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Hello from sunny Crescent Valley

Candyappledream

Candyappledream

New Member
Hi guys, never owned a bucket myself, but back in the `70s and `80s I knew a few guys who did and was always intrigued by their looks, power to weight ratio and their simplicity. One of the owners of a custom shop I worked at in the late `70s built a T-bucket in his basement with no way out but an ordinary walk-through door. After the build was completed, he disassembled the entire car and then reassembled it again outside, I believe he still owns it today. Just here to talk buckets and have fun.
 
The guy that motivated. My first build built his in a rented living room. He put plywood on the carpet and plugged the welder in the stove plug. The neighbor was shocked when we assembled it in the driveway and drove it away. The landlord never found out. He got his deposit back! Haven't thought about that for years. Thanks for reminding me.
 
Spanky said:
Welcome from St Louis! We all started in the "dream" stage. What would your 'dream' bucket look like?
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Not sure about my "dream" bucket, but back in the early `80s in one of the magazines that I read ( HR, PHR, CC), there was an ultra simple bucket featured that was powered by a 2.3 ford (twin DCOE webbers, header, upgraded camshaft), manual tranny and no frills. Because of it's light weight it was still reasonably fast, yet still economical. That one just always stuck in my mind. My taste is diverse, I like different, I like over the top and I like subtle too.
 
Welcome from wendy Oklahoma. That sounds like a neat bucket. I had a 240Z and an MGB back in the day and they were fun cars. With the technology today the "little motors" are making good power and with the light weight would make a great combo. Have you ever tried auto cross? A small light car would be kick ass for that and that is fun to do.
 
I remember a drawing in Rod & Custom of a wedge shaped lay down car (like the STP car that almost won Indy 500) with aircooled VW and wire wheels. Also a '27 blue track t built in a month to make the nationals with VW power.
 
old round fart said:
The guy that motivated. My first build built his in a rented living room. He put plywood on the carpet and plugged the welder in the stove plug. The neighbor was shocked when we assembled it in the driveway and drove it away. The landlord never found out. He got his deposit back! Haven't thought about that for years. Thanks for reminding me.
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Thanks for the reminder, I had a tenant move his oil leaking Harley in for the winter....he didn't get his deposit back, lol
 
The reason my interest has been piqued again lately is as follows, I was at my friends house last weekend and we were discussing his recently departed brother. I mentioned his cars and who might get what and my buddy said that no one cared about the old -bucket, the son wants the `67 Acadian Canso SD, and the daughter wants the `57 Chevy convertible. So no one it seems showed any interest in his T-bucket that has been sitting since the mid `90s. I actually went there a few times while he was building it in the late `80s, mostly just to drink beer and bench race. He had bought it around 1987 as someone else's project that never got very far, just a frame, front suspension and body. He built it over the next 3 or 4 years using a 231 buick and TH350 out of a late `70s Firebird, we couldn't be sure about what rear he used, but neither my buddy nor I remembered him using the rear out of the Pontiac. He had it painted white with a lot of blue pinstriping and a marbled blue button-tufted interior. He had the engine rebuilt with forged internals in anticipation of boost from a 3-71 GMC blower that was never installed. But even with low compression and a Comp cams 260HE, aluminum intake and chrome headers it seemed pretty quick when he took me for a ride back in the day. My friend said that he knows the blower is still there but it lacks pulleys and the manifold is not completed. Now I can't stop thinking about it ...
 
Welcome from California. When I built my first street rod the engine sat in our apartment living room for over a year. I took the carb off, put a piece of glass on top of the rocker arm covers and used it as a "coffee table".
 
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