We spent many hours looking for a car that would be what we wanted and be fun to drive. Over all there was one thing that kept popping up over and over, all of the cars we looked at were OLD! That may seam strange to you that I wanted an old car, ... but I did not want it to be old. What I mean is ... How reliable will the car be? What could break down when driving from place to place? How far can I drive from home? Will it make it to an event and then make it back home again? We went behind the seens at the car auction. I saw many of the old classic cars that would not start or run at all. Several had to be pushed or pulled into position when showed. Some of my friends who have old cars are always working on them or they just do not run at all. So I was thinking. "What is the sense of having a specialty car that will cost a bundle of money, just to watch it sit in the garage?" I am not going to spend $20-30,000 just to wash and wax a chunk of iron. If I spend that kind of money and put that kind of time on a car, I am going to drive it all the time. So if I drive the car all the time, I want it to be very reliable, and easy to repair. I am somewhat mechanically inclined and able to do some repair on my own. I just don't know that much about cars, and how they work, especially cars from the 30's 40's or 50's. So I looked, and I looked. I wanted something unique, special, easy to drive, mechanically sound, and affordable. Should I look into older or newer classic? Do I look for muscle car or an easy cruiser? When I pick out the car, ultimately what will I want to do with the car, do I keep it classic, or do I make it a street rod? What a dilemma. I just happen to stumble onto an article in Kit Car Magazine, the article was on the Rodster. This is a hot rod that is built on a Chevy Blazer S-10 chassis. The article explained that there was no welding required and that anyone could build this car in his or her spare time with the tools in their garage. Even the mechanical engineer type, (like myself,) who sits behind a desk all day, could do it. Well that sounds like my kind of project. I looked at this Kit project, as a full size model car kit. I used to build model cars all the time as a kid. How hard could it be? The more I read the more I liked what I seen. I had been driving a 1995 Chevy Blazer for a few years and found that vehicle a very nice and easy to drive car. I also went on the Internet to the web site, www.Rodster.com and downloaded everything to read. I read everything at least 3 times. I was quickly getting convinced that the Rodster was going to be in my future. So in November of 1999 I ordered my Rodster kit. Below you will find photos and comments of my car project. If you have any questions or comments please contact me at, grantcad@bellsouth.net . There are many other pages to look at too. Don't forget to check out OOPS! for a laugh. |
The Rodster Kit Car |
I am building a Kit Car from a Rodster Kit. This will be a 1940 Ford Look-a-like. |
Grant's Car Project |
Well It all started one day, when we were sitting around the house bored, and looking for something to do... "What do you want to do today?"... "I don't know, what do you want to do?" ... "I don't know Let's go for a drive." So we got into the Lincoln and just drove for awhile. Then we happened upon a parade so we stopped to watch. There were alot of old cars in this parade. I kept thinking about how much fun it would be to be in that parade. "We could be riding down the street and waving at the crowd ... just like those people." "I thought, I could clean up the Lincoln, and we could enter it in the parade next year." The Lincoln is very clean and a classic 1993 Lincoln Continental, but it is not an old classic. I was sure it would not fit in with the parade theme. What I wanted was a "Parade Car." I wanted a car that when I drove by, everyone would turn their heads and say oooooh, Wow. So we went out shopping at used car lots,... we talked to friends, ... we even looked in the newspaper, under classic cars. About that same time of the year, ... there is a large car auction at "Kruse Auto Park, in Auburn, Indiana. So we planned to attend to see what we could find there. |
This is how the car looks after I cut all of the non useable body away. |
This page was last updated
on: April 20, 2004
This is where I started a 1991 Chevy Blazer S-10 |
As of 3-25-00 This is how the car looks now. |
Purchasing the Donor I got started on my project with an order for the assembly manual just to see what was all involved with the Rodster Kit. I guess I started looking for a donor vehicle in the late summer of 1999. We started going to all the obvious car lots and tried to find the proper donor. First off, we live in the north so all of the donors are 4-wheel drive. And then the road commission throw tons and tons of salt on the roads all winter. Most of the donors are eaten up by the salt to a point there is not much left of them. I was looking for a list of options in the donor, 1. It can't be all eaten away from salt. 2. 2 door cars only. 3. 4.3 V-6 4. Prefer 2-wheel drive 5. Standard transmission 6. Air condition 7. Low miles, (Ha, I guess I can dream.) 8. Cruse control 9. And a kicking stereo. 