1939 Plymouth oval track Jalopy

[mikec4193]

Big doings at the Cob Job Garage

So this picture is rather old but this is what we have going on now...

It has taken many weeks of finding weak points in the braking system...but finally we have fluid in the master cylinder reservoir and nothing is running out on the ground...I went thru a whole quart of brake fluid too...

Still looking at the freak show paint job on this ole heap

Drivers side is black...right side is turd brown...both doors are yellow...

I think this car was a clown car in a former life...

Another color I cant figure out here...

The ole lady heap spoke to me one night and told me her name was "Judy"...so Judy it is...

MikeC

 

[bob w]

You deserve a perseverance award.

 

[mikec4193]

So my last roundy round car I had was a yellow #14 or #4...depending on the year I ran...all my race cars have been yellow...

Left side here

Right side here...

I am still waiting for something to start leaking brake fluid again...fingers crossed the floor will stay drive like this

Started cobbing up some patches for the door bottoms...they don't exist in real time anymore...so the angle grinder and I have been close again...

Stay tuned I hope...

MikeC

 

[Old Iron]

[cl[cl[cl[P[P[P

 

[mikec4193]

So I had to run out to my Kansas property to get some stuff lined up as far as a small barn and a new bathroom and getting some sheds pulled down...

But we are back on it again...

Lets make something from nothing again...it is rocker panel time boys and girls...

Doing the tac tac tac thing again too...

cut cut cut cut...

trim trim trim...I wanted to the leave the ancient patch panel...just because you don't see brass used much anymore...

just waiting to get a fresh spray of vinegar to start the agin process...

rear inner fender well needed some loving too...

 

[smallfoot]

Keep at it Mike![cl[

 

[Old Iron]

[cl[cl[cl

 

[mikec4193]

Drivers side is just about done as far as the rocker panel thing goes...so now what you may ask...jump into the passenger side of this old heap...

I believe we call this cowl panel rehab time...

how does it go again???

Tac tac tac ....grind grind grind...repeat...took a couple of sessions be we got yea old lower cowl patches all set in place...

hanging metal with magnets...what a neat way to cobble things up

Quarter panel done...well sorta...never used 18 gauge before but it appears to be ok from here...

More 3/8 round brake line and some .25 square stock...tac tac tac...grind grind grind...

Hanging stuff out there...attach the ground clamp and hope for the best...

This project is such a cobbled up mess...

It scares me thinking about trying to drive it....maybe around the yard and then not sure I wanna even take it out on the pavement...

Tac tac tac...grind grind grind...repeat...

 

[Old Iron]

"It scares me thinking about trying to drive it....maybe around the yard and then not sure I wanna even take it out on the pavement..."

Being scared is another way of receiving a shot of adrenaline too

 

[bob w]

You're doing well, Chief Cobbler.[cl

I figure a guy could build a whole car body out of 2" squares of sheet metal and 50 miles of MIG wire.

 

[mikec4193]

So I had this hole in the back panel..like there was nothing there...so what to do...grab some 3/8" brake line and get doing the bend and twist...

Also what we do best at the cob job garage...cut cut cut....tax tac tac...grind grind grind...repeat...

I hope it looks ok from 50 feet...it should...

some more

get it all tacked into place and it was still wobbly...what to do???

add more 3/8" brake line and some thin wall C-channel...because we could...

So I went and stood on the new rocker panel and it was wobbly too...so add more 3/8" brake line...and a fresh squirt of vinegar to make it look right...

A little shift and we move back inside the cabin...some rusty 16 gauge and we have a toe board and some floor pan too...

had to add another piece back into the mix...we cant read a tape measure I guess...

 

[mikec4193]

Lots of pipe smoke these days...the ole girl is getting there...

the floor pan is done on the passenger side...tried to reuse as much old metal as possible...

this is the last piece I cobbled in...

The first track I went to was in 1965...opening night...I saw this on more than one race car...

Found a mirror on ebay for a 1951 Ford...it even fits...with the help of crack pipe bracketry going on...

This is one scary piece I have created...can't wait to get it out of the garage...I have a trailer under my carport it will fit on perfectly...(once it runs and moves)...

More pipe smoke to come...ohms law was never my thing...

