Author Topic: My OTHER Hobby---  (Read 4055 times)

Offline Brian Rupnow

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My OTHER Hobby---
« on: September 16, 2013, 12:30:58 AM »
Machining is a relatively new hobby for me. I have been heavily involved with hotrod building and drag racing for most of my adult life. This picture, taken this summer of 2013 at a local hotrod show, shows me and the 1931 Ford roadster pickup that I built 10 years ago. This hotrod is my summertime "daily driver" . I have a new  Ford Ranger pickup that only gets driven on the rainy days. At first glance, there is nothing too spectacular about this vehicle. However, there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. I started with a very raddled and rotten 2 door sedan!!! I cut 3 foot out of the body behind the rear door jambs, cut off the top of the body, cut off the top of the doors, and built the box from scratch. The cab section is 6" longer than a stock model A Ford pickup body, and the box is 12" shorter than a stock pickup box. The white convertible top was built from scratch. (I didn't do the sewing--that's one thing I don't do.) I am running a stock 103.5" wheelbase, with fiberglass fenders and splash aprons, powered by a small block Chev engine. I boxed the original frame, fabricated all new crossmembers, and mounted a 1986 S10 pickup rear axle with a home-brewed parallel 4 link suspension. The front axle is a 4" dropped I-beam from California, and the front spring has the eyes in the main leaf reversed to get the "rake" that I wanted the car to have. Sadly, I developed quite severe arthritis about 6 years ago, and can no longer get up and down off the cement floor the 12,000 times required to build custom hotrods anymore. That is what prompted me to buy a lathe and mill and try my hand at machining.--You can do that standing up!!! So---If you ever come to Barrie, Ontario in the summertime and see a 67 year old teenager driving around town in the "Wild Canary"---Thats me!!!---Brian

« Last Edit: September 16, 2013, 01:52:33 AM by Brian Rupnow »

Offline sshire

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2013, 03:55:28 AM »
Brian
That is some sweet ride. Amazing amount if work to get it to that level of WOW!
Best,
Stan

Offline smfr

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2013, 04:56:33 AM »
Very nice, Brian, and that's a lot of work! How does it sound?  ;D

Simon

Offline wagnmkr

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2013, 10:02:02 AM »
Having seen and heard the car, I can attest to the fact that it looks and sounds excellent. It is an instant crowd pleaser.

Cheers,

Tom
I was cut out to be rich ... but ... I was sewn up all wrong!

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2013, 07:20:25 PM »
Brian, now that gets my blood pumping. Beautiful ride. Hey, how about one of them in about 1/8 scale, with a flathead. I love the steel wheels and moons, hell, I love it all :cheers:

Whiskey

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2013, 08:49:25 PM »
Whiskey--Had I been a lot smarter or a lot richer, that is the car I would have driven to high school in the early 1960's. It is pretty well "period perfect" for a state of the art hotrod circa 1962. I grew up on the "Little Pages"  of books featuring Ed Roth, Von Dutch--all of my heroes who are gone now. I have built many hotrods over the years, and at one time in the late sixties campaigned a rail dragster for a couple of years, but this little roadster pickup is just my favourite overall.

Offline propforward

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #6 on: September 16, 2013, 10:18:24 PM »
Holy Moly Brian, that car is a beauty!  :ThumbsUp:
Stuart

Forging ahead regardless.

Offline HobbyNut

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #7 on: October 01, 2013, 10:19:37 PM »
Brian, you and I have more in common than 1 would imagine.
I have built about 4 street rods in the past 30 years.
The first was a 28 Ford Sport Coupe, Then a 30 Ford tudor, a '34 Ford 3 window cpe, and a 30 Ford tudor modified to a 2 dr phaeton/touring.
The 28 Sport cpe was the longest in my possession, and I raced it at the inaugural Old Time drags in 1984 in San Jose Ca. after driving it there from BC, turning 12.2 secs and 112mph on street tires. The car is pictured in a Street Rodder mag from that meet.
I do pinstriping and airbrushing as a hobby, though I did have an airbrushing temporary tatoo booth at a Convention a few years ago.
I have been enamored by welding and machining from a very early age, about 9 when I first started playing with my dads lathe.
I must get my pics together and post them from home. (I am at work at present!!)
Forgot to mention, I am presently building a 30 ford cabriolet...
 
« Last Edit: October 01, 2013, 10:23:03 PM by HobbyNut »
PatO
I started out with nothing, I still have most of it left.

Offline AussieJimG

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #8 on: October 01, 2013, 10:57:27 PM »
Lovely job Brian, I can understand why you would keep it and drive it.

Jim

Offline Brian Rupnow

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Re: My OTHER Hobby---
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2013, 11:45:46 PM »
I was out today with the car, had to drive across town to look for small sprockets for my next project. Its time for the hotrod to go to bed for the winter, under a blanket in my garage for the next 7 months. It was 23 C today (about 76 F for you Yanky boys) still warm enough for a drive in a roadster pickup with no side windows, but that's not going to last much longer. Brrrrr!!!

 

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