Vintage Dirt Modified

[Deleted]

A few months ago I got this kit with specific plans in mind for it:



Those plans were to use it as the basis for a late 50s/early 60s style dirt track modified. Well I really got cranking on it this week & here's a look at where I'm at.

First thing was to open up the top where the "canvas" area was molded in, as many modifieds of this era ran with that part open:





Next the driver's side window area got hogged out for the driver to be able to enter & exit easily. The back side window area got opened up as well:







Passenger's side window also got hogged out, though not as much, & the back side area still needs to be opened up:





The back of the chassis got cut off up to the leaf spring perch, & since the interior tub won't be used, the hollow for the molded in battery got filled in:



To fill the gap between the bottom of the body & the top of the chassis, the gas tank cover got cut loose from the fender unit, turned upside down, & attached to the bottom of the body:





The rear fenders also got cut from the fender unit, trimmed, shortened front & rear & bobbed, then attached to the body:







Since I won't be using the interior bucket, I cut the toe board away from it to attach to the chassis later, but I forgot to photograph it & the decals I'm using for this fictional build.

I'm using the kit Flathead with the vintage speed equipment included, & the headers will either be modified units from a Revell Cadillac Parts Pack engine, (as they already have a siamesed center port, but the outer tubes don't quite line up on the engine, so if I can't bend them to look right, I'll make scratch built headers. The roll cage will be scratch built as well, along with the nerf bars for the sides, front & rear. A mix of styrene, brass & aluminum tubes, rods & pieces will be used. The trunk will also be opened & hinged for a Moon tank, & all wiring & plumbing will be added. This is the project I'm going to use a single pot master cylinder on.

More to come!

[fordrodnkustom]

This is going to be fun! Looks like you're off to a great start. What type of wheel and tire combo are you going to use on it?

[Deleted]

The wheels will be made from combining the stock "wide five" 36 Ford rims with the deep dish rings from a 66 Galaxie kit, with the rings sanded from the back to make everything fit correctly. The left front "pony" tire will be one of the ubiquitous AMT Firestone Supremes, without a deep dish ring, & the other three tires will be the old, (& much maligned & unloved), Goodyear "Rally GT" from AMT's 70s "Street Rod" series kits, (& subsequent reissues), with the "Rally GT" lettering sanded off, the smaller tire on the right front, & the larger ones on the back. The tread pattern on those tires & their size is about perfect for the vintage dirt track look I'm going for, & they have a great square shouldered profile that looks right. I can get resin rims that look as good & are already done, but I'm going for a much of a home brewed hackyard/service station look to the build as possible.

[fordrodnkustom]

Dec 4, 2016 11:16:37 GMT -5 @bluesmanmark said:

The wheels will be made from combining the stock "wide five" 36 Ford rims with the deep dish rings from a 66 Galaxie kit, with the rings sanded from the back to make everything fit correctly. The left front "pony" tire will be one of the ubiquitous AMT Firestone Supremes, without a deep dish ring, & the other three tires will be the old, (& much maligned & unloved), Goodyear "Rally GT" from AMT's 70s "Street Rod" series kits, (& subsequent reissues), with the "Rally GT" lettering sanded off, the smaller tire on the right front, & the larger ones on the back. The tread pattern on those tires & their size is about perfect for the vintage dirt track look I'm going for, & they have a great square shouldered profile that looks right. I can get resin rims that look as good & are already done, but I'm going for a much of a home brewed hackyard/service station look to the build as possible.

Sounds like a good authentic direction. Something like this?



If you want a floater type hub you can use the separate ones from a AMT dirt mod kit rear wheels. I did that here in a experiment I did a few years ago using pretty much the same idea you described but with the hub added. (casting attempt not so successful! LOL)

[Deleted]

Very much like that look.

Very cool! I've thought about the floater hub, but depending on the era & track rules they weren't always required or allowed, so I'm going to go with them like that are.

[dogfish7]

Have you book marked Mark!

[Deleted]

Quick little update. The front & back of the homebrewed roll cage is coming together. I still need to add braces/dash support to the front, & fab up a dash:







The body is also starting to show some of the effects of rough & tumble dirt track action:





I've also started scribing the trunk lid to open it & making the mods needed to the rims to make them like I want. I need to get the toe board attached so I can measure the distance for the upper & lower side bars for the roll cage & get them attached & the roll cage properly square. Once that's done, the front, rear & side nerf bars are built & attached & the trunk interior is built, the rest is just basic building, painting & detailing. Oh, and I am going to form a new hood from embossing metal.

More to come......

[harron68]

WOW,you know your stuff! I've combed the internet for"vintage dirt trackers" and seen plenty from all eras. The '30s-'40s ones were pretty rough and usually had few engine upgrades. They were modest racers for "budget" rural weekend warriors. Your era had much better looking and faster, safer machines. Thanx, I hope this brings more like this here too!

[Deleted]

Did some measuring & cutting, then once all the tubes were ready, I took a deep breath & assembled the roll cage. You can also see in the pics that the basic parts of the chassis are together. Still got some cleanup of the cage to do, & adding a few gussets to it:









Yes when sitting on a flat surface the cage has a tilt. That's because the chassis has to areas that are lower & I had to allow for that:



In the following pics you can see where it's properly level when in place on the chassis:

[Deleted]

Dec 10, 2016 19:47:15 GMT -5 harron68 said:

WOW,you know your stuff! I've combed the internet for"vintage dirt trackers" and seen plenty from all eras. The '30s-'40s ones were pretty rough and usually had few engine upgrades. They were modest racers for "budget" rural weekend warriors. Your era had much better looking and faster, safer machines. Thanx, I hope this brings more like this here too!

Thanks! A lot is research. Here's a link to a thread at HAMB with some great pics of an old modified that was restored. Though listed as a late 60's modified, when the new owner researched it he discovered it was ran from the late 50s-late 60s:

www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/late-60s-vintage-modified.707009/


That thread has been a fount of valuable info on how these were built back then.

[harron68]

Yep, the H.A.M.B. IS that great, and there are a lot of other niche ones as well. Thanx again for the fine "modified" modified!

[TooOld]

Nice work Mark , I've always liked these cars . Looking forward to more updates !