arajani posted:@Robert M does have full access to my home...and he’s armed. 😳
@arajani You know I got your back. And your front and both sides.
Nobody ever thinks about the door latches. Once you see them, though....
https://www.speedsterowners.co...6#618737639133538576
What holds the back of the tonneau in place?
EdG
Your attention to detail is amazing! Hats off to you and Carey.
Nice! That’s a very clean way of doing it.
EdG
Gorgeous!!!! I have to admit that I spend some time looking for glimpses of a certain blue coupe in your pictures. 
Yeah, I heard you're not even getting your car for Christmas.
Anand, though, his will be done soon.
The way I see it, Carey has a three month vacation coming. Seriously, the man deserves a break.
Looking fantastic!
@arajani my 5 y/o asked what I was looking at. I showed him the latest pic you uploaded.
He excitedly said, “WOW Dad. Is that yours?”
To which I replied, nope.
He quickly followed by “buy it, but it, please buy it; such a cool car. I love it!”
@Kevin - Bay Area — Once the car lands here, bring your son over! You can take him for a drive in it!
Looks like it's pretty much done, Anand. You've gotta be getting excited.
I'll be MORE than happy to drive that out to you...... 
That is a tiny automobile. I think @IaM-Ray or I would look like a bear on a tricycle in it.
@Stan Galat and @IaM-Ray: it truly is super small -- and it is smaller than the BECK spyder. The seating position is oriented far differently, too. Carey told me I'll look like Stuart Little with a tan. 
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Gordon and I had a discussion years ago re: Being some what vertically challenged., it clearly has it's advantages 1) You get into the movies for half price. 2) Dance at a wedding with your very well endowed and very tall sister in-law ( visual here:~) 3) We fit in smaller fun plastic cars too ~
@arajani posted:@Stan Galat and @IaM-Ray: it truly is super small -- and it is smaller than the BECK spyder. The seating position is oriented far differently, too. Carey told me I'll look like Stuart Little with a tan.
This is as Ferry intended.
And right and proper.
What Stan wants (though he is loath to admit it) is a channeled '32 Ford Highboy with a chopped top & cut screen.
And a sunroof through which his unusually large head can fit. 
@Stan Galat the imagery of a bear on a tricycle was so fitting-that was perfect! Your way with words - such a talent!
@arajani posted:@Kevin - Bay Area — Once the car lands here, bring your son over! You can take him for a drive in it!
Sounds great!!
Carey’s upholsterer redid my rockers. Previously a rounded shape, he used foam and the board that was previously in place to create the same shape of the aluminum bodied car. This also allowed the jack to sit flat.
Nearly there, now...
Here’s the European Collectibles car, for comparison:
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This is just amazing, I cannot wait to see it on the road.
@arajani posted:Carey’s upholsterer redid my rockers. Previously a rounded shape, he used foam and the board that was previously in place to create the same shape of the aluminum bodied car.
... well, of course he did.
Amazing.
Wow. Just... wow.
How epic would it be to drive that beauty across the country, perhaps to, I dunno... Carlisle? "Drive" could even be stretched to include a trailer - I wouldn't mind. I just want to see this in the flesh.
I drove from MD to CA when I got back from Nam...never again...
Ditto, CT to CA when I got home.
@barncobob posted:I drove from MD to CA when I got back from Nam...never again...
The drive from Ar to Morro Bay, CA for the West coast event was pure pleasure and if I could find someone to caravan with me I'd do it again. Someone mechanically inclined like Gordon or Alan. Any interest?
How about this, then? Ship the car to Charleston and caravan up to Carlisle with me. Yeah, that's the ticket.
I offered to fly to Indiana and drive the Spyder back to California for Anand. I would even stop after the requisite number of miles to have the break in oil changed if need be. Anand declined. Instead, I will be driving to Indiana with my new trailer to collect the Spyder for Anand and bring it back to California.
Can't stop, won't stop.
Curious about the technical here, @arajani. To my eyes, the Beck and TR tubs' rounded transition to the rocker panels takes space away. As you learned on your first build (and I on mine), the jack ends up sitting too high because the upper part of the curve crowds it. The fix here would require cutting the 'glass and riveting in an angled section of aluminum (which, in fact, I almost did before deciding it was too much additional nonsense).
So I ended up building a standoff for the jack tie-down bracket so the leather strap could reach the jacked-up jack.
I understand the CMI is a different animal. But your description of the flaw sounds the same. How, again, was yours done? What "foam?" What "board that was previously in place?"
Anand, pure gold.
Robert, let me know when you'll be in Indiana. I'd love to see that car and meet you. Plus I've never been to SE. I know most of the crew, but I've never seen the shop.
Jeez, I keep hoping Anand’s next post will be the video of the first road test. It’s got to be coming soon!
@edsnova: The room will get pretty empty once we start geeking out about the differences between original cars vs CMI vs Beck/TR.
Alas, I feel compelled to respond
The inner rocker of the original car is comprised of the panel with the lightening holes and floor piece outside of the main frame rail.
When upholstered:
The CMI has a similar shape, but because the body is fiberglass, there is a curve where the two parts of the inner rockers mate (can be seen on the driver's side in the photo below):
To make a panel that fit against this, Carey's team used a special type of board which they curved (it isn't cardboard as I had thought!):
Which led to this:
Because this is rounded instead of two pieces with a crease where they meet, Carey's guys put foam along the floor to flatten it out and make the vinyl sit flat; they also created that "crease" where the two rocker pieces should meet (if the car was aluminum).
This is in contrast to the BECK/TR cars, which have a totally different cockpit:
I had purchased a jack from AlloyCars for my BECK 550, and it wouldn't fit well because it was too wide. The BECK rockers aren't as wide (the space has been appropriated elsewhere).
First picture is 550-0074:
My BECK 550:
So, Carey cut steel and created false rockers and subsequently slimmed the jack down (as seen above and below -- yes, he took it apart and rebuilt it for me) so that it would fit. At standard, the regular 550 jack is too wide to fit.
I did ask Carey if he would cut into the fiberglass rockers, and he refused. He said that it would compromise the strength of the car and refused for that reason. There was a car that did have aluminum rockers grafted in after removing the rounded fiberglass ones, and Carey told me he repainted that car every year (the paint cracked along the outside because of those aluminum rockers).
@DannyP: Thanks! Good ol Carey. The guy never ceases to amaze me.
@John Schneeman: Test drive next week. The generator may be bad, which could mean no test drive...We'll see!
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