Dez' 'fleet' thread. Another bl00dy transit!

[Dez]

ive been sort of meaning to do a thread like this for a while, but HARDCORE s thread had spurred me on (and will hopefully keep me motivated to see this through).

where to start? well i suppose i best start this by saying a large part of what goes on with me and my cars is because I'm in the trade. i restore classics and build/modify them too, with a leaning as much as possible (but not exclusively) towards classic american and pre-war hotrods. this will explain a lot of things, as will having a 2000squ.ft. workshop with all the facilities plus a yard thats as big again. thats why i can have 20 cars and have the contacts for them to keep turning them up all the time (just too good a deal to say no, right?). but its also why i have too many cars all the time.

as for when this thread starts, difficult to say. the 'list' i have is from the start of last year i think (so jan 2019). but a lot of the backstory goes back a further couple of years and covers some major events.

so, in what i think was about jan 2019, i wrote a list of cars that i owned.

1. '28 model A ford
2. '48 chevy fleetmaster
3. '50 ford shoebox
4. '38 ford pickup
5. '38 ford sedan
6. '48 Hudson/rover pickup.
7. '47 ford/ranger pickp.
8. '63 ford falcon sedan delivery
9. 1980something nissan c32 laurel.
10. a jago jeep.
11. '66 lincoln continetal coupe.
12. '01 lupo tdi sport.
13. '48 packard
14. '93 b3 passat estate.
15. '89 mx5
16. 1981(?) bmw e28.
+ 17. ‘34 ford pickup.
+ 18. Nissan Cube.
+ 19. 1995 lada riva estate.
+ 20. Transit recovery truck
+ 22. 2007 Fiat panda 100hp
+ 23. 1973 Reliant scimitar

i wrote this list because knew at this point i had too many cars, i was spread too thinly, and needed to downsize.

[Dez]

I suppose it would make sense to go through in number order wouldn’t it?

But before I do let’s mention a huge event that has a bearing on almost everything that will be talked about.
In March 2018 my old workshop burned down. I say old, but it’s also my ‘new’ one as well, just a bit different. There were some miraculous escapes, some things I lost parts for, some things partially damaged, and some sore losses.
I’m not one to dwell on it too much as it won’t change anything, so I salvaged what was salvageable and carried on.

But by about June 2018, is gone from this-



To this-




I was obviously left with changed priories and a huge amount of stuff to sort though, which is partially where the list of cars and sorting them out came from.


The two total losses where a ford 100e and associated parts to build it, of which absolutely everything was lost so it was canned and forgotten about. The other was a lada riva estate that features in the pics above, that was about a week off an MOT and I was rather annoyed about. Still, I sold the burnt out shell to a banger racer so I think it got one last journey.

[Dez]

So, No.1.


I’ve had this thing forever and built and rebuilt it so many times. I originally bought it in about 2003 I think? Threw most of it away and rebuilt. There was a huge thread on here about it but photobucket killed that.
Don’t think I’ll ever sell it, had it too long.
It’s currently Y-block powered through a mustang t-10 into a ford 9”, with a original 50s offenhauser 3x2 manifold. The whole thing is rare and cool parts Hoarded over 20 years in the business, and it’s largely all original parts rather than repro. Buick finned brakes, 30s dodge artillery wheels, entirely scratch built suspension and chassis based around model A and 30s ford bits. Stock-ish 1928 model A sedan body except for the 5” chop and 5” channel, and 30-31 visor.



It was almost finished up all
Nice, the fully painted and detailed chassis awaiting the body being done.
It got damaged in the fire though, luckily the body was in a storage container but the back of the chassis was badly Burned. Wrote off a 9” axle, a pair of rare wheels, a model A spring, some irreplaceable seats and a grands worth of tyres. But the motor and box were almost entirely unscathed, and the front end only has a bit of paint damage.

There’s a resurrection thread here-
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/214453/1928-ford-model-sedan-resurrection

But safe to say the keeping of this one is non-negotiatable, I’ve even managed to hang onto it when homeless in the past.

[craig1010cc]

Looking forward to this one 😀

[Dez]

2. 1948 Chevy fleetmaster. Well, it was once.

This one has a bit of a story. It starts sept 2016 with the wolftruck. I got this offered this for free, only had to pay for the gearbox in it.


It was totally rust free and had one dent in it. The bed was immaculate, it has been ply lined from new. It had had some bits robbed off it though, mostly interior and handbrake parts.

By the following February it didn’t have wolves on, the head gasket had gone and I’d fixed it, it was on the road with missing bits replaced and I was bored of it.


