Fastback Chisel Plane

[onocoffee]

While visiting Lie-Nielsen back in October, I got myself a 6mm chisel and the No. 62 plane. I also wanted a chisel plane but rather than spending the $175, I thought it might make for a fun project to make it myself. I bought the blade instead thinking I would use this block of black walnut I had lying around that would be the right thickness to start with.

As we were talking about it, one of my woodworking friends here joked about using the MagSwitch to hold the blade to the handle. I thought it was a clever idea. My initial thoughts were for something simple and round with the blade laying flat to the worksurface. That's about when Derek started posting his planes and man, are those things sweet looking! I liked the Dusenberg-esque feel of his planes and thought an automotive theme might be worth exploring.

This is the finished plane. The walnut turned out to be not as grained as I would have liked and my skills are not quite to Derek's level but it was a fun project that I completed today. A little flavor of American Muscle and the 1966 Ford Mustang Fastback.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I like it! Very nice!

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I liked the Dusenberg-esque feel of his planes and thought an automotive theme might be worth exploring.

That's a fantastic word, for an even more beautiful thing. Doozy's are very rare today, and yes that is the origin of the term.
There were only ever a few hundred, and they're all around 100 years old.

 

[flair woodworks]

I made a flush plane a number of years ago with a skew block plane blade I had on hand, and it has been one of the most useful specialty things in my workshop.

 

[Michael Kellough]

That's a fantastic word, for an even more beautiful thing. Doozy's are very rare today, and yes that is the origin of the term.
There were only ever a few hundred, and they're all around 100 years old.

Thanks for jogging my memory, as a kid I read everything I could find on Eddie Rickenbacker. He worked for Duesenberg and drove their first race car at the Indy 500. Just a tiny fragment of the life of an amazing fellow.

 

[Packard]

Thanks for jogging my memory, as a kid I read everything I could find on Eddie Rickenbacker. He worked for Duesenberg and drove their first race car at the Indy 500. Just a tiny fragment of the life of an amazing fellow.

It always struck me that we don’t have the kind of luxury car that the Duesenberg represented back then.

Back then, a Ford Model T cost $400.00. The Duesenberg cost $20,000.00, or about 50 times more expensive than the most popular car of the era.

It would not be fair to compare the Model T to the Ford F-150 pickup truck (the most popular vehicle in the USA), but more correctly compare it with the Toyota Camry (the most popular sedan in the USA).

The average price of a Camry is $30,000.00. So the match the Duesenberg, a true luxury sedan would have to cost about $1,500,000.00.

I would note that the Duesenberg was sold as a “rolling chassis” and custom bodywork was added. I have read that the average selling price was about $20,000.00, but some cost significantly more and some were somewhat less.

Where have all the luxury cars gone? Long time passing.

(With apologies to Pete Seeger.)

 

[onocoffee]

The average price of a Camry is $30,000.00. So the match the Duesenberg, a true luxury sedan would have to cost about $1,500,000.00.

Gosh, when you put it that way, the Rolls-Royce Phantom seems like a downright steal!

 

[luvmytoolz]

Gosh, when you put it that way, the Rolls-Royce Phantom seems like a downright steal!

I actually saw one of them once near work, absolutely amazing looking car!

I did note they didn't leave it parked empty though. That'd be very risky in most suburbs.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Gosh, when you put it that way, the Rolls-Royce Phantom seems like a downright steal!

I don’t get where that number comes from. $20k in 1920 would only be about $324k in today’s dollars.

“The 2025-2026 Rolls-Royce Phantom typically starts around $500,000 to over $600,000 for the Extended Wheelbase (EWB) model, with bespoke options frequently pushing prices beyond $750,000-$900,000. Base MSRP for the 2025 model year sits around $515,000 for the standard sedan and $595,000 for the EWB.“

 

[onocoffee]

I don’t get where that number comes from. $20k in 1920 would only be about $324k in today’s dollars.

“The 2025-2026 Rolls-Royce Phantom typically starts around $500,000 to over $600,000 for the Extended Wheelbase (EWB) model, with bespoke options frequently pushing prices beyond $750,000-$900,000. Base MSRP for the 2025 model year sits around $515,000 for the standard sedan and $595,000 for the EWB.“

My thoughts were: "if the correlation is the modern luxury sedan should be $1.5M, then even up to $900K is 'a steal'."

Perhaps I should note that I am not, at the moment, ready to spend $600K on any sedan. Unless it can be fitted with a custom SYS-Port!

 

[luvmytoolz]

Perhaps I should note that I am not, at the moment, ready to spend $600K on any sedan. Unless it can be fitted with a custom SYS-Port!

I would have to have an obscene amount of money to spend $600k on a car!

A few million on tools though, entirely different matter! ;-)

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I actually saw one of them once near work, absolutely amazing looking car!

I did note they didn't leave it parked empty though. That'd be very risky in most suburbs.

