What’s New?

Long story short, Hard Luck HQ is staying put. I’ve been absent trying to prepare and list my house, but the property I was hoping to buy sold to another party in the meantime. My wife, Jenna, and I were busy, then bummed, so we’ve been processing it all. But I’m back, and you’re here, so lets do this thing!

The Yard Art Roadster

I spent a chilly November Saturday with Dan Bearman last year. With temperatures riding above and below freezing, his ‘26 T Roadster was a little cold-blooded. I hid around corners with my trusty camera in hand while Dan worked his magic. The roadster breathed to life!

The story of the Yard Art Roadster starts with a rusty ‘26 T body Dan drug home from a swap meet at the Gilmore Car Museum. As you might have guessed based on the name of the car, his original intention for this body was to use as actual yard art around his peaceful property. When Dan posted his newfound flower pot on the H.A.M.B., he got roasted by the key pounders like a weenie on the rollers at your local gas station. He knew he had to come up with a better plan for the rusty hulk of a roadster he just unloaded.

Dan is a man of many project cars. He’s building a really cool Model A Roadster that we might see here someday, but none of these projects are drivable. The new plan: Build a rough and ready roadster using parts he had lying around. The Goal: drive it to Relix Riot, which was 45 days away, and spend no more than $4500.

With just enough spare parts kicking around to put a most of a car together, the idea of the Yard Art Roadster was born. What Dan ended up with in the end is a dirt cheap 50’s style “junkyard parts” style build that turns out to be very functional and has just the right look.

A 226-inch flathead 6 out of a 1950 Ford F-2 truck pushes the roadster down the road, while a spare rear end and steering column tell it which way to go. All the bits and pieces are tied together with a mostly stock Model A frame. There were a few catalog parts in the build like the front drop axle and the windshield, but all play a vital part in the overall look and proportions.

Dan wanted to throw some sparks and do some fabrication and welding on the build, so he cut up and modified the stock Model A center crossmember to mount the ‘36 Ford 3-speed transmission and a master cylinder for the juice brakes. Off-the-shelf A-V8 engine mounts form Old Yankee Speed Co. worked perfectly to locate the big six in the car. A custom aluminum dash panel holding onto WWII-era Willy’s gauges give the car a post-war hot rod feel from the driver’s seat.

Dan had some difficulties getting the car ready in time for his Relix Riot deadline, and he ended up not meeting that part of the goal, but he got the car ready for the Detroit Autorama the following year, and after the show, the car turned out to be a sort of hop-in-and-go-to-town kinda rig. We left this thing running for the entire Saturday morning video shoot, and it didn’t start missing a beat until we were on our way home. We ran the little 10-gallon boat tank right out of gas!

Dan left me with some words of encouragement for anyone thinking about a project like this, “Just get out there and do it.” It doesn’t have to be perfect, or even finished, just get it running and driving and go from there! Build a beater!

I produced an entire video with Dan featuring the Yard Art Roadster. You can watch it here:

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Jon - Hard Luck Garage