meyek91974
Well-known member
I have always worked on my own cars, and I've had several. Twenty years ago, I built up American muscle, but I fell in love with my Maverick's little inline 6. Two decades, kids, a mortgage and such later, I realize I've put off building my own car for one reason or another more than half my life.
As I read and learned of the Rat Rod, what I understand is that following the second world war and great depression people built the cars and trucks from the used parts as they could come across them. Building a rolling, running, modest transportation in providing what they could to work and for thier family at the work of thier own hands. As time passed, the engines got bigger, power grew, and the hot rod became a show car more than it's beginnings.
Here I am, married with children, and money for extras such as building a car is not coming as much as I'd like. But, recently I came about a Ford '61 & '63 144 Inline 6, a '61 auto tranny, '63 manual tranny, a drive shaft, some coil springs I could use in the rear, a radiator, two carbs, starters, coils, and a little more heres-and-theres. I have looked, looked, looked and think I could buy the metal for building a frame and a friend can help with the welding.... so on and so forth. So, it would be a '23 style/type frame made today, engine from the sixties, a rear end from the eighties, a fiberglass body that's made today to look like the twenties....... It's a frankenstein of a vehicle. A beer keg for a gas tank......
So, is this the right way to hack it together? am I in the "wrong" forum? How do you guys just "know" if the parts will go together when your pickin? - OH, and I'm keepin all Ford parts in this build. - If I'm not just buying new parts to remove and replace, where do you start to breathe life back into a junk yard engines???
As I read and learned of the Rat Rod, what I understand is that following the second world war and great depression people built the cars and trucks from the used parts as they could come across them. Building a rolling, running, modest transportation in providing what they could to work and for thier family at the work of thier own hands. As time passed, the engines got bigger, power grew, and the hot rod became a show car more than it's beginnings.
Here I am, married with children, and money for extras such as building a car is not coming as much as I'd like. But, recently I came about a Ford '61 & '63 144 Inline 6, a '61 auto tranny, '63 manual tranny, a drive shaft, some coil springs I could use in the rear, a radiator, two carbs, starters, coils, and a little more heres-and-theres. I have looked, looked, looked and think I could buy the metal for building a frame and a friend can help with the welding.... so on and so forth. So, it would be a '23 style/type frame made today, engine from the sixties, a rear end from the eighties, a fiberglass body that's made today to look like the twenties....... It's a frankenstein of a vehicle. A beer keg for a gas tank......
So, is this the right way to hack it together? am I in the "wrong" forum? How do you guys just "know" if the parts will go together when your pickin? - OH, and I'm keepin all Ford parts in this build. - If I'm not just buying new parts to remove and replace, where do you start to breathe life back into a junk yard engines???
