Post by Bernard Kron on Jun 21, 2021 20:46:32 GMT -5
When Curt Raitz first introduced his hand-laced TruWire spindle mount wire wheels a few years back I immediately imagined them on a Fad-T in addition to their obvious use on dragsters. Then, at the last real physical NNL West in 2019 Curt showed a superbly turned out box stock Revell Tweedy Pie II with the one modification of adding his gorgeous wheels. That clinched it.
I had been collecting various parts for my own T-Bucket and, in addition to Curt’s wheels I had collected a Revell Parts Pack Cal Automotive Fiberglas T-bucket and a complete Revell Roth Outlaw kit. My intention is to use the running gear and chassis of the Outlaw with the Cal Auto ‘glas bucket to build a classic short-wheelbase Fad-T from the earlier years. Not many people realize that the Ed Roth Outlaw, besides being a genius-level re-imagining of the bucket-T hot rod, is also responsible for introducing spindle mount wire wheels to T-bucket culture. Ed started the then-Excaliber (later renamed Outlaw because neither Ed nor anyone else could spell Excalibur correctly) in 1958 and it featured a long list of firsts, Ed’s first “wild” show rod, his first pure scratch-built fiberglas body, and, after initially showing it with steelies all around in late 1959, it became the first T-bucket with brake-less spindle mount wire wheels in mid-1960. Ed was light years ahead everyone else except maybe Norm Grabowski and Tommy Ivo in radical T-bucket thinking. By the mid-1960’s, with the advent of Cal Automotive’s cheap and available ‘glas ‘23 Ford roadster, T-buckets were all the rage and many of them were sporting Ed’s spindle mount idea.
It’s those mid-60’s T-buckets that are my target with this project. I’m using the chassis and drive train of the Outlaw because there’s a beautifully detailed Cadillac V8 with some great side pipes and lots of show-worthy chrome parts. The only change I’ve made is to ditch the air-bag front suspension for a traditional suicide mount using a tubular dropped axle from a Revel ’32 Ford. The only change to the motor will be to go with six Stromberg 97’s instead of the kit’s 4. The fat slicks and mags at the back are from my parts box and of unknown origin. The major challenge will be scratch building a show-worthy interior and executing a proper show-car paint scheme.
Below is the first rough mockup held together with white glue and masking tape, to make sure the stance and overall look are OK. The Parts Pack pickup bed was shortened 7 scale inches to get that raked Norm Grabowski vibe happening.
Thanx for lookin’,
B.
I had been collecting various parts for my own T-Bucket and, in addition to Curt’s wheels I had collected a Revell Parts Pack Cal Automotive Fiberglas T-bucket and a complete Revell Roth Outlaw kit. My intention is to use the running gear and chassis of the Outlaw with the Cal Auto ‘glas bucket to build a classic short-wheelbase Fad-T from the earlier years. Not many people realize that the Ed Roth Outlaw, besides being a genius-level re-imagining of the bucket-T hot rod, is also responsible for introducing spindle mount wire wheels to T-bucket culture. Ed started the then-Excaliber (later renamed Outlaw because neither Ed nor anyone else could spell Excalibur correctly) in 1958 and it featured a long list of firsts, Ed’s first “wild” show rod, his first pure scratch-built fiberglas body, and, after initially showing it with steelies all around in late 1959, it became the first T-bucket with brake-less spindle mount wire wheels in mid-1960. Ed was light years ahead everyone else except maybe Norm Grabowski and Tommy Ivo in radical T-bucket thinking. By the mid-1960’s, with the advent of Cal Automotive’s cheap and available ‘glas ‘23 Ford roadster, T-buckets were all the rage and many of them were sporting Ed’s spindle mount idea.
It’s those mid-60’s T-buckets that are my target with this project. I’m using the chassis and drive train of the Outlaw because there’s a beautifully detailed Cadillac V8 with some great side pipes and lots of show-worthy chrome parts. The only change I’ve made is to ditch the air-bag front suspension for a traditional suicide mount using a tubular dropped axle from a Revel ’32 Ford. The only change to the motor will be to go with six Stromberg 97’s instead of the kit’s 4. The fat slicks and mags at the back are from my parts box and of unknown origin. The major challenge will be scratch building a show-worthy interior and executing a proper show-car paint scheme.
Below is the first rough mockup held together with white glue and masking tape, to make sure the stance and overall look are OK. The Parts Pack pickup bed was shortened 7 scale inches to get that raked Norm Grabowski vibe happening.
Thanx for lookin’,
B.
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