NewOldWood

You're making me feel old........Maybe "more modern" would have been better. It will be a small block Chevy, if I ever get it, was ordered several months ago. Interesting that the SBC was introduced 18 years after this boat was built, which was 66 years ago, and that I can still order a brand new one today. Obviously the one I will be using is a significantly updated version, but still.......

Little known but true! Also a founding partner along with Chris Smith in the Chris Smith & Sons boatbuilding company, later know as Chris Craft.

Don't care for the red wheels or the broken glass, but other than that I could drive it!

I have been building wood cars since the early part of this century but actually got started in custom woodworking back in the late 80s building wood sportfishing boats. I built a handfull of Mahogany runabouts before I got into cars but haven't done one in quite a few years. This is a 1937 Gar Wood, on the surface it looks pretty good but underneath is a completely different story. The owner wants many years of trouble free use so that being the case this is going to be a pattern boat. The boat came without an engine and will be repowered with something modern, but that will be the only deviaton from original. Just imagine how cool this would look hooked to the back of your Woodie!!

Mine. Was in Wisconsin when I built this, have moved to Alabama since. Bigger shop and bettter weather. I have documented a few other projects on here if you like that sort of thing. Building a wood boat at the moment, haven't posted anything on that. Not because the owner would object, more for the lack of wheels.

Well...............It is done, and I've seen it, and it is very nice. The owner does not want any (more) pictures of the car to be made public. Unfortunately I got the person working beween me and the owner in a little hot water over this thread, for which I issued my sincere apologies. Whatever the owners reasons are for that are none of my business and I don't fault them for it. I should have checked first.

All done but the packing and shipping. This is a reproduction of an optional teak wheel on 65/6 Corvettes. I have been making these for about 30 years now and all for the same guy. This one is on a 67 center. Even though the teak wheel was not available for 67 cars he puts them on all of his restorations anyway. The first picture has a glossy finish on it because that's what I build the finish up with. The last coat is satin because that's what they were when new.

Another coat of varnish on another Corvette steering wheel.

The mounting flange is a seperate part that clamps to the main body, it's adjustable for angle. I Have to reuse the steering wheel which has the throttle in the center of it, so adapting that to a diffferent box is probably going to be difficult. Did Ross make steering boxes specifically for marine use? I don't think they would have made one specifically for this model boat as the production numbers were very low.

I guess I should also add that what I need is the mirror image of this part.

After a little cleanup and closer inspection I found this.

What i'm working on is a boat, a 1937 Gar Wood. The steering is on the right and the owner wants to move it to the left side. Gar Wood made them both ways, the only difference was the gear box. It's a Ross gear and does not appear to be reversible. Steering gear boxes from this era were (as far as I know) all sourced from the automotive industry, which is why I am posting this here. I'm hoping that someone might recognize this part and be able to identify what vehicles it would have been used in. The body and side cover of the box have what appear to be casting numbers on them, and Ross on the main casting, but no other identifying markings.

With a big enough router mounted in a router table you might have a chance at swinging a single cutter, but you would still have to devise a way of running the wood past the cutter repeatedly in a controlled and adjustable fashion, which is really a bigger obstacle than getting a cutter made. These are the cutters I use. I turn them with a 5hp shaper. I made the sled myself, it works well but would be an awful lot of trouble just to build one door. Also the milling machine option, not cutting a finger joint here but with the right cutter could be.

Definately a Cantrell body. What are your plans for it?

Thanks Tom. The top material is Haartz Stayfast, and I did not install it as it had to be seamed. I doubt you will see it in an ad, but hunting and fishing are among the owners hobbies, and I've been told that it will be participating in both.

My work on this one is done. I drove it over to the guy that sprayed the clear for me, he repainted the rear fenders while I had them off and is going to do a little buffing on the hood and front fenders. The lighting for these pictures wasn't good, hoping to get some better shots when we get it outside to load it up for it's trip home.

