The Roofus Special

Flipper_1938 · Mar 23, 2009

What is the best thing you can do with a rotted out 1954 four door Caddillac?

Build a boat tail speedster!!!

First you gotta cut the roof off!

Then cut the skin free. ....and slice that down the middle

Then cut apart some old porch posts to recycle the free 1x1 tubing. Bend that into a shape that follows the curve of the roof. What the heck bend it so it makes the shape of a 30's Indy car.

Prop up half a roof and see what it looks like. a ROOFus Special

Flipper_1938 · Mar 23, 2009

....keep going.

Throw the first subrail away and make 2 that have smoother curves. Prop up both sides, plop a cushion wher the seat will be and make race car noises.

Study the shape and draw where the cut out needs to be.

Grow some balls and quarter the roof

Its starting to look like a race car now!

Flipper_1938 · Mar 23, 2009

Go buy a cheap wrecked old jaguar and part it out. Take the engine, trans, radiator, driveshaft, rear axle, front spindles, knock-off wire wheels, steering parts, gauges, switches, and title.

Plop the major parts down and see how they are gonna work with the new racecar body.

Flipper_1938 · Mar 23, 2009

Realize the fancy overdrive trans is big in the wrong places. Shifter wrong. Driveshaft too short. Swap trans out for a non-OD model. Scrub off 40 years of grime first.

And wait for the next weekend when you are free to play.

Bonehead · Mar 23, 2009

Flipper, it is good to see you on a new project. And what a project you picked. Looks like this will be a fun one.

Flipper_1938 · Mar 23, 2009

Bonehead said:
Flipper, it is good to see you on a new project. And what a project you picked. Looks like this will be a fun one.

Homie don't play.

Flipper_1938 · Mar 23, 2009

This is the kind of stuff that inspired me to look at a Caddilac like that.

BruceR&C · Mar 23, 2009

Good start, Flipper. This will be fun to watch. Any chance you'll be done by the end of July ?

Flipper_1938 · Mar 23, 2009

BruceR&C said:
Good start, Flipper. This will be fun to watch. Any chance you'll be done by the end of July ?

The 48 is still running. It has 1200 miles on it now. It should be in Louisville no matter what this year.

moronthethrottle · Mar 24, 2009

WOW! You're building my speedster! You're even using a Jag motor...I'm thinking of using the 4.2 out of my '82 after I lump my SBC into it. Mine is FI, but I'd like to have a dual or triple($) Stromberg setup like yours. Great build, keep it up and I'll definitely use this as a guide for mine...someday!

Tripper · Mar 24, 2009

Oh hell!!!

Oh hell... I wanna do that too! Kool project Flipper... thanks for sharing!!!

BoB

rockb1 · Mar 24, 2009

What an awesome project. Its good to see that old pile of stuff getting another chance at life.

Flipper_1938 · Mar 24, 2009

rockb1 said:
What an awesome project. Its good to see that old pile of stuff getting another chance at life.

I recycle the right way.

wrecker55 · Mar 24, 2009

that will be so cool, never forget a few years back the great American race came thru town, seeing them come off the hill doing 100+

Gastrick · Mar 24, 2009

Really cool project Flipper.

BruceR&C · Mar 24, 2009

Flipper_1938 said:
The 48 is still running. It has 1200 miles on it now. It should be in Louisville no matter what this year.

We'll be there, too. Hopefully we'll get a chance to spend a bit more time checking out each other's ride this year.

Thunder1 · Mar 24, 2009

I'm really impressed with the thought you've put into it so far. Looks like it's going to be a great build! I would have never thought to use old caddy sheetmetal to build a speedster. That's just cool!

Thunder1

Flipper_1938 · Mar 25, 2009

Thunder1 said:
I'm really impressed with the thought you've put into it so far. Looks like it's going to be a great build! I would have never thought to use old caddy sheetmetal to build a speedster. That's just cool!

Thunder1

When I first got the roof, I had planned on the car being a single seater, but the curve of the roof didn't really seem to be what I had invisioned.

I played with it and figured that it might work better as a two seater. I am happy with the looks and the function so far. It will have a lot more foot room than a model A (it is about 10 inches wider at the firewall!). The two seater should be cheaper to build (no sprint car steering box) and I won't be straddling a driveshaft.

Flipper_1938 · Mar 25, 2009

Overall, this should be a cheap car to build since I did not have to lay out any cash for a body to start with. The parts car was $1000. But that got me just about everything I will need to build the car.

I can see this thing being less than $2500 completely finished.

Thunder1 · Mar 25, 2009

Now I'm even more impressed! I would have thought the old Jag would have been alot more than that. I'm very intregued with the jag engines I've seen in several rat rod builds lately. The V12's are a very cool concept! I like things being done different. I guess that's why like the jag engines.

Thunder1

The Roofus Special

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