BLOWN RANGER BUILD

Sheetmetal replaces plywood and

cardboard

“We are Reducing the design down to it’s simplist form, it’s ‘Most Common Denominator’, while also Exploring the possibilities of the torqued plane” - note; the body is the frame

the whole car is one flat

ribbon of metal !!!

Big Mike tries it out for size

Portals reduce weight, add structural and torsional rigidity and create ports for air flow in and out of the engine compartment - anthropomorphic -

It says on the casting “Do not cut heat or bend” - I usually take that as a challenge - It is definately the ‘ Do not mess with’ Metal

The architecture of the motor mounts - - creating ‘Load Paths’ fore/aft/

Latterally

First try - 3/4 ton ford truck - Twin ‘I’ beam axles

OK, now what ?

Rear wheels and tires in the back of ‘Liza’

not the end

stay tooned

The two small rear quarter panels are the only compound curves on the body - everything else is a flat sheet of metal

Front End

The flowing form of the 1800’s horse drawn buggy spring inspires the shape of our new control arms -

Bi-vertical symmetry allows two objects to occupy the same space at the same time

Rear Axle

We choose a Dana 80 Ford 2 1/2 ton with 3:18 gears

the housing was ‘girdled’ and a torque tube connects the rear end to the frame right behind the engine - (think load-path)

This gearing gives us just over 200 MPH @ 4500 RPM’s

Toyota MR2 electric power steering pump and air springs in place

All suspension components are hidden underneath the body - this is all you see - the rear axle seems to be floating

the Blown Ranger Shown as a work in progress

‘the Allure of the automobile’

at the

Portland Art Museum - 2011

with Randy Grubb’s ‘Deco-liner’ and Rodney

Ruccker’s 30’ 2500 c.i. ‘Packard Royal’

it was the intention of the museum’s director “to have living examples of handbuilt automotive art in conjunction with some of the worlds finest handbuilt ‘one of a kind’ automobiles from the past who’s designers and builders are gone” - the ajoining exhibit, from the peterson automitive museum in los angeles, was valued at over 200 million dollars

oh no, honey, I shrunk the car !!

‘exploring the possibilities of the torqued plane’

Meanwhile, back at the ranch..

mock up of alloy boat-tail fuel tank begins

master welder bill grelki, who welded the tank, checks out the ‘indy’ inspired quick release gas cap - a salvaged boat porthole and some bandsawn and drilled, 1” aluminum plate

all flat planes !