A Hole Lot of Fun

I know there are many smart people out there and even many smart people reading this blog. I also know that most of you would not put holes in a perfectly good floor. I also was very reluctant to put holes in a perfectly good floor because unlike many other floors this one took six months to build, but we did and we like it! I am sure you are curious on what I am talking about. There are seat posts for the seats to go into the floor and they all have to be cut out for the plate and then cut all the way through most places for the seat leg to go into. Here is what I mean...

This is what it looks like after it has been cut out. We made a jig. As a side note for you Jim, you want to cut all of the holes in the floor before putting any of the fenders or the hump or anything else in. Believe me when I tell you it will make your life easier. We have all of the right measurements when you get to that point.  

This is what it looks like with the plate in it. The bolts that are in there are not the ones that will be there permanently, it was just to make sure it worked.

Underneath the car is a clip for the seat leg to go into. This is to allow the seat to be removed when needed. The fronts of the seat legs are hooks so you hook in the front and push down the back to hook them into place.

My Grandpa has often made the comment that most of the modern conveniences of cars can be found in a model A. Here is one of the examples right here, removable seating. Didn't realize it had been around for so long did ya?

Rails, Rails, Rails

Some random piece of trivia, the station wagon was very popular for the railroads to use. Because of the seating, it allowed the railroad to move more passengers more efficiently to various destinations. In light of this silly piece of trivia I have another story about rails. These are our roof rails...

A special shout out to my awesomely hot wife who assisted in this picture. We have already talked about bending these but this is a good view of seeing the bend. The bend happens right over the door pillars between the front and rear doors. There is really not much to the rails themselves it is just a 3/4 inch piece of wood. It slopes from where it bend form the front of the car and also towards the back of the car. We first cut one so we could get all of the angles correct and then with the router we cut the remaining 5 to match. Then like everything we seem to do lately we cut holes in a perfectly good piece of wood...

There is 7 holes on the board with a total of 8 bows that will go across. Those of you who can do math notice that there is not enough holes. The eighth one is glued to the rear board on the roof along with to the sides. Because of the added strength by gluing it to the rear it is not necessary to have a hole for the eighth bow. Here is what it looks like on the car...

Stay tuned to for what the roof will look like!

A Place for My Feet to Rest

Once upon a time there was a hole in the floor. It wasn't a big hole, it wasn't a small hole, it was just a hole. The problem with this hole is that it is in the wrong spot. For I the great driver of this car had no place to rest my feet (although if we do leave the hole it would make for an awesome flinstone car). like everything else on this car the piece that goes on the floor under the passenger and driver's feet is also wood. It interfaces with many different parts so there was a lot of cutting, fitting, and sanding to get it to fit. I started with this...

So after I made this pattern I cut it out of 1/2 in birch plywood which is the same plywood that is on all of the doors and quarter panels. You can add another bag of sawdust to your count. It took a little convincing to get the final piece where it needs to be. I unfortunately do not have a final final product, but here is what it basically looks like...

There will be 2 more cuts one for the battery which will be on the left hand side of this picture, and since we are putting in an overdrive there will be another holes right behind the emergency brake. Now that leaves us with only one more hole to fill in and that is under the front seat.

Heading in the Right Direction

My Grandfather doubted our abilities in this particular piece. I can understand his concern. It is curved in three or four different directions. You think I could remember since I actually made the piece. The bottom is curved to match the cowl, the top is curved to match the roof, and then it is also curved front to back to also match the roof, and then it is rounded on the corners so that it looks nice. I have actually worked on this piece for three or four months and now they are finally finished. Here are some pictures of the process...

It starts out as a square block of wood. We made a pattern to make the top and bottom curve to match the cowl. We cut it with a band saw and then used an orbital sander to sand it to match. It took some time but it fits perfectly.

You can't tell very well but if you look at the top you can see that it is curved. It also has a slant to it to match the roof. We made this slant by setting it up on a joiner the angle that we needed and slowly cut away until it looked right. And then put a half inch radius on the front and sanded it to make it look smooth. We also cut the corners to match the curve of the cowl.

So to connect the side rails that are in the second picture to the header you cut a groove on the bottom side of the header and then cut the top of the side rails to go under it. This picture above is the header, it's cut out. And the picture below is the side rail with it cut out.

The Car that Thought it Could

So have you ever heard the story of the Little Engine That Could? Who tried to get up the hill and kept saying "I think I can I think I can..." Every time it made him work harder. He worked so hard he was able to get over that hill. People cheered! Some might of cried, others were happy! His wife loved him!

I know that this might come as a shock to many people but life doesn't always work this way. My Father and I tried to be the Little Engine that Could. We even used "I think I can I think I can" as our rally cry. But as most of you that read my blog know my car didn't. Keep in mind though we have not given up hope. Like any great business we have just extended the deadline.

