Love T-buckets
- Thread starter Spanky
- Start date
RodStRace
Active Member
Tommy Ivo T-bucket
Check Out Drag Racer and television star Tommy Ivo, he has his famous t-bucket featured as a Street Rodder Magazine milestone car.
Figured it out and now we have a separate section just for sharing our love of these fun cars.
Should be easier now than having one super long post containing all the pics & articles.
guilld
Active Member
According to AI
Key Characteristics:
Key Characteristics:
- Origin: Based on the early 20th-century Ford Model T roadster body.
- Name: Comes from the "bucket" shape of the Model T body shell.
- Style: An "old-school" hot rod look, often with no fenders, no hood, and a very short bed.
- Performance: Features large, powerful engines (like Chevy small-block V8s) for high speed.
- Appearance: Characterized by massive rear tires, narrow front wheels, and sometimes extremely loud, upswept exhaust pipes.
- Iconic Status: Gained massive fame from TV shows like 77 Sunset Strip, leading to kits and replicas being built.
Neshkoro
Well-Known Member
The interesting thing about these t buckets is that a few changes from the traditional bucket look can change the whole “year look” thing. I build mine in the mid 80’s. Along the way the chrome headers were installed to replace the original home made black painted ones. The front wheels and tires were upgraded. The interior was redone and a new radiator and shell was installed. It’s still the same 80’s bucket. Just a few upgrades. And then the things like a new alternator, water pump, top, no top, etc! So, what year is it? 80’s, 90’s, Y2K, or beyond?? It’s still registered as a 1923! I like the idea of the decade look of the pictures. In some of he pictures you can really tell the differences. Maybe not the actual years but the actual changes!
RodStRace
Active Member
Thanks, Spanky. It's one of those polarizing things.
Well, if you like simple, I don't have the carriage lights, tach or windshield support rods, although I plan on the last!
Also hope to have paint at some point, although I figure color over primer isn't 'simple'.
Well, if you like simple, I don't have the carriage lights, tach or windshield support rods, although I plan on the last!
Also hope to have paint at some point, although I figure color over primer isn't 'simple'.
Last edited:
RodStRace
Active Member
Some call it brokeback, but I think that is more appropriate to the ones that have the frame and body at different angle, or a frame that has been angled at the firewall. This is almost all driveline at one plane, the chassis and body simply raked. If you look at purpose built drag cars, the fairly straight line thru crank to diff is common.
So is the body actually raked off the frame too?? How is this stance accomplished?
LongJohn
Active Member
I have been in love with T buckets most of my life. I just turned 81 and build my first bucket in 1970. At the time i had just got out of the Air Force and looking for excitement! Ran intro a guy named Pete Robinson that had a Ford SOHC powered Top Fuel dragster and needed a donk to sweep the shop and drive the push car to get the dragster going! I'm your man! I started building and of course the front engine dragster influence led me to a completely different direction! Pete died in a crash in Pomona before I finished the car but his influence is very evident. Pete built the blower and helped me set up the motor combination. I had never seen a bucket outside of a magazine so most of the stuff I had to figure out. I drove the car for12 years and put almost 100,000 miles on it. Well the back tires went that far, not sure the fronts did! I love to tell my grandson stories and hope to finish my current build to show him how much fun they can be! This is getting long so I'll end it now.
Attachments
RodStRace
Active Member
On the one posted (mine) the body is evenly channeled the width of the frame front to back. This is more common. It's called channeled, compared to unchanneled. To see the difference, this link has a video explaining both setups. Click on the 3rd picture and let the video play.
On the picture I posted, note the Red lines are all in the same plane. Frame, body and bed.
What is different is the driveline being tilted down in the frame shown by the Orange line.
If you scroll to the top of this page, Spanky posted Ivo's (Red) and Norm's (Blue) T-Buckets together.
Ivo's in the foreground is 'level', the engine is the same plane as the body and frame. Valve covers, spark plugs headers all even with the frame below. This is the way just about every modern kit is designed.
Norm's in the background has the engine fairly level to the ground, but the body and frame are 'nose down' or 'raked'.
Comparing the two, they have similar size wheels and tires, but note where the bed and rear tire are in relation to each other.
This is a modern picture, but they were both built back in the 50s, Norm's was first.
These two pictures should show it better. Tommy Ivo's.
The Ivo T-Bucket – Benchmark for a Classic Ride
The lowly Model T, Henry Ford’s gift to mass-produced transportation, launched millions of affordable automobiles, but it didn’t take long for hotted-up versions to appear. The early prewar days of motor racing were populated with all manner of modified Ts – lakes runners and dirt track racers, prim
fuelcurve.com
Norm Grabowski's
The Kookie T — Norm Grabowski’s Seminal T-Bucket
It makes sense that one of hot rodding’s most wacky, larger-than-life personalities would concoct one of hot rodding’s most iconic, larger-than-life cars. That’s right, we’re talking about Norm Grabowski’s ground-breaking, silver-screen-friendly roadster, the Kookie T. From the parking lot of Bob
fuelcurve.com
The links are both to Fuel Curve. You can find more history and pictures at Kustomrama and other sites.
Because almost all kits since the 60s are designed 'even', any T's that are 'raked' tend to look like early builds. Many consider them to be goofy or wrong. I would have been happy either way but am glad mine has this and am not going to change the feature.
Here's an example of a couple that have the body 'raked' on the frame. This NOT the same.
Raked T-Bucket 1970s Survivor -- You Either Love It or Hate It
For quite some time I've been fascinated by a wildly raked T-Bucket with roots that go back almost 60 years in the Spokane, Washington area. Its lingering
www.tbucketplans.com
Last edited:
LongJohn
Active Member
My new car is kinda strange. I like the channeled look so at the firewall the body is channeled but the frame from the firewall back drops 3" to the kick up in the back to allow my portly butt to get 3" lower with respect to the sides . My intention is to sit as close to the floor as I can. The floor will be flat with the bottom of the door cut out which will extend all the way back to where the sides go up around the back. The longer door also allows easier in and out with limited knee range of motion.
Similar threads
