Roadster Luggage Rack ???

[fubar94]

Has anyone built or mounted a luggage rack on their FFR Roadster? I know shelby offered them on the 289, but I have not found anyone who has mounted such an option on a current one.

[Gumball]

Jolsen42 has done that on both his wide body and slabside FFR - and I believe he used the real-deal rack Shelby. Whitbys makes reproductions, though.

Not the best angle to see it, but here's his wide body with the rack:

[Jeff Collins]

Here is a link to ours.
http://www.whitbymotorsports.com/UIn...ventoryid=1627

[GWL]

Here are more pictures of the rack Chris was trying to show you of Jolsen42's car. When Jolsen42 sold that car to build his slabside, I was lucky enough to buy that rack from him for my build. The builder of the rack is 'Mariah' who lives in North Carolina. He built several, put one on his car and sold the other/s. I don't know if he is still making them. Maybe making them for Whitby's.

Jolsen42 was able to get an original rack which he now has on his Slabside Cobra which is a FFR kit with Mr. Bruce's slabside body.







I'm going to add a rack because I'm going to use it for carrying stuff on my road trips.

If you go on the other forum site and search for Mariah - luggage rack - camping, you will find him and pictures of his white car on several trips.

George

[R. Button]

Here is what I did with some square tubing I had laying around. I use it on all the trips now as a way to carry more "stuff"
just_rack.jpg

[fubar94]

R Button do you have more pics or specs you could share of your design. I think that is closer to what I really want. Thanks.

[R. Button]

here is what I did - I will try and take some more pictures but maybe a bit to get them online as were in the process of moving now. The house and shop are in early American Box!!
I got from home depot a couple of solid metal rods and some square hollow metal tubing. The legs are the solid metal rod bent at about 80% - I wasn't too exact just made sure the right and left side of each leg matched. Then I cut a set of square tubes same length spaced them out on the rods and welded them in place - I have a small wire welder from Harbor Freight which works great for these kinds of light welds!
I sanded and painted it a gloss Rustoleum black. Drilled a hole in the end square tubing and welded in a kind of half moon hoop, to hold my suitcase.
Here is the fun part... I welded metal sleeves you can get at Home Depot or Lowes on the end of the legs. I did some test placements on the trunk and marked the angle to allow the feet to set kind of flat on the trunk. Next I have a blind nut rivet tool - Harbor Freight - and pop riveted a nut into the hollow sleeve that I had welded on the legs. Then at a hardware store I bought a few sets of the rubber suction cups which had threaded screws out the back of them - they were suppose to be replacements for one of those handicap tools for reaching up to a tall shelf and grasping onto a can or something. I threaded them into the nut I had in the sleeve.
Then I put some of that half round weatherstripping we use on doors etc on the top of the square tubing.
Found an old leather suitcase on ebay and a couple of woven cloth mens belts are used to strap the suitcase on.
Lastly I found a company that sold the hooks - auto gutter hooks and nylon black strap to attach them with.
If your still interested I will try to get some pictures taken later today and post them.
The other issues with a trunk luggage rack are - 1) rear view mirror - need to either raise it higher or mount it high on the windscreen
2) Trunk strut - most have installed a gas strut to hold open the trunk - that will not work with a luggage rack. I have **********s system that holds the trunk open by a latch! Works no matter what stuff I have loaded on the rack!
This gives me a removable bag of stuff that I can carry into the motel! It's dry as I have a zip lock bag inside the luggage which has everything inside it. I have gone through some downpours and the stuff inside was dry - and was surprised how little water was inside the suitcase. They made them well back in the day!

[David Hodgkins]

Here is what I did with some square tubing I had laying around. I use it on all the trips now as a way to carry more "stuff"
just_rack.jpg

Brilliant solution Ralph, and thanks for the how-to write-up!

[fubar94]

Thank for a great idea and fantastic writeup. when you finally get settled in at your new location I would love pics but this is a huge help!

[carlewms]

Ralph,

Thanks. I am building a driver and was wondering about a luggage rack. I like the removable aspect of your design. Carl

[R. Button]

Here are some pictures:
I stole one of the sheets to make a white backdrop and put the sheet back into the packing box before wife got home!
The images are high res so I think if you click on them you should be able to zoom in on the detail.

rack.jpg
This is of the entire rack with the straps attached.
I have the top one real short to hold the rack up close to the leading edge of the trunk lid.

suitcase.jpg
this is my leather suitcase - the stickers are all from hotels I have been at at various times.
Some of the hotels have been renamed
Also the belts - men's size 44 - are the ones that stretch some and also do not have holes in them for specific size so are great for strapping on the suitcase!

foot.jpg
This shows the rubber cup on the end of the "leg" At one time I had welded washers to the legs and had rubber pads to hold the rack in place BUT in the heat those rubber pads slipped and the rack started to separate from the pads. So a new solution was created. I never cut off the washers yet. One day I may.
You can see I welded the sleeve on the solid rod here...

foot_detail.jpg
This is looking up at the bottom of the rack foot. That is a simple blind rivet nut I put into the end of the sleeve. the off to the left is the back side of the rubber cup with the thread that fits the nut in the leg.
straps.jpg
This is just another view of the straps I have hooked to the rack.

Over all the rack works great! Minor issue is the mirror but I think I'll order a mirror as used on the old Jags - a mirror much like the one that comes with the Mark I,II,III, etc but it has an adjustable stem on it so raise it up higher.

Hope this helps others...

[R. Button]

I got the images done... as I needed a break from packing!

[Todd Buttrick]

Wonder if the MGA/B rack would fit with a little tweaking?

[cob427sc]

If you google "english sports car luggage racks" a bunch of companies will come up. Several months ago I found one made and shipped from England that claims they made the original racks for Shelby. It was about $170 shipped to the US. Sorry but I lost the email address but with a little work you can find it. The rack is all polished stainless and looks impressive for the price.

[R. Button]

this might be the place you are referring to. Been to their shop and they truly have everything for a these cars!!
https://www.europaspares.com/83/STYL...OOT_RACKS.html

[DaleG]

You could try Moss Motors: www.mossmotors.com

[R. Button]

here is where I got the suction cups for the rack I built. While packing up the shop for a move I found a couple of spare sets I had bought.
http://arcmate.com/replacementcups-outdooruse.aspx