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2010/07/05 Dean Bittick
Bruce,
This is a short story of how the speedster project came together... It was a fun project to build something like this. This speedster was a National Winner at the World Model A Ford Meet in Dallas Texas. All "track pictures" were taken at the Texas Motor Speedway... WOW......What a ride !!!! To recreate the past of vintage racing... It took many talented people to make it happen. Please choose any part of the story you wish. I will send you some great photos of the car and the project of building it, for you to view..... Keith Moritz, of MorFab Customs, who I mention in the story, was the guy who Frank knew, who partnered with him to have the Washington show !!!!!
I got an email from my friend Jeff Riley.....He told me you had contacted him about the show in Washington. He is a great guy....
Thanks,
Dean
Birth of an Olde Tyme Boattail Speedster
By Dean Bittick
For the past thirty-five years, I’ve had an interest in Model A Fords and have attended many national meets. I’ve been fortunate enough to own a ‘31 Deluxe Roadster that I’ve shown in fine-point judging and have received a Marc of Excellence and a Masters Award. Then my interest turned to touring and driving my ‘31 Slant Windshield Town Sedan. I’ve driven that car to a number of national meets across the country, but there was one car that always caught my attention when I was lucky enough to see one: a Model A Ford Boattail Speedster.
I always wanted to build a Boattail Speedster, but I would need help to accomplish that task. This is where the story really begins.
Less than five miles from where I live there is a gentleman named Palmer Lawson, who had a big interest in Model A’s. I’d never met him before, but when I needed an engine rebuilt in my ‘30 pickup truck, I was given his name, not knowing we would have similar interests. I met him, he overhauled the engine and transmission in my pickup, and a friendship developed.
It so happened that Palmer had come upon a running gear from a ‘28 car. I was in his shop one day, and the running gear was sitting in the middle of the floor. We were discussing the running gear, and Palmer commented that he didn’t know what he was going to do with it. Without hesitation, I said, "Well, I’ve always wanted to build a Speedster." He grinned at me and said, "Then we’ll build a Speedster!" So Palmer and I joined together in a partnership to build and own a Speedster. His talents are unparalleled. Basically, Palmer put together the entire running gear and assembled the front sheet metal of the car.
We needed to find someone who could fabricate the rear sheet metal of the car and make it a Boattail Speedster, not just a Speedster. I had seen Speedsters before and had taken lots of pictures of them through the years, so I looked at pictures of Speedsters that had been built. Most people told me that the way to build a Boattail Speedster would be to actually use two hoods and clamshell them, putting one on top of the other to make the boattail part of the rear of the car. That would mean taking a ‘28 or any other Roadster, cutting it off at the cowl post and fabricating what one wants to put on the back. I was told that people mostly used ‘39 Ford hoods to do this in the old days.
I ran into Keith Moritz, who owns MorFab Customs; his company does a lot of street rod fabrication work. He told me he had heard that if one used two truck hoods from a 1941 International pickup truck, the hoods work better because they have a distinctive character line down the side and thus when one clamshells them together, that character line is really shown. That’s what we decided to do.
I was able to locate a couple of those hoods. Palmer had the running gear restored, and we were ready to move on to the next step, which was to take the entire car to MorFab Customs near my home. Keith spent about eight months fabricating the two hoods together. That’s where the talent really lies. All of the work on the back of this car has been molded. MorFab Customs made a hammer mold and then hammered 24-gauge metal around the mold. If you look at the car, you can see how beautiful that molding is that extends from the hoods to cover the frame. I’ve seen many Speedsters where the builders didn’t cover the frame. I wanted this one to look better, snazzier – a classy Speedster. I believe that’s what we have come up with.
Once we had the Boattail section completed, we took the entire car apart again and took the sheet metal parts to Show-Me Auto Body, where it was painted in vermillion red. We had a black running gear with this vermillion frame and body with black wheels, and I thought the contrasting colors looked very nice. Then Palmer and I put the car together.
After the car was together, I thought we needed to do some lettering and numbering on it, and so we took the car to a sign painter, Jim Peters of Jim Peters’s Signs, located close to me. Jim actually hand lettered the car. Picking a number was kind of interesting because I took the car to Jim and said, "I’ve not picked a number yet." He looked at it and said, "That should be pretty easy: it looks like it’s number one to me." That’s how Number One came about.
After that I thought we needed to do something to the car to set it apart, even though the body work on the tail section really did that, especially with the louvers that one sees in the front and the rear of the car. Regardless, I thought it would be interesting to have Henry Ford’s picture on the car somewhere. I came up with the idea to airbrush his portrait on the gas tank, the dash of the car. I found an airbrush artist, Mayhem Custom Paint and Airbrush, located close to me.
I took Tim Kohl of Mayhem a picture that I had of Henry Ford at the time period of the age where most people would recognize him, and Tim spent about three days airbrushing Ford’s portrait on the tank. Most builders might use a picture that has been stuck on, but our Speedster is actually airbrushed. Tim did what I consider a fantastic job on the car.
Next we put the upholstery material in the cockpit. We used ‘28 Roadster stock seat springs. We had to take the center row of springs out of the backrest in order to lower it enough to match up to the tail section. The upholstery was also done by MorFab Customs.
And that’s the story of the Speedster and how it was put together.
The following people, who were instrumental in completing this two-year project, deserve special credit:
These Modifications Were Made:
This is a short story of how the speedster project came together... It was a fun project to build something like this. This speedster was a National Winner at the World Model A Ford Meet in Dallas Texas. All "track pictures" were taken at the Texas Motor Speedway... WOW......What a ride !!!! To recreate the past of vintage racing... It took many talented people to make it happen. Please choose any part of the story you wish. I will send you some great photos of the car and the project of building it, for you to view..... Keith Moritz, of MorFab Customs, who I mention in the story, was the guy who Frank knew, who partnered with him to have the Washington show !!!!!
