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Here's a new project I'll throw out here for those interested in old gassers. I've been staring at this thing sitting in the corner of my garage for the past 4 years and decided I better get a move on or I'll never get it done. I call it my retirement project, but really my goal is to have it nearly complete by the time I retire in, oh, 5 years or so. I've been a fan of these cars since I was about 6 or 7 years old. My Dad took me to the drags quite regularly since about age 5 ( around 1960 ). Pomona, San Gabriel, San Fernando, Irwindale on a Sunday about once a month or so. Big thrill for me, since that meant I didn't have to go to church that day.Yay!
Anyway, about the car. I acquired it 4 or 5 years ago from a buddy of mine. He had it sitting out at his place in the high desert for a while with some plans to build it. Well, that changed when he managed to score a complete vintage 60's Anglia panel (Thames) gasser out of someones garage in, I think, the Victorville area. It's extremely cool and I'm very jealous. So this Anglia sedan became available. I've always wanted one so I asked what he would take for it. He replied "Trade me a guitar for it". Since I have 20+ guitars in my collection, I said "DONE!" I traded a nice 1994 USA Fender Strat in a tweed case for the car. So, I've put away a few parts for it here and there and I've finally managed to actually get started on it. As you can see in the photos, it's just a shell on a chassis that had alredy been back halfed with a ladder bar setup with a narrowed Old/Pontiac rear end. I'm planning to keep that but add coilovers in the back. The front has an Opel front end grafted on. The jury is out on whether I'm going to keep that. I like it, but the tires stick out of the fenders. No good. If I can figure out a way to make it narrower, I'll do that. I have a complete fiberglass tilt front for it, it had fiberglass doors but I traded those for some stock steel doors.
So, over the last couple of weeks I managed to get my first real work done on it. I ordered a 10 point cage from Jegs, and tacked it into place. Now, I'm trying to learn how to weld, and I think this is a great project to learn on. BUT, the roll cage is not the place to learn (I make pretty good booger welds at this point). So, I custom fit all the cage pieces and lightly tacked it into place and I'll have a real welder finish it up for me. I have a couple of chassis guys in mind. So, this is where we are with it right now, it'll be a slow moving project, but I'll update once in a while. I know there are some gasser guys on here that will dig it!
Anyway, about the car. I acquired it 4 or 5 years ago from a buddy of mine. He had it sitting out at his place in the high desert for a while with some plans to build it. Well, that changed when he managed to score a complete vintage 60's Anglia panel (Thames) gasser out of someones garage in, I think, the Victorville area. It's extremely cool and I'm very jealous. So this Anglia sedan became available. I've always wanted one so I asked what he would take for it. He replied "Trade me a guitar for it". Since I have 20+ guitars in my collection, I said "DONE!" I traded a nice 1994 USA Fender Strat in a tweed case for the car. So, I've put away a few parts for it here and there and I've finally managed to actually get started on it. As you can see in the photos, it's just a shell on a chassis that had alredy been back halfed with a ladder bar setup with a narrowed Old/Pontiac rear end. I'm planning to keep that but add coilovers in the back. The front has an Opel front end grafted on. The jury is out on whether I'm going to keep that. I like it, but the tires stick out of the fenders. No good. If I can figure out a way to make it narrower, I'll do that. I have a complete fiberglass tilt front for it, it had fiberglass doors but I traded those for some stock steel doors.
So, over the last couple of weeks I managed to get my first real work done on it. I ordered a 10 point cage from Jegs, and tacked it into place. Now, I'm trying to learn how to weld, and I think this is a great project to learn on. BUT, the roll cage is not the place to learn (I make pretty good booger welds at this point). So, I custom fit all the cage pieces and lightly tacked it into place and I'll have a real welder finish it up for me. I have a couple of chassis guys in mind. So, this is where we are with it right now, it'll be a slow moving project, but I'll update once in a while. I know there are some gasser guys on here that will dig it!
Attached Files
I see how narrow that is. The one linked to earlier may have some good ideas...
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