right & I think the experience of having something to practice on will be beneficial in the long run.
My build plans are pretty loose, but I'm going to build my frame from 2x3 rectangular tube, clean up the body a bit where it was cut & patch the holes, fab my own doors, the windshield frame, fab the bed from scratch (I'm going to use a Jeep Willys tailgate), channel the body down over the frame about 3". I just made a call to pickup a 500 inch Caddy motor from ESKJAE's brother, picked up a BOP TH400 from Tacoma, found a Early Bronco 9" that'll put the torque to the tires, and thats about all I have so far.
After some research, the body is actually a Dodge Brothers car. The Dodge Brothers kept this same style for a handful of years, so it could be anywhere from the mid-teens to the early/mid-20's.
Basically this is going to end up as the Dodge-bodied 'truck' that Dodge never built. Opened top, short windshield and a small pickup bed. Of course the parts are going to come from all diffrent sources and the suspension is going to be more Ford in the front, with coils & a 4 link in the back. The body is going to sit down over the frame and the frame will be no more than a few inches off the ground.
