Page 38 - Issue 49

Technical Stuff

Jim’s car takes up quite a bit more
of Mother Earth than the average
‘29 Ford. Then again, most ‘29
Fords aren’t built around the
running gear of a 1997 Carpenter
school bus. The heart of this beast
is the ubiquitous 6BT/Allison tranny
combo that powers a lot of rats
and hot rods nowadays. But unlike
most that traveled 200K-300K hard
miles before being repurposed,
Jim’s was barely broken in at 54K
well-maintained miles leisurely
hauling kids to class. Write this
down: school busses are cheap and
plentiful!
While Jim did take the time to
build his own frame, he saved time
and money by also using the front
and rear axles, wheels, and steering
gear from the bus. Jim says, “The
ginormous Rockwell rear makes a
9-inch look like a Smart Car axle.”
The rear wheels technically came
from the bus, but Jim widened them
signifi cantly in order to mount super
single tires on them. Believe it or
not, he runs them at 25 PSI with no
overheating or handling issues.

The signature features of Jim’s car are its huge horns and ‘28
Huppmobile headlights that move with the steering. It defi nitely
makes an unforgettable fi rst impression. There are tanks on
either side of the cowl that function as reserve gas tanks that are
activated at the fl ip of a driver-controlled lever. Seeing that Jim
works for John freakin’ Deere, there have to be some tractor/
combine/mower parts here somewhere, right? Yup – the radiator

is from a ‘60’s-era John Deere tractor.
Like we said earlier, Jim sourced a lot of the components
that went in to his build from an old school bus. He bought it
for $1600 and sold what he didn’t need for $800. Do the math –

that’s how you build on a budget!

38 RAT ROD MAGAZINE ISSUE FORTY-NINE

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