did you first drive, or own, your first t bucket?

[Leon renaud]

I never even sat in a T till just a couple months back when I arranged a sale of one between 2 friends but,I have wanted a T since i was around 10 years old and getting my uncles old car mags!I'm 56 now and finally building a 27 roadster pick up BECAUSE its got doors! I got to drive this one for a month and put on more than 4000 miles!
I learned a lot about layout of controls etc. and also can't believe I waited this long to build the dream!My T will be my daily driver when it's done for sure!

 

[Track T-4]

Never owned or rode in a T before in my life. Owned a '32 Ford coupe and then a '32 sedan back in the late 60's while serving in the Air Force. Discharged, sold the sedan, went to college, and got on with my life and career. Built a Porsche Speedster replica 18 years ago and still have it/drive it but always itched for a streetrod. I was looking for something that wouldn't "break the bank" and allow me to keep the Speedster too. I like the racer aspect of the Track-T and two years ago bought a handyman special with good bones. After many mods and upgrades we made the T-Nationals in 2009 and a couple big meets like the East Coast Nationals in York, PA two years straight and the Syracuse Nationals this year. Quickly learning what its like to not have a door or a roof. :>) Still a list of things to do but we're having a great time. :cheer:

 

[Ted Brown]

Well when I came back to Calif. after I left and went back to Minnesota and got married in 1957, A short time later I saw Norm's, soon to be, 77 Sunset strip T Bucker at Bob's Taluka Lake drive in... That car got into my blood... Over a few years I built many AG/Super charged cars before meeting my soon to be business partner, Dick Fletcher, He had a 23 T Bucket that he built for car Craft mag. I got to ride in his many times, when one rainy day, he got on the pedal and spun it out and flipped it onto the sidewalk... We towed it back to my shop, he sold me the broken body and that started the whole thing for me...

 

[ford4ever]

Never sat in one,rode in one,never owned one! but they are truly an amazing car... who would not want one!
I have been dreaming of owning one since I was 9 years old. Now I'm building one, hope to be done with it
by the end of this winter :hooray: LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM!

 

[LarryH]

I've had a fascination with T-Buckets for years. But it really started back in the early '70's when one of my co-workers had a '27 that had been a show car. I fell in live with that car and tried for several years to buy it. It was purple with black interior, had more chrome than should have been legally allowable, 327, tunnel ram with two Hollys, muncie 4 speed and was crazy fast.

I started planning on building my own T-Bucket but it seems like something else would catch my fancy and the bucket was forgotten about again. And sometimes life would just get in the way. Last year I decided it was time to sell my jeep and build a T-Bucket. I figured it couldn't be any harder to drag my 60 year old carcass in and out of a T-Bucket than it was to climb into and jump out of a lifted rig. And i'm getting to tired to crawl over those big ole rocks. I decided the '56 Chevy grandkid hauler i was building could wait a bit longer to get finished. It's time for a roadster.

I sold the jeep and started making plans to build my T-Bucket. After doing some research and i setting a realistic price goal and time frame i figured it would be cheaper and faster to buy some one's abandoned project and finish it. So i started searching for a good project. I found a few priced right but one day i figured out that working 60 hours a week i really wouldn't have time to finish a car and it would be cheaper to buy a finished, running licensed car. After a couple of months of searching I found one oncraigslist that was only about 30 minutes from me. I called the owner and set up an appointment to check it out. The price was right and the licenses plate read "T BUKET". How could i resist? After setting in it and taking it for a short drive i just had to have it.

I just wish i would have bought one years ago. It's gets more attention and is more fun than anything i've ever owned. I use it as my daily driver when the weather is decent.

 

[lincolnuT]

I've had a fascination with T-Buckets for years. But it really started back in the early '70's when one of my co-workers had a '27 that had been a show car. I fell in live with that car and tried for several years to buy it. It was purple with black interior, had more chrome than should have been legally allowable, 327, tunnel ram with two Hollys, muncie 4 speed and was crazy fast.

I started planning on building my own T-Bucket but it seems like something else would catch my fancy and the bucket was forgotten about again. And sometimes life would just get in the way. Last year I decided it was time to sell my jeep and build a T-Bucket. I figured it couldn't be any harder to drag my 60 year old carcass in and out of a T-Bucket than it was to climb into and jump out of a lifted rig. And i'm getting to tired to crawl over those big ole rocks. I decided the '56 Chevy grandkid hauler i was building could wait a bit longer to get finished. It's time for a roadster.

I sold the jeep and started making plans to build my T-Bucket. After doing some research and i setting a realistic price goal and time frame i figured it would be cheaper and faster to buy some one's abandoned project and finish it. So i started searching for a good project. I found a few priced right but one day i figured out that working 60 hours a week i really wouldn't have time to finish a car and it would be cheaper to buy a finished, running licensed car. After a couple of months of searching I found one oncraigslist that was only about 30 minutes from me. I called the owner and set up an appointment to check it out. The price was right and the licenses plate read "T BUKET". How could i resist? After setting in it and taking it for a short drive i just had to have it.

I just wish i would have bought one years ago. It's gets more attention and is more fun than anything i've ever owned. I use it as my daily driver when the weather is decent.

I sent you a PM.......

Mike

 

[Hot Rod Todd]

Hot rodding down here till the mid 60s was pretty disorganised. NZ Hot Rod Assn had formed around 1961 and the NZ Hot Rod magazine arrived in about 1967, so then hot rodding was visible to the masses.

