The ’36 Ford has one of the prettiest front-end designs ever, especially when given the Lobeck touch, as Bud Ford’s fine example illustrates. What’s that under the grille?
A closer look shows an absolutely beautiful work of sculptural and functional art. Certainly built strong enough to absorb the parking speed “oops,” that grille is safe from kissing a garage wall, scraping a speed bump or being creamed against a curb. Plus, it looks totally bitchin’!
Call ’em tech tips, building tips, details or whatever you like, but this is the stuff we see at events and shows while shooting features or doing shop tours, not to mention things we’ve discovered while working in our own shops. It’s like when you’re foot-cruising an event with the boys and pointing things out to each other, or when you have a stroke of genius while working on your own project.
You’ve all heard it as much as we have; the ’37 Ford was once considered appearance-challenged, yet today
rodders are borrowing the styling for other makes and models. My, how times have changed. How about a ’39 Cadillac
with a ’37 Ford-styled grille? Yup. Tolle Road Customs in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, did the transformation for Holly Washausen.
What’s this on the side of the Washausen ’39 Cad? That’s chrome side trim, and it’s been added, not smoothed off. Could it be true? Is chrome coming back? And it’s custom-fabricated, no less. Bravo!
If we could put a secret agent microphone bug in the magazine’s binding, we’d hope to hear comments like, “Wow, what a cool idea,” or “I’ve never seen that trick before,” or “Yeah, I’ve done it that way for years,” or best of all, “Hey, that’s my car!”
Do you want to be observed in the field? Then do something unique and cool to your car, and get out there in it! We’ll be looking for you, but for now take a stroll with us and check out some of our latest observations.
Did someone mention chrome? Gary Fulmer’s Decatur, Alabama-based ’40 Cad seems ready to volunteer to head the campaign for a return to the shiny stuff. Check out the license frame: “Nothing’s lackin’ when you’re Cadillacin’.”
Here’s a cool way to utilize those bumper iron mounting points while keeping the bumper option open. While protection is minimal, they do what they’re there for very nicely.
Well lookie here, another smoothed-out ’36 with a chin bar. Traditional nerf bars don’t really complement a car’s style as nicely as Joe Hake’s bumper replacement does. Nice work
Here’s an easy way to fish wires through small or poked holes. Grab a tie wrap of the appropriate size, hook the wire through the eye, and stuff it through. The tie wrap is pointed and stiff yet flexible. It worked great for us.
We’re going to do some walk-arounds on the next few cars, which were found in the entry halls of the huge vendor building at this year’s Nats. First up is this incredible ’38 Chevy coupe by Boesch Auto Body in Humphrey, Nebraska, for John and Elaine Boyce. What caught our eye first was the handmade grille, again resembling the ’37 Ford. Note how the bars look to be about 3/16 rod that you can see through to the radiator
Look again. From this angle, you can see that the bars have depth, giving the illusion of the grille being solid chrome. The headlights are dropped from the hood sides and nestled—not sunken—into the fenders, retaining the original flying pod design.
The handcrafted taillights carry an angled lens that matches the decklid. Note the relief in the pan for the quad exhaust tips and how it is complemented by the recessed plate’s housing being dropped below the decklid opening cut line.
The Boyce interior abounds with innovative details. How many can you pick out? Did you notice the modified window garnish molding that no longer frames the opening but is now part of a roadster-style roll surrounding the cockpit?
Next up, we have a Deuce by Greening Auto Company out of Cullman, Alabama, owned by Jesse Greening himself. The mirrors appear to be flying in the wind, barely retained by stalks gracefully flowing off the windshield frame, but a second closer look reveals an additional stalk growing out of the cowl. Exquisite design.
Under the hood, our eyes were drawn to the organically flowing injection intake tubes, which, we just noticed, actually feed a carburetor! The elegant custom-made valve cover trim is simple but oh-so-effective.
Somebody has been taking in international auto shows with their incredible concept vehicles. Where else do you find such exotic details as matte finishes integrated with screen and highly polished, custom-made billet exhaust outlets? Recognize those taillights? Didn’t think so.
Cutting ’37 Ford taillights halfway up into the pan has been fairly commonplace recently, so why not jump up a decade and use ’47 Fords instead? And while you’re going for the oval look, you might as well make your central single exhaust outlet match, too.
“Co-pilot to pilot: what’s our steering box temp?” Chances appear good that the driver of this ’41 Willys would know. Among all the temperatures and pressures, he could even tell you the time!
The same Willys has the factory-optional hood scoop plus the high-level trim option, which includes the matching grille. Come to think of it, with the flames this must be the rare AG/S/street model.
Oh, look! More chrome trim. And since this is a new ’glass ’37, Mike Thieker of Muscatine, Iowa, not only didn’t shave off any chrome, he actually made this trim and put it on. This would be a perfect time for Mr. Smartman to start producing various sizes and styles of custom trim strips and spears. Bob Drake, are you listening?
