Slow restro of a slow car... my '29 std coupe build thread

[DadOfTwo]

Guess I'll dive in here. 1st post. Thought about doing an intro post on myself, but you folks don't want to hear about me, so let's get to the good stuff:

My dad bought a '29 std coupe some 45 years or so ago, and 'bout 15 years ago I bought her from him. Even though I officially owned her, she remained in Colorado until a couple weeks ago when I drug her down to Texas (Austin area).

I'll see if I can get a pic of her, sitting in the garage, posted up later.

The car is far from a concourse competitor. She's had a lot of 'patches.' Maintenance by poor farmers whose primary goal was to fix problems and keep her running. A few months ago he had it running "like a top," but then the terminal block and some of the wiring caught fire as he was pulling it back into the shed. Job number one...

About the only major modification he did was to convert the trunk to rumble seat.

When I talked with dad on the phone the other day he said he can list the previous owners, including the guy who bought her new. I think I am number 5 on the list. I thought that would be pretty cool to record, so he said he'd write it down and mail it.

LATER THAT SAME DAY: Checked the mail when I got home, and got the title and best known facts. My dad bought her in 1973 for $1750.00. He thinks there were two owners before him, and gave me the names. I may have to see if I can confirm that. Wonder if the CO DMV has it on record? Also got two old registration certificates. One from '59 and one from '66. In '59 the registration fee was $3.75 and the tax was $1.50.

Always a SW Colorado car, so rust is minimal. Job two will be to ensure she doesn't have a rust runaway, now that she's been displaced from the high desert.

It's possible she had never been out of Colorado until I stole her away. However, since she was in the Four Corners area, she may have visited one or more of the other three.

My goals are going to be preservation and drivability. My daughters are 8 and 10, and I think they need lots of rumble seat time before I can't stand 'em any more and kick them out of the house.

If the car someday get's a full restoration, then all the better. But I ain't a waitin' around.
I visited the local A club last Saturday, and will be joining their local runs as soon as I get her running.

I brought down a lot of the extra parts dad had gathered up and left scattered around the various sheds, but I know I missed a lot. Gonna have to round up the rest some day. Right now in addition to the car, I have an unused passenger front fender, and most of a spare engine. And a big box of other stuff...

Oh, and wheels. When dad bought her she was sitting on a set of '30 wheels, but somewhere along the line dad got a set of the correct wheels. It's currently sitting on the correct rims with decent-looking tires. Problem is that the '29's all have spokes that have come loose where they were welded to the rim. One wheel has two spokes side-by-side that are disconnected. So, I guess job one-and-a-half is to get a set of '30 tires and put the better wheels back on it.

Got a lot of decisions to make along the path, but beware. I lean toward drivability / usability more than historical accuracy, so don't be surprised if I drift away from original. Having said that, though, I think I draw the line at doing anything that can't be undone. We'll see

I didn't think to get a picture of the '70's orange carpet I pulled off the floorboard. Since it was covered in mouse turds, I figured I'd better dispose of it. And the nest I found under the seat, as well. Can you say Hantavirus?

[Bob/Kansas City]

It's great that you know the history of the car. Most A owners would love to have that background on their cars. Let's see some pictures ! We all love to see pics..

[DadOfTwo]

Added some details above. Forgot to mention I'm a teacher and my wife's a nurse, so fun coupons are hard to come by. It's going to be really slow progress. Here's a bad pic in a dimly lit garage with a misaligned tablet case. Trust me, you're not missing much...

[Russell in Tulsa]

Welcome. And now the fun begins.

[boomerusmc]

Welcome. I'm with you, going for drivability first, as I started with a bodged-together 28/29/30....but I'm already looking for my second one .

[pgerhardt]

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Enjoy the coupe. I have two important suggestions.

1.) Don't set deadlines. Take your time. The restoration process should be fun, with every bit of progress a source of satisfaction.

2.) If you are going to trust your girls to the rumble seat search the forum for ways to make it safer. There are ways to make sure it stays open in a panic stop and to add padding to avoid broken teeth!

BTW the fact that you are a teacher indicates that you have the patience needed for this job! Retired after teaching 35 years in a middle school here.

[DadOfTwo]

Originally Posted by pgerhardt

Enjoy the coupe. I have two important suggestions.