In around 1973, NZHRM decided to build a project hot rod, Project-T with a budget of $1000 and for the next 16 or so months each issue had part of the build in it. Its influence down here was huge and suddenly everyone thought they could build a bucket just like the one in the magazine. Each month they put up pikkys of the projects inspired by Project-T and it seemed every young guys was building one.

By the mid 70s they were starting to be seen on rod runs & were getting featured in the magazine too.

I was a teenager back then & inspired but technically useless. And there were lots like me so there were often "unfinished projects" for sale - projects that came & sat in your shed till you figured you had no skills, no money and no chance to ever get the thing finished. Then somebody else bought it and did the same till they came to the same conclusion.

some gave up & moved on to other things - surfing, girls and beer were pretty good options, and some, like me, just kept buying more complete tho still unfinished projects till eventually, with help from clubmates, the cars got finished.

I ended up getting my 6th and 7th buckets on the road legally, but the first five all became other peoples projects after me. As far as I know at least two of them got finished tho most of what I onsold was never actually used.

I had a young car mad kid around with his mum yesterday to sit in the bucket, so theres another generation on their way.

 

[putz]

Knowlage without tools SxxKs .............Burn some metal, Ron (ruggs

Just remember to use gas you can not be out in the wind.

 

[Northstar T]

Just remember to use gas you can not be out in the wind.

There's a joke there somewhere. I just can't figure out the punch line.

Russ

 

[ruggs]

There's a joke there somewhere. I just can't figure out the punch line.

Russ

Russ, not really a joke or punch line, it's about GismoJoe getting a new welder and with gas. Probably he was using fluxcore wire before...........Ron (ruggs)

 

[putz]

Russ, not really a joke or punch line, it's about GismoJoe getting a new welder and with gas. Probably he was using fluxcore wire before...........Ron (ruggs)

I do a lot of welding outside and the gas doesn't work that well outside fluxcore is my answer outside.

 

[GizmoJoe]

I guess if I was outside with gas I would WANT there to be some wind! :jester:

Thanks guys.... I was aware of that (thanks to all the reading I've done here and other places).
It's like learning to weld all over again but WOW! I forgot how nice working with gas on thin stuff is. I used it a few times over the years.
I've only had a little time (work and other commitments... ) to use it so far but this is gonna be cool.
I drag parts in my brother's garage to weld so I get to enjoy the gas (insert another joke here).
Now to get time and have my right arm working properly again.. ligament issue.

Oh, Putz.. I saw a "Putzmiester" cement truck on the weekend and thought of you. Couldn't stop laughing.

 

[putz]

I guess if I was outside with gas I would WANT there to be some wind! :jester:

Thanks guys.... I was aware of that (thanks to all the reading I've done here and other places).
It's like learning to weld all over again but WOW! I forgot how nice working with gas on thin stuff is. I used it a few times over the years.
I've only had a little time (work and other commitments... ) to use it so far but this is gonna be cool.
I drag parts in my brother's garage to weld so I get to enjoy the gas (insert another joke here).
Now to get time and have my right arm working properly again.. ligament issue.

Oh, Putz.. I saw a "Putzmiester" cement truck on the weekend and thought of you. Couldn't stop laughing.

Those are awesome trucks they can pump concrete as fast as two trucks can unload if they have a place to pump it. Thanks for thinking of Me.LOL

 

[jcunning]

I never rode in one or sat in one prior to buying one. After owning a number of Camaros and Corvettes I got tired of all the pollution equipment and computers and wanted to go back to something that had no extras, just raw horsepower. It is the most exciting vehicle I have ever owned and it is the easiest and most fun to work on.

 

[Northstar T]

I guess if I was outside with gas I would WANT there to be some wind!

I'm with you GizmoJoe. those guys must be vegitarians or something. :jester:

Russ

 

[TDitty]

I took my T bucket out the driveway today for the first time. just a little 2 mile test drive to check out a couple things. I'm a builder. I build/modify quite a few cars, and usually end up not driving any of them all that much........ that trend may change with this car .
I got to thinking about it later, after my "test drive" that when I began building this car in January, I had never even sat in, much less driven or riden in a T bucket. surely I'm not the only nut who did that. So what made you decide to own a T bucket?? and how many drove or rode in a T before you owned one?. did you build your first T or buy a driver. ?

Russ

I have never rode or sat in one either. This may sound funny but they always looked fun. I have been building a 53 chevy 210 custom you know 383, 700r4, MII front end, air bags, c notch, frenched lights, bull nosed hood the works. After two years of redesigning every darn thing I put into this car to make it fit I started to get builders blues so I took a break from it. My sons also did not want to help with the chevy because of the heavy fab and design, sandblasting, and red clay removal (Alabama red at that). They are 11 and 9 so they are not ready for spinning things, electrical currents, and fire near a vehicle yet. I found the t needs some fab but the majority is bolting together and the whole operation is relatively quick to see results which will allow the boys to help and keep their interest. The car is actually being built for my youngest son Nate (the one taking a siesta in the seat) He is my Mr. no fear so the T fits him and until he gets a license the wife and I will enjoy it and he may end up having to build his own.
Russ N

 

[San Diego T]

I went to Fred's Fun Run Tucson, AZ and rode with my brother. I then purchased a used T-Bucket at Goodguys in Del Mar, CA. I then did an off frame restoration and bult it my way. San Diego T

 

[weelstang]

Some times I wonder how I lived this long. Man I've built some junk back in da day. It will scarrrre me now. DON'T build anything that isn't safe anymore. Most of my friends say I over build stuff now a days. weelstang