1928 Ford Model A Sedan- Drag it til the wheels fall off…

[Dez]

Well, where to begin.
I’ve had this car 14 years. There’s nothing of note I’ve owned longer. Which for me is rather unusual (I’ve had over 300 other cars pass through my hands in the time I’ve owned this).
I’ve built and rebuilt it countless times. I’ve had at least 4 different engines, a couple of transmission setups on the last engine, and 3 or 4 front suspension setups. 3 or 4 different sets of wheels. 2 or 3 different dashboards. You get the idea....

There used to be an extensive thread on here on it, but photobucket put paid to that.

By about mid 2017 it was looking like this. I’d gone all out, full proper paint, everything detailed, stainless everywhere, fancy floors. Many cool and rare parts. I’d literally been collecting them for over a decade.










It was on the salmon pink carpet getting final chassis buildup before I did the body, which was in a storage container. Brake lines, wiring, carb plumbing, that sort of thing.

Then in March 2018 this happened-


Damage was significant.


Extremely significant.


So this will be the story of its resurrection.

[stealthstylz]

I nearly cried when I saw the last couple of photos. I can't believe that such a rare vintage piece could be reduced to being burnt out of existence.

R.I.P Salmon Pink carpet.

Out of interest what prized 1970s bathroom floor covering are you going to rebuild the shonky old jalopy on this time?

[Dez]

I’ve got some absolutely banging 1950s lino (real linoleum, none of that fake cushion floor rubbish)That came up out the house under 5 layers of newer carpet I’m gunna use this time. Period correct and all that.

Best hope that doesn’t get burnt or the polar bears will go extinct overnight with all the nasty chemicals it’s no doubt made of.

[stealthstylz]

That stuff won't burn. It'll have more asbestos in than a old kiln lining.

[Dez]

Perfect, I’ll use it as a car cover this time 😂

[Dez]

So, how significant is significant when it comes to fire damage?

Well these where the rear wheels-



Yeah.

This is the rear axle. That’s a 9” ford. The outer tubes are 3” tube with a 1/4” wall, and the inner shafts are 1.5” solid steel.


Originals on left, replacements on right-


That’s a lot of heat. The rear spring was also toast. But the rear crossmember which was a foot above the axle has no distortion. It appears the axle was sat in a significant hot spot, almost like a forge. These parts would have had to have been glowing orange to distort under their own weight. Move 2 feet away up the car to the gearbox tailshaft and the rubber seal is still unburnt and the paint is still there, albeit a bit blistered. Fires are strange things.

Luckily I have some good friends, and craigrk let me have this replacement 9” for what it owed him as he wasn’t using it.


It’s the same width, slightly later tube and casing design so not quite as ‘pretty’ as the early type I had previously, but same PCD so a suitable replacement for the original. The diff ratio was wrong but I swapped the one that came in it with someone for the one I needed.

So that was one major part sorted. This was within two weeks of the fire at the Essex swapmeet!

The rear wheels took a little more sorting. They are fairly rare 16” artillery style wheels off 1930s dodge models.I have a friend who imports from the states, he was on a buying trip to buttfucknowhere and he messaged me a 3am with some pictures and a message ‘are these the right ones’?
Turns out they were, or at least two of them were, so they were bought, shipped in one of his trucks and I collected them at the northern swapmeet in Rotherham a few months later.

Only two are 16”, the other two are 17” but may come in useful at some point. Two 16” ones are really what I needed so they helped me out nicely.

[gtviva]

What a horrible sight seeing that burned out, so glad you managed to save some of it and are going to carry on the build, your posts are always a good read!

[Dez]

Jun 14, 2020 16:28:40 GMT gtviva said:

What a horrible sight seeing that burned out, so glad you managed to save some of it and are going to carry on the build, your posts are always a good read!

Realistically I was never going to just give up on it.
It’s taken me a while to source everything Needed, but I keep fairly good records of my builds so i have plans for everything I’ve made for it and know what every part is. The only really irreplaceable parts lost was the seats, so I’ll have to make some.

[Dez]

I bought a rear spring and a crossmember (just in case I needed that too) off a guy on one of the hot rod forums. Took a while for our schedules to coincide but eventually he ended up passing close-ish to me so I drove up to bury and met him in a supermarket car park.


I bought a couple of scrap model A front ends off another mate to donor a few bits I was missing. They’d been smashed pretty badly but I stripped them bare and salvaged everything I could, which meant they cost nothing after I’d sold off the bits I didn’t need.



Rear shocks were proving tricky, they’re houdaille lever arms off a 1940s ford. I’d almost given up on trying to find a set with the right arms-


Until I visited another local-ish guy to pick up something else, and I mentioned it to him.
He’s building a ‘40 ford and had converted to tube shocks. £30 later and I had the replacements I needed. Result!
(Didn’t take a pic of them tho).

I salvaged these off the old axle, which are needed to mount the other end of the linkage.



The actual suspension joints are pretty easy, one end uses speedway rod ends with polybushes which are cheap and easy to get so I ordered some. Other end uses chromoly heims from McGill motorsport, so I ordered those too.


The rear upper wishbone id made was checked for damage and none found so I got it sandblasted and painted.


I also treated myself to a fancy new (old) period correct lap belt.

[Dez]

Some words about what is happening and why-

The things that got really damaged/disappeared are-
All 4 tyres and tubes
Rear wheels
Complete rear axle With custom bracketry and all brake internals.
Rear spring and shackles
Rear shocks and linkages
Propshaft
Seats (Westland gazelle helicopter seats)
Belts
Back end of ally floor panelling melted away
Steering wheel melted
Gearknob melted
Pedal assemblies were on a bench nearby and got toasted.
HT leads, dizzy and cap and dizzy ignitor unit burnt away.
Carbs And scoops and linkage were also not fitted and got melted.
Headlights were also not fitted and got burnt, but Are partially salvageable.
The finish on the period chromed factory valve covers Man not save as melting roof dropped onto them so they are discoloured.


