The Roofus Special

Do you have any idea on what your wheel base is goin to be yet?

davideli said:

Do you have any idea on what your wheel base is goin to be yet?

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Not 100% sure yet.

When I mocked up the caddy hood pieces, it was 115 or 120 depending on where I set the pieces. But I still had issues with either way. The hood, cowl and frame don't flow together very well as is and I also will have clearance issues with the top of the motor out front.

I think the engine needs to come back six or eight inches or so. That should help quite a bit. I will also have to change the shape of the hood so that the sides curve a little. That will allow me to match up with the body and make the nose a little more pointy (from the sides).

I won't be playing with it this weekend. I'm taking the rusty truck to the Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, KY

We scored a couple of neat parts at the swap meet at the Bowling Green Hot Rod Reunion that may alter the build (not sure yet).

Dad bought a Whippet radiator and shell and I bought a Jaeger 5" speedometer and mechanical tach.

I have searched a little and think the gauges are 1953 MG TD. They look cool no mater what they are.

If the caddy track nose doesn't work out, I have a cool backup.

Flipper I saw you're truck yesterday but couldn't find you sorry I missed you found you parked in two different places. What did you think about that mustang you were parked by later in the day? PS Didn't mean to hyjack you're thread and the truck looks great, although the wheels aren't my cup of tea. But I hate tea.

rainman said:

Flipper I saw you're truck yesterday but couldn't find you sorry I missed you found you parked in two different places. What did you think about that mustang you were parked by later in the day? PS Didn't mean to hyjack you're thread and the truck looks great, although the wheels aren't my cup of tea. But I hate tea.

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It was too freakin' hot to stay with the truck much. I was in the grandstands or under a tree somewhere.

Mustang was cool. Tons of work in it. The owner appeared to be a preek though.

There are always a lot of mixed reactions to the truck. Some people love it, some hate it, some are on the fence....and not just about the wheels. Its is fast, fun and I like it.

Were the windows up or down when you saw it? The interior is one of my favorite things about the truck.

Pics

5" Jaeger speedo and tach



Whippet radiator

You know I don't know I must not have looked to good inside the truck, now you got me wishing I had. I talked to that guy a little while about that stang he didn't seem that way to me but with the heat who knows.

rainman said:

You know I don't know I must not have looked to good inside the truck, now you got me wishing I had. I talked to that guy a little while about that stang he didn't seem that way to me but with the heat who knows.

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Mustang guy was giving the guy in the blue impala heck for parking his car in a place that blocked the view of the mustang from the road...the mustang was 40ft off of the road! The guy though he deserved a huge portion of real estate to display his car.

The way I see it, Impala guy paid the same entry fee and has the same right to park his car on the grass.

If mustang guy wanted an unobstructed view, he should have parked down near the road.

Yeah I sort of figured it was something like that I did get the impression he would of roped the area off if he could.

Any guesses as to what the wheelbase is on this T? This thing with a boattail and no doors is close to what the current build is heading for.

Thought about it a while.... I am going to continue to work on the track nose. The car needs to shrink a little though to pull it all off.

The cowl will need to be pinched a little to get the lines to work out right (who really needs THAT much foot room anyways?). The nose is gonna get a little smaller and a little lower at the front. Those pretty cam covers are actually going to poke through the hood a little at the front. The door openings are also gonna get smaller (shorter front to back and shallower).

I'm going to try and pack everything into a 100" wheelbase.


The Whippet radiator and MG gauges will go towards dad's T rebuild.

Just a guess but I would say about 100 inches. My truck is 108 but my frontend is mounted suicide and sticks out more than that T, itherwise it looks close.

Time to get back on the car!

I spent a couple of frustrating days working on roofus. The heat and humidity in Memphis was aweful.

I had a heck of a time trying to make the transition from the boat tail to the track nose.

I started trying to mock up the original roof pieces.









Kinda OK, but I wasn't really feeling it.

On to plan B.

Another ROOF ! ...and a jaguar roof to boot! A 1979 Jaguar XJS to be specific.



Cut down the middle like I did the tail.

Time to cut. And bend up some new angles.









It looks like crap...too square. Does not flow with the rest of the car.

It fits the curve front to back pretty well though.

On to plan C

The cowl top need a bigger radius. Time to make more angle pieces.

I dropped the roof panel down. Instead of trying to make the XJS roof make the whole bend, I decided to only make it do part of the bend. I positioned it down lower on the car.

Not 100% sure on the peaks. The flat top dash was definetly wrong though.





The "hood" will butt up to the cowl. Curves actuallly match up pretty good.



(3 of the four firetruck are visible in this pic)



Cowl top will be filled in with cadillac door sheetmetal.

In the pics, the red panel looks really flat. In real life, it has a decent amount of shape and follows the curve of the framework fairly well.

On the subject of curves, do you guys think that the hood and cowl should be peaked, curved, or flat down the center?

I'm kinda up in the air over this one.

Love the idea of this car, and its coming along really nicely. Really digging the body lines of it so far.

As far as the cowl, now this is just my humble opinion... I would say it should be either curved or peaked. Flat in my eye doesnt give it the nice curvey flow that the rest of the vehicle has. By doing the peak you could in a way carry the peak of the tail up and over all the way to the front of the car, which could have a nice effect (I think by curving the cowl it would provide a similar effect).

I lean toward the peak also I think you need some shape there. Opening the radius on the corners really helped. Judging by the pictures I think you're looking VERY good. My opinion. Just one other thing ,if you do go with a peak I think I would peak at the cowl down to no peak at the grill.