Grampa Dan
Member
Greetings from Chilliwack, British Columbia.
I started my first hotrod, an 1952 Anglia car back when I was 14 and later an 1948 Anglia pickup truck in my early twenties. I did drivetrain and engine swap on the car. The truck never got past disassembly of the body/frame stage. Then a young family and career was far more pressing. In my late twenties- thirty-five years ago I got the bug (again) to build a hot rod. I decided on a model 'T' this time and scored a boxed 'T' frame and four bar setup from the famed and skilled Pete Reimer. As I planned my build I attended a rod run to get a few more ideas. There were a number of 'T's all parked in a row and as I admired them I decided I was not going to build a model T. I wanted something very different.
I started looking through all of my car books and magazines for inspiration. Original vehicles like Norm Grabowski's Henway struck my fancy. I loved the look of speedsters as well. More searching netted me a picture about the size of a postage stamp of a 1908 Mitchell. Using that small picture my buddy Norm (a welder) and I fabbed up the car body over a number of months. Since I only had basic hand tools we decided on aluminum because I could cut it with a jig saw. The car was literally financed with pocket change that I threw into a jar each night. Low buck was the name of the game. After a few years, in the early 90's I had the vehicle to the point we could take it for a test drive in the back alley behind the house.
Then life got busy once again and the car languished in our garage for the next ten years. In 2004 we were building a new shop, a new house and grandkids were on the way. I decided other things (like a grand scale railroad around the acreage) were more important. I gave the car to a neighbor kid. He toyed with it for a time but eventually it went into storage for another ten years in my neighbour's shop.
Last December I got the itch to work on a hot rod once more. My neighbor happily passed the rod back to me and I began disassembly once again. I now had a full blown shop in my back yard, complete with a CNC plasma cutter. I also was proficient at welding this time around. As I looked over the work we had done so long ago I decided to scrap everything with the exception of the boxed frame, I had purchased from Pete Reimer. I kept the V6 and tranny and the upholstered seat as well but everything else no longer passed muster.
I decided to style loosely the car after a 1910 Overland Speedster this time around. The CNC plasma cutter and MIG welders made the fabrication of the body and the endless brackets and such a WHOLE lot easier and faster. I worked a couple of evenings a week and a little more time on weekends. After two months the car is back on its wheels, the new body is in place and most things are back together. A new aluminum radiator is on the way along with some other bits and pieces. The great folks at The Old Car Centre in Langley have been helpful. It's good to see them still in business as they supplied manny of the pieces when I started the car 35 years ago! Soon I'll begin wiring and plumbing and the goal is to run it in our local parade which happens the first week of June.
I will make it this time.
-grampa dan
I started my first hotrod, an 1952 Anglia car back when I was 14 and later an 1948 Anglia pickup truck in my early twenties. I did drivetrain and engine swap on the car. The truck never got past disassembly of the body/frame stage. Then a young family and career was far more pressing. In my late twenties- thirty-five years ago I got the bug (again) to build a hot rod. I decided on a model 'T' this time and scored a boxed 'T' frame and four bar setup from the famed and skilled Pete Reimer. As I planned my build I attended a rod run to get a few more ideas. There were a number of 'T's all parked in a row and as I admired them I decided I was not going to build a model T. I wanted something very different.
I started looking through all of my car books and magazines for inspiration. Original vehicles like Norm Grabowski's Henway struck my fancy. I loved the look of speedsters as well. More searching netted me a picture about the size of a postage stamp of a 1908 Mitchell. Using that small picture my buddy Norm (a welder) and I fabbed up the car body over a number of months. Since I only had basic hand tools we decided on aluminum because I could cut it with a jig saw. The car was literally financed with pocket change that I threw into a jar each night. Low buck was the name of the game. After a few years, in the early 90's I had the vehicle to the point we could take it for a test drive in the back alley behind the house.
Then life got busy once again and the car languished in our garage for the next ten years. In 2004 we were building a new shop, a new house and grandkids were on the way. I decided other things (like a grand scale railroad around the acreage) were more important. I gave the car to a neighbor kid. He toyed with it for a time but eventually it went into storage for another ten years in my neighbour's shop.
Last December I got the itch to work on a hot rod once more. My neighbor happily passed the rod back to me and I began disassembly once again. I now had a full blown shop in my back yard, complete with a CNC plasma cutter. I also was proficient at welding this time around. As I looked over the work we had done so long ago I decided to scrap everything with the exception of the boxed frame, I had purchased from Pete Reimer. I kept the V6 and tranny and the upholstered seat as well but everything else no longer passed muster.
I decided to style loosely the car after a 1910 Overland Speedster this time around. The CNC plasma cutter and MIG welders made the fabrication of the body and the endless brackets and such a WHOLE lot easier and faster. I worked a couple of evenings a week and a little more time on weekends. After two months the car is back on its wheels, the new body is in place and most things are back together. A new aluminum radiator is on the way along with some other bits and pieces. The great folks at The Old Car Centre in Langley have been helpful. It's good to see them still in business as they supplied manny of the pieces when I started the car 35 years ago! Soon I'll begin wiring and plumbing and the goal is to run it in our local parade which happens the first week of June.
I will make it this time.
-grampa dan
