T Body choices

[Baby Huey]

I'm a newby here and a newbe to T buckets. My son gave me a Basket case T bucket for fathers day. Most parts are there but the body is pitiful.
So far I am looking at three firms for a body. Total Performance, CCR, and Spirit. Spirit by far has the best price point. including the floor, body insert, and upholstery insert.
I'd appreciate any comments, Pro or Con. If there are other companies I should research please let me know

Pop
Albuquerque NM

KnS is located in your back yard POP, you could haul the body home inna Pick Up Truck..... From the guys I have talked to they all say the KnS body is first class, and they also have opening door and stretch bodies available.
I have a CCR Long/Door/Smooth body, yes it's very nice, well done glass work with very few blemishes if any. The only problem I have (if ya wanna call it a problem, more of a inconvienance) is they really NEED a person or Another person to answer the phones. I get tired of waiting for return phone calls because they are always busy or put ya on hold...... jus my 2 bits.. "BH"

 

[olblu]

On the topic of body choices does anyone know of a company that makes a body for a tall person? I want to build a T-bucket but don't want to drive with my kneees above the steering wheel.
Thanks

 

[Baby Huey]

On the topic of body choices does anyone know of a company that makes a body for a tall person? I want to build a T-bucket but don't want to drive with my kneees above the steering wheel.
Thanks

I'm tall too .......There are atleast two manufactures of "Long" or "Streched" bodies. Many have stretched their own. I bought the CCR Long/Door/body.....it's still too short, I'm 6'2"...... "BH"

Edit: You might consider going with a 27 body, the longer cowl may give you more leg room, I was thinking bout doing that, then I changed my mind....

www.californiacustomroadsters.com (CCR ,Calif.)

www.knscustoms.com (Phoenix/Tucson AZ)

 

[T-Odd]

Baby Huey "You might consider going with a 27 body, the longer cowl may give you more leg room, I was thinking bout doing that, then I changed my mind...."

Actually - I have put a tape measure to MANY buckets and the '26/'27 from firewall to seat back is (on average) only one inch longer than the '23 firewall to seat back (measured at the CL of the body.

It's an optical illusion actually. The cowl is longer but the distance from dash to seat back is shorter on the 26/27.

Now if someone would make and affordable slightly stretched and widened 26/27 lakester, I'd probably be first in line to pick one up.

Add a couple inches to the door and a couple of inches in the body, then a couple inches wider in the middle... now that would be NICE!

too bad the Zipper's body is so dang expensive.

 

[butch27]

I think that's called a Lincoln Town Car.:lol:

 

[blownt]

there is a stretched body with a 27 type cowl make by Dave Korrey in Florida. One of the NTBA members in Fls has his body. When I was considering getting a bigger body I was thinking about going with DK's. He ain't too friendly on the phone though, espaecially when asking him about dimensions.

BT

 

[KAA]

I would have to say if member EX JUNK on here was to make some bodies like the one he has I would be the first in line. Beautiful car!!

 

[TRoadster]

I bought a rodnrace body. I was/am on a budget so I bought a cheaper body. It's ok. The front cowl has a low place in the middle, but I cut my body in half and widened it nearly 6", so I will be fixing that anyway. I don't think I would have done that with a higher priced body. I thought about adding 4" to 6" to the length but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I love the side profile of the T body.

 

[blownt]

go for it. No one will notice the longer body when done. You will be much happier when done and sitting in it.

 

[der Spieler]

Does anyone know of anything about Unlimited Products. They make a ton of fiberglass parts and bodies including two T bucket bodies. One body is triple layered and the other is 4" wider made of two layer. Prices seem OK but I don't know about quality. Rated: Best* Fit, Best Quality & Lowest Prices, Camaro Fiberglass, Mustang Fiberglass, Chevelle, Nova, Hood Scoops, 1955 Fenders

 

[meangreen]

I am using a Dave Koorey extended-cowl body on my track-T. So far I have been really pleased with it. It came with a reinforced floor and tunnel already installed. It has 6 inches added in the cowl area so the cowl looks a lot like a '27 (Still uses a '23 windshield, though). Koorey's prices are in line with Total Perf and Speedway, but their bodies have no floor...

 

[SRISKA]

I have a CCR look-a-like, long body with a door. It is eleven inches longer than the Spirit or the TP. I am 6'4" and it makes all the difference in the world. As short as this is, I can't even imagine how a tall person could live with a shorter body.

Hey, anyone have experience with wind-wings? I am wondering how much they help with the hi-speed breeze?

SR

 

[T-Odd]

SRISKA "Hey, anyone have experience with wind-wings? I am wondering how much they help with the hi-speed breeze?"

I drove this bucket -

belongs to John (and Tammy!) Brown, it's STRETCHED, and with the windwings it was a pleasure to drive.
Compared to mine with the low windshield and no windwings, mine's almost like riding my motorcycle. Surrounded by wind, have to wear earplugs on long drives.

John said he can light a cig while driving down the road in his bucket and I believe it. I couldn't believe how those little windwings and tall windsield could make that big of a difference.

 

[kb9jlo]

I like that body and the pickup bed.
Those will go down in my idea book.
If a guy was going to hack up a body himself, what is the cheapest/best (in that order) body to get. I'm in central IL.
Dan the dreamer...

 

[Youngster]

I'd be looking for a second hand body. There's got to be a ton of them out there somewhere. One body manufacturer told me he felt 2 out of three bodies he sells wind up on the streets. Where is that 33% that don't make it?

Ron

 

[T-Odd]

So far I've seen two (I hate to say the term) almost throwaway bodies get chopped up and lengthened and / or widened.

I'd say that would be the way to go pricewise, find an old neglected body and bring it back to life. No sense in paying $400 or more for a new good body and cutting it to pieces if you can find one for a hundred bucks from some guy that bought a project back when Bird was still in business.

OR if you can work with metal, get a couple of old Volkswagen fenders to cut up and turn them upside down, start welding a bunch of metal together to make a body however long you need it, make a door however big you need to make it, etc.

Insert image of the handmade metal bucket from the NTBA 2007 Nats please.

 

[T-Odd]

here's the pic...

 

[Youngster]

T-oDD... That idea isn't as far fetched as you might think. I used a deck lid from a '52 Chevy to build a replacement rear panel for a '27 Touring.

The picture you posted was a cratch build, he started with sheets of material. The hardest panel to duplicate would be the top cowl. You can find one of these almost any time on the bay for around $25. As you said fenders, some hoods and deck lids have compound curves to them. You just have to find the right shape. Then too, you'd be suprised how easy it is to move this thin sheet metal around to the shape you want with deadblow hammers, wooden mallets and a hollowed out piece of a 4x4 or an old purse filled with sand.

Patch panels for a '27 from Howel would also be a way to get that curve at the bottom of the quarter panel. For the door and quarters , use door skins. They already have the compound curves too. No need for an English roller that way.

The inner struture on a T body is made up of channels. Square tubing is difficult to shape, but a piece of 18g or 16g forms pretty easy over a plywood form With a soft or wooden hammer.

Probably the hardest thing about a project like this is gettig started. Get some good measurments and try it.

Ron

 

[nifty]

Russ,

check out my photo gallery. It's a spirit body.

thomas

whe do i find your photogallery ?
forgive me..may take me a while to navigate around this forum and find out how it works....

 

[Youngster]

No problem Nifty. Look in the upper right hand corner (drivers side for you) and click on "View My Photo Gallery" in the post.

Ron