Category: Hot Rod

This 1932 Ford Roadster Hot Rod Has Dings Here and There, but They Build Character – Codrin Spiridon @autoevolution

This 1932 Ford Roadster Hot Rod Has Dings Here and There, but They Build Character – Codrin Spiridon @autoevolution

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This 1932 Pete Henderson roadster-inspired hot rod barely has 11 hours to go until it will be sold off at a Bring a Trailer auction. At the time of writing, there are 17 bids, with the last one going for $33,000. It features a steel bodywork finished in matte black, but just as important, it’s running on a 296ci (4.8-liter) Mercury flathead V8. It was originally bought in 2011 and is now up for grabs in Georgia.

It comes equipped with a three-speed manual transmission, 16″ wire wheels painted with typical but mesmerizing white on the sides, it has a rumble seat, a louvered hood to get that pesky Georgia heat out, hydraulic drum brakes, Lincoln-Zephyr carburetors, a Wieand hi-rise intake manifold, a dual-coil distributor, and a swan floor shifter.

Furthermore, it has bucket headlights, a polished windshield frame, and of course, era-appropriate taillights. One important note any potential buyer should know before pulling the trigger on this gem is that the owner replaced the lower body panels in the past. Another and arguably more important detail is that when you look hard enough at the exterior you’ll notice some drilled holes, dings, and dents.

Circling back to its 16″ wheels for a second, supposedly, they have been sourced from a 1935 Ford. Furthermore, the drum brakes also belonged to a 1940s Ford, according to the auction’s description. The tires, however, are Firestone Deluxe Champion whitewalls. The seats come in brown vinyl, and the wheel is a banjo-style DeLuxe.

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Variety of vintage vehicles va-voom up very gravely valleyside – David Conwill @Hemmings

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Jalopy Hillclimb provided an outlet for those dampened by TROG

October 22, 2022, was on everyone’s lips in Wildwood earlier in the month. As The Race of Gentlemen wasn’t unfolding, folks with hopped-up Model As and other sorts of traditional hot rods (that is, the kind that look like they did in the ‘50s and before) were looking for one more place to go fast before weather brought the driving season to a near-complete halt. For those who lived in or near New England, Campton, New Hampshire, was that place.

Held on private land and advertised almost exclusively by word of mouth, the Jalopy Hill Climb started in 2021 more or less on a whim, when Alan Johnston decided to try and get his ’39 Ford pickup to the top of his brother’s mountain/sand-and-gravel pit, which happens to include a steep dirt road and spectacular views of the White Mountains. The flathead-powered ’39 made it and spawned the idea of inviting other cool old (pre-’62) cars to attempt the feat themselves

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Single Seat Race Car Build Part 2: Traditional But Trick, We Dig This Little Race Car Project – Chad Reynolds @Bangshift

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We’ve been following this project to see where it would go and it’s pretty trick. We are going to share all the videos with you as the deadline for the build to be completed and raced looms near. Check it out!

Bennett’s Customs is an Australian is a traditional builder that does some pretty cool car and motorcycle projects, and they have embarked on a new project that must be done by September in order to go racing at the Perkolilli Red Dust Revival. This is a single seat race car build, like one that you would have seen in the 1940s and they are building it from a mix of scratch made parts, stuff that has been sitting around collecting dust, and some more traditional parts they will no doubt be wheeling and dealing for. If you are into traditional rides, like those we feature from Iron Trap Garage, then you are going to dig what they are doing here. I’m intrigued, and inspired, by projects like this because we all tend to make projects that are so complicated and big that they take forever. If instead we worked on some smaller projects, maybe we could get more of them done.

This project here is no lightweight with regards to the work required, since they are doing this all from scratch, but it sure looks like it is going to be a fun one and we can’t wait to watch it come together. Here are the first two episodes and we’ll bring you more shortly!

This Single Seat Race Car Build Is Not What We Expected, Because It Is So Much Cooler! – Chad Reynolds @Bangshift

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Bennett’s Customs is an Australian is a traditional builder that does some pretty cool car and motorcycle projects, and they have embarked on a new project that must be done by September in order to go racing at the Perkolilli Red Dust Revival. This is a single seat race car build, like one that you would have seen in the 1940s and they are building it from a mix of scratch made parts, stuff that has been sitting around collecting dust, and some more traditional parts they will no doubt be wheeling and dealing for. If you are into traditional rides, like those we feature from Iron Trap Garage, then you are going to dig what they are doing here. I’m intrigued, and inspired, by projects like this because we all tend to make projects that are so complicated and big that they take forever. If instead we worked on some smaller projects, maybe we could get more of them done.