None of the wood that was on this truck when I got it was original so I didn't bother saving any of it. What year is your truck? Is it a Campbell or Cantrell body? I'd be interested in seeing pictures of it.

Are the roof pieces in the pictures from the Kit? You said that most of the kit was unopened. If the one in the pictures is the one that you have to use, you will need to install at least a few of the front roof bows before you try to shape the header. The header shape has to be an extension of the roof shape, this is a process I normally do by hand.

Sorry for the delay, moving my shop again and things are somewhat chaotic right now. The pictures are the car in its current state, right? Assuming that new paint is part of the overall plan, I would approach it something like this. First thing to do is to build the roof. I have never worked with one of their kits so dont know how much work is going to be required to fit the pieces, but that needs to be done first. Once the roof is on, I would go through the doors, quarter panels, and tailgate and make any repairs that were needed, loose joints, damaged missing or rotten wood, and make everything line up as well as you can. There are limitations here, depending on the condition of the wood, but you can move things around too by playing with the hinge pockets, or moving the dovetails and strikers. It's a fussy trial and error process, but not really too bad. Once all the building, repair, and allignment work is done I would remove everything from the car, this is a very good time to paint the cowl, floorpans, etc. The finish prep is going to be MUCH easier to do on the bench. If you decide on a clear coat finish, it will have to be sprayed, it cannot be applied with a brush, and a brushed varnish finish will be much easier to do and will come out better if done laying flat. Doing the finish work with the panels in place should be avoided if at all possible. The clear vs varnish question is a preference thing. Clear coat has no color at all, it can be applied over some stains, but I would recommend a sample to make sure you dont have any compatibility problems. Do not try to use clear over new varnish, you can get away with it over old fully cured varnish but new is too soft. The Power Wagon I recently did was clear over stain. Clear is much easier to work with, it dries over night to something you can actually sand instead of the gooey mess that varnish remains for what seems like weeks, but if you like the look of varnish, varnish is really the best way to get it. That's it in a nutshell, I'm sure there will be many more questions. Sometimes a conversation works better, you can ring me up at 205-565-7571 for another month or so, I'm a landline kind of guy so will have a new number after the move.

I think that the value of a restored or modified car has more to do with the quality of the work than the nature of it, but if you don't plan on ever selling it just do what makes you happy. You say you enjoy driving old cars, so what is it about driving them that produces the enjoyment? The answer to that question will go a long way towards telling you what, if anything, you want to change about the car. When you get around to the wood work I'd be happy to provide any advice I can. It's free of charge and guaranteed to be worth at least what it cost. Good luck! Have fun!!

Sprayed a couple coats of clear on these and finally getting them installed.

A little contrast, the old vs the new.

The floor is Ash. The reasons they had for using White Oak for the flooring when these were new don't really apply so much today. The finish is done before the floor is installed. I tape off the top edge, put a big enough bead of caulk on the edge of the board to fill the gap and squeeze out a little bit, then install the boards. I use a spoon to trowel the joint off then carefully remove the tape. Quality on the wood bodied cars is all over the map, i've seen a lot of things that have made me roll my eyes. Not sure if the finished product had something to do with the quality, maybe the car bodies were built to a better standard than the utility truck bodies. Maybe being a 41 model had something to do with the quality of yours, a lot going on that year. Overall though I would say that from a structural standpoint, Ford built the best wood bodies.

Either clamp or glue blocks to either side of the joint and use them to clamp the joint together. Be careful gluing it off the car, don't want to try to reinstall it and find that the end of the board opposite the finger joint has shifted by 1/2". Whenever possible I glue things on the car, guarantees that everything is where it should be.

A quick Saturday afternoon time filler. I needed some armrest/door pulls for a semi-custom thing I'm doing and couldn't find anything I liked. My first attempt was similar to these but with a padded upholstered top. I couldn't get the leather to take the shape of the part (maybe because i'm not an upholsterer?) so gave up and settled on these instead. Still need to be made shiny.