By Gerry Burger

Department of the Interior

Department of the Interior

e have been following along with the construction of the Bill Sather 1934 Ford five-window coupe at BBT Fabrications for the past year. With the exterior of the car flawlessly metal-finished it was time to take a look inside. With a traditional hot rod profile on the exterior, the interior consists of current-day metal shaping while maintaining the hot rod flavor. Actually, that has been the theme throughout the build, forming a traditional hot rod but with the fit and finish of a show-worthy, modern-day hot rod. Even the powerplant is a blend of both worlds, with a big GMC 6-71 blower pumping wind into a modern LS motor that lies below.

The interior design draws heavily on the original 1934 Ford five-window coupe shapes but it’s also cleaner, better fitting, and will make for a very sanitary interior. The “bellypan” under the dashboard is an example of that concept. This removable panel will hide everything from the Vintage Air components to the wiring while providing a panel to mount the A/C ducts. The hood release mechanism also protrudes through the panel for more of that sanitized look.

The headliner, door panels, and all interior are hand-formed aluminum, the craftsmanship is so nice one may be tempted to leave the interior in bare metal. The final plan is to cover them in leather, and so, like many things on a good hot rod, much of this work will be covered. The same goes for the floorpan. The beautiful metalwork will be covered with sound-deadening material, but all is not lost as the metalwork is easily seen when viewing the underside of the car.

Space and time prevent us from showing you the step-by-step fabricating of this amazing interior. Instead, we decided a good pictorial of the interior in bare metal would give you ample ideas for your own street rod. While you may not have the tools or the talent to do everything you see on these pages, you should be able to garner some great ideas and inspiration for your own effort. Let’s take a look inside Bill Sather’s 1934 Ford five-window coupe.

2. The entire floorpan was fabricated on the bare chassis before being attached to the body. Here we see the sheetmetal being formed to the shape of the framerails.

4. Here is the finished floorpan on the chassis waiting to be attached to the body. Note the very nice rear crossmember housing riveted to the rear of the floor. An angle lip was formed inside the body and the floorpan will be welded to that lip.

6. While the top side of the floor may be covered with sound deadening material, the bottom view will be finish-painted so the work can still be appreciated.

8. The actual latch was welded into the doorjamb; this jamb once held hinges before the doors were reverse opened. The excellent metalwork makes the bear claw latch look like a factory piece.

10. After the fabrication of the door latches were complete, BBT formed these perfectly fitted door panels. Also notice the nicely finished garnish moldings. A simple door handle will be located in the center of the door. Power windows eliminate the need for a crank handle. The small pin below the latch is a safety latch/door lock.

12. Since the coupe will have EFI two fuel lines are required, a feed and a return line. Both are beautifully formed and connected to a bulkhead fitting that passes the lines through the floor panel.

14. Troy Gudgel handled all this fabrication, including the new doorsills. These doorsills borrow heavily from the original design, but are cleaner and blend well with the rest of the sheetmetal on the car.

16. A closer look at the big A/C vents on either side of the steering column. They will allow plenty of cool Vintage Air to be pumped down on the drivers’ feet. Once all this is upholstered it will be very stylish.

18. Here we see the panels all in place, ready for upholstery. The business-like appearance would tempt some people to never cover the panels. Note the speaker hole nicely formed in the side panel. It will take a powerful stereo to overpower the sound of a 6-71 blown small-block Chevy.

20. While there is a lot to love about the interior panels, this modified dashboard is still the crown jewel. At first glance it may appear stock but the centerpiece has been narrowed and lengthened and a valance added below the entire dash. The Dakota Digital RTX package is the perfect gauge cluster for this dash.

21. This original dash allows us to see how the original design remains, but was enhanced to house all the required components, making for a great street rod dash.

23. The back side of the Dakota Digital gauges shows a clean-and-simple mounting system with plug-and-play wiring. This makes for one very clean wiring harness.