This project here is no lightweight with regards to the work required, since they are doing this all from scratch, but it sure looks like it is going to be a fun one and we can’t wait to watch it come together. Here are the first two episodes and we’ll bring you more shortly!

Video #1 Description:
Over the next 201 days we will be creating, building, and racing a 1940’s dry lake race car from scratch at The Perkolilli for the ‘The Red Dust Revival’ held in mid September 2022. Follow along as we create something really special for an incredible event.

Video #2 Description:
Part One – We create and build a Miller inspired frame to set the platform for our Single seater speedster known as the ‘Shoehorn Special.” This is one of many videos for this project. Follow our journey as we prepare for Red Dust Revival, Lake Perkolilli in 182 days time

Coming to America: Czech hot-rodders find their place in the sun – Lyn Woodward @Hagerty

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At 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday, in an industrial Southern California suburb a stone’s throw from Disneyland, the guttural rumble of a straight-eight thundered ever closer. Stanley Chavik arrived with the squeal of cross-ply tires, climbed out of his replica 1933 Buick Shafer 8 looking like a Viking headed to battle, then cracked a broad, gap-toothed smile. “Oh, I remember you.” Stanley’s thick Czech accent rolled over his respectable English, which he learned only four years ago. “Come in!”

Stanley hails from the Czech Republic, where his father and grandfather were both car guys. It was a pale yellow 1940s DeSoto, its bumper heavy with metal spikes for an Italian Mad Max knockoff called I Predatori Di Atlantide, that captured his attention. Stanley got hooked on American hot rods.

The internet nourished his hot-rod daydreams. He’d browse classic images from the likes of Gene Winfield, George Barris, and modern builders like Chip Foose. After opening his own welding and fabrication shop in the Czech town of Zlín in 2003, Stanley married Daisy, who applied her business savvy and determination to the venture.

European automotive regulations choked the Chaviks when it came to how they built their cars, but a ramshackle 1939 Buick he’d acquired made Stanley’s dreams manifest when he rebuilt it into a replica of a Shafer 8, inspired by Phil Shafer’s early Indy racers.

After the car’s completion, and much contemplation, the Chaviks packed up the Shafer 8, their U.S. E-2 visa for new businesses, and what money they had. The family, now three with the birth of their son, Stanley Jr., landed in California in late 2017.

Hot-Rod Chavik USA, in sunny Orange County, isn’t large—only about 2000 square feet, with three garage doors that roll skyward to the lofted ceiling. The space owns its Eastern European orderliness. Any color comes thanks to the candy-hued cars that roll in and out.

Upon arrival to the States, Stanley had to buy the cheapest tools he could afford from Home Depot. “We don’t do credit. When we have money, we buy tools,” Daisy says. Stanley does most of his shaping with a Pullmax and his hammers. “I stopped using the English wheel. I prefer a pummeling hammer,” he explains, as if the famous British machine were too delicate.

Aluminum has always been Stanley’s medium. Daisy revealed that he used to shape metal roses for the girls at school. “I like weapons, also,” Stanley interjects, slightly puffing his barreled chest lest I think he’s just a flower guy

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Pick of the Day: Different twist on the hot rod – Larry Edsall @ClassicCars.com

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With this being the 90th anniversary of the classic ’32 Ford hot rod, look for prices of those vehicles to get a bump as celebrations are held at car shows across the country.

It turns out, however, that you can have a hot rod without going to the extremes of the ’32 Ford. The Pick of the Day is a hot-rodded 1922 Overland, and it’s private owner in Sacramento, California, is offering it for what seems a reasonable $16,995.

Among the things making this hot rod more affordable while still quite rare is its conversion on an Overland chassis and, instead of a flathead Ford V8 or even a small-block Chevy V8, the builder opted for an inline 6-cylinder engine from General Motors. 

Overland was founded in 1903 in Terre Haute, Indiana, by Claude Cox, a graduate of the local Rose Polytechnic Institute and an employee of the Standard Wheel Company. Cox relocated his automaking enterprise to Indianapolis in 1905. Three years later, Overland was purchased by John North Willys and became part of his newly renamed Willys-Overland company based in Toledo, Ohio.

For the 1922 model year, Overlands were offered in 3- or 5-passenger configurations, with roadsters, coupes and sedans each powered by a 4-cylinder engine rated at 27 horsepower. 

The seller says this hot rod has steel coachwork and frame from a 1922 Overland while the GM engine is mated to a 2-speed “power-glide” transmission. The ad does not specific which GM inline 6 is used, nor does it include displacement or power rating

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Go to Nebraska to see this iconic California hot rod – Larry Edsall @ClassicCars.com

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An iconic segment of the California hot rod culture is on display in a museum, but it’s a museum halfway across the country. The Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed is located in Lincoln, Nebraska, but is showcasing the famed little black Model T hot rod built by a youngster named Ed Iskenderian, who soon would become famous for creating high-performance camshafts. “Isky” anticipates celebrating his 100th birthday on July 10.

