model t

Before They Called Them Rat Rods: Hellhammer's Caddy-Powered Model T

When we brought a car with a crazy engine/transmission swap and some wild junkyard suspension mods to the 24 Hours of LeMons race, some folks thought it wouldn't last a dozen laps... but we knew better. You see, we've got the mighty Hellhammer, aka Junkyard Dave Schaible, as crew chief, and this guy can build anything. Here's one of my favorite Hellhammer projects: one of the first- if not the first- of the current generation of Northern California rat rods, built back in the early 1980s. It's a Model T body (which was found, complete with bullet holes, sitting in a Castro Valley field) on a Model A frame, powered by a '49 Cadillac 331-cubic-inch engine spinning a seriously lumpy mid-50s-vintage Isky cam. It's built entirely from stuff Dave had sitting around, including a Geo Metro back seat, '40 Ford brakes, handmade headers, etc., and I'm having a tough time thinking of any vehicle that's more fun to drive. Those of you heading to the Billetproof show in September will get to see this machine in person.

1:20 PM on Fri May 30 2008
By Murilee Martin
2,851 views, 67 comments

Latest by Evil_Genius: Hellhammer has my old truck.. Maybe the big block out of it will get reincarnated in something cool like this.. A little about Dave.. When we were building the V8olvo we were having an issue with wheel offset and I was more »

engine

Workhorse Engine of the Day: Ford Model T

Here's another engine no list of workhorses could omit: the Ford Model T. Ford put this indestructible little flathead in 15 million cars from 1908 to 1927, then put a revised, larger-displacement version in millions more Model As and Bs for more than a decade beyond that (and let's not forget the amazing Model T-powered bootlegger submarine). Thanks to Pete for reminding us to include this super-workhorse. [Wikipedia]

6:00 PM on Thu Nov 1 2007
By Murilee Martin
2,111 views, 16 comments

not mr. t, model t

Coop Hits the Swap Meet

The one and only Mister Cooper got together with Señor Jalopy and belly-tank Bobby to hit a Model T swap meet in the fine city of Long Beach. As one of the few art critics Los Jalops intrinsically respect — as he himself has a bit of the old artist in him — we dig the man's take on the inherent majesty of the layout of parts on row after row of high-school gym tables covered in whatever's handy. Tin Lizzie-ownership fantasies will soon follow if you've got an American red blood cell in your body. [Positive Ape Index]

9:45 PM on Fri Jul 27 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
599 views, 1 comment

Latest by dorkusmaximus: I feel like I'm ahead of the game. I didn't get sunburned, dirty from sorting through junk all day and hung over from drinking too much beer in the afternoon to motivate myself to search for cool stuff that I more »

20th century boy

James May on Shrinking the World

We've been anxiously awaiting the moment that Captain Slow's new series hit the YouTubes and lo and behold our anxiety has been quelled. Parts two and three of the first episode of James May's 20th Century after the jump. More »

7:30 PM on Wed Jul 18 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
1,212 views, 11 comments

april fools day

Spy Photos: Henry Ford To Debut New "Horseless Carriage" In New York This Week?

We've been covering this whole "horseless carriage" phenomenon for some time, but we're hearing this guy down the road from here's got a new way of making them. He's calling it "mass production" and it sounds like the cat's meow. In fact, with an emphasis on making workers jobs on this "assembly line" totally unimportant and meaningless, it's going to drop the cost of making these newfangled people-carriers to even the point that you or I can pick one up. And they're efficient — we're hearing the car, powered by a four-cylinder engine, will hit speeds of up to 45 miles an hour, and get 25 to 30 miles per gallon. Our spy photogs snapped the machine, which he's called the "Model T," and the machine's main man, Henry Ford, outside of his Dearborn-based "Motor Company" — hmm — we wonder. If he ends up calling it Ford, maybe we could start calling it Fo-Mo-Corp, or something like that. Anyway, we've no idea whether he'll be bringing it to New York this week — but we'll be on site in case he does, flash powder at the ready! – Ray Wert More »

3:34 PM on Sun Apr 1 2007
By Ray Wert
2,071 views, 17 comments

Latest by TPSreports: Gasoline in 1908 cost about 20 cents a gallon. Inflation-adjusted, that would be $4.20 a gallon today. Oh, and most gasoline didn't have any tax back then. more »

retro

The Humble, Yet Mighty, T-Bucket

The Street Rodder guys have put together a pean to the T-Bucket, which as a young Jalopnik in the Central Valley in the late '70s was our first exposure to hot rodding. Basically a fiberglass tub, a couple of axles and some framerails, the Ts of our youth tended to sport fat wire wheels in back with brake-optional skinnies in the front and had all manner of brass bolted to them. During our RS 4 adventure we ran across a couple in a T-Bucket featuring a smoky flatmotor with Offy heads and a polished beer keg for a gas tank. We wanted one all over again. – Davey G. Johnson More »

6:15 PM on Tue Feb 20 2007
By Davey G. Johnson
841 views, 1 comment

Latest by FЯeeMan: Brakes optional in the front???? That's not a comforting thought. more »

retro

Meet Harry Stevinson: Canadian, Awesome.

This started out as a single-sourced, "ain't that a great car?" sort of post. On a whim, I Googled Mr. Stevinson and found he was a fairly remarkable bloke worthy of a little more screen space than your average crackpot/savant. First, as you may have noticed from the picture, Harry is not only Canadian, but also born a really, really long time ago. At 11, he was driving the family car through the Canadian Rockies, which in the 1920's were little more than mountain-goat paths, because he was better at it than his father. At 17, Harry got his first Model T from a junkyard. This, remember, was an era in which airplanes and aerodynamics were in vogue — even toasters and desks were streamlined — so the talented Harry set to work to do the same to his T... More »

4:30 PM on Tue Dec 19 2006
By bwojdyla
814 views, 5 comments

Latest by lascauxcaveman: Now that's what I want to build with my tablesaw... more »

Jalopnik

Five Reasons Why We're Not Proud To Buy American Cars

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