10. All for under $2000.00 So on down the road we went in search of the perfect donor vehicle. For hours we drove all over our city, Ft Wayne Indiana. We spent the better part of 3 weekends driving in and out of nearly every stinking used car lot in a 3 county radius. We had seen more junk and more 4 door Blazers than I could have believed. There were either 4 door Blazers or they were 4 wheel drive blazers. Since I wanted the 4.3 liter engine that limited my choices. Since I wanted manual transmission that too limited the choices. And because I did not want the 4X4 version I was stuck. There was literally not a 2-door 2-wheel drive 4.3 liter blazer to be found anywhere. I was just about to give up hope and resolve to use a 4-wheel drive unit, because they were a dime a dozen. Everybody had them; I could find the blazer that fit into my wish list on almost every lot except for the fact it was 4-wheel drive. I seen Blazers in excellent condition for as low as $1200.00 all the way up $9,000.00 Then one day I was out for lunch from my day job. I drove by the new little car lot and what did I see in the front row of the lot. My dream car, (wow that sounds funny, I never thought I would look at a 1991 Chevy Blazer as my dream car but hey I can see the big picture.) There it was a 2 door Blazer with the 4.3 liter engine. That was what I could see from the road. So I pulled around and went back to take a closer look. (It was probably not what I was looking for or it had other problems) As I walked up the salesman was on me like I was going to steel it right off the lot. This is really weird I looked all over God's creation and what do I find just 4 blocks from where I work. A car that fell into many of the selections off my wish list. The Blazer was in excellent shape not a spot of rust anywhere, none. It had 2 doors, 4.3-liter V-6, 2-wheel drive, standard transmission, and it had air conditioning. Ok, ok, what about the price. Now I had already thought I wanted to find something for no more than $2500.00 Well the salesman started right out and asked how much I wanted to spend for such a nice car. Well I told him that I could see I could not afford such a nice car and that I was just looking. No, no let's talk, he said as he led me into his office. I said I had just $2000.00 and I was looking for a car for my son, (I don't have any sons) and the Blazer outside was just what he (I) was looking for. WELL, said the salesman we just took that one in just today and we were asking $5700.00. Oh, I said, I knew you were going to want way more than I had to spend. We talked for awhile and I said again I am sorry but I know my son would never spend that much on just a Blazer. So I won't take up any more of your time and I will leave. Then the salesman said something stupid, Is there any way we can work out this deal. And I said, When you are ready to sell it for $2000.00 call me and we will talk. Every day I would drive by and look at this Blazer. Two weeks after the first look I called back and asked if they had sold the Blazer, (I knew they had not) They said no, so I said I would stop buy, to talk about the car. After an hour of talking about the car and about the over inflated price they had we struck a deal for $2600.00 I told the salesman my son will be thrilled. |
As of 5-16-00 just before we took the car to it's first show. |
From the rear it looks really classy |
© Caroselli Design* |
Rodster® is a registered trademark of Caroselli Design. *photo by Henry Caroselli, used with permission. |
We spent many hours looking for a car that would be what we wanted and be fun to drive. Over all there was one thing that kept popping up over and over, all of the cars we looked at were OLD! That may seam strange to you that I wanted an old car, ... but I did not want it to be old. What I mean is ... How reliable will the car be? What could break down when driving from place to place? How far can I drive from home? Will it make it to an event and then make it back home again? We went behind the seens at the car auction. I saw many of the old classic cars that would not start or run at all. Several had to be pushed or pulled into position when showed. Some of my friends who have old cars are always working on them or they just do not run at all. So I was thinking. "What is the sense of having a specialty car that will cost a bundle of money, just to watch it sit in the garage?" I am not going to spend $20-30,000 just to wash and wax a chunk of iron. If I spend that kind of money and put that kind of time on a car, I am going to drive it all the time. So if I drive the car all the time, I want it to be very reliable, and easy to repair. I am somewhat mechanically inclined and able to do some repair on my own. I just don't know that much about cars, and how they work, especially cars from the 30's 40's or 50's. So I looked, and I looked. I wanted something unique, special, easy to drive, mechanically sound, and affordable. Should I look into older or newer classic? Do I look for muscle car or an easy cruiser? When I pick out the car, ultimately what will I want to do with the car, do I keep it classic, or do I make it a street rod? What a dilemma. I just happen to stumble onto an article in Kit Car Magazine, the article was on the Rodster. This is a hot rod that is built on a Chevy Blazer S-10 chassis. The article explained that there was no welding required and that anyone could build this car in his or her spare time with the tools in their garage. Even the mechanical engineer type, (like myself,) who sits behind a desk all day, could do it. Well that sounds like my kind of project. I looked at this Kit project, as a full size model car kit. I used to build model cars all the time as a kid. How hard could it be? The more I read the more I liked what I seen. I had been driving a 1995 Chevy Blazer for a few years and found that vehicle a very nice and easy to drive car. I also went on the Internet to the web site, www.Rodster.com and downloaded everything to read. I read everything at least 3 times. I was quickly getting convinced that the Rodster was going to be in my future. So in November of 1999 I ordered my Rodster kit. Below you will find photos and comments of my car project. If you have any questions or comments please contact me at, grantcad@bellsouth.net . There are many other pages to look at too. Don't forget to check out OOPS! for a laugh. |