If the Nebraska location for the famous hot rod seems strange, consider that the car is displayed with Ed Winfield’s cam grinder that Isky used as well as with the only other pair of Maxi cylinder heads known to exist. The car is owned by Isky and is in Nebraska on a long-term loan.

As the story goes, Isky — the nickname given by school teachers who couldn’t pronounce Iskenderian — and a buddy John Athan grew up in the same Los Angeles neighborhood and were fascinated by the cut-down and hopped-up Model Ts people were building. 

Athan built a T-based hot rod and then one based on a Model A (in the 1950s the car appeared in the Elvis Presley movie, Loving You). Isky acquired a T-based car from Athan in the late 1930s, replacing the 4-cylinder engine with a flathead V8 equipped with Maxi overhead valve head, and adding an Edelbrock triple manifold and Vertex magneto.

He made many other changes — 1932 Ford front axle with 1937 wishbones, Plymouth hydraulic brakes, Kelsey-Hayes wire wheels, modified 1933 Pontiac grille, gauge panel salvaged from an 8-cylinder Auburn, and a flying-skull hood ornament Isky created in a high school shop class. 

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9 flavors of prewar hot rod at Mecum’s 2021 Indy sale – Brandan Gillogly @Hagerty

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If you’re in the market for a prewar hot rod, Mecum’s Indianapolis auction running May 14–22 has something from just about every era you could desire. While the cars themselves were built before WWII, the different eras of customization really kicked off after the war. If you prefer your ’32 Fords and Model A coupes, roadsters, cabriolets, and sedans more in the factory flavor, Mecum has those as well. For now, let’s take a look at a 9 varieties of custom builds that trace a timeline of hot rod design.

Perhaps you’re looking for something simple with a unique pedigree. In that case, this 1927 Ford Model T track roadster might suit you. This racing roadster was built in the vein of the ’40s and ’50s racers that plied dirt tracks all over Southern California and comes from the collection of road-racing phenom Parnelli Jones. It’s powered by a 304-cubic-inch Ford flathead V-8 wearing a set of aluminum heads. It tuns on alcohol and turns the tires by way of a three-speed manual trans.

For those who would like a leg up on their hot-rod build but still want some say in the final product, this handsome, black 1932 Ford roadster has much of the hardest work already done. The subtle modifications and vintage speed parts give it a traditional 1950s hot-rod look. The Ford flathead has a 4 inch-stroke crank, likely compliments of a Mercury. It’s topped by a set of Smith heads and uses an Isky cam to breathe through a twin-carb Eddie Meyer intake and gorgeous Eddie Meyer air cleaner. Inside, the dash is filled with a full complement of Stewart Warner gauges. It doesn’t get much more iconic in the world of hot rods than a ’32 Roadster, and this one is built with a fantastic collection of vintage components.

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A 1963 Rambler American would make a cool ’60s-style hot rod. Here’s how I’d build it. – David Conwill @Hemmings

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Does a $4,500 project get the gears turning in your head? This one is in Bridgeport, Connecticut, now, wearing Tennessee license plates, but the McDowell Motors dealership badge on this 1963 Rambler American 330 indicates it was sold new in Toronto, Ontario, Canada—and probably built at the American Motors factory in Brampton, Ontario. The years and the international travel have spoiled the Frost White paint, but according to the seller’s description, the 196.5-cu.in. OHV six-cylinder and Borg-Warner three-speed automatic are rebuilt and functional, and the Rambler comes with a new old stock blue interior.

It just so happens that I had a Rambler American 330 at one time, and I loved it. Mine was a ’64, however, which was bigger, riding a 106-inch wheelbase and using panels derived from the 1963 Rambler Classic and Ambassador. The ’63s were the last of the 100-inch models, which originated with the 1950 Nash Rambler. I’ve always liked them, particularly in the 1961-’63 “breadbox” years, which were when squared-up sheetmetal was used to obscure the early ’50s roots of the chassis

Now, the odds are that this example will become some kind of semi-beater. It’s a four-door economy car, after all, and for the most part people neither restore them nor hot rod them. It will certainly make a fun driver, as it sits. The Rambler OHV six from these years was derived from the old Nash flathead (which was itself still available—my ’64 had one) and it came in 125-hp one-barrel or 138-hp two-barrel form. The downside is a steadily dwindling parts supply for those engines.

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