This 1933 Franklin Airman is where it all started.  Today it is a very rare car, but my father bought it in 1933, and it was our family car until 1962. I learned to drive on this car, which was the beginning of my love for automobiles. Unfortunately I was unable to find the time or the money for a restoration. Franklin parts are either rare, or must be manufactured at a huge cost. This is an equation for spending lots of big bucks.

I vaguely remembered a slick looking sporty car featured in a magazine many years ago. It had a roadster-style body made out of wood. I remembered it as being made a bit like a strip-hull canoe, which I had built back in the 1970s. I couldn’t really remember the name of the magazine so I started browsing the web in hopes of finding the plans. That’s when I ran across “The Book.”

I called a local bookstore, but they hadn’t heard of it. Since it was a Haynes publication, I went to their web site and ordered one. It was a little expensive having to pay shipping from England, but it arrived right on time. A few days later I saw the same book on the shelf at a local technical bookstore. Guess I tried the wrong one first. Oh well.

The frame is pretty well underway at this point. Here we have just finished checking front suspension geometry to assure proper camber shift with the body roll of an extreme corner.

Here is a close-up of the front left corner. The upper spring perch is not done the way Colin Chapman did it. It is more reminiscent of a street rod, but was necessary by a slightly longer coil-over spring/shock. 

I need to disassemble the rolling chassis before giving it a coat of paint. But first I need to finish welding joints that are still just tack welded and attach lots of little things like Dzus fasteners that hold the nosecone to the frame, and brackets for the fixed ends of brake lines and cables.

Next it was time to glue the rough-cut sections to one another to get the approximate nose cone shape. This is tricky because some types of adhesive dissolve the Styrofoam, and others don’t dry well. Resorcinol glue dries well because it doesn’t rely on evaporation, but it becomes hard and brittle. Carpenter’s glue takes a long time to dry, but it shapes better than resorcinol.

Note the scuttle frame in the background without it's skin. You will see that change in a few more photos.

Since the form was designed with a ¼” lip around all edges, it would be impossible to remove the finished nose cone without splitting the form. This shows the result – a right and left side with a plywood flange laminated to the form.

With the car in the background it’s hard to make out the dash and firewall (called a scuttle in England). The steering wheel is also hard to make out, but it’s there, and it actually turns the wheels. 

Scuttle is still just a frame without skin. Be patient. That is all about to change.

I thought bending to the correct radius would be difficult, but fortunately, the phone company provided a handy  tool. By inserting the sheet metal between the telephone pole and a PVC down-tube, the PVC pipe became a perfect mandrel to bend the sheet metal around..

You'll notice the screws around the perimeter of the dash panel. They screw into holes drilled and tapped into the scuttle frame.

It was a nice change of pace to fabricate the exhaust header. Primary tubes are 1.75 inch exhaust pipe in the form of a Tri-Y (4-2-1). The small pipes all funnel into a 2.25 inch pipe. Eventually this bad boy will get ceramic coated.  It should last longer and keep the under-hood temperature down.

This photo also shows a change to the book frame. In the book, the panel where the exhaust exits has a single triangulation tube. I decided to add some stiffness here for two reasons. One, the 2.3 L engine is pretty heavy and develops a lot of torque. Two, the top and bottom tubes are long and unsupported which allows those tubes to flex. The added triangulation should add a lot of stiffness to the frontl.  

Rather than take the time remake the form and seat, I decided to buy aluminum dragster seats that would fit the narrow cockpit. They will require padding and upholstering, but then my hand made buckets would have as well.

The throttle cable works a bell crank that actuates the throttle (left of picture).

The steering column is stabilized by the ball bearing pillow block right behind the upper U-joint. Even though it hasn't been on the road yet, steering feels very tight.

Just behind the timing belt is an oil catch can from Jaz. It only holds a pint, but I'm sure I won't need more volume because there is a drain valve at the bottom. I don't plan to run PCV to the intake, but if I do, it would be a simple matter to block the can's breather port, and use the extra vacuum fitting (left side of can). 

The CNC unit came with a long, threaded stainless rod for the "fixed" end. I cut off 2.5" and rethreaded the end for the spherical joint. I cut off the cable end of the throughout fork and welded a grade 8 bold for the other spherical joint. I don't like how it turned out, and will probably re-fabricate something better. 

By the way, it takes a long time to paint all those tubes.

The back of the pedal box, facing away from the camera, will butt up against the firewall of the scuttle.

The white paper is a template of the shape required for the tray in the engine compartment. The template will be transferred to aluminum sheet. Then I'll be cutting up again. 

In this photo, the torque arm is the diagonal tube that runs from the right side of the differential to a cross-brace at the top of the driveline tunnel. It is rubber mounted where it joins the frame to dampen vibration. The torque arm is heavy wall tubing in the shape of a Y. The Y end brackets the stock torque arm mount. It is a little like a ladder bar with the big end fastened with two huge through bolts between the top and bottom of the differential nose. 

When the skin was ready to be fastened for good, each hole was dimpled into the countersink. That allowed the use of flush rivets. The Cherry Q brand of rivets were used which can be found at aircraft supply stores. They have higher tensile and shear strength than standard pop rivets, and the mandrel remains in the hole. That way they are self sealing (to an extent). The mandrel also lends to greater shear strength. 

Here, I'm just finishing the rear aluminum skin.. The car is on jack stands so I have enough room to get underneath and "roll" the skin around the bottom frame tube. The top is now held in place with the screws that mount the snaps. I've heard of people using clamps to hold the metal in place while they work the bottom. Using the snap screws worked better for me -- no shifting, and no clamping marks.

If I'd have been smart, I would have mixed the pigment a little darker so it would be a little closer to British Racing Green. Maybe next time.

It was very well worth getting the factory wiring harness. They were color coded, labeled, and sized properly. All of this made for a much cleaner, faster, and error free job. On previous projects, I did my own harnesses. I'll never do that again.

I decided to mount them while in gel-coat. Then they would be solid for the necessary body filler and sanding it took to make them smooth and ripple free. It might have been better to just pay the extra money for Caterham fenders.

Not long after this picture was taken, I lowered the seats. The bottom cushion was just too high. Seating is now 2-1/2 inches lower, and actually more comfortable. The only thing is that now I have to look up to see the top of the tires on passing trucks (that's me passing them, of course). 

My 14 year old nephew, Ryan and I replaced the cam with the engine still in the car. After pulling the old cam, I wanted to make sure we cleaned out as much of the worn metal that was certainly floating around in the lubrication system. We pulled the pan, and flushed solvent through the oil passages. We scrubbed the top, and inside the crank case. Then we replaced the rod and main bearings. This is really the hard way, but it was only two days before track day at Portland International Raceway.  

While working under the car, a drop of oil fell into Ryan's mouth. I told him that he now qualifies as a real grease monkey.

A lot of cars were faster then mine, but I can't imagine their drivers had as big a smile as I did. How's that song go -- I did it my way... from scratch. 

Now here's some irony. The car won People's Choice 1st place. I never expected it because the fenders still need paint, and I haven't finished the inside trim. Not only that, the day before I was on the track at PIR and the car still had track dirt stuck here and there. Oh well, if they want to give it to me, I'll take it.

I had to say that because Dale was going to build one with me, and even bought the aluminum for the body. Then he found a deal on the Westfield. Anyone what a bunch of 2024 T3 Clad aluminum?

Fenders still need paint. Hood needs louvers and paint. Roll bar needs lowering, but it's still a blast to drive.