On a happier note we did get to venture to Boise to enjoy a wonderful Model A meet hosted by the great Treasure Valley Model A's. For those of you who have never been to one of these meets, it is a bunch of old people standing around talking about the past, wondering about the future, and fixing their Model A's. In between all of that they go on tours (my favorite part). Some of the tours we got to go on was to the Yanke Museum, Lucky Peak, and the Warhawk Museum (well we went to the park). It was lots of fun and we thoroughly enjoyed our time. And don't worry this car will make it to a meet sometime in the future.

Four Doors and a Running Board

I know it has been awhile and we still have some catching up to do, but we do have four doors now! Unlike the front doors the back doors are curved to match the fender. As you have read in previous posts, this took a lot of maneuvering, cutting, sanding, and fitting to make it all fit together. The rest of the door is the exact same as the front door. Here are a few pictures...

This picture is without the curve piece and the plywood insert. The hard part about this curve is that you have to make sure that the bottom piece is just big enough to fit between the door pillar and the fender. So you have to cut grooves in and curve it to match the curve to match the fender to match the gap...you can see how it gets complicated fast.

This is what it looks like on the car. I really need to get a picture with the trim on it. But if you look real hard you can picture the trim and almost the car done hahaha.

This might be harder to see but there is a groove that is on the back side of the curve so that the door matches with the other curve piece that goes over the fender. There is basically a door stop on the curve of the fender. 

I am really excited that we have four doors now! So basically the whole outside of the car is complete. So stay tuned for more updates.

If it only cost a Quarter...

Back when this car was originally made a quarter could really get you pretty far. Unfortunately in our lives a quarter doesn't really get you anything. So for me the only useful thing a quarter is is my quarter panel. Which is done!

As you have seen in previous posts we got the curves done for the quarter panel. It took a little convincing probably a few headaches and some pains, but they are done.

The basic construction of the rest of the quarter panel is just like the doors. You have an arm rest that holds in the plywood paneling along with two upright posts. You can check out what this looks like in previous postings. And like to doors it also gets a trim but the pattern is a little different then the doors and tailgate. See below...

Also to throw in a teaser picture. This shows you basically what the outline of the car looks like without the doors or the roof. If you squint really hard, turn your head sideways, and have a really good imagination you can almost see the car finished.

We are really starting to get to the home stretch but to the sadness of all of us the car will not be going to Boise with us. Although disappointing it still has been an enjoyable and fun experience working with my Dad. So all of you out there rooting against us...you win. You know who you are.

Don't get bent out of shape

It is not something that you notice until you start looking but the front of the roof is curved (Again more curves).  With the '30-'31 the door and the roof are the same curve.  With the '29 the door is straight but the roof still curves.  So naturally we had to find a way to make it curve.  To the dismay of my father and I we don't have a steamer box (although you think this would be a good time to finally make one).
My dad had to make these curves for the traveler but it was only one car not three.  What he did was just use an iron and it took forever for him to bend them. 

So we got a large pot of water and let them steam over it.  This allowed the heat and the moisture to get all of the way though the wood which is what you need in order to bend it.  It worked great.  After I let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes I took it out and hit it with the iron for a little while and then bent it.

This processes wasn't fast but it got the job done.  There are 60 some slats that had to be bent but they are done and it looks good.  Now we just have to get the rest of the roof done so that we can put them on.  We have more bending projects in the future so watch out for them.  We have to bend the side rails for the roof to match the front end.  These are much thicker and have to bend farther so we see how that goes.

We also add two more bags of sawdust.

I like cars with Curves

I know you are all thinking that it looks like a box with four tires. There cannot possibly be any curves on my Station Wagon. But indeed there are many curves. One of the most elaborate ones actually there is three of them that go over the fender. Lucky for us my Grandfather had us build a Traveler several years ago which allowed us to buy a bit to do the finger joints.

To help save the blade for another project we cut it out with a table saw and then finished it with the shaper. The bit is actually pretty big. I wish I had a picture to show you but it took some time to get it set up for each of the joints. So after all of that came the gluing. My engineer of a Father of course came up with a great way to glue it together.

It had to be glued together in pieces because there is three sections to at least the one that is pictured. Other parts had less sections. After it was glued together we had to cut it to fit the curve around the fender. My Father used a big piece of plywood to make sure he got the curve right for the fender and then transferred that to these pieces.

So the top picture is the round for the door side of the fender. The smaller of the two in this picture is attached to the fender and the larger to the door. The second picture is the back side of the fender. All except for the smallest of them get a groove cut out for the panel to sit in and the larger one will eventually get a v groove so that it matches the space in between the back door and the fender. This is what it looks like with the big one in the quarter panel.

Needles to say these curves have a lot to them even though they look very simple in the pictures. There will probably be a couple more posts about these curves, but enjoy what you got now.

