Dodge 2 seat roadster?

I'm still collecting parts and doing a little here and there on this. I wish I had more time to commit but it's crazy right now. Anyway, I started cutting the bottom 8 inches off of the body. I've got one side done, the cowl looks better than the picture of it shows. You'll be able to tell more what I'm thinking when I get the other side cut and do a trial piece-together. We're painting my son's Firebird so when that gets out of the way I'll have some more space to work with. Here's some pieces I've collected for it. The rear end is 96 Firebird, there's a Chevy inline six with a early model 3 speed trans and an old Hurst shifter, a 48 Dodge steering wheel and I've got a column/steering box around here somewhere for it. I guess I'm into it for about $300 so far.

Last two....

I was thinking about you project recently. Glad to see you are back on it.

Thanks, Bob. Hopefully I can turn this into something. I'll have more time in the fall so we'll see how it comes together.

falconvan said:

Now that's pretty slick! I saw a bubbletop called "Atomic Punk" in Rod and Custom a few months ago that was built from the back end of a 59 Plymouth Savoy; that's kind of what gave me the idea. Great stuff, thanks!

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If you want to research that car more. it was built by plowboy over on the HAMB. There is a complete build thread in the archives there.

What about something along the lines of this, except open wheeled on the front?

I'll check that out, 35. That car blew my mind. I dont think I'd want to mess with a bubbletop but the rest of the car was killer.
Flipper, that car is great looking! I love the lines in the rear; I hadn't thought of using rear fenders until you said something. That's the fun of trying something like this. You never know what direction it'll take along the way.

falconvan said:

I'll check that out, 35. That car blew my mind. I dont think I'd want to mess with a bubbletop but the rest of the car was killer.
Flipper, that car is great looking! I love the lines in the rear; I hadn't thought of using rear fenders until you said something. That's the fun of trying something like this. You never know what direction it'll take along the way.

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Since you aren't trying to "restore" something you get to be creative. It might be easier to find that rear fender shape in a front fender off of something.

Sounds like a mighty fine suggestion. I'm anxious to get my sons car done so I can put a little more time into it and see what I can do with it. What's next on the Roofus?

falconvan said:

Sounds like a mighty fine suggestion. I'm anxious to get my sons car done so I can put a little more time into it and see what I can do with it. What's next on the Roofus?

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To heck with the son's car! The time to play is NOW!!!!

Do you have an extra hood to stick in front of the cowl? ...to check lines and get a sense of the overall proportions? I'm thinking the doors will need to be stretched or the cowl stretched to give you enough leg room to be a real car.

Roofus is on hold until after the street rod nationals/bonneville.

I wish; the problem is he's driving my Corvette or my van until his is done. Plus I've got a rental house sitting unrented until I finish some much needed rehab. If I just didn't have to have that darn job I could have 40 hours a week to work on this!

I finished cutting down the other side of the car and started piecing the tub together and I'm pretty happy how it came out. I narrowed the rear clip 7" and everything seemed to fall right into place. I think I'm going to go with building the tub first and then building a frame for it instead of trying to make the tub to fit the model A frame.

Here's one with the dash sitting in place.

Have you thought about changing the shape of the wheelwells? Maybe try a 32-ford-ish semi-circle wheelwell.

Definately; they're way too long. I was thinking about moving the front edge of the wheelwell back, not sure how much yet. Basically cut it between the rear edge of the door and the front edge of the wheelwell, move it back and create a quarter panel between them.

dogpatch1 said:

heres one, give me some more ideas for the style you like n i'll whip up a better one....dp1

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Man that's cool. It looks like something right out of the pages of 'CARTOONS'.

I want more.

Maybe you should mock up the rear end where you want it and let that dictate you're wheelwells. This is a very cool build I love stuff thats different.

Sounds like a good idea. I want to get the body all tacked together and get some temporary floor supports in to get it all into one piece. Then I can get it up on blocks so it will be stable, and I can start trimming.

dogpatch1 said:

heres one, give me some more ideas for the style you like n i'll whip up a better one....dp1

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What do you think about the back of this where the rear roof posts were and around the remainder of the rear window opening? Any ideas about how to make that a smooth transition?

If you have a tubing bender you could bend tubing to the exact shape you want to follow around the back half. when you get it the shape you want, cut the tubing in half or however much you want to leave as a simicircle. You can use whatever diameter tubing you think looks best. I would think 1 inch would be about right.