There is no doubt that traditional-appearing rods, and all of their permutations, have had a big impact on the world of hot rodding these past few years. There are several styling cues incorporated into the design of these vehicles, from tall, thin wheels and non-metallic paint jobs to a general lack of fenders-they all say "vintage."
One design element found on some of these rods, the quarter-elliptic spring, has been around for a very long time as builders have been using the concept on cars for decades (the '60 bugeye Sprite had them mounted to the rear end), WWII-era Panzer tanks had 'em, and even earlier incarnations were used on the front wheels of Excelsior and Indian motorcycles-as far back as the late teens.
But there is something about hanging the suspension out in front of a car that makes it look racey. And we don't mean that in the quarter mile sense, but rather on the board tracks of the '20s; graceful but imminently dangerous one-man modifieds.
Here's what a lot of people already have: a stock Model A suspension set-up. The major players are a stock (albeit drilled) I-beam axle, pre-split wishbones, and a stock multi-leaf transverse-mounted spring.
The look has come full circle and embraced by rodders nowadays, too. Jason Grimes, who runs The Garage in Lebanon Junction (about 30 miles south of Louisville), Kentucky, has been using them on some of his creations of late, so Street Rodder stopped by his shop to watch him radically lower a stock Model A chassis by converting the suspension over to a quarter-elliptic layout of his own design.
It turns out this method is a cheap and simple way to get a lot of drop, keep a respectable amount of ride comfort, and still have a fair amount of adjustability in the suspension.
The process isn't insurmountable, mostly because one spring-maker, POSIES', has a quarter-elliptic kit that you can outfit to any project that you desire. And, as an added benefit, POSIES' ElliptaSlide Spring Kit comes with your choice of either light or heavy spring rates, and Jason chose the heavy rate kit (#QK2) for this configuration.
The real work was in lopping off the front of the A chassis, removing the front crossmember, cutting up a stock A wishbone to make a pair of split 'bones, then drilling out an axle to fit some of the parts. Like we said, it isn't a cakewalk; you do have to pay attention, especially because what you're doing will certainly affect the alignment and placement of your wheels, let alone dramatically change the design and working of its suspension. So follow along and see how they do it in the Grimes' Garage.
