Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 07/99) - Why buy a hotrod when you can build it yourself?

Norm Pottinger put many hours into building his 1923 T-Bucket kit car.

He says he almost gave up on the project not once, not twice but three times.

"You almost want to sell it when you hit a stumbling block," Pottinger, who put the rod together in his garage on Woolgar Ave. over a period of about three years, said.

Those "stumbling blocks" came in the form of steering, brake and electrical systems.

"At first I tried to make the steering arms myself, but I just couldn't get the angles right," he said.

But the solution came from a 1935 Plymouth that had been put out to pasture at his father-in-law's farm near Winnipeg.

Pottinger said he spent two days removing steering parts from the old Plymouth.

"I looked at the Plymouth and said, 'Gee, that might work.'"

And the ingenuity didn't stop there.

The T-bucket's front-end has a combination of parts from the old Plymouth, tie-rod ends from a 1973 Chrysler, drag links custom-made at Con mine, and spindles and discs from a 1973 Datsun. Add a piece of three-quarter-inch plate, and voila, Datsun meets Plymouth.

At the back of the bucket, the rod's rear-end started its life for a 1957 Ford.

Powering the rod, which has 1,830 miles on her and has never left Yellowknife, is a 1970 Ford 302 cubic-inch engine rated at 225 horsepower. As for the transmission, that same 1970 Ford also came in handy.

As for some of the other parts, Pottinger either special ordered them or got them off cars at the wrecker's yard. The copper radiator was on order for about five, months, he said.

Pottinger said his passion for cars started early. He remembers seeing more than one hot rod in an old movie. Working in a auto shop when he was 15 didn't hurt either. Today, he drives for a living as well. Pottinger and his wife Dawn own Arctic Defensive Driving School.

"I remember when I was 16, I put a '55 Buick engine in a '57 Pontiac. I raced my brother who had a '66 Ford Fairlane and beat'em," he said.

"I was sitting on an apple crate because I couldn't put a seat in it. I had to use a tripod jack to hold up the transmission and that got in the way of a seat," he said.

And what about the throttle? Pottinger said he used an extension cord for a gas pedal. I bet you that would've electrified a crowd!