American Iron Roadster class

[jimmy six]

Ron, all the fiberglass 28/9 bodies manufactured for LSR use do not have any doors or hinges. I see no problem removing them. The fact is as pointed out by our keen advisor Stan, the sides on most LSR bodies are smooth. The doors on a Ford actually overlapped the body at the rear and were outside the body proper.

My favorite 32 roadster story concerned a very high dollar red car with a hand formed body also longer at the doors plus much better looking revels at the rear near where the fender ended. It was beautiful very high powered and spun a lot when the owner drove it. A very capable driver and personal friend was checked out in the car by me because they wanted it to get over 200. I told him if you go over the record don't bring it to impounds because I'll throw you out for an illegal body. Being a competitor since 1949 he understood.

Another beautiful red 32 roadster was spotted with the original lip seal for the windshield. Their original tonneau was flush with the top of the body and doors. The next year it had a new tonneau which was built to go over the missing lip. Problem solved.

A 33/34 story concerns a very famous and very fast roadster that was spotted with the revels behind the passenger area removed. It was missed for a while at Bonneville but caught the first time it came to El Mirage...very embarresing. Might be currently owned by some farmers in central California.

Could do more but you get my drift....screwing with a roadster body is not a very good idea.

PS: I don't think filling in wheel wells should have ever been allowed in G/F roadster

[modelAsteve]

It would sure help a little if the accepted dimensions were published. We have a 1/4 thick rule book on V4's why not one for roadster bodies. Why were the wheel wells on roadster class bodies ever permitted to be filled?

[Dynoroom]

And that "hired gun" who got checked out in the red roadster did get it over 2..... 205 MPH IIRC

[RichFox]

This is a picture of the roadster that I now own, taken in 1958. It set the C/FR record at that time and passed inspection. You can see the filled wheel wells with the still unpainted aluminum inserts. So that's 58 years it has been legal.

[jdincau]

It would sure help a little if the accepted dimensions were published. We have a 1/4 thick rule book on V4's why not one for roadster bodies. Why were the wheel wells on roadster class bodies ever permitted to be filled?

For allowable dimensions contact Russ Eyres, chairman of the vintage roadster committee reyres@san.tt.com. Please don't agitate for including them in the rule book it is thick enough now.

[Stan Back]

Here's Scotty's Muffler with filled wheel wells in '48 or '49.

(Still had hinges and doors.)

[ronnieroadster]

My 27 Ford roadster replica fiberglass body has the proper raised lip along the entire door outline all the correct body reveal lines and the wheel wells have not been filled.  BUT there's no door hinges I'm going to see what I can find at the local True Value hardware store for hinges!   

[Stan Back]

Did the 26-27 have a hinged left door?

[Elmo Rodge]

Yep. It was the only "T" to do so. Wayno

[jimmy six]

Stan and Rich. I am only reading what was in the rules for many, many years. In G/F roadster wheel wells could not be filled or deepened but in modified they could filled because 26/27 bodies didn't have them so you could fill them if you used a later body in that class. I'm not going to look through all my books to see when it was changed but the first one after it was is painted purple and and the other one is out of San Diego so I will never see it going back..... Just sayin' I don't agree with it.

I know I could fill mine in but chose not to, even finding an original body and measuring the inner width so I could put them in the stock location. If Hooley chooses to use an Austin American roadster body he will see there are no inner fender wells or panels and he will need to remove the fender as I was directed to do and place some kind of wheel well. There are a few Austin Americans running in both modified, rear engine modified and G/F and all have the fenders removed and wheel wells filled out to the body line. These vehicles are also very very low. My car was reconstructed meeting the rules in the early 80's and I ran the rear tires in the stock location and left the fenders on. In 1986 the rules were changed to remove rear fender removal and a tread width equal to what was said a Ford could run. Also eliminated the fuel tank in front of the grille shell too at the same meeting. (not in street roadster).. Funny that only ONE running roadster was effected by these rule changes....I was nice to be so loved...................JD

[jdincau]

     In 1971 Ken and I decided we were tired of stock bodied cars and the constant whining over rules so we sold the Studibaker to Tom Finn and started on a gas roadster project. Little did we know what we were jumping into. Complaints about missing windshield wiper motors and non stock headlight bezels were nothing compared to the roadster wars. We built a one piece bantam body with a 32 grille shell. The hood was long enough to make the total length 145 inches which was the maximum in the rule book. We sent the association a picture of the body and they promptly changed the rules to make it illegal.  I wasn't just us, we were the victims of the great Mark Dees laid back 34 Chevy grill and spring loaded tonneau controversy. The funny thing is that it was exactly what everyone was running as a gas roadster in 1991, we were just 20 years too soon.  The roadster shell became a house for Ken's mom's dogs. We went to Speedweek as spectators and it was boring. The salt was good

[thundersalt]

It would sure help a little if the accepted dimensions were published. We have a 1/4 thick rule book on V4's why not one for roadster bodies. Why were the wheel wells on roadster class bodies ever permitted to be filled?

Nope....That's part of the challenge and right of passage when building for a roadster class. You have to spend a week of you life researching and obtaining those secret hidden measurements because "the entrant shall provide the demension"

[jimmy six]

Jim, Austins have had a storied life in LSR. My first photo is of Meb Healy's with Chuck Potvin driving. It had a Chev 6 for power and a 32 Ford grille shell. David Koskella's was built as a gas/ fuel and I only saw it when it ran as a modified. I believe he told me at one time it had a stock grille. Went 265 I think with a blown Chrysler and rounded nose. Mark Dees Austin was really strange with that long hood and Chevrolet grille. When the I saw it they would only let it run as a modified. Marks had the rear spare tire well filled in too. I owned the body for a few years after Mark died, I think Jim Lattin has it now.

Mine originally was built by Gary Barrious in the late 60's. When he built it the G/F rules stated a stock hood could only be 12" longer than stock. (That might have been what got Mark and David) anyway Gary put a 28 Ford shell on it and the next year the rule said the shell had to be the same manufacture as the body. Gary shows up a Bonneville with stock 32  Austin shell about 2/3rds the size of a Ford.  I bought it that way in 1981 and the next year that was gone and the 530 sq in rule was in and my shell is a wall hanger. I have an original hood too. I lowered the car in 81 and used a 31 Chevrolet shell with fuel tank in front.

 After the 1986 rules mine was totally screwed up so I went back to my coupe. In 87 or 88 they made all G/F's 143" up to 1932's and I was back and made it the way it is today. I brought it back in 1990 or 91 and no seemed to care. One thing mine has always met the rules as they were written at the time it ran. It meets them now too..... See u in November.. JD

[Dynoroom]

Now I remember why I built a Modified Roadster, it was easy......  

[mtkawboy]

Nobody cares about the minor stuff until you go too fast. No body cares about the spirit of the rules until you go too fast