NERVOUS SURGEONS

 

THIS SECTION IS DEDICATED TO MOTORS IN THE MAKING, HOPEFULLY THEY WILL EVENTUALLY LEAVE THIS SECTION AND PROGRESS TO THE FINISHED ARTICLE, OR NOT AS THE CASE MAYBE!!!!

Rare shot of Jim, he seems to be pondering the future.   

Unusual location for the steering column?

  

The Flathead

 

 

Chassis coming together at Jerry's

Body lurking inside Spence garage

The Chassis & Body now both in paint, the chassis at Jerry's workshop having all the detailing work carried out and the body patiently waiting for the day when they will be re-united. The chosen colour very similar to the one Jim painted his pickup, I love the stainless exhaust system and the quality of the work carried out by Jerry is excellent.  

Following a discussion last year with Merv Barnett and Mike Taylor a plan was hatched to get the Devon back up in the air. The simplest way was to change the old Drop Tube for a staight tube axle. I ordered a pair of ET 10 spokes from Rods West in a custom offset and once they had arrived began collecting the parts neccessary for the front end. 40 Ford spindles, early Jag discs and bearings and then removed the old front end. This was all loaded into Slingshots Merc and transpoted to Merv's place in Bristol. (elsewhere in this section you can see the projects in Merv's garage)

   

     Original Drop tube axle

 

               The Old Drop Tube Gone!

A few weeks after dropping off the old axle, Merv was on the phone saying it was done. We met up at the Hot Rod Drags and I was really pleased with the axle he had made. So much so, that i left early so i could get back to the garage to mock it up in place to ensure that everything fitted and to see if it had lifted the car up the estimated 4 - 6 inches. It fitted perfectly and even in the one area Merv had had to guesstimate ( the steering arm) lined up spot on.

 

     New axle bolted into place  

       

         Not Fully adjusted, but still going up!

 

 

Nick's Devon and Paul's Pop out and about at Billing 06, the Devon now sporting Orange windows in keeping with the continually evolving Gasser theme.

Paul's Pop was only a few days away from disaster as seeking to rectify a electric fan problem Paul managed to seperate the thermostat housing from the rad, Ouch!

 

 

 

 

 

Walking into Merv's garage is always intriguing, as you never are quite sure what will greet your eyes, you can be assured it will be something you wish you had and on the trip to drop of my axle was no diferent. The first automotive creation to assault the your retina was the work in progress 34 5 window all steel Ford Coupe. This belonging to Carl Frith and in for major construction work. Your eyes almost feel like they are made from metal as they are drawn to the magnet filling the front of the car, A Hemi, for christs sake! Hemi's are not small but squeezed into the limited space available in a Coupe which was rolled off the production line 71 years ago, is truely AWESOME.

 

 

        

Yes It's a HEMI in a 34

          Rear View, that engine is massive!

Further in the garage was another superb looking piece of Hot Rod Art in the form of Nick Barnetts Pick up. Still under construction the Father and Son team have been busy. Again its an all steel carand again motivated by a Hemi but on this occassion a "baby Hemi" in the unusaul but so refreshing form of a Daimler. Both projects appeared to be running in tandum and i look forward to them both being finished. you will of course be able to check them out in more detail when they are featured in Custom Car, as they surely will be worth featuring.

 

       

   Nick's Pick Up note the newly cast Rocker Covers.

 

          

          Nicks front steel wheel just sneaks into view

            along side the spindle mount Halibrands   

                                                                                    

Rear view of the Pick ups cab, and on 'Our Current Cars' page you will find an image of it in its finished state.

 

Baby Hemi, open headers and Forty Ford steels in the words of Borat - NICE!!!

 

 

When Merv sold his Copper 5 Window Coupe he completed an around the world trip then set about the next project waiting outside his workshop for its place on the "Barnet" street rod production line. This time round its going to be a Willys sedan circa 1938, current plans are for a new chassis, with a potential Pro Street influence, running steels all round powered by (what else) a V8. Origin as yet undecided, however what you can be certain of, is that this will be another finely crafted and detailed Rod.

 

Stripped and part way through the rebuild, with rear doors welded shut new floor, tubs, axles and fuel tank in place, the Willys is already taking on the look of another finely crafted Hot Rod from the garage of Merv 'magoo' Barnett.

 

 

Mike Crook aka Flat Top Mikey from Aylesbury, has owned his Pop for the last 15 years, during that time he took it to various Rod runs, but it seems it wasn't quite what he wanted. To rectify this, the pop went on the waiting list at the well repected Wisbech Engineering, where they have worked some of their renowned magic and metal work skills.

In the beginning Flat top's pop looked like this:-

 

Full on 70's but with a twist, no V8 and no Jag IRS, nope this Pop was powereed by a 1600cc Ford crossflow with the rear end continuing the family connection with a Cortina live axle.

Slot mags all round and an inspiring 40 miles to the gallon, in this guise the Pop was a regular attendee at various runs including "Run to the Sun".

 

 

 

 

OGU 667 was purchased approximately 15 years ago and was found lurking in Hayes, Middlesex. Following 3 years of fun and cruising, Flat Top could not hide his desire to hear the rumble and roar of a V8 up front, at first seeking to find another Pop with the work already carried out, but when this search proved to be in vain, he decide to use OGU as the base and set about stripping the car of its running gear, this soon sold but it would be a few more years before the project started to come back together again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The strip down begins, don't be expecting to use this Pop for a while!

 

 

 

 

 

The project has moved on quite a bit here, it may not seem it but if you need any further proof check out the floor covering and compare it with the floor in the previous image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that's more like it, at times like this during a long project, you need to mock up the car to not only know that everything is fitting, but more importantly, to reinvigerate your desire to finish the job.

 

 

 

 

 

More details to follow soon, but below is a little taster of what is to come:-

 

    These headers are a work of 'Wisbech' Art and below you can see them fitted up, how shinney will they be Mike when you fire it up?

 

 

A COUPLE OF IMAGES FROM THE LATE 80's AND IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING ITS A MODEL 'Y' THAT HAS BEEN COUPED. MY BROTHER GOT THIS IN A TRADE WITH ONE OF HIS GOOD MATES SAM ANKER. THE CAR (I USE THAT TERM LOOSELY) WAS SOLD ON AND NEVER HEARD OR SEEN AGAIN, PERHAPS SOMEONE OUT THERE KNOWS DIFFERENT?

ONLY NEEDS WIRING AND PAINT TO FINISH!!!!!!!!!!!