Thanks1

Originally Posted by pgerhardt

BTW the fact that you are a teacher indicates that you have the patience needed for this job! Retired after teaching 35 years in a middle school here.

Patience, maybe, time, yes, but money, that's the challenge.

[Goldhardt]

Definitely getting her safe to drive is job #1!!! After that, enjoy it! Don't try to do too much at one time. Remember, you got the rest of your life to play with that car but only a little while to get those girls some seat time and make memories of riding in Daddy's old car! Trust me, they don't care what it looks like!

[Steve Plucker]

Originally Posted by DadOfTwo

Guess I'll dive in here. 1st post. Thought about doing an intro post on myself, but you folks don't want to hear about me, so let's get to the good stuff:

My dad bought a '29 std coupe some 45 years or so ago, and 'bout 15 years ago I bought her from him. Even though I officially owned her, she remained in Colorado until a couple weeks ago when I drug her down to Texas (Austin area).

I'll see if I can get a pic of her, sitting in the garage, posted up later.

The car is far from a concourse competitor. She's had a lot of 'patches.' Maintenance by poor farmers whose primary goal was to fix problems and keep her running. A few months ago he had it running "like a top," but then the terminal block and some of the wiring caught fire as he was pulling it back into the shed. Job number one...

About the only major modification he did was to convert the trunk to rumble seat.

When I talked with dad on the phone the other day he said he can list the previous owners, including the guy who bought her new. I think I am number 5 on the list. I thought that would be pretty cool to record, so he said he'd write it down and mail it.

LATER THAT SAME DAY: Checked the mail when I got home, and got the title and best known facts. My dad bought her in 1973 for $1750.00. He thinks there were two owners before him, and gave me the names. I may have to see if I can confirm that. Wonder if the CO DMV has it on record? Also got two old registration certificates. One from '59 and one from '66. In '59 the registration fee was $3.75 and the tax was $1.50.

Always a SW Colorado car, so rust is minimal. Job two will be to ensure she doesn't have a rust runaway, now that she's been displaced from the high desert.

It's possible she had never been out of Colorado until I stole her away. However, since she was in the Four Corners area, she may have visited one or more of the other three.

My goals are going to be preservation and drivability. My daughters are 8 and 10, and I think they need lots of rumble seat time before I can't stand 'em any more and kick them out of the house.

If the car someday get's a full restoration, then all the better. But I ain't a waitin' around.
I visited the local A club last Saturday, and will be joining their local runs as soon as I get her running.

I brought down a lot of the extra parts dad had gathered up and left scattered around the various sheds, but I know I missed a lot. Gonna have to round up the rest some day. Right now in addition to the car, I have an unused passenger front fender, and most of a spare engine. And a big box of other stuff...

Oh, and wheels. When dad bought her she was sitting on a set of '30 wheels, but somewhere along the line dad got a set of the correct wheels. It's currently sitting on the correct rims with decent-looking tires. Problem is that the '29's all have spokes that have come loose where they were welded to the rim. One wheel has two spokes side-by-side that are disconnected. So, I guess job one-and-a-half is to get a set of '30 tires and put the better wheels back on it.

Got a lot of decisions to make along the path, but beware. I lean toward drivability / usability more than historical accuracy, so don't be surprised if I drift away from original. Having said that, though, I think I draw the line at doing anything that can't be undone. We'll see

I didn't think to get a picture of the '70's orange carpet I pulled off the floorboard. Since it was covered in mouse turds, I figured I'd better dispose of it. And the nest I found under the seat, as well. Can you say Hantavirus?

You can always find out some more history about the car.

Where was it assembled? Go to my website and go to Additional Studies, then go to Letters Numbers and Codes...that will tell you just where to look.

Is there a date on the gas tank? Same answer as above.

Pluck

[DadOfTwo]

Bad new: as I mentioned on my other thread, the more I investigate the electrical, the worse I realize it is.

The good news: after I got the floorbords up, the melted plastic from the terminal block came right off of that throttle crossover linkage thing, and it now moves freely.

[DadOfTwo]

20150401_200300.jpg

Does anybody recognize this plate/cover? When I removed the floorboard it was stowing away on top of the tranny, apparently for years, held in place by nothing more than dirt and grease.

Oh, and is there a way to rotate pix? I can't figure it out. Or how to upload multiple pix...

[DadOfTwo]

I cropped the pix. Guess they were too big.