Parts Box Modified

[David Bogard]

Well, this thing is comprised of nothing but bits and pieces that I have scrounged up from my parts bins. I still had that old "56 Chevy body leftover so it became something to chop around on. I have no idea yet where this is going but rather I am just using up old parts more than anything else (and having fun while doing it!!)
First, here are most of the pieces that have been cut out of the body. Again, I am just kind of toying around as I go along but we'll see where we end up!

[Maineboy]

I like it quite a bit already. You are a man of great vision. Just out of curiosity what is the frame it is sitting on? The body is still the width of the original isn't it?

Nathan

[Dirtman]

Off we go, on another David adventure! Really looking forward to see this one done!!

Rett

[David Bogard]

It's quite a bit narrower than stock. I took a full 10mm (about 13/16") right out of the middle of this body.


Here's the two strips that were taken out of the middle (front to back)

It is sitting on a tri-five rail frame that is under the old AMT "Slammer" type modifeds.

[Maineboy]

My tired old eyes don't see as well as they used to. When you took the head on view it was easy to see it had been narrowed. Am I seeing things or did you shorten the body between the windshield and the trunk section?  Has the roof angle been changed any to slant it downward a bit from the standard car?

I love what your imagination allows you to do with these projects. I can't wait to see more.

Nathan

[David Bogard]

Yes, yes, yes and yes. (ha!) All of the above. There is a slight rake to the front on the roof and it got moved back just a hair. The roof got a chunk taken out of it as well as the sides of the car. However, after that the sides were then a bit short for my eyes so a little bit went back into them. I have mentioned it before but it's all about maintaining some kind of reasonably balanced proportions for me. When you are working in 3D and you take a piece out (or add a piece) , it changes all of the other relative proportions.

[Maineboy]

I know that you strive for a certain "look" and you have used your eye to create these kinds of things before. I have built a few wooden boats and canoes, been interested in boats  since a teen ager. Wooden boats are created to please the eye of the builder. I suspect this is the same. I bet you would have a hard time putting it into words but know where you are going.....by the time you get there. This is ingenuity and art all rolled into one. The camera angles were not straight on, even from the side. But the first time I saw it earlier this evening I thought the windshield post looked like it had been "worked on". Do you ever find yourself thinking about the endgame, even when you aren't working on it?

I have built homes and other buildings for 45 yrs and always try to picture the finished product before we get there. Like your model cars, building buildings takes a good eye to get all the proportions correct. I have not found a lot of folks with that kind of vision, whether it is buildings or model cars.

This thread is fascinating. Can't wait for the finished product. 

Nathan

[BobD]

I see your creative juices are flowing David!  I can envision many model projects.....just can't get those thoughts transferred to the workbench like some of you can.  Keep us updated on this beast!

[TarheelRick]

David I have watched with jaw-dropping awe most of the builds you have put together.  Your imagination and ability to put that imagination into plastic practice is outstanding.  Really looking forward to where this one may lead.  I have often thought someone in the 1:1 racing world should start a series of modified racing using your creations as examples. With this one the thrill of learning has just begun.

[john2]

   Carry on, David.  Much too much for me to get into these days.  I'll watch from the stands. 

[Maineboy]

David, I don't want to hijack your thread. But wanted to show you that people with artistic ability like you have shown here, have been around working on the 1:1 models for years. This was from Beech Ridge in Maine in the late 60's. This looks just like something out of your fertile mind. Ha
bridge7 by Nathan Pitts, on Flickr

[David Bogard]

Do you know what kind of car this was originally MB? If so, don't tell anyone just yet! That body has undergone some radical changes and I am trying to make an educated guess as to what it may have started out as!

[Maineboy]

I have one glimmer of an idea but it is just that......a glimmer. I have found pics of quite a few similar bodies on Maine and N New England cars in the early days of "modifieds'. I think an evolution in design of these cars took place over decades. Early mods seem to be just jalopies with bigger motors. I have seen pics of many that were full fendered. I remember seeing some of them myself. Then fenders were cut partly off, seen quite a few of them too. Then fenders were gone but car was still sitting at the stock height as it came from the factory. Then we started seeing lowered frames and some bodies channeled down over the frame, all to lower the cg. It appears in the era of my pic that they had worked on making the body lower, smaller in cross section and length, being not much bigger than the man. Kind of what you are doing with the body in this thread.  I think the smallness and shape of the roof may have paid homage to air resistance and air flow. Altogether it was a period of great ingenuity, almost artistic in nature on some cars. I have found quite a few pictures of these. I am thinking that building models of these cars leaves lots of room as the cars were as different as the builders. So their may literally be many hundreds of real cars that were built and raced, to get some ideas from. Very intriguing to say the least.

I think it is within the realm of possibility that quite a few of these cars were built with parts from more than one body. You know, lower body from some 30's roadster and top from a completely different car. I will be quite curious to see what your thoughts are on what this one may have been built from. I am still pondering on it quite a bit. I too am trying to figure out just what it was built from. Been looking at lots of pics, nothing really strikes me yet. It takes a very high level of skill to make curves in sheetmetal so I figure the curved piece was once part of a car. Just which car is of course the puzzle.

Nathan

[David Bogard]

BobP is the undisputed King of cut-downs and those kinds of modifieds. Look carefully at any of his builds and you will see the basic concept of the car you have pictured above. Hopefully he can chime in and help you out. You say you have other photos? When was the one you have posted taken? That would be helpful (along with photos of other similar cars) in getting a handle on what they actually were.

[Maineboy]

That photo was taken in 1969 and is of the same era as the yellow and black car I posted on another thread. Beech Ridge had the fastest mods in Maine at that time and I suspect that some of the more astute builders were beginning to think about air resistance and air flow, some time before wings came to pass.

Here's another from the same era.
ralphcusak2 by Nathan Pitts, on Flickr

This car was driven by beloved Beech Ridge driver Ralph Cusack. He was racing the first night the track opened in 1949 and raced until the end of the 1980 season. He and his wife bought the track and owned it for about 17 yrs. His son Andy owns it now and has turned it into a show piece. Ralph has 12 season championships on that track, more than any other man in the tracks history.

Ralph had a previous mod which was a 32 Ford coupe, with unaltered body, bearing the same number. It was known as the "Blue Deuce". Can post a pic of that one some day for the real purists.

I think this could have been a later 30's coupe body that was shortened at the front, making higher glass area,  narrowed  and of course had the tail bobbed in true David style. (ha) I also think it is on the Ford pickup frame and has a Ford front axle with transverse spring. And of course the sbc which dominated Beech Ridge in that era. Wish we could see a front or rear view to see how much it was narrowed. But you can see it is slightly channeled down over the frame so was a bit wider than that frame. Guesses on what body this was?

Nathan