Phil Spruit's Hot Rod

Here is what it looked like the day I brought in home.
If you look at the body from the seating area forward, it is a 1926 - 27 Ford Model T.
The very next day I started the tear down.

This photo shows the 1925 Dodge part of the body.
I was always from the old school thought that Hot Rods do not have fenders, so my plans are to get rid of them.
But this presents a problem because once the 'home made' fenders are removed, the Dodge portion has a body shape around the outside to accomodate their fenders.
Click here to see what I mean.

My daughter modeling.

Fast forward a few weeks. The car has been disassembled, the body removed from the frame and brought to the shop for further modification. Here you can see where the Dodge section has been 'divorced' from the Ford Model T section. I will build a new rear section and put the Dodge trunk lid back on. Whoever put the car together originally (I was told it came from Montana) had a wood floor in in. The original hotrodder welded all 4-doors shut and the door handles & cowling were filled. The body was sectioned (cutting the bottom edge off about 6"). I raised the floor up a little more to allow the body to sit a little lower on the frame rails. A piece of tubing was welded in along the bottom edge to give it a finished look. All this was filled in with lead. During the final body work, everything will be smoothed out with fiberglass & plastic filler.

I had a sheet metal company fabricate a new rear piece from 16 gauge steel and roller bend in the two radius for the rear quarter panels which were originally, the rear section of the body was from the 1924-25 Dodge coupe. I fabricated another piece of sheet metal that was attached behind the bench seat to the rear trunk lid and it was 'lots of fun' to fabricate and weld. (It's amazing how much sculpturing you can do with the right hammer). I welded these 2 pieces of sheetmetal to a framework system that I was fabricating/welding as I went along. Note that I already welded in the framing for the floor and firewall. Next, was a new fabricated sheet metal 'hump' to clear the transmission.

After that, I extended the conduit along the outside bottom edge.
The Dodge trunk lid was fitted to the body (I had to build custom hinges) and the firewall and windshield also fitted to the body. Those will be bolted on.
After welding in the floor pan and test fitting the body to the frame, it's off to the body shop.

I farmed out the majority of the the final body shaping work to a good body man. He also layed down the primer and paint, but I did the final coats of paint and polishing back at home. A small body like this, sitting on a rollable workbench is the only way to go. There's nothing better than being able to roll the whole works out into the driveway for sanding and painting. As you can see, I decided to keep the 'Sunbust Yellow' for the color but added a bit more warmth into it.

The original 1935 Ford frame is beefed up with extra bracing. A neat thing about a Hot Rod is the rolling chassis, which makes it very easy to fit the motor & tranny and to attach everything, especially suspension. Work to perform like installing brakes & brake lines, fuel tank & fuel lines, tranny lines, radiator, all water lines and the dual exhaust system are made literally effortless because you can work on most everything from above. At this point, if I welded up a brace for the steering wheel, I could fire this up and strap a box to sit on and head down the road for a little test run. Note, the mono leaf springs on front and back. Gas tank and Battery go under the rear trunk lid. No room for luggage here.

Hot Rods are never done.
Since these pics were originally posted in 2001, the 1970-74 block was found to be cracked between the cyclinder walls. I replaced the old iron mill with a 1995-96 Ford (crate) 5-Litre. The motor mounts were switched out, tunnel ram intake / dual carbs replaced the single carb setup, MSD billet distributor, radiator & shell lowered, electric fan installed and Sanderson headers replaced the stock cast manifolds.
Next up - Ford 9" rear end and rear coil over shock suspension.

Click to View the Build Sheet
Click to go back and View how it looks today