Here they are:
I can’t wait to get these installed!
We’ll finish them off with a pair of red seat belts.
These are gonna look great when the car is painted Olive Drab, with the P-40 graphics…
I’ll install these on a pair of Speedway Motors Universal Seat Frames.
-Stewart
That’s right!
Roadmonster.org is now three months old!
Rob set this site up on December 13th 2009, but we didn’t add a hit counter until January 1st, 2010.
It’s been three full months today, and we’ve got over 34,000 hits!
That’s over 11,000 hits a month!
Not too shabby!
Here is where we are at with the RoadMonster and the Rat Rod.
1) The RoadMonster is awaiting an entire undercarriage & driveline overhaul. I’ll post pics in April.
2) Tavis Highlander has done some cartoon sketches of the RoadMonster. I’ll have them posted in April.
3) The Rat Rod is getting new front wheels and new tires all around.
4) The Rat Rod is also receiving front disc brakes, and front shocks.
That’s it for the big stuff.
I’ve got lots of small stuff to do on the Rat Rod before she is road worthy.
The RoadMonster is definitely going to shows this summer, and maybe even to Woodburn Dragstrip to clock off some quarter mile runs…
Thanks again for stopping by our website!
Leave a message in any post and say “hi!”.
-Stewart
p.s. since this post is all about age…
…here are some other relevant ages:
-RoadMonster = 16 years old.
-Stewart = 45 years old.
-Rat Rod = 74 years old!
Puts things in perspective! lol…
…for the Hot Rod.
I am adding front brakes to the Hot Rod, and trying to add some height to the car…
I am also buying new front wheels.
We really like the wheel choice that Aaron made for the car, with spoke wheels on the front, so we are sticking with this type of wheel…
I called Wheel Vintiques today, and spoke with them about their Series 71 Wire Wheels.
They are going to make a pair of 15″ x 5.5″ wire wheels and powder coat them red.
I’ll add their plain center caps seen above.
We won’t be using chrome trim rings like the picture above shows.
As the car sits now, it’s really too low.
The current tire diameters are 21.5″ for the Front and 25″ for the Rear.
I’ll be running Firestone 710-15 Wide Whitewall Tires in the front, that measure 28.88″ tall.
On the rear, we’ll be using 30″ tall Hurst Racing Tires 30 x 10 x 15 Wide Whitewall Cheater Slicks.
These changes will give me more height:
3.69″ more height front.
3.00″ more height rear.
In addition to adding more tire to the car, we’ll be adding more spring.
Taller rear springs will add at least an additional 1.00″ of height.
We’re going to leave the front springs alone for now.
Finally, the car does not have any shocks.
I’ll be adding traditional front shock absorbers to the front end with Bob’s Rat Rods Shock Mounts.
Scott and I will be modifying the rear suspension a bit, and will ultimately add shocks there as well.
Hopefully the additional height will be just enough to make the car more driveable, but not be too high.
These modifications should add:
3.69″ Front
4.00″ Rear
The front brakes will be Mustang II / Pinto rotors and calipers.
I’ll be using Bob’s Rat Rod’s brackets for this modification too.
I picked out a rear view mirror and a shifter boot today.
I think they’ll look at home on the Hot Rod.
Stay tuned for more Hot Rod adventures…
-Stewart
p.s. I haven’t forgotten about the RoadMonster.
I’ve got PLENTY going on there as well.
I promise to have MANY new pics posted in April.
I am going to make a shift knob for the hot rod out of one of these.
It’s a red snooker ball.
A snooker ball is like a pool ball, but plain.
I’m gonna drill a hole in it and mount it on the shifter handle.
I’ll post up some pics when I get the ball…
-Stewart
Here are the tires we’re gonna use on the rear of the rat rod.
These tires are made by Hurst Racing Tires in Oregon City, Oregon.
Hurst Racing Tires sells many different types of vintage tires.
Take a look at their website.
They make some cool stuff!
They have a great photo page too!
-Stewart
I found where I’ll be buying the suspension parts for the rat rod.
Bob’s Rat Rod & T-Bucket Parts located in Salem, Oregon.
Bob has everything I need to start the suspension overhaul on the car.
I’ll be adding Bob’s front disc brake caliper brackets, front and rear shock mounts, and headlight mounts, to start.
Bob also sells on eBay:
You can use his eBay Store as a reference, and just order directly from his website.
I’ll be purchasing some parts in a couple of weeks.
Stay tuned as I’ll document these modifications right here.
-Stewart
…of the Rat Rod.
I thought it might be nice to photograph the car from every angle.
Make sure you check out the Jack Daniels coolant overflow bottle…
-Stewart
p.s. She’s still covered with road grime from the road trip.