I got an email from my friend Jeff Riley.....He told me you had contacted him about the show in Washington. He is a great guy....
Thanks,
Dean
Birth of an Olde Tyme Boattail Speedster
By Dean Bittick
For the past thirty-five years, I’ve had an interest in Model A Fords and have attended many national meets. I’ve been fortunate enough to own a ‘31 Deluxe Roadster that I’ve shown in fine-point judging and have received a Marc of Excellence and a Masters Award. Then my interest turned to touring and driving my ‘31 Slant Windshield Town Sedan. I’ve driven that car to a number of national meets across the country, but there was one car that always caught my attention when I was lucky enough to see one: a Model A Ford Boattail Speedster.
I always wanted to build a Boattail Speedster, but I would need help to accomplish that task. This is where the story really begins.
Less than five miles from where I live there is a gentleman named Palmer Lawson, who had a big interest in Model A’s. I’d never met him before, but when I needed an engine rebuilt in my ‘30 pickup truck, I was given his name, not knowing we would have similar interests. I met him, he overhauled the engine and transmission in my pickup, and a friendship developed.
It so happened that Palmer had come upon a running gear from a ‘28 car. I was in his shop one day, and the running gear was sitting in the middle of the floor. We were discussing the running gear, and Palmer commented that he didn’t know what he was going to do with it. Without hesitation, I said, "Well, I’ve always wanted to build a Speedster." He grinned at me and said, "Then we’ll build a Speedster!" So Palmer and I joined together in a partnership to build and own a Speedster. His talents are unparalleled. Basically, Palmer put together the entire running gear and assembled the front sheet metal of the car.We needed to find someone who could fabricate the rear sheet metal of the car and make it a Boattail Speedster, not just a Speedster. I had seen Speedsters before and had taken lots of pictures of them through the years, so I looked at pictures of Speedsters that had been built. Most people told me that the way to build a Boattail Speedster would be to actually use two hoods and clamshell them, putting one on top of the other to make the boattail part of the rear of the car. That would mean taking a ‘28 or any other Roadster, cutting it off at the cowl post and fabricating what one wants to put on the back. I was told that people mostly used ‘39 Ford hoods to do this in the old days.
I ran into Keith Moritz, who owns MorFab Customs; his company does a lot of street rod fabrication work. He told me he had heard that if one used two truck hoods from a 1941 International pickup truck, the hoods work better because they have a distinctive character line down the side and thus when one clamshells them together, that character line is really shown. That’s what we decided to do.
I was able to locate a couple of those hoods. Palmer had the running gear restored, and we were ready to move on to the next step, which was to take the entire car to MorFab Customs near my home. Keith spent about eight months fabricating the two hoods together. That’s where the talent really lies. All of the work on the back of this car has been molded. MorFab Customs made a hammer mold and then hammered 24-gauge metal around the mold. If you look at the car, you can see how beautiful that molding is that extends from the hoods to cover the frame. I’ve seen many Speedsters where the builders didn’t cover the frame. I wanted this one to look better, snazzier – a classy Speedster. I believe that’s what we have come up with.
Once we had the Boattail section completed, we took the entire car apart again and took the sheet metal parts to Show-Me Auto Body, where it was painted in vermillion red. We had a black running gear with this vermillion frame and body with black wheels, and I thought the contrasting colors looked very nice. Then Palmer and I put the car together.
After the car was together, I thought we needed to do some lettering and numbering on it, and so we took the car to a sign painter, Jim Peters of Jim Peters’s Signs, located close to me. Jim actually hand lettered the car. Picking a number was kind of interesting because I took the car to Jim and said, "I’ve not picked a number yet." He looked at it and said, "That should be pretty easy: it looks like it’s number one to me." That’s how Number One came about.
After that I thought we needed to do something to the car to set it apart, even though the body work on the tail section really did that, especially with the louvers that one sees in the front and the rear of the car. Regardless, I thought it would be interesting to have Henry Ford’s picture on the car somewhere. I came up with the idea to airbrush his portrait on the gas tank, the dash of the car. I found an airbrush artist, Mayhem Custom Paint and Airbrush, located close to me.
I took Tim Kohl of Mayhem a picture that I had of Henry Ford at the time period of the age where most people would recognize him, and Tim spent about three days airbrushing Ford’s portrait on the tank. Most builders might use a picture that has been stuck on, but our Speedster is actually airbrushed. Tim did what I consider a fantastic job on the car.
Next we put the upholstery material in the cockpit. We used ‘28 Roadster stock seat springs. We had to take the center row of springs out of the backrest in order to lower it enough to match up to the tail section. The upholstery was also done by MorFab Customs.
And that’s the story of the Speedster and how it was put together.
The following people, who were instrumental in completing this two-year project, deserve special credit:
- Palmer Lawson, without whom this project would not have happened
- Jim Mueller, who helped so much putting the car together and doing the welding
- Walt Gaertner, a longtime friend who has taught me the pure pleasure of owning and driving a Model A Ford
These Modifications Were Made:
- Diamond A block, 12 volt, 60 amp alternator
- 6-blade fan
- Balanced crankshaft with counterweights
- Balanced flywheel
- Lightened flywheel
- V-8 pressure plate
- High speed ring gear and pinions (3.54:1)
- Forged rods with inserts
- High compression head (5.9:1)
- Halogen headlights
- Turn signals
- Oil filter
- Cast iron brake drums
- Modern shocks
- Shortened pitman arm
Content copyright . Bruce Kunz. All rights reserved.
