NewOldWood

I was able to keep my number so the one above still works. Getting me to answer, on the other hand..... I quite often don't hear the phone. If I don't answer be sure to leave a message with your number and a good time to call back.

Not as heavy as you might think. Not any heavier, and maybe still lighter than a modern glass boat of the same size, and definately lighter than an early glass boat. Also, anything you might have heard about a wood boat having a softer ride than a glass boat is definately true! Glad you like it. I'm in the process of planking the bottom now, here are a few shots of what it looked like up to that point.

Now we start taking old pieces out one at a time and reproducing them, as nearly as possible anyway. In some cases the original shape is gone but an educated guess will get you close enough, for now anyway.

I figure that wood car guys are both car guys and wood guys, so might find this project interesting. All of the wood will be replaced. Not all of it is bad enough that it has to be replaced, but enough of it is that the owner would rather have it all new. The bottom will get an epoxy barrier coat followed by a coat of anti fouling bottom paint. On a couple other boats I have built I have fiberglassed the hulls from the water line down, but will not be doing that on this one.

Gar Wood planked his boats with African Mahogany, so that's what I'll be using. For the frames and other structural parts I am using Ash. As usual, the worst of the decay is hidden below the surface, the bottom frames were rotted badly in quite a few places and had also been subjected to a number of questionable repairs. The keel came out in four pieces. I've seen worse, but this one was definately beyond use or repair.

I'm not going to have a spare minute till after Thanksgiving but I'll give you a call when things calm down.

About as far from the show circuit as you can get, but that was the plan all along.

Other than compatability issues the problem with ethanol blended gas is ethanols affinity for water. It absorbs humidity from the air, now you have water in your fuel causing rust among other problems. If the car is driven regularly the fuel is burned before this has a chance to happen. Octane is essentially a rating of the flash point of the fuel. Higher octane fuels are harder to light making them more detonation resistant and allowing you to do things to the engine, like higher compression or more advanced ignition timing, that will help the engine make more power. High octane fuel in a low compression engine is not a good combination. Octane rating has nothing to do with the energy content of the gasoline.

Not out of the question but isn't going to leave much for labor. Not trying to imply that you couldn't do at least most of the work yourself, others have.

Back in the early 80s I lived in an apartment just to the left of where this picture was taken. Never been an evening TV person, used to like to walk across the bridge down Royal Palm Blvd, along the beach, poke around Worth Ave, etc.. Haven't been back there in almost 30 years, it's changed a lot!

Thanks. I don't consider myself to be unusually talented, I think a lot more people are capable of this type of work than know it. Take your time and pay attention to what you're doing, you just might surprise yourself. As far as changes go, original vehicles or restorations aren't bringing the money they did ten or fifteen years ago, the market is changing. Altering a vehicle on the other hand is a double edged sword. The end value of an altered vehicle will depend almost entirely on the quality of the work. If you are building a memorial car I would think originality would be a priority. As far as color, there's "the" original color and there's "an" original color, is that an important distinction? I don't know if it's even possible to "numbers match" a 1941 vehicle, maybe it is but I think you're getting into concourse teritory there. An engine of the correct era or series I would think would be fine.

I built the body for this wagon a while back, it has birdseye panels. I stumbled on a batch of birdseye at a local hardwood supplier, I resawed it into 1/8" veneer and made these panels. I dont remember it being terribly expensive, the hard part is finding it, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I also think 10K might be on the high side for wood. I recently finished a full body on a 1950 Power Wagon and without digging the receipts out I would guess the total for everything, floors, body, roof and panels was probably not over $5,000. For tools, don't think anyone has mentioned finger joint cutters, will need to be able to do that.

I thought about this at one time, then did some math. One BTU will change the temp of one pound of water one degree F. To melt one pound of ice with no change in temp requires 144 BTUs. So one pound of ice at zero degrees will absorb 214 BTUs to bring it to seventy degrees. It's going to take a lot of ice to equal the 30,000 or so BTU output of a typical automotive air conditioner. An engine driven unit is really the only way to go.

Time to get started. The best place to start on a project like this is the bottom, and the easiest way to do that is to make it the top. So after removing the hardware and stripping the interior and deck planking, over it goes!

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.