I thought I would slap this page together about my 1930 Improved Model A Coupe build.
After years of collecting car magazines and going to car shows I decided that I really wanted to build a hot rod. So in 2004 I started looking for one. At that time I wanted a 1934 3 window coupe. Looking locally all that was available were fibreglass replica's. Not wanting to shell out what people were asking for in Australia for a glass bodied car I started to look on Ebay and on line on every US hot rod site that I could find. Hours, day in and day ,out trying to find a suitable car.
My focus started going towards other models in particular 1930 or 1936 Ford coupes. These were plentiful, affordable at the time, and were steel cars.
Finding a car wasn't all that hard but I had to find one in California or New York so I didn't pay a fortune in land shipping costs. I wanted it all complete and as straight as possible and I had to find someone who was willing to sell to an overseas buyer. Not that easy when you combine all those things together. I came close in late 2004 I found a 1936 Ford 5 window coupe in Oregon. Although it is close to California shipping the car there was an extra $1500 USD.
No matter what car I found the idea was always to have it powered by a strong Nitrous injected 351 or 400 Cleveland ( actually I didn't have a choice, Maryanna wanted it to have a Cleveland in it and I wasn't going to argue) C10 auto & 9 inch diff. All modifications were to be done in house as much as possible.
After 2 years of looking I finally found what I was looking for, a 1930 Model A Coupe. The car I found is actually the one pictured in the right hand corner of this picture parked near the shed.
The car was on eBay with a buy it now price. Every thing was right with the car and I had spoken to the owner on the phone and was ready to buy it. My problem was I couldn't log onto eBay at the time as I was at work and ebay was a restricted site that couldnt be accessed. By the time I had gone home the car was sold to a Australian car dealer from Queensland.
I sent an email to the seller and told him that if the deal fell through that I would buy the car. He called me a few days later saying that he had another one for sale that he just pulled out of a barn. It looked rough in the pictures but all the pluses were there and the price was right so I bought it.
What appeared to be really rough in the pictures turned out to be in very good condition for its age with some rust in the usual spots and 1 quarter panel needing serious time spent on it.
The following posts show what work is involved in building one of these things from the ground up.
Many thanks to Mum & Dad for letting me use their garage. Dad for all his help. Joe for all the engineering bits, chassis & gearbox and the use of his garage and tools. Dave for the many hours helping with the top chop and body and panel repairs. Elvio for the final tweaking of the body and painting the car.
