Street Rodder News Issue No. 11 - October 1997
Street Rodder News Issue No. 11 - October 1997
It all started with the boys doing some tall talking in the shed. "Dave, why don't you build another rod?" "What?" he replied. "Why don't you build another rod?" "What for? I have already got a bloody good '28 Tourer."
But, it's raining, and it's cold.
"All right, I'll think about it for a while." Some time later Garry gave me a ring. "Well?" he said. "Well", I responded. "Well?" he said. "Well, all right then." Shaking my head, and saying to myself, "What the hell have I got myself into again?" (The power of rodding!)
Step 1. Ring Ken at Deuce Customs, "Hello Ken, me again. How much?" Ken did a deal for me, then I placed an order for 1 only 1932 Ford Tudor.
Step 2. Buy 1 set of '32 rails.
Step 3. Between Garry and myself, we managed to nail the chassis together.
Step 4. What to power it with? Need something different. Gave Greg a ring at Brunswick Diesels. Done a deal on 1 only 6.5 litre V8 Chev diesel, complete with Turbo 700. (Yes, one mother of a motor. Different, eh?) Between Greg, Grant and myself we managed to nail the goods together. (A top effort)
Step 5. A lot of dump scrounging. Have you heard of poetry in motion? Yes? Then I was it! Jumping from car body to car body, with a very cheap complete Centura diff on my shoulders. Lots more scrounging, lots more bits. Diff, guages, suspension parts, hand brake, air con, heater, fuel tank parts, wiring, wipers and heaps of goodies. In the south west of WA we must have some of the best scrounging grounds in Australia. The '32 was taking shape, time to wait for Ken's body to arrive.
Step 6. Body arrives, start to assemble. Very, very tight in the engine bay, but we got there.
Step 7. Ken from Westside Motor Trimmers completed the trim (Top effort).
Step 8. Finished the rod, about 9 months to build. Went through licensing with flying colours, job well done. Thank you to all who helped out.
Step 9. Quick lap around the block for a couple of weeks to check out the car. Everything seemed to be running OK. In the morning, off to Brisbane to have Christmas with my brothers. Well, Brisbane or Bust! Filled up and away we go from Bunbury, across to Lake King, and down the hill to Esperence. On the way, we hit two swarms of locusts, the humble thongs were found to be the best method of scraping them off the windscreen. The bit of flywire nailed to the grille also did the job.
We fuelled up, went up the hill to Norseman, turned right. Pulled over at Cockabiddy for the night. Off again in the morning facing into the sun. The cab got so hot, it was time to hit the AC button, cool one, eh? The CD was possibly the best thing to come out of a trip to Bali. Programme a full day of music, and sit back.
I stopped at a servo to fuel up, jumped out, and stuffed the nozzle in the Tudor's tank, and let it rip. Off in the distance I noticed a man waving his arms frantically, and shouting, "You've got the wrong bowser". "What?" I replied. "You've got the wrong bowser", he repeated. "'Ay?" I said. "Geeze, that's the diesel bowser", the man puffed. "Oh, have I?" I replied, "ah, she'll be right, dad said these old cars'll run on anything." I paid the man $37.50 for diesel, cranked it up, and took off in a cloud of dust, leaving the attendant smiling broadly.
More driving, more white lines. You guessed it, the flashing blue lights arrived. "What's the matter?" I asked the man in tan. "Not a lot" he replied. "What'll it do?" asked the copper. "Dunno", I replied. "Tell you what", the copper said, "Follow me, and give it a run". At 200kms plus, the Deuce felt a little light and hairy, backed off to 160 kms, and watched the copper disappear into the distance.
Pulled over at Petersborough for the night, nice place, apart from the owner of the motel who worked on his car until 3 am, thanks. Off again in the morning, with not a lot of sleep, it was a b*#!!*d of a trip to Tamworth, but I don't complain, no-one listens. The next day, a shorter more pleasant drive to my brother's place just north of Brisbane, got there for lunch. Had enough driving. The time had come to sink a few king browns, (beer tastes better in big brown bottles). Next day, damage report. Two stone chips, one broken headlight, one litre of oil, one broken speedo cable and lots of 'buggers'. Very happy with the car's performance! Over Christmas, we drove up and down from Brisbane, and had a good time with the rod and my brothers. I think I may have to change the thermostat. The hottest the motor ever got was 140 degrees with the air con on, idling in city traffic.
Time to park the rod at my brother's house at Samford, and fly back to Bunbury. A week before the Nats my son Aaron and I flew back to Brisbane to get the rod. My nephew joined us, and we started heading down to Hawkesbury. We stopped in at 'Whoopee World' (I think Dave is talking about 'Dreamworld') again to get the bowels working properly. Stayed the night at Coffs Harbour. The next day my young nephew asked, "Does the air conditioner work?" "That's no air conditioner, it's a snow making machine" I replied. "Bull#@!*" young Bob said. With both windows wound up, within less than 5 minutes, flakes of snow were blowing out of the vents!! "Told ya".
Got to Hawkesbury just after lunch, and spent the rest of the day talking about the trip, and the roundabout way we took to get to there.
While at the Nationals, having a good time, relaxing and talking to other rodders, I listened to one guy spitting the dummy about blowing up his motor just before the event. I told him "that much the same thing had happened to me. Determined to get to the Nats, I spied a perfectly good diesel tractor across the paddock. Working through the night I had the new engine fitted, and in the Deuce, and I was on my way again." The guys listening to my story just laughed and laughed....until I fired up the 6.5 litre Chev. That gave them something to talk about!
While cutting some laps around the cruisin' circuit in the Tudor, I saw a rodder running over to me. "My mate told me you've got a diesel in this rod," he panted. "Bull*!#@" I replied, and drove off. Later that night someone informed the still bewildered rodder about the tractor.
Had an excellent time at the Nationals, 100% effort to the organisers. Time to head for home. 3 1/2 days later arrived home to Bunbury. Damage report; used half litre of oil, spat a fuse. Best fuel economy on the Nullabor was 37 mpg. Driving the rod for a total time of seven weeks, managed a total of 17,500 kms. The rod has now done over 22,000 kms. The diesel is doing its best to run itself in, but I think it might take a while to loosen up, because it's doing a mere 1450 rpm at 115 km/hr.
To all the people who said that they were going to come over to Bunbury for the 1998 South West Sandgroper Nationals, Dave and the "Dynamic Diesel" are looking forward to your company.
