smokeyco75
Member
Well folks I just ordered a stretched body from Ron. The project is officially started!!
stretch or not to stretch?
- Thread starter smokeyco75
- Start date
baddawgcustoms
Active Member
You are going to love it. That thing has tons of room and gives you options the standard body just doesn't!
TriodeLuvr
Member
Congrats! Should be an excellent start!
Jack
Jack
smokeyco75
Member
I can hardly wait to put my plans for this thing in to motion. Its going to be a sweet ride!
smokeyco75
Member
I took a standard body t a former coworker owns for a spin the other day and I must say it was like a rocket ship with wheels. The problem was after about 20 minutes I was uncomfortable. My knees were in the way of the steering wheel and I had to lean way forward to reach the shifter. I had already decided on a stretched body but that experience left no doubt.
Clint Curtis
Member
Why doesn't some manufacturer build a stretched body that is longer and proportionally TALLER?
+3" cowl
+2" door
+4" behind door
AND +4" taller body.....add to the bottom of the whole body
This would help to keep the body's proportions close to looking normal. It would also help to prevent the sitting "on the body" verses "sitting in the body". This in turn helps with looking through the windshield instead of over it.....especially if the windshield is chopped.
+3" cowl
+2" door
+4" behind door
AND +4" taller body.....add to the bottom of the whole body
This would help to keep the body's proportions close to looking normal. It would also help to prevent the sitting "on the body" verses "sitting in the body". This in turn helps with looking through the windshield instead of over it.....especially if the windshield is chopped.
Any changes to the ORIGINAL BODY SIZE will be in proportional to ORIGINAL MANUFACTURE. These bodies were small for a reason. Although there are some HUGE bodies out there as you described.
Clint Curtis
Member
Don't understand what you are saying. What was the reason original bodies were made small? Was it that people were generally smaller compared to today? Was it that in a stock T the seating position is as much sitting ON it as IN it. When you lower the seating position when building a bucket, your legs have to go foreword.
The odd-ball body that I have is a bit of a step in that direction...+4 in the cowl, +4 in door, +4 width but standard width firewall, and unfortunately no additional height. It's too bad the quality is questionable.
Since RPM is doing bodies stretched even wider and longer, that's the route I'd go if I had the funds to start over.
fletcherson
Well-Known Member
There are definitely concessions to be made to make them look good. I am a bigger guy, and I understand exactly where you are coming from. I think it would look good and be more useable if it were just a bigger version, not just linger or wider, but that would require a whole new mold as opposed to just a modified one. Is there a opportunity here?
EX JUNK
Moderator
What you say about a lower sitting position moving your legs forward is true. However, since I'm 6'-1 1/2" tall with really long legs I needed the extra leg room. So my son made the cowl like the '26-'27 style in making the body to give me 6" extra leg room. (I don't really care for the look of a '23-'25 cowl extended 6" IMHO). I did this because I really like the '23-'25 style body from the rear of the windshield to the rear of the turtle deck over the '25-'27 bodies. I sometimes tell people that question the body that it was a '26 prototype that was built in '25 which is what it is titled as.
Jim
bamabucket
Member
As Clint said, why were the original bodies so small? I have wondered about that myself and haven't thought of a good answer although I believe people were generally smaller then. Regardless of the reason for the small size of the original body, I agree completely agree that a stretched body is more comfortable. As I said in an earlier post on this thread, I can't drive my bucket as long as I would like because it is not comfortable. If I was starting over, I would definitely use a stretched body.
I THINK it was because of the presses it took to stamp out one piece of steel as well as they had to be light weight for the amount of horse power produced. Also--there were only dirt roads back then and narrow.
Henry Ford's Idea was to make it affordable for everyone, so cost was a factor I'm sure. The dream of family outings abounded with the touring cars. when all could ride at the same time to go visit family and camping. There are pictures of some famous people of that era that use to camp and hunt from remote places in the U.S back in the 20s/30s.
fletcherson
Well-Known Member
You also have to remember that this was an upgrade from a horse drawn buggy in the not too distant past, there wasn't much in the way of experience or competition in the industry. Just having a car was a luxury.. Also, folks didn't shop and transport stuff, or commute like we do today, they didn't need the space. things were much different. Lol... Jmo!
Clint Curtis
Member
Could the small dimensions be that a roomer vehicle would cost more to build? Henry was trying to build a car for the masses, at a low price point, and every extra inch of metal would have raised the price of the vehicle. The higher price would have eliminated potential buyers. I've read that he did everything he could to cut corners, and gain customers. Maybe he was the original bean counter!
When building a modern hot rod, spending an extra hundred dollars for the extra fiberglass to make a comfortable T bucket body would be money well spent. Maybe some computer guy could photo shop a 23 body with my suggested dimensions, making sure to add to the height, as well as the length. Adding to the height, would be like a reverse section job.....adding height to the middle horizontal part of the body.
I like the more traditional looking hot rods, and hope some fiberglass manufacturer will step up and build a bigger," in proportion", but otherwise stock looking version. The mold would start out looking like a jig saw puzzle, but after all the effort, well worth it in the end.
When building a modern hot rod, spending an extra hundred dollars for the extra fiberglass to make a comfortable T bucket body would be money well spent. Maybe some computer guy could photo shop a 23 body with my suggested dimensions, making sure to add to the height, as well as the length. Adding to the height, would be like a reverse section job.....adding height to the middle horizontal part of the body.
I like the more traditional looking hot rods, and hope some fiberglass manufacturer will step up and build a bigger," in proportion", but otherwise stock looking version. The mold would start out looking like a jig saw puzzle, but after all the effort, well worth it in the end.
I don't see any of the manufactures taking a chance on building that. Most of the molds we have, have been expensive to build. We have to sell about 15-20 bodies to break even. So it would be a big investment with a long term to recover our cost just to build a mold. Other parts we have been able to show a profit in less than a year. I am guessing 10 years to show a profit with a body like that.
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