Things that are surprisingly not damaged-
The engine. I’d only recently painted it and the inlet ports were still taped over, so no water got into the engine apart from a tiny bit though a second dipstick hole I’d not plugged, that ran straight down into the sump.

The original ‘50s edelbrock 3x2 manifold that was sat on the engine.

The gearbox. Needs a new tailshaft seal as it’s just started to melt, but that’s it. That’s a big relief as it’s a 18-month only mustang spec T-10.

The entire front suspension/brakes/wheels/etc. They have damaged and blistered paint but are largely unscathed despite the tyres burning off the wheels.

The chassis itself. The bit around the rear axle has got burnt, but not to the extent the rear axle has and it still checks out as being square and true. Unless I find anything untoward after sandblasting I’m going to go with it as is rather than replacement.

The body was also entirely untouched as it was in a container outside, bare for a few bits of trim that were on a shelf, bit they’ve sandblasted up ok.

Overall, it could have been a lot worse than it was. A lot of what I have to redo is only cosmetics- Cleaning, repainting, and repolishing. Plus throwing money at replacement parts.
The major jobs are remaking the floor panelling, making some seats, and fitting up the new rear axle and spring, so replicating the old bracketry to suit.
I will also be making a few changes for a couple of reasons. One is pendine rule changes (I want to run there and it will potentially be too fast to run without a roll hoop) and I want the chassis to be drivable without the body on, so I will be relocating the fuel tank and battery and changing the steering a little. And making it LHD just because I want to. I previously built it RHD but I generally prefer driving LHD cars these days.

[MkX]

Jun 14, 2020 15:50:44 GMT Dez said:

I’ve got some absolutely banging 1950s lino (real linoleum, none of that fake cushion floor rubbish)That came up out the house under 5 layers of newer carpet I’m gunna use this time. Period correct and all that.

Best hope that doesn’t get burnt or the polar bears will go extinct overnight with all the nasty chemicals it’s no doubt made of.

That's a horrible shame, you'd obviously taken great care with the work you carried out on this car prior to the blaze.

Linoleum derives from the Latin "linum" (flax) and "oleum" (oil) = linseed oil. Cotton cloth, sawdust & cork were also used to make lino.

Linseed oil is notorious for spontaneous combustion at relatively low temperatures.
Linoleum isn't known for spontaneous combustion but will burn readily with a heat source!

[johnthesparky]

Started well, then went downhill fairly quickly...

Then read stealthstylz post and nearly spat tea!


Sorry about the damage (including the salmon carpet)
But will look forward to updates

[jonomisfit]

I'm really really pleased to see this car being brought back.

I'm looking forward to following this one.

All the best with it Dez.

[tineca]

Looking forward to the build. Got to call it the Phoenix when you get it on the road 👍 (or triggers broom 😀)

[Dez]

Here’s the result with the motor. Ports still taped up, various fallen detritus (mostly bits of cementex roof tile, they explode when they get hot!)
You can also see the mess the dizzy ended up in there.


Under the valve covers is peachy though, and the exhaust ports are dry and sooty.


I dropped the sump, only minor water ingress. And a bit of diesel id poured through any visible orifice during the ‘salvage’ stage of operations, thinking it would be following any water that got in. Seems I was right. Being freshly
Painted I’d not filled it back up with oil.


Wiped it out and all good.


I also pulled the starter motor and turned it over 3 times on the crank and everything seems fine. No stuck valves or lifters and the compression is healthy. So a fresher up of the paint is in order and back together with some new gaskets. No major problems so my attention went elsewhere next.

[stealthstylz]

Jun 14, 2020 20:57:50 GMT Dez said:

so my attention went elsewhere next.

I bet it was to Which? Quiff magazine. Or Practical Buddy Holly Enthusiast Weekly where for just 5 pounds a week for 273 weeks you can build a scale model of a more or less airworthy Beechcraft Bonanza.

[Dez]

Jun 14, 2020 21:26:28 GMT stealthstylz said:

Jun 14, 2020 20:57:50 GMT Dez said:

so my attention went elsewhere next.

I bet it was to Which? Quiff magazine. Or Practical Buddy Holly Enthusiast Weekly where for just 5 pounds a week for 273 weeks you can build a scale model of a more or less airworthy Beechcraft Bonanza.

I actually went for the monthly elvis tattoo subscription service instead in the end.

[Dez]

Continuing the ‘cleaning stuff up’ theme i debracketed the new axle. It had already had the original spring pads changed to slightly different spring pads that had them also been modified, and they were very ‘MURICA!
Loads of terrible weld, and big gouge marks in the casing from previous grinder use.
The divots each side are meant to be there from what I can tell.




After smoothing I welded up the gouges and smoothed it down again, as well as stripping any paint of areas where new brackets will go and tidying up the original welds of any spatter. It’s now ready to fit.

[Dez]

Here’s the dizzy after a strip down, clean and polish up too. Came out pretty nice, glad to have saved it. They’re such a nicely made thing, they have an integral ball race round the outside of the advance plate. This is the later (post ‘56 iirc) more desirable dual advance (centrifugal and vacuum) rather than the earlier loadamatic type that only uses vac. It has bob weights and springs hidden under the advance plate.
Just needs new points or an ignition unit, and a rotor arm and cap. The vac advance unit still works fine.

[eurogranada]

Great seeing this being revived. I do hope the insurance was good to you. Man, wat a hassle that must have been on top of it all!