As much as I've enjoyed building the Total Performance King T chassis, I've been waiting for the point where the body would go on. Lowering the body into place is really gonna be quite a transformation and a real leap forward.
We're back again with the latest peek at the goings-on in the Rizzo garage-hereto known as Candy's garage, at least for another month or so.
At this point, the chassis is pretty much handled, the suspension, plumbing, driveline, and brakes have all been installed and double-checked, and it's finally time to make this baby look like a real hot rod. Sure, it does look neat with the chassis all together, sitting on those Coker Dirt Track tires and Vintiques wires-but the body is what's gonna make the King T (though, shouldn't this one be called the Queen T?).
As I mentioned at the start of the build, the Total Performance King T is the culmination of the talents of two industry leaders, Total Performance and Superior Glass Works. Both companies having served the street rodding community for years really made my decision a no-brainer, as I knew the kit would be of the highest quality and any support I may need during the build would be first rate. For those who have just recently started following the build, Total Performance joined forces with one of the best fiberglass body manufacturers in the country, Superior Glass Works, to sheath its track T chassis. From what I understand, Total had envisioned the whole Track T Kit concept around the Superior body, as TP is of the opinion that Superior's quality is every bit as good as anything Total Performance itself builds-saving time, research and development, and the end user some hard-earned cash in the process. In all fairness, I do want to mention that not only does Superior Glass Works make great bodies and components, but it also has a complete custom chassis shop.
Now that the foundation is complete, Jim and I turned our attention to the coach work and set out to install the body. The King T body is modeled after Indy racers of the day. Actually, it's a custom body combining the styling of both a '23 and '27 Model T. Superior widened a '23 T cowl 4 inches and grafted it to a '27 T turtledeck back half, giving it a unique look. Plus, unlike others, this one is available with a working door on the right side. The body is really stout, too. I've seen other 'glass bodies right out of the crate, and this one is by far one of the nicer examples-the finish is smooth and there isn't a ton of seams to smooth and fill, which will make things a lot easier since I don't have much in the way of bodyworking skills.
That said, this stage of the build is going to require Jim's help a bit more than I have needed so far. I've decided that, along with body prep and paint, Jim and I are also going to tackle as much of the upholstery as we dare. So with this in mind, I let Jim loose to add some wooden structure to the roadster's cockpit, so we'd have a framework to use as tack strips for attaching the upholstery-besides, I can tell he's having a hard time watching someone else do the work while he stands behind the camera. So, let's take a look at what I (we) have accomplished since last time.
