64/65 Rupp Grand Prix

[Kurt Bogerman]

02-14-2018, 01:04 AM (This post was last modified: 02-14-2018, 01:10 AM by Kurt Bogerman.)
So here goes...

I've only joined the VKA recently, but I've been watching the REAR and VKA forums for a long time. I'm not a seasoned karter, but I've owned my Rupp Grand Prix since the summer of 1990, the summer after eighth grade, when I bought it at a garage sale with some extra cash kicked in from my dad. The seller looked panicked when he realized that I didn't have a brain bucket, so he threw in a seasoned and glittery blue open face helmet at no extra charge. 

What I brought home was a 1964 or 65 Rupp Grand Prix, with a MC90 mounted on a Margay Safari gearbox. I drove the tires off that thing in a hurry, running up and down the street and around our semi-circular residential driveway. One Saturday morning, around 10am, the older woman across the street literally ran outside in her robe and curlers to shake her finger at me in disgust! 

Anyway, I didn't have a lot of cash, nor resources for parts, so the kart was eventually relegated to the shed out back. I left for college and never moved back home, so it was several years until I realized that the kart had been banished to my dad's utility trailer, under a porous tarp. By the time I rescued it around Y2K, it was in sorry shape.

I have been acquiring parts and accumulating knowledge from many of you vintage karters, since the proliferation of the internet. After lurking about at the Oreville VKA event in September, I was finally, (FINALLY!) struck with the urge to dust off that kart project and make it happen. I do not have a lot of photos documenting my project, and it's still got a lot of surface prep and paint in it's future. Its not ready for final assembly, obviously, but...

1) & 2) Here's a mock-up that should stand up as "proof of kart" 
3) A little practice with set-up and tuning of a Super 55A saw.
4) Evidence of my field trip to see Mr Stanton in South Carolina.

Thanks to all who have donated their time and efforts to fostering what promises to be a super fun hobby!

Kurt


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[Kurt Bogerman]

I re-posted my kart in it's own thread, per Jim Waltz's advice.

I am excited today because after finally finding the inspiration to restore this kart, I've had the frame painted and it'll be ready to pick up at the paint shop tomorrow.  I had a very hard time deciding on a color, but I eventually found suitable hue. Completely coincidentally, it's the same color as my late, great 1995 Dodge Dakota: Claret Red Metallic.

Over the winter, I also reached out to Mike Schlager for one of his fine reproductions of the deluxe upholstery.

[Shawn moore]

looking good Kurt. I really like the red.

[Kurt Bogerman]

looking good Kurt. I really like the red.

Thank you, Shawn.  The photos were sent to me by the painter yesterday.  I will get to see it in person when I pick it up in about 57 minutes.  (Yes, I'm counting the minutes.)  I'll try to get some better photos later today or this weekend.

[Kurt Bogerman]

I am really happy with the paint I chose. It's a pearl enamel mixed as a single stage, rather than the original automotive base/clear application. It's called Claret Red, after the wine, and it's a rather deep shade of cherry red in low light. The pearlescense is hard to capture, at least with my camera, but it really does pop brightly in the sun. The painter seemed incredulous when I told him that I wanted a 1990s Dodge color: He acknowledged that he really liked it, when all was said and done.

At one point I considered a matte paint scheme; Maybe an olive drab, maybe even painted like a warplane, but that seemed a little contrived. I then attempted to find out if there was a "correct" Rupp color, but I was never confident that I'd identified one as such. I then turned to automotive paints that were available in 1965. I really though I'd found a winner in Cadillac's "Matador Red", which I even had mixed as an aerosol, but a sample I painted turned out to be far too copper-toned for my taste.

One evening, I found myself doing Google image searches for "burgundy metallic automotive paint", etc., and that led me to a forum dedicated to hobbyists who replicate props from the Ironman movies. Someone crafting an Ironman costume had done samples of various red paints from Duplicolor. One sample caught my eye, and it was a done deal when I realized that it was the color of my old Dakota. It was too much of a coincidence to ignore. Having no place to perform a proper paint job, given the lack of ventilation in the basement along with a heaping helping of impatience with the weather, I found a body shop painter who was willing to do it relatively inexpensively.

[David Luciani]

nice work and a pretty start.
if you have any questions about work or parts post them in general section for answers.
you'll have a better chance of quick help that way.
i can always merge threads if we think a question thread belongs on your build thread.
keep us posted.

[Kurt Bogerman]

Here's a question that is probably best asked within this thread:
What might the large pattern of four holes in my nassau panel be for? I realized only recently that no one else's Grand Prix or Grand-A have this. They are very symmetrical and clean: I had never assumed that they were anything but original.

[Bob Alexander]

Here's a question that is probably best asked within this thread:
What might the large pattern of four holes in my nassau panel be for?  I realized only recently that no one else's Grand Prix or Grand-A have this.  They are very symmetrical and clean: I had never assumed that they were anything but original.

Kurt, something like this goes there.

[Kurt Bogerman]

Oh, Bob, thanks for your reply, but I have the medallion: It's the four other holes that I don't believe I've seen on another Dart nassau panel. On my panel, if you zoom in a little bit, you'll see a larger, keystone shaped arrangement of four holes. I wonder if they were added for mounting a separate number panel?

I did make some more progress tonight. Hadn't planned to work on the kart, but I had to do something in the basement and I got distracted by kart stuff. First I put the front wheels on, and then the steering shaft and wheel, because they were kicking around on my work bench. Then I pulled out the Robron floor pan and attached it with Cleco fasteners. It looked like a session of acupuncture therapy. (I really wish I had those Clecos when I was transferring the holes from the frame onto the pan earlier this winter. That process was time consuming and tedious.) The pan looked really happy in its proper place, so I riveted the pan on and bolted on the fuel tank. Where do you draw the line and stop working for the night? Apparently at tie rods.

[Jim Waltz]

Excellent work, Kurt!

Glad to see how your project is moving along.

Those four hole in the Nassau panel in the lower part are indeed a mystery.

Seems like somebody would have an idea.

I do like the idea of a number panel, as that is quite likely given the location.  You'll need to put something there so it looks like you actually intended the holes to be there.

Looking forward to seeing the finished kart!