3 Steps to Personalizing your Hot Rod
I’ve always liked my car… Good thing, right? I guess I always wanted a hot rod. Bonnie, as in Bonneville, sure has changed since I bought her at a Goodguys show. The 3 pictures shown here are the 3 evolutionary changes of the car.
Step 1: As I bought her: I was thinking of buying a Zipper bodied Lakes Modified until I found out there’s a 6 month wait to get one. I felt pretty lucky to grab this when I did.
You’ll see the long split wishbones hooked to a 3 inch dropped axle. The rear axle is a old school banjo. The wheels are the 1935 style wires with some hard as hell bias ply or tractor style tires. I’m not sure what kind of paint the original owner used, but that yellow is tough as NAILS!! The engine block hasn’t never changed, but it did get updated. I’ve got the original header on it too. The quarter elliptical spring suspension front and back is there, but there’s friction shocks (only better then nothing at all!) in the front and nothing in the rear.
Step 2: My Redo: Since I was never a fan of the wires, even on lakes-style modifieds, I went to 15 inch steelies with wide white walls. I’ve always (like so many other people) liked the look of a red wheels with a white wall. It’s classic. I went to radials too. The front and rear suspension was updated. The front cause I had to. The axle had a crack in the passenger side king pin bushing. If that would have failed, the wheel comes off. NOT good. I changed to hairpins front and back too. I like the look of the wishbones, but setup the way they were, the rear axle is bound up. I found a pretty nasty crack on one side where the rear wishbone mounted. The rear axle is now an 8 inch with a 4.11 gear. I installed shocks front and back too. There’s alot of pictures of the front and rear suspension in my garage. I built the head from 1/2 of a small block Chevy kit that I split with a dude on Ebay. The red paint lasted about 30 minutes. Still, no interior.
Step 3: How she is now: Well, as Bonnie gets closer to being a “finished” car, the less interested I am in her. I still like this car, but I find myself thinking of building/working on my 63 Falcon wagon and 61 Rambler American wagon more. Maybe I’m getting old?
In the latest incarnation, I went to 16 inch steelies with Firestone bias ply tires. The ones in the back are TALL! It has a little more rake to it then I’d like, but nobody else thinks so. I made a new header a while back, but that’s changed since step 2. There’s more pinstriping on her now and I’ve added the custom MyRideisMe.com piston logo to the door. My buddy Joel from 1320 Designs hand painted it for me. We’re still planning to “antique” it a little. Last but not least, the interior’s in it. More on that later.
What do you think? Which one’s your favorite? Have I made steps forward or back? It’s all a matter of taste, but that’s what makes My Ride is Me, right?
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If you didn’t get rid of your other set of wheels & tires, you can always switch back and forth between the two, depending on yer mood.
I like it both ways.
oh-yeah that yellow had to go…love the wire rims though…….=]
Number 2 is my favorite. I’ve always been a sucker for white walls. I’m glad I never saw it with the red header. That rendition of Bonnie is the BOMB.
duuude i like the big rollers, and the rake
I think you made it better.
I agree Pike, it’s much better than when purchased originally. I like steps 2 and 3. I love me some red steelies too and white walls ftw! My ’50 Ford F-1 (plastic model) is black with red steelies (no chrome hubcaps here) with white walls and a big drop in ride height. :) I’m a huge fan of door logo’s too, so the myrideisme is perfect. What’s next? It’s no fun unless its a project right? LOL
My car may never be done, unless it’s someone else’s! I like the no hubcap look too, but I always end up with aftermarket dual pattern wheels and I don’t like no-hubcap if you can see a set of extra holes… that’s just me.
On deck is to get my front end vibration taken care of and then dial in the steering some and then pull it all apart for final paint. That probably won’t happen until my Falcon Wagon project is done though… who knows when that’ll be!
Can you tell me what size radial you have with the wide white wall tires please .looking for the same set up