Bullington Speed and Custom

1931 Ford Slant Window

admin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 06:30:24 +0000

I have always wanted to own a tub job. Not sure what a tub job is? It is when you take a early model sedan and removing the top making it basically a roadster with a back seat. It also then resembles a bath tub or a plain old tub. Back in 2006 I owned a sedan worthy of making into a tub, it was a 1928 Ford Model A Tudor which was too nice of an example to cut the top off. So I sold it and kept searching for a Model A sedan that had roof damage and or no roof at all. This to me would be the perfect candidate. Fast forward to July of 2009, while doing my daily search on craigslist for all things Model A I came across and ad that had a Model A sedan for sale or trade! I called the seller and offered up a trade he couldn’t refuse. The sedan was located in Bremerton Washington which isn’t too far from where my cousin Junkyard lives. I called him up and invited myself over and asked if he wanted to go pick up some vintage iron, he gleefully answered yes. One week later I’m the proud owner of this crusty body that has seen better days. Not sure where to even begin. The roof is torn up, the passenger side sub-frame is cut, and there is a good amount of rust to deal with. Perfect!!!!

No immediate plans. Need to get the front cowl bolted down to something sturdy and straight. Then align the rest of the body and build supports etc. We are a ways away from even starting this, but it is fun none the less.

Some work here..

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There was a time..

admin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 08:47:25 +0000

While on a Model A safari we stumbled upon this old trailer that had been retired some years ago. It was equipped with two solid rubber tires, wood spoke wheels attached to a steel rim, leaf springs riding on top of an axle, and these little gems. Four spring hangers that could double as rare art in my eyes.

There was a time when something as generic as a spring hanger on a trailer destined to be a work horse it’s entire life was something to be proud of. There was a time when a designer or an engineer took pride in something we generally take for granted. There was a time where a person could create something out of necessity, yet make it aesthetically pleasing. The common spring hanger has been around forever, yet I have never seen one like this. Someone took the time to design a real piece of art, I can without a doubt appreciate the work that went into these hangers.

There are still people out there passionate about the small details, but they are a rare breed. I have experienced them first hand on specialty fabrication and automotive forums, these artisians are kind enough to share their work with others, inspiring the onlookers to go ahead and sweat the details. Take your time, take pride in your work so maybe one day in the future someone will look at your work and think “There was a time”.

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28-29 Model A Tudor by the Lake

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:49:41 +0000

As of late I have been too busy to be in the shop for any decent amount of time due to responsibilites in life. I had almost given up on anything automotive to happen on Sunday when out of the blue my cousin calls my cellular telephone. “A good friend was looking at mountain property in Eastern Washington and found a Tudor sitting on a piece of property, want to go for a ride?” Pleasantly surprised and somewhat shocked I said “I was in, come pick me up on your way out of town”. I surveyed the rest of the house inhabitants to see if anyone else wanted to go on an adventure to find some abandoned Henry Ford products. As I found out quite quickly, the only person out of the entire family who was super excited to go was my 4 year old son Hank aka “Hot Rod Hank”.

Armed with a camera, brown paper bag lunch, and lucid dreams of finding an old abandoned junkyard we were off towards Eastern Washington. The trip was uneventful as it should be. We arrived in the late afternoon and dark thunderstorm clouds started to form above us while we started searching for the hiking trail that would lead us to the Tudor. My cousin who had all the details written down made short work of finding the old jalopy. It is pretty complete sans passenger side door. For 80s years old it didn’t look half bad. We walked around it and pointed out several fun details while snapping pictures. One being that it had friction shocks on the rear frame and that there is still a good amount of interior wood attached to the body.

After looking around for more treasures in the thick woods surrounding it we gave up and walked by the Tudor one last time before heading out. My son asked me “Are we taking it home?” I just smiled and said maybe later… We plan on contacting the county or the realtor to see who the official property owner is and to see if they want us to remove that eye sore off the property for them. Stay tuned.

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Cadillac 346 Flathead V8

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:54:43 +0000

Brief History

The Cadillac 346 Flathead V8 was the durable monobloc V-8 that would go on to help win the war. The 346 Cadillac flathead was the power plant of choice for the U.S. Army’s M-5 and M-24 tanks. The engine was backed by a Hydra-Matic, which was an exclusive Cadillac option new for 1941, which also saw action during World War II. Cadillac engineer Harry Barr would later recall that the transmission was very serviceable right from the start, and the improvements resulting from four years of military service would make the postwar versions even better.

In the mid to late 1930’s Cadillac also built a 322 flathead V8 which is very similar to the Cadillac 346. The difference between them was the 346 bore size is 1/8 inch larger. Both engines were designed by John F Gordon, he would later go on and become the COO of General Motors from 1958 to 1965. At the time, the Cadillac flathead possessed some of the finer mechanical accomplishments for an engine. It used pressed-in piston rings (which became an industry standard). The engine also allowed for hydraulic valve adjustment which was state of the art at the time.

Dry Lakes and Hot Rods

There isn’t much information about the Cadillac 346 during the pre-war days. I’m guessing the engine was rather new and did not show up in the local wrecking yards for some speed thirsty guy to find and the odds of a fancy new Cadillac being sold off for parts to private parties was probably rare. That being said I have seen several old photographs with dry lake style cars running the Cadillac 346. Keith Landrigan had a 1932 Ford Roadster that ran a 346. I believe the car is on the cover of the 2nd or 3rd Hot Rod Magazine. His roadster ran a recorded run of 115.83.

Photo by Howard Gribble

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1966 Carryall Suburban 4×4

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:18:30 +0000

The latest project parked outside of the barn is this 1966 Chevrolet Carryall Suburban. Orginally the carryall was located in the Spokane area for the first 42 years of it’s life where it spent time as a weekend warrior, shuttling family members from their cabin to the local lake and beyond. In the last ten years it has sat idle being started and ran on a regular basis, but the use had diminished. The old saying goes “Rust never sleeps” and it has worked overtime on the carryall.Luckily the previous owner had bought almost every single patch panel available with the idea to restore it. When it arrived, I opened up the back barn doors and spied a large amount of patch panels, rocker panels, fenders, radiator support, etc. There is a ton of body work needed, but we have a good base to go off of. The goal of this project is to build a reliable vintage 4×4 that can carry a family of five and their cargo with ease.

High level planning has a vanilla Chevrolet 350 V8 backed by a 700R4 (overdrive). Disc brakes will be added up front along with a power brake booster and dual circuit master cylinder. We will also be adding power steering too. Arm-strong steering is unsavory and should be one of the first conversion anyone does on an older vehicle. Stay tuned for the project kick off where we will be diving into patch panel replacment.

Here are some more photos.

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Arnold Birner Lakes Modified

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:33:06 +0000

Arnold Birner ran this 4-port Riley powered rig at the lakes in 1941. At the July 20 meet it ran 118.42 mph. Arnold went on to become a pattern maker and did all the engine blocks for Donovan Engineering including his favorite the D, an aluminum version of Henry Ford’s old 4-banger. Photos from the Jim Miller Collection. From the Land Speed Racing Newsletter.

I would like to build a modified that represents a close impersonation of this modified. The picture above is one of my all time favorites, and will go down as one of the key reasons I do what I do.

Here are some more photos found online and in magazine articles.

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