Wow! You actually saw a Duesenberg in Oz?! That's wild, but I guess someone with the means to own one, could get it sent anywhere.
They are super rare, most stuck in private collections, which are almost never seen. A few exist in museums, but it would really take a specific type of person to go looking.
Back in the 1980s, when they would have been "only 50" years old, I came across a few of them. My boss, at the time, and I were driving through eastern Indiana, picking up a machine. During that trip, we saw signs for a particular museum. Since we had time, we stopped.
It was in Auburn Indiana, some of you will see where this is going. That is where Auburn and Cord were made, and Duesenberg was near-by in Indianapolis. The museum is dedicated to these cars. On a completely random fluke, the place was open that day, when it was normally closed on Mondays. We spent a few hours there, just in awe.
There were other rare cars too. Some on loan, so their display has some rotation. I have never been back, but it does still exist, so maybe a summer day trip is in order.
My curiosity began young. I was given a model of one, for my birthday. It was very detailed, even having die-cast metal body parts along with engine/transmission cores and frame rails. It was an unusual form-factor to my child-eyes. The thought of a driver, outside the passenger cabin was unthinkable. That was stagecoach thinking, yet it still existed in 1929? IIRC the one I had was called a Dual-cowl Phaeton (1929) I was fabulous, lonnng running boards, huge side-opening hood, straight 8 engine, with external "headers".

Gosh, when you put it that way, the Rolls-Royce Phantom seems like a downright steal!

That is essentially what they were, an American version of Rolls.
Of course, as a young kid, it sounded foreign to me, which sort of explained its rarity? I liked these cars, for their kookiness, not realizing what a transition they really represented.

 

[Packard]

I used to live on Long Island’s “Gold Coast”, the north shore of the island where the multimillion dollar homes were located.

I drove my 2-year old Toronado (a big, but very nice car) to drop off my dry cleaning. I took my Doberman Pinscher along for the ride. I pulled up nest to a parked Rolls Royce. As soon as I put the car in park, my dog fired up barking in his most meaningful voice.

In the Rolls, was a German Shepherd that was going totally ballistic. I decided that it was in the best interest if I parked further away from the Rolls.

When I carried in my dry cleaning, I took a peek inside the Rolls. The entire interior was a torn and tattered mess. The leather was torn in places and the walnut burl was deeply scratched. The car looked nearly new on the outside, a ravaged war refugee on the inside.

So I though, “If you are rich, you can buy a Rolls Royce, but if you are obscenely rich, you can buy one and not give a damn what happened to it.”

 

[Packard]

My thoughts were: "if the correlation is the modern luxury sedan should be $1.5M, then even up to $900K is 'a steal'."

Perhaps I should note that I am not, at the moment, ready to spend $600K on any sedan. Unless it can be fitted with a custom SYS-Port!

A bigger steal that it first appears. Consider what was not included in the Duesenberg:

It did not include an automatic transmission.
Nor, air conditioning.
No power steering
No power brakes
No anti-lock brakes
No traction control
No power windows
No power door locks
No remote starting
No air bags
No anti-intrusion rails
No crumble zones
No adjustable steering wheel
No heated seats
No heated steering wheel
No heated seat belts (up coming S-class to have these)
No back up camera
No cruise control
No directional signals
No halogen head lights
No radio
No charger outlets

(It is getting harder for me to think of all the things that were left out—but quite a lot. Some of which we would sorely miss.)

 

[onocoffee]

When I carried in my dry cleaning, I took a peek inside the Rolls. The entire interior was a torn and tattered mess. The leather was torn in places and the walnut burl was deeply scratched. The car looked nearly new on the outside, a ravaged war refugee on the inside.

When I was a much younger lad. I used to drive tour buses for one of the companies in Hawaii. I would take tourists on tours, as well as airport shuttles. Quite a lot of people had Louis Vuitton luggage but they were gingerly handled and well cared for.

It was the people whose Vuitton looked like hell that you knew had the real money.

 

[luvmytoolz]

@Crazyraceguy No not a Duesenberg sorry, part of the convo got dropped off, it was a Rolls Royce Phantom I saw.

There's a few luxury car dealerships near our old office so we used to see some pretty valuable cars around.

 

[Packard]

I lived 2 blocks away from the largest Ducati dealer in New York. For a while I thought Ducatis were the most popular bike on the road. It seemed that Ducks were the only brand I would see.

If I lived 2 blocks from a Rolls Royce dealer, they might seem pretty popular too.

 

[luvmytoolz]

I lived 2 blocks away from the largest Ducati dealer in New York. For a while I thought Ducatis were the most popular bike on the road. It seemed that Ducks were the only brand I would see.

If I lived 2 blocks from a Rolls Royce dealer, they might seem pretty popular too.

We used to see a lot of Lambo's and Ferrari's, which I always thought weird considering what Melbourne traffic is like. Definitely just a flex I reckon cause they aren't getting to any worthwhile speeds on our roads with the bumper to bumper traffic!

 

[onocoffee]

We used to see a lot of Lambo's and Ferrari's, which I always thought weird considering what Melbourne traffic is like. Definitely just a flex I reckon cause they aren't getting to any worthwhile speeds on our roads with the bumper to bumper traffic!

Come on now, everyone knows that the true use of the supercar is to be seen - and hanging out in traffic is what it's all about!

Though I did have the opportunity, once upon a time, to take the Ferrari 458 for a romp through the Italian countryside. I'd driven the 308, 328, 348 and 360 before then and the difference was fantastic. The power, precision and ability to correct heavy throttle input so I didn't end up going backwards into a ditch, made me giddy with delight. Unlike the others, the 348 was really the first Ferrari I had driven that I thought could be that proverbial "daily driver". As Ferris Bueller said: it is so choice.

 

[Packard]

I was walking my dog past the Ducati dealer when my dog started sniffing at something. It was a Ferrari key fob and keys. The Ferrari was parked in front.

We (dog and I) entered the showroom and I called out, “Found a Ferrari set of keys—if I could just figure out what car it fit, I could have a lot of fun.”