 

[mikec4193]

I got the old guy to actually fire up...it took many nights with an old race car guy who helped me figure out the wiring on it...then I we put brandy new windshield in it shipped from Oregon to Mechanicvillle NY...it even came with a Steele rubber gasket...two old guys...took us less than 2 hours to get it installed...so the next hurdle is getting the 1948 CJ2A Willys to to run and move so then I can go back and finish the front end suspension...I think the caster is set up backyards...the toe I know is way out too...so probably buy some Rock Auto 1974 Chevy Nova front suspension parts...

 

[mikec4193]

Been awhile...got the old 1948 Willys Jeep outside and under the carport to wait for someone to buy it...

So the front end was all 1970s GM stuff....my first race car was this same set-up...so it was like flashing back 45 years to wrenching on my 1967 oval track Camaro...it was crusty rusty and the the front wheels did not seem to be going in the direction that I was hoping for...

First yank the sway bar link out...

Then everything went crazy...

somedays you try to be nice to rust and somedays you just have to get out the cutting tools and go to town...

and we did...I felt bad for the old girl but she needed some new parts...

It was a rough couple of weeks but Rock Auto was right there with all the parts I needed...

when I was pushing the old girl around I noticed I did not have a really good spot to lean on...so I came up with this little piece...I used drops from the roll cage kit I bought...
we are getting close now...time to start tightening up stuff and get ready to move it out of the garage...

 

[mikec4193]

So I buy as much as I can from Rock Auto...I bought brake drums for a 1974 Chevy Nova sometime last year...they look great too

passenger side looks like this above...

Drivers side looks like this...scratching my chin on this one...run back inside to the ole lap top and onto the Rock Auto website...

I bought the last one that was a vendor closeout...

Now they match...

One bite at a time...Rock Auto really does Rock!!!

 

[mikec4193]

So we have a few little things going on...

Vroom vroom...just wanted a shot of the old 6 banger...a low mileage 230 cu in Chevrolet...

the next issue was this deal...what do I do for a center support for the windshield...???

a lot of chin scratching again...no crack pipe...so more coffee I guess...

what would a young guy have done back in the 1960s if he was building this old jalopy back in the day??? no center support to be found...

How about some 16 gauge cut down to 1" wide and made to fit over top of the new rubbers....a little bit of drilling and filling and look mom...it fits...

from the inside...looking rather spiffy we are...
next deal...how do I hold the windshield from falling into cab while tooling down the road???

How about another 16 gauge strap and self tapping screw on each end...also a 1" tab on each end...I even tapped some gasket material to the glass side so it wont scrape the brandy new glass...

Don't really wanna drive it but I would like to pull it out of the garage and maybe drive it down the driveway...it is about 250 ft. long...

Then I gotta decide what I want to do with it...it has been a blast to rebuild it and make it look cool again...it was such a sad old car back in March of 2022 when I had it dragged up from Virginia...

looks almost like an old race car now...

More coffee needs to be consumed first...

 

[mikec4193]

So I am sitting in the racing bucket seat thinking of stuff I need to do on the old girl....

I have no outside mirrors on the ole girl...Summit racing to the rescue...

I thought a pair would work better than one...so we ordered a pair...

Walk around the front...I have no grill....what kind of rat rod is this if we dont have a grille cobbled on to it...

I had this left over from my racing days...what better place than to stick it out on the front of this old girl...

Next on the docket...some semblance of wing windows...dont have a clue what I am doing now...I found some on a Facebook Mopar page and I am having a bunch of parts shipped East from a really nice guy out in Missouri...shipping almost cost as much as the parts...we will be cobbing her up good now...

 

[mikec4193]

So we had issues again....or as the Apollo crew said..."Houston we have a problem"....not really just I kept looking at these sad old doors and the lack of any kind of wing window was bugging me....

So we joined a Mopar Facebook page and put the call out for anything that anyone might have that might work for cobblating some sort of wing window....

Some fellow from the mid west was building a 1939 Plymouth street rod and he was putting electric windows in it...I was in luck for sure...

the stuff all original and the patina fit the old coupe perfect...I did learn that coupe doors and 2 door sedan doors were different...so a little more cobblating and ....

How does the old saying go???...cut cut cut....tac tac tac....grind grind grind....repeat...

Look mom we have wing windows and tracks for glass if I dare want to go that far...

Judy is one happy old lady for sure now...

I sit in her now and enjoy everything I did to make her what she is today...

I even found a fellow who this spring might come up from 2 counties away and try and drive it for me....

My new happy place is right here...

I did it...