Now those, folks, are true teardrop taillights. Also note how the exhaust outlets match the shape of the fenders. Now for the clincher; are those chrome strips real or one incredible artistic illusion? Shirley and Joe Cochran of Springfield, Missouri, have the keys to this ’37.
Here’s a question that we can easily answer: How sweet can a ’40 Chevy look? Jimmy Vaught of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, drives the sweetest one we’ve seen. The winning trick here is the way the Mercedes lights are flush-mounted to perfectly match the shape of the fenders.
What caught our eye on this ’47 Chevy were the rounded hood corners. An age-old custom trick, it works great on Barry Harshfield’s Louisville, Kentucky-based coupe.
How many times would you walk by this ’51 Ford F1 before you realized that there was something different about it? Other than the deleted bumper, it looks factory-correct. Seymour, Indiana’s Ronald Sexton fools a lot of guys with his clever adaptation of a ’53 F100 grille. We love the combo look.
We’ve always said that you should never chop a ’40 coupe because the shape is so nice stock, and we felt is was pretty obvious that you couldn’t chop a Tudor because you’d never get it right. Wrong! It can’t be easy, but this shot proves that it can be done, and it vastly improves the shape of the sedan.
Jeepers creepers, get a low-down load of this wicked ’48 Willys Jeepster. This isn’t the first street rodded ’48 we’ve seen, but John Johnson’s is probably the wildest.
Got hood rattle or fit problems? Nobody makes a cowl seal for your ’28 Star coupe? No problem. Your local hardware store stocks dozens of different styles and sizes of rubber feet. Mount them with sheetmetal screws after trimming them for the fit you want, and then when all is happy, fill the hole with black silicone.
This is one nice ’35 Ford Tudor Touring car. Want to know what to do with a badly chopped two-door sedan project car found at the swap meet for cheap? Build a phantom. If your metalworking skills aren’t the best, take it to a pro shop, as these conversions are not for amateurs.
Speaking of phantoms, this is not one. So, Chevy lovers, what is it? A close inspection will reveal the right-hand steering wheel location of this ’35 Chevy “sloper” from down under. Import one of these and baffle the Bow Tie boys big-time!
Taillights on the ’40 Ford have a kind of peel-and-stick look to them, and the bezel cuts down on the light produced, especially with blue dots. Flush-mount them from behind in a new bucket, mounting an LED board vertically to project the light straight back.
If you are building a Flathead-powered street rod, now’s the time to convert it to a Chevy water pump. The original dual pumps are nostalgic, it’s true, but the Chevy unit is more efficient, available and replaceable. Did you know that the Ford pumps were oil-fed from the pressure system and would blow oil out the pulley shaft seals if worn? Yup, that’s where that oily film down the side of your roadster is coming from.
If you dig the dual-Flathead water pumps and have the front-mounted crab-style distributor, why not mount cooling fans on them? They’ll draw plenty of air across the full width of the radiator and eliminate the high position of the original generator mount. Bonus tip: your Flattie will never overheat with the plug wires installed as shown.
If you have a CAD system, a mill and plenty of aluminum, you, too, can have a trick floating license plate mount like the Washausen ’39 Cad. This is close to what the original stylists were doing back then but with a contemporary feel.
Here’s another example of the carve-and-polish technique of getting the trim piece you want. You can actually make something like this right on your workbench. Perfect the size and shape first in cardboard, and then trace it onto a hunk of aluminum from the scrap yard. Cut and file the entire outside shape first, and then cut out the inside. Very carefully file the shape to perfection (don’t knick it), and take it in the house, plop down in the La-Z-Boy with a good movie on, and sand and polish it. You’ll amaze yourself.
In the days before the backup camera, self-centering hitch balls and all the other gizmos you can buy today, hooking up the old horse trailer could be a pain in the neck (literally). This guy had the ultimate solution.
Okay, here’s your chance to make up your own caption because words failed us. Don’t forget to mention the 45 records, the jukebox and the hula doll.
“Honey, I shrunk the car.” Are you wondering the same thing as all these guys? How does he get in this thing?
We’ve all seen some pretty strange stretched limos, but get a load of this drawn-out Model A. Located on California’s Central Coast, yes, it’s commercial and yes, it’s booked solid. Okay, car club guys, how about the ultimate cruiser?
Last, and most likely least, is this fully restored wild custom ’56 Ford. All it’s missing is the original inch-deep candy apple metalflake paint job with the candy metallic lime scallops over pearlescent pagan gold lace panels. Wasn’t the ’56 Ford a pretty nice looking car? If you weren’t around during the ’60s indoor show custom car insanity, you missed some very strange stuff.
By 
