1937 Chevy Coupe

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Pedal looks good in that pic Dr C. Looks like it could have even been a little longer toward the floor. Would have changed the ratio though.

Is the Tritard team gonna jump on your 38 when y'all get finished with the coupe?

To avoid guesswork, we took measurements from B-tard's daily driver and duplicated those measurements. No thinking or overthinking required. :p

My '38? I don't think about it much, but I will when this project comes to an end. (Any day now, according to bob. :rolleyes:)

Those Highways look a lot like ours down here Doc, it was a tough week for getting around. Progress on the car is looking great.

Thanks. Long time, no see. I thought you were dead. :eek:

.
 
To avoid guesswork, we took measurements from B-tard's daily driver and duplicated those measurements. No thinking or overthinking required. :p

My '38? I don't think about it much, but I will when this project comes to an end. (Any day now, according to bob. :rolleyes:)



Thanks. Long time, no see. I thought you were dead. :eek:

.

No not me, been a tough couple weeks, work is crazy busy and the wife's sister who lived next door to us passed away last Sunday.
 
Still pickin' away at it:

We now have the seat mounts finished, welded and bolted in place. In between time, B-tard broke the shifter out of his stash. It's brand new, never been out of the box... and it's missing some pieces. :mad:


attachment.php



We could care less except for the "gate bar", which I highly doubt is common key stock, dimensionally. I'd imagine a bowl of rice and a slow boat from Malaysia will play here, but I'll find out tomorrow what TCI has to say about it...

Moving along, we mocked the shifter's location 22 times and once that was decided, we built a mount for it. Made of 3/4" x 3/4" x 1/8" angle iron, it's a simple boxed frame and a tiny structure, measuring 3" high, 3" wide and 10" long.


attachment.php


With the shifter firmly placed, our attention turned to creating a console. We messed with some 1/4" rod and turned some into scrap.

attachment.php



The problem is width, again. So, we'll likely create more scrap before we arrive at something that doesn't look like hell. My mind's eye sees something GM could have punched out in 1937, no hard lines, soft radiused edges...

.
 

Attachments

  • dash console10 strt.jpg
    dash console10 strt.jpg
    196.6 KB · Views: 44
  • dash console11 .jpg
    dash console11 .jpg
    183.3 KB · Views: 46
  • shifter TCI missing .jpg
    shifter TCI missing .jpg
    143.2 KB · Views: 48
Looks strong and functional. Good luck with the swoopy, artsy stuff.

Don't keep track of your hours.
 
That's a good looking shifter there Doc. Good luck with that console, I'll be watching how that works out. I have a hard time fabricating swoopy curved things, I'm much more comfortable with hard square lines - so I'll be watching enviously.
 
"In between time, B-tard broke the shifter out of his stash. It's brand new, never been out of the box... and it's missing some pieces."

Doesn't surprise me. I'm building a 63 Nova for a customer and everything (I mean everything) has come in very late, wrong part, missing pieces, broken or damaged on this build.
It's driving me crazy and is taking three times as long to build this ride.
 
Thanks guys. I like the shifter, too... clean and simple, like me. The missing parts are a disappointment, but not a big deal. We'll improvise before we ship it back as the feller at TCI suggested. (That's not happening, period!)

Don't keep track of your hours.

Hours? We're counting years and trying to keep it under a decade. :p

I'm much more comfortable with hard square lines - so I'll be watching enviously.

I'm much better with straight lines and angles, no doubt. There will be scrap, but the tailpan disaster taught me a few lessons I won't soon forget. Call me optimistic, I expect this project to go smoothly. :D


.
 
Yesterday, we repaired a piece of equipment for B-tard's golf business, then spent a few hours on the car...

We decided to narrow the console mock up, just at the top where it meets the dashboard. It flared out too much and looked like a frog man's flipper, so we took two inches out of it.

This is how it was. Also evident here, is the odd, but necessary step/notch.

attachment.php


Why the notch, you ask? In order to center the driver with the steering column, the seat had to be moved inboard. Otherwise, It feels like riding a bike sidesaddle. The most sensible and practical fix would be to narrow the seat but we're determined to work with what we have, so we'll push ahead and get around the problem one way or another.

With the basic layout determined, we made a few pieces using the rod skeleton as our guide.

attachment.php


The strips were formed over a chunk of 2''x 6'' fir with a corner rounded off, then the shrinker/stretcher.

Despite the angle of this shot, the upright sections are nearly parallel to each other, though still slightly tapered.

attachment.php


Right down the middle, sort of. Here, the seat is slid all the way back. If you slide the seat all the way forward, it noses into the notch.

attachment.php


We'll continue on this path until something changes our minds. In between time, I play with my crayons and eat a few. (The red ones don't taste like raspberry, by the way.) I'm nobody's artist or 3D designer by any stretch, but that doesn't stop me from butchering a photo or six or twelve.

attachment.php


Crude as crude can be and honestly, quite frustrating. I have an image in my mind that I can't draw for the life of me, but hopefully gives you a clue what I'm thinking and where we're headed, at least for now. :p



.
 

Attachments

  • dash console15 - Copy.jpg
    dash console15 - Copy.jpg
    184.9 KB · Views: 44
  • dash console18.jpg
    dash console18.jpg
    164.3 KB · Views: 43
  • dash console19.jpg
    dash console19.jpg
    213.2 KB · Views: 43
  • dash console20.jpg
    dash console20.jpg
    175.1 KB · Views: 43
  • dash console10 strt - Copy (2).jpg
    dash console10 strt - Copy (2).jpg
    187.9 KB · Views: 44

Latest posts

Back
Top