On a total whim I offered it as a swap for a 1948 Chevy fleetmaster that was at the opposite side of the country. A week or so later I had a fleetmaster but not an S10. The other party did all the legwork.





Still not entirely sure if that was a good move or not, I do miss the s10 but it’s a bit late to worry about that now.

The fleetmaster was part restored, fairly solid, almost complete and had loads of nice bits with it like a really Good dash, original seats, and all the trim. It was a 216ci that turned over but didn’t run.



I usually wouldn’t touch a 4door, but The plan was a bombitas style lowrider, stock body but very low with all the accessories. The fire put paid to that though. I lost the dash, most of the trim, all the new chrome id bought and all the interior. I basically had a rolling shell with a motor with bits missing.

So i said f-k it and did this-

Chopped, 2doored, different fade-away bootlid so it didn’t look like a Morris minor. Basically went full Kustom.

A bit further down the line and it’s gained a Buick steering wheel, shoebox dash, 53 olds bumpers and grille, a late model 235ci Chevy six out of a truck(that’s been bored and decked ready to build), twin carbs and split manifolds, a Saginaw 4spd box and a ranger back axle, amongst other things.









Build thread-
forum.retro-rides.org/thread/212881/1948-chevy-full-kustom-project


The problem with this car is it’s place in my fleet is contentious. It’s far to close in overall build to no.3 on the list, which came first and I bought because I specifically wanted that vehicle. Although this one is further through it’s build now. This has evolved through circumstance into something different to what I intended, albeit a very cool car in its own right, but I am sort of forcing myself to choose between this and the next car on the list, and failing to do so.

[Dez]

This is no.3.
1950 ford Tudor sedan. Bought cheap as it had no engine and box, no paperwork, and not much in the way of floors either. But given my plans this was perfect. Rest is fairly good and it’s obvious it’s had some money spent on it in the past. I’d had half an eye out of one for a while and when paul at coltec classics put this up for sale I had to have it. Got it transported from Devon up to Essex.




It was a mild kustom, the bootlid has been smoothed as have the rear 1/4 seams, and the ‘windsplits’ widened out to take ‘51 taillights. It’s been also been lowered very badly.

I already knew what I’d do with it before I even bought it, this really was a ‘planned’ project. I even sold a bagged stacklight Merc I built to fUnd it, which was a pretty cool car to give up. With the right combo of parts a y block sort of bolts in (they’re a flathead v8 as stock). I picked up a shoebox trans cheap, got the right passenger car 3spd y block bellhousing, made a custom sump and pickup and front mount, and did just that.

I also got some new whitewall tyres on it and bagged the front, and swapped the rear axle for a 8.8”. Done a few clever bits too like power steering using a Volvo box, and adapted the engine for onboard air.
Plan is to do the rust repair, redo the rear lights a bit better, then a heavy chop and bag the back too. All traditional-ish leadsled stuff.

This was parked straight in the middle of the old workshop when it burned to the ground, and was pretty much entirely untouched. It blew the laminate in the windows on one side and that was it. I lost the rear seat and few bits of trim, but 90% of it survived and then I picked up the thunderbird rear opera seat I always wanted anyway.

I thought about selling it after the fire but various friends said it was a sign I should keep it and I’m kinda glad I listened to them.


The problem is it’s now too close to the Chevy in terms of build. Even I don’t need two 50s style chopped and bagged full Kustoms, especially two half finished ones that will be heavy on time to complete.

So, I’ve a hard choice to make if my plan is to come to fruition.

[metalshapes]

To me, the Shoebox is a much cooler car to start with.

But the way they sit right now, I think the Chevy is ahead.

Because of what has already been done on it.

Making a choice on which one to keep would be tricky...


Also, having worked on both ( a '46 Sedan Delivery, and several Shoeboxes ) panel gap , etc. seemed a lot nicer on the Ford...

[Dez]

Sept 29, 2020 21:09:52 GMT metalshapes said:

To me, the Shoebox is a much cooler car to start with.

But the way they sit right now, I think the Chevy is ahead.

Because of what has already been done on it.

Making a choice on which one to keep would be tricky...


Also, having worked on both ( a '46 Sedan Delivery, and several Shoeboxes ) panel gap , etc. seemed a lot nicer on the Ford...

That’s about my thinking too, on both points.

The merits of the Chevy are entirely my doing, especially when people find out i started with a 4dr. They’re a fairly overlooked car in kustom terms. There’s some out there but not loads. But what I’ve done makes it stand out. But does that make it better than a shoebox with the same treatment?

