
Motivation came from a few desires: I was complaining about missing a cheap Uncertain T in an E-bay junkyard, when a friend said I should just scratch build one. I realized that was possible. I also wanted to do a C cab project where I could bob the rear to show off one of those excellent chrome IRS from the Buttera kits. Now add in an image I had floating around in my head of a Hot Rod magazine cover with an awesome shot of a high roofed, wide rear tired T called the leg show. It was just so mean, I wanted to capture the front look. Because it takes me an incredible amount of time to finish one model, I decided to blend all these ideas into what you see here – The Uncertain C.
Body : Scratch built from the cowl back using sheet styrene. The cowl is Paddy Wagon and the grill is Monogram Street T. The windshield frame is carved from a single piece of sheet of styrene. The headlights buckets are reshaped Black Widow items with rings from the parts box. These were mounted to the chassis via bent straight pins to replicate the look of the actual car.
Interior : The floor pan was scratch built using sheet styrene. The bench seat was a departure from the buckets used in the original T. This was a compromise forced by the raised floor which allowed room for the IRS. The seat and other pieces were made from Paddy Wagon diamond tuck. It had to be heated with a candle to get the curved portions. The rest of the padding is shaped styrene, Shifter is from Pie Wagon and was chosen for its question mark shape. The parts box steering wheel is mounted on a scratch built aluminum shaft. The dash is two Paddy Wagon items mated together to create a unit long enough to fill the cowl and is a nice replication of the actual T unit. The gauges are in the same layout and feature scratch built beazles on gauge decals. The actual car has a chrome dash insert, but I liked the orange dash so much, I left that out. The inside of the cab, floor, and inside roof are all flocked with Ken’s fuzzy fur.
Chassis : The frame originally came from the Vending Machine. It was stripped to the bare rails and it was shortened. Suspension mounting point were added and the rear was kicked up make room for the IRS.
The front suspension is fairly true to the Uncertain T suspension. Friction shocks come from the Tony Nancy rail and the hairpin radius rods come from the Orange Crate. These are pinned to the chassis with hex bolts made from modified straight pins. The front axle is from the Vending Machine, but has been modified to be posable.
The rear suspension is from the Buttera kit. It had been cut apart and pinned back together using more homemade bolts. The original trailing arms are the weak point of the assembly. These were cut off and new ones were made of stainless tube. Scratch built rod ends were slipped into each link and the whole assembly was pinned to the chassis using more “bolts.”
Engine : For some reason it became absolutely necessary to replicate the Uncertain T nail head Buick as closely as possible. The 401 Nail head block and valve covers came from the AMT Buick. Trans is a ford unit from the Mysterion. The Stone Woods and Cooks Hydromatic could have been used to match the real T, but it took up too much floor space and had to be replaced. The injection system based on an original U.T. kit unit given to me by Jeff Miller. It has been highly modified to replicate the 1 to 1 unit. It features scratch built stacks and fuel system and linkage. All was built using pics of the original UT as a reference. The distributor received a lot of attentions because it is a prominent feature on the actual car. The replica is made from over 30 separate pieces if you count plug wires. It features a scratch built injector pump mounted on the distributor shaft. Everything beneath the distributor body is made from aluminum. The correct firing order was found on the internet. While the original UT had no dive shaft, the UC has one made from two U joints and an aluminum shaft. The headers are hand bent from polished aluminum rod.
Paint : The body, chassis, and dash all received a Grecian gold base covered by candy orange and an acrylic clear coat. The colors came from Extreme Colors. The engine is Tamiya lacquer black with liberal coats of the extreme Colors clear. The roof is flat black. Much of the suspension received Alclad II chrome. All the seats and other upholstery were sprayed flat black with the can held at a distance to raise up bumps. Then the pieces had liberal amounts of Turtle Wax rubbed in to create a vinyl appearance.


This project was started is almost two
years ago. The final push to finish it was for the Coffin Corner Open Showrod
contest. I probably logged 50 hours in the last 5 days.
I really hate deadlines.