It was crowded at Toppers Pizza today but we were able to secure our normal room for some serious “Roadster Talk”. Dave drove his well known Lucky 7 roadster and we discussed the merits of coil-over rear suspension versus a buggy spring. The majority of our group have coil-overs but if they were building a new chassis today most would return to the buggy spring. Now, I am not sure if that means they don’t like the look or the ride of coil-overs or, they are just returning to their roots. Both Dave and Bob-O have experienced broken shafts on coil-overs and never a rear spring failure. I guess if I were building a new hot rod chassis I would try the rear cross spring because I feel they just look right under a hot rod. Coil-overs are much easier to install in most cases and allow for some adjustment which a cross spring does not unless you use longer shackles. We examined Dave’s rear coil-over suspension and though it looked just fine for a car built in the 80’s. – It was truly a modern day suspension rather than the vintage look we remember from our youth.
SO-CAL brought back the cross rear spring about 18 years ago and it is still popular today with the traditional rodder. Original springs for 32-34 Fords are hard to come by and somewhat pricey but they are still out there. I purchased one from Dave for a project of mine and it turned out to be very cherry and pit free. Most builders use the 40 Ford style spring and a new crossmember or modified original (take the curve out) to adapt the late model rear axle to the spring. The critical part is making sure the spring hangers are in the correct location and the pinion angle is correct for the driveline alignment. I have a jig to locate the hangers which makes the job fool proof. A complete rear axle assembly is available from many sources and at a reasonable price. What suspension do you prefer?
The weekend brings us closer to the big event with some warm up activities. The Wooden Boat/Woody show is taking place as well as the Road Kings and Early Times clubs annual shows. I plan to attend the Road Kings show at JCP in Burbank which is close to home. The weather has been perfect for driving your hot rod so jump in the old girl and head out for some great experiences in the LA car scene. If you see Pepe, stop and say hello!
Stay Tooned!
Lynn
Hand built from new panels this 33 has the look I love with the Duvall windshield.
I even like the louvered deck lid from SAR. The car is almost stock except for the Duvall and top.
Chris has been busy on his roadster and has added fenders and a nice top.
Adam’s Rod Shop has been turning out some really outstanding Deuces over the past couple of years. Now you can see that they hold up well with a coil-over rear suspended 9 inch.
Here is a look at the chassis with the coil-overs and 9 inch rear axle.
Roadster driver Rudy from the Bay area sent along the view his group enjoys when touring the hills of Oakland overlooking the SF Golden Gate Bridge. Beautiful photo and thanks. See you next week.
Bob from Portland is enjoying his morning coffee while driving his Stoker built Deuce.
Ionia builds some cross spring chassis as shown above. Note the use of 36 bones and a 9 inch coupled with a 40 style spring. Tradition is still alive in MI.
The 33 hiboy roadster is my favorite when done is this style.
I will use the modified rear gas tank cover on my next build.
The advantage of building a Deuce over a model 40 is the Brookville body and related parts. You will see lots of this style roadster in Pomona. Nice!
You won’t see many phaetons as nice as this one but there will be a few for us tub lovers.
Today’s Roadster Choice!
SO-CAL built this beauty for Kirk White and the roadster competed for the AMBR a few years back.