The dirt kinda looks OK on a rat rod…
I was kinda anxious about unloading the car today.
You see, it was not very easy loading her up on the trailer in Wallowa.
The car is so low and long that it kept hitting the frame when only the front wheels were up on the trailer…
In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that Aaron can operate a tow truck, and is really good at loading vehicles on trailers and such, I don’t think it would have gotten on there at all.
Let’s just say that the new rat rod is both low and long…
Rob and I decided to give it a try. My brother in law Scott had given me some suggestions. He is really good at loading vehicles on trailers too…
With Scott’s instructions, I backed the Denali into the driveway with the Denali’s wheels at the crest of the driveway / sidewalk junction.
Unloading could not have been any easier, unless the car could have just driven herself off.
Here is our unloading adventure…
Once we got the rat rod in the garage…
…we introduced her to the RoadMonster.
I think they’ll get along just fine.
They are very different, yet similar…
I think they look good together too!
The angles on the trailer and ramps was PERFECT!
It’s nice to know that Scott’s trailer and the rat rod will work together well…
…at least in my driveway 
-Stewart
…and deleted an old one.
I had planned on building the 1930′s Plymouth rat rod.
Well, that isn’t gonna happen.
I bought a 1936 International rat rod from the same guy instead.
Check out the new rod and let me know what you think.
-Stewart
p.s. I deleted the page dedicated to the Plymouth build.
I may use some of the same ideas.
We’ll see.
Here are some pics of yesterday’s trip to pick up the hot rod in chronological order.
Since we left at 4 AM, it was pretty dark for the first couple of hours…
The first thing we noticed in the Columbia Gorge (the natural gorge between Oregon and Washington created by the Columbia River) was the huge power generating windmills:
Leaving the Gorge brings us to a desert environment.
We immediately noticed tumble weeds rolling along…
The landscape slowly turned from desert to agriculture…
Around the Pendleton area, the road starts to climb…
…and climb…
…and climb some more…
As we climbed the temperature was dropping pretty quickly…
It started to snow.
It was 34 degrees in this area, and it snowed until reached the summit at approximately 4200 feet.
Then we started our descent…
Which brought us to the Grand Ronde River…
This river was full of fly fisherman.
It had also warmed up to a balmy 39 degrees.
We headed into and through the town of Elgin.
We could see the mountains we had crossed on our left…
Between Elgin and Wallowa we were run into by a suicidal herbivore.
I’ve never hit a deer in my driving experience until now.
I saw something in my peripheral vision, and saw a deer heading straight for the passenger side front window.
I punched it and swerved left, and I dodged it.
Mostly.
The deer hit the leading edge of the steel trailer frame on the passenger side.
It was not a pretty sight.
Needless to say, no pics.
A Baxter Auto Parts delivery guy was behind us, and saw the whole thing.
He pulled the carcass off the road while we turned back.
Glad he was there. He was going to shoot the deer if she was suffering.
She didn’t suffer.
I know there was nothing I could do, but I still feel bad.
Luckily there was no damage to our Denali or the car trailer.
Back on to the story:
We arrived at Aaron’s house.
He had several projects sitting out front in different stages of development.
We saw the Plymouth that we planned to take home, and sitting right next to the Plymouth was this running and driving 1936 International Truck rat rod. Aaron had told Chris about his plans to list a rat rod International truck on eBay this week, and she was intrigued. She and I discussed the possibility of purchasing both projects. As I’ve just got a two car garage, I really don’t want three hobby cars. I have an RV pad, but I am really not in the mind set to have the RoadMonster and two additional projects.
When I saw the International pickup, I wanted it.
After I heard it run and see it drive, I REALLY wanted it. Especially since it’s a stick shift.
So…
Aaron and I made a deal, and we bought it.
We loaded up the hot rod. No easy task, as this car is long and low…
Then we headed out to Aaron’s shop, and did our paperwork.
We asked Aaron to pose with his creation:
He is a very talented builder, and I want to document the history of this project.
Once we had the car loaded up and took care of business, we started our return trip home.
The Columbia River sure is beautiful…
Rob really liked watching the barges on the river…
We just sat back and enjoyed the beauty of The Gorge the rest of the way…
As we got closer to Portland, it clouded up and started to rain.
A lot.
It got rainier and darker the rest of the way home.
We arrived home just after eight o’clock. Sixteen hours after we started.
Surprisingly, we weren’t as tired as we thought we would be.
We actually had a great time.
Rob stayed awake the entire way there, and all but two hours of the return trip. If you know Rob, you know that is an achievement in itself.
We’ll be heading back to Wallowa the weekend of the 10th.
We’ve got to pick up the top to the hot rod, and we want to show this part of Oregon to Chris.
I’ll document that road trip here as well.
Thanks for looking!
-Stewart
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