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Hot Rod roadster for $5,000?


zeitgeist57

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Looking into the forseeable future, I'm still going to do my Factory Five Cobra...but I'm getting the itch to do a real old-school (pre-1965), simple roadster for warm-weather cruising. Nothing fancy at all...truly a 4-wheeled motorcycle that I don't mind getting dirty, rained-on...doesn't need to handle, just cruise...cheap V8 platform for good power, great sound, and easy to get parts...slamming it to the ground....

 

I don't mind chopping the roof off of something, either. Any good candidates out there?

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No trucks...I'd hack up one of my own if that was my decision. :)

 

If I'm going to sawzall anything, it would be an older car with seating for 4 people.

 

From my experience, it's best to start with a running and driving car. However, the sacrifice there will be body work (local cars will have a ton of rust). I would need to look down south for patina'd metal, which I can bomb with a cheap paint job. Definitely dark and sinister.

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I know you said V8, but... what about an old Beetle?

 

They can be had for cheap, and can look good as a rat rod.....

 

KillJoy

 

I looked into chopping a beetle, but there are usually a ton of little issues that need to be dealt with. Not cost effective, as anything that's $1500 needs engine work or a lot of rust(structural) repair.

 

I'd rather start with a full-frame, RWD platform. I'm still thinking about a chop-topped older American sedan with a reinforced frame, cut springs, and a gutted exhaust system.

 

Glass is expensive

A/C is expensive

Repo Interior panels are expensive

Trim pieces are expensive

Old Wiring is expensive

 

...see where I'm going with this? :)

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I've got a friend who built himself a pretty nice little 20's Ford from scratch for under $3,000. Took him about 3 years to assemble all the pieces and another 9 months to actually build it...but he has a metal '27 coupe body on Deuce rails with a 2.3 Ford turbo/T-5 feeding a fab'd 9" for that. To be honest, if you counted up all the tickets from car show swap meets that he haunted searching for old parts, it'd be more like $5,000 though!
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