THE TALL GUY – ANDY JAMES MODEL T COUPE
The year was 1971 and year 9 student, Andy James, recalls riding his pushbike to school when he spotted a car for sale. It was the most fantastic car he had ever seen, a 1923 Ford T bucket fitted with a chromed V8 engine, chromed suspension and chromed headers and exhaust. He had never seen anything like it, but he knew that he wanted one. With a mechanical knowledge of zero, Andy bought a copy of Australian Hot Rodding Review. He remembers asking his dad what a manifold was after reading an article about Warren Young’s Essex.
As a kid, Andy’s family used to holiday near a farm where there was a 1925 Buick Buckboard. Now a teen bitten by the hot rod bug, he managed to talk his dad into buying it with a view to hot rodding it. When they went to see the farmer about purchasing the Buick, the farmer said that he had a better option in the shed. It was a 1948 Hillman. Andy hated it at first sight and even at 15, he knew it would never been considered a hot rod, but with pressure from the farmer and his father, 25 bucks later Andy and his brother David had their first old car. Andy has hated Pommy cars ever since, funny about that!
Over the next few years, Andy and his brother Dave (whose ‘28 Ford has previously featured in Cruzin) bought a Triumph Herald, ‘34 Vauxhall, ‘37 Ford sedan, ‘38 Ford coupe and eventually a ‘36 Ford coupe. Andy and Dave both became members of the North Para Street Rods. In 1979, Andy moved to Port Augusta and rodding was put on hold, but he never lost his desire to build one.
In 1986 he bought a ‘34 Ford sedan project, completing it by 1992. He would never forget the buzz of driving it for the first time. After enjoying the ‘34 for 10 years he sold it in 2002, believing that he was over the ‘hot rod bug’. But as he watched the new owner drive off, he realised that it was a mistake to sell it.
Over the next couple of months, Andy spent time sitting in various rods to see what he could fit into comfortably. At a towering six foot, six inches, he figured a T coupe would fit the bill, unchopped of course! He contacted Barry Crowhurst about a fibreglass body. Barry is one of those guys that can do anything, including fibreglass, paint and panel, wiring, fabrication and a whole lot more. There is nothing that he will not have a go at. It was Barry that suggested he use a Model T truck chassis as a starting point for the build.
Andy was keen to dial some muscle into the tall T and reached for the top shelf with a Dart alloy block and heads making for 302 cubes. The revvy Windsor was put together by Con from Competition Automotive who iced it with a Weiand blower running 9 psi of boost, fed by a single 750 Holley. Copping the brunt is a C4 auto with manual valve body and 2,800 stall. Adelaide Tail Shafts built a stout drive shaft connecting it to the Jaguar Mark 10 independent rear.
Complementing the Jag rear is an equally cool Rod-Tech independent front end, fitted with Ford vented rotors and Commodore callipers complete the braking system. ZH Fairlane master cylinder and ZH Fairlane booster are out of sight, mounted beneath the dash.
With floppy body in hand Andy proceeded to steel out the shell before handing it to Rod Douglas who prepped it and laid down the Rosso Corsa Ferrari Red. Aside from the highly polished engine accessories forever on display in the permanently hoodless coupe, trimmings include Dietz stainless steel headlights, Model A taillights, and a quartet of Centerlines, 15×6 and 15×8 with 205/65 Kuhmo and 285/70 T/A Radials. The small indicators mounted on the leading edge of the front fenders are from a Ford Mondeo.
Although the interior of the T hadn’t quite been finished, Andy managed to get the coupe on the road when, just like that T bucket left a lasting impression on Andy, a rogue tree left an even larger imprint on his T coupe! Fact is Andy dodged a kangaroo on a wet day, sliding through the gravel, down an embankment and coming to rest against the unforgiving greenery. “No one was hurt and the ’27 was insured,” informs Andy, no doubt relieving some of the pain.
There are benefits of being a member of Southern States Street Rodders, and that is lots of members have skills. Rod Douglas is a man of many skills and put his hand up to rebuild the T. There was damage to the rear guard, top of the cab and the front guard. It was no small task, yet just 12 weeks later the ‘27 came back completely finished and that included a total repaint and even the interior completed!
It took Andy 5 years to finish the build, though he admits it sat for two years untouched after he and wife Lynne moved house. Andy would like to thank Barry Crowhurst for the body and information, not to mention Rod Douglas and fellow club mates.
So what now for Andy? Well he has a few plans. First of all he wants to finish his 1940 pickup, then a 1968 Galaxie convertible. Then he wants to restore a 1925 Chandler-Cleveland roadster that’s too rare to even think about rodding. Well there goes Andy’s spare time for the next ten years or so!