How Firm a Foundation

Anyone who has ever built anything you know the foundation is hard work and it takes time. The floor on the Station Wagon was no exception. Many long man hours went into making this floor as beautiful as it is. But with a little happiness the floor is finished!

Once you get the main structure put together the rest is just putting decking on. Of course like everything else the floor is also black. I'm told that original was tar since this is a messy nor a very fun process we resorting to flat black paint. Although some research has shown that something similar and pretty close is a cement sealer. After talking with a few people it seemed that the best bet was to just paint it black.

Some of you will notice that our leaf spring is just hanging out there. This needs to be put in and then the floor goes around it. But this little piece is very difficult to find. We have found one but I would have to sell my kidney in order to get it. We also found a company that we think has it but they are waiting for the manufacturer to make some. The only one you can really find is the one for the Tudor Sedans which is squared off and I need one that is rounded. I will enclose a picture so if anyone wants to help me find one it would be greatly appreciated. If you do find one I am willing to add you to the list of people who get a ride (this is how I have been able to get help from many different people and it really works).

 It sure is nice to finally have the floor finished.

Fender it's more than a Guitar

First I must apologize to all three of my loyal followers.. it has been awhile since I have blogged. With finishing school and working diligently on the car it has just been overwhelming, but we are back.

The fenders that we have were not necessarily the same ones as the Station Wagon. Probably very similar but not exactly original. Of course when the price is right you buy them. When you get great deals often it comes with some issues. Our poor fenders were wider in one area by two inches. Now I understand that two inches is a small amount and in most areas of the fender it wouldn't make a difference so it was decision time. We either had to manipulate the fender or cut large chunks out of our floor. Since my Dad and I had put so much effort into our floor and it looked so darn good we decided to hack away at the fender.

This was not an easy task. We borrowed a welder from a very gracious brother in law. The welder was too hot and pretty much blew through the metal. So after some long hours of working at it and building and manipulating it we made it the right size. I know a few of you car guys out there may cringe but we had to resort to Bondo. I have to say I make take up a job in bodywork.

I know that I have shown you a picture of the fenders mounted but now they are permanently attached to the car. Here is a few fun pictures to enjoy...

You can have any color as long as its black.

I think Henry Ford may have been color blind. The one color he loves is black. My poor station wagon is no exception. To the sadness of many wood workers and me and my father we have begun to paint the floor. Keep in mind the sadness is because the beautiful pieces of wood are being covered in black not because we have finally made some progress. I have also begun painting all of the hardware, again black. I had to construct a makeshift paint booth in my tiny garage. It works, its not beautiful, but it gets the job done. I am hoping the parts come out better than my paint booth.

Jim this above picture is the part you want to assemble first.

So now that we have it all painted black hopefully we will be able to show you some pictures of the floor in its more permanent status. And i'm told that we will begin moving up. Yay!

Da Girls

I know that your all wondering (mostly my mother wanted this post) what the girls do when the boys are working. They probably wanted this post to prove that they actually do things while we are out in the garage. But most of the time is spent satisfying the 2 youngest of our girls. Anyone with kids will understand. But because I have a wonderful, amazing, beautiful, all inspiring, pretty much the greatest thing that walks the Earth wife and awesome mother they do in fact actually get things done. They made this really cool awesomly wonderful Easter dresses...

Of course you have to appreciate the professional models in this picture. They are for hire for the right price. Just contact us. We take all forms of payment. For those of you who are wondering about the toothbrush in Lydias mouth she has recently become obbsessed with brushing her teeth. (This is a good thing right?) But so the whole world knows that everybody in Arizona is being productive heres to the women in my life. Love you!

Here are some other projects they have done...

They are beckoning the men

Do you notice a pattern here?

For Your Caboose

Clearly your rear end needs a place to stay. So we have made the wood well at least some of the wood to go under our seat springs. So that my wonderful Mother-in-Law can start working on the upholstery. The station wagon has a front bench seat, two jump, seats, and a rear bench seat. This makes it the one with the most seats. (sorry mom in law). Here is a picture of the bottom of the jump seat. For some reason I don't have the pictures of the other ones. They are really just bigger.

So this actually happened awhile ago but I dont think I ever posted about it. So we are going to throw it in for fun. Through this project the router has become our best friend. In fact probably 3/4 of the parts have been routed in some form or another. Those of you who are familiar with routers know that they have cords. We thought it was a good idea to shorten our cord. The only problem was it was running when we tried to shorten it. Can anyone say bad idea? Needless to say the electrical current arching throught the bearings really hasn't done wonders to a relatively new router. See exhibit A...

Yes the green bit in that router is the one that tried to shorten it. You probably can't see it but there are really big chunks taken out of the bit too. So if any of you guys are feeling generous Dads probably gonna need a new router at some point. Keep in mind that we need a router that if we want to shorten our cords with we still can.