Both cars have features I love and then some things I’m less keen on. I love the front end on the shoebox. It’ll be kept pretty much entirely stock in that respect. Chevy didn’t do much for me grille wise and I hated the light rims, but I’ve changed both them bits. It’s the rear of the shoebox I like less, the bootlid can look a bit funny on chopped cars, and the area around the rear 1/4s where the windsplits, rear arches and roof all end with no reference to each other. This area is actually better thought out on the Chevy.
In all other respects they’re pretty even.

I agree build quality is a bit better on the ford. but conversely, the Chevy has a body design (separate fenders) that hides poor alignment much better. On the shoebox everything has to be perfect or it looks curse word.

I’ve been thinking about this for months and I’m still not really any closer to a decision.

[vulgalour]

You'll just have to keep both, it's the only answer. The Chevy is in the lead for me, the work you've done on it and the transformation from what it was to now is quite remarkable, but then I'm a bit bias because as nice as the Shoebox is, they don't do much for me.

Rather you than me on deciding which one to keep, all the same, that's a tough call.

[Dez]

Well I’ll be hanging on to both until a decision is made, so for the minute at least I am keeping both.

[Dez]

No.s 4 and 5 are easy to cover, as they’ve already been dealt with.

I went through a stage of hoarding ALL the 38-ish ford stuff that came up for sale a few years back. I was just buying up stuff cheap and stacking it up to make complete cars. At one point I had an almost complete sedan, a complete truck, and an extra cab.


In a fit of common sense after the fire, I sold a load of stuff off, including the spare cab which went to Switzerland, an entire flat-pack package of pickup body parts with a complete chassis and a front beam that went to a serial project non-finisher and half of which is now on eBay, and the entire sedan body package that went to wales and was sold on again shortly after.

This left me with another chassis that had also been flat packed, with some spares-


And a selection of running gear/axles that were more year correct for ‘36 than ‘38. This lot will reappear later....

But I’d crossed two off the list! Go me!

[oioisavaloy]

Keep going - loving this thread so far.  Sorry about the fire but glad you've been able to move on from it so quickly.  

[crockpot]

That list of parts and serial non finisher sound familiar! Constant wanted and for sale ads on the NSRA site?

Nice collection of cars/parts.

[Deleted]

Tough decision alright.
I say.
Finish both.
Sell the less valuable.
Use sale funds sensibly.....build the Model A.

[maf260]

I'd keep the Chevy as it's a one-off. The Shoebox can be replaced with another, especially as you haven't done the chop yet and want to tidy up a lot of other stuff.

[Dez]

Oct 1, 2020 8:55:55 GMT crockpot said:

That list of parts and serial non finisher sound familiar! Constant wanted and for sale ads on the NSRA site?

Nice collection of cars/parts.

Proably the same guy. I’ve known him 20 years since our VW days and not known him finish anything!
He will make a reappearance later on in this thread.

[Dez]

Oct 1, 2020 7:13:03 GMT oioisavaloy said:

Keep going - loving this thread so far.  Sorry about the fire but glad you've been able to move on from it so quickly.  

Moving on so quickly was what’s helped me deal with it so well. The longer something like that takes the worse it is and the more it effects you.

[Dez]

Oct 1, 2020 9:02:41 GMT @quickrack1 said:

Tough decision alright.
I say.
Finish both.
Sell the less valuable.
Use sale funds sensibly.....build the Model A.

That may well happen in the long term, depending on what others go. The model A will be done before them anyway, it isn’t reliant on the funds.

[Dez]

Oct 1, 2020 11:04:33 GMT maf260 said:

I'd keep the Chevy as it's a one-off. The Shoebox can be replaced with another, especially as you haven't done the chop yet and want to tidy up a lot of other stuff.

I see what you’re saying. Collecting the correct combo of parts again would be a ballache though.

[Dez]

#6 may come as a bit of a surprise.

Remember this?







Sold it.

It had been languishing down the side of the workshop for about 4 years since some dumb woman drove into it. I’d half fixed it, but didn’t really want or need it anymore as I’d done everything I intended to do with it.
So I eventually got round to dragging it out, got it running again, gave it a wash and advertised it.
I took the genuine b24 liberator seat out though, that wasn’t going with it.
Unsurprisingly it sold immediately. I priced it fairly keenly, but that meant it sold quickly with no messing about, and Between that and the large Insurance payout I got for said woman’s dumb driving, overall I got a good amount from it.

So that’s the first half dozen cars done, and currently a 50% sale rate!