Progress on taking ex-racer A12 back to the street

[b-body-bob]

I bought this car in 2007 out of Akron. Belonged to a guy named Paul McCoy, maybe you know him from the track.

This is just before I bought it:

It was all stripped out and cut up, courtesy of this guy

I took it to a few T&Ts but eventually I bought a parts car to get everything I needed to turn it back into a street car

But I wasn't able to get anyone I trusted to do the metal work so it sat disassembled for about 10 years.

Eventually a guy I knew and trusted started up a bodyshop, so it went there in 2022.

Yes the cowl top came off because it had the wiper/louver delete from Arlen, including the bottom of the cowl delete since water couldn't get in there now. You can see there even the V-brace is gone. I guess the moral of the story is to never trust a man who gets cars for free to prep your car.

Eventually it was all patched up, rotisseried, and painted.

Finally, almost 3 years to the day it left, it's back here



It still has the speed holes, mini-tubs, and the springs are moved into the rails so it's not completely neutered now.

More to follow.

 

[MWbirdLOVER70]

Are those cut rectangles below the sill plates? If yes they really wanted weight gone

 

[beebest]

Your car looks great!! Myself, having grown up in Akron, it's very cool to see an old Vanke built car. I like that you left a bit of the race car history in it. Looking forward to see it completed. Nice work!!

 

[b-body-bob]

Are those cut rectangles below the sill plates? If yes they really wanted weight gone

Yes. It was crazy. All that cutting, then there was a huge heavy steel roll bar. I guess they had to have the roll bar, but they didn't have to have all that sheetmetal that was cut out.

The inner quarters were cut out. The metal under the kick panels was cut out. The dash frame had all parts you couldn't see and wasn't part of bolting it to the car cut out. The rear window mech was removed with the window bolted up. On and on.

If it had been done neatly I might have just covered it up and left it, but honestly it looked like they trained an apprentice on the job. One side was almost acceptable, the other side was a bloody mess.

I wish I would've scaled it but never took the time to do it and the next thing I knew I had stripped it to bare bones.

BTW if this is in the wrong forum, please move it, I thought it fit in here because of the mini tubs and what not.

Another unmentioned benefit - all the bodywork had been done old school with brass. Ever tried mig welding close to brass? Brass boils at about 500*, so it's like the 4th of July.

 

[Runcharger]

Neat car and no better colour for an A12. I like the preservation of race car past as well.

 

[R413]

Lots of work, I remember pictures of this car from moparts back then.

Cut the rockers out to hide "things" inside, like in the movie French Connection.

 

[oldbee]

Are those cut rectangles below the sill plates? If yes they really wanted weight gone

Lol, you do what you gotta do!

 

[eldubb440]

outstanding!

 

[Cranky]

Y'all should see some of the stuff I did to my 66 Belvedere.....takes a lot of cutting to get a stock K-frame down to 32 lbs. Before doing the K frame, I took the car down from 3370 to 2950 doing sheet work, glass hood, no front bumper and on and on. The car was a /6 auto and 8 3/4 rear. Still had the factory AC on it too.

 

[b-body-bob]

no better colour for an A12

There's no tag or sheet so I shot from the hip and called it ralley green. The original color was still on the floor.