t’s a fact of life that hot rodders are enamored with high-performance vehicles. We have to admit to enjoying a car that pins us in the seat under acceleration (especially when it makes Brennan scream) and will produce retina-separating cornering forces (especially when it makes Brennan scream even louder). But an even more-important performance aspect of any car should be its ability to come to a stop as quickly and as safely as the situation demands, which will keep everyone in the car from screaming. A book could be written on this subject, and many have been, however we are going to show you a number of brake topics you should spend more time watching carefully in this first of several parts on “Avoiding Brake Blunders.”

Over the years we’ve seen a number of brake system blunders that should have, and could have, easily been avoided. Poor or problematic brake system performance can often be traced to the wrong combination of parts or faulty installations—and then there is lack of maintenance. While most of us will check the brake fluid level in the master cylinder from time to time, it’s also important to choose the correct brake fluid in the first place, and changing the fluid regularly.

Brake fluid standards are established by the Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations and among other things indicate the fluid’s boiling point. This is important because as the brake system heats up, brake fluids with low boiling points begin to vaporize and the pedal must travel further to apply the same amount of force on the brakes.

o get a better feel for what it takes to add your own custom touch through panel painting and added lace artwork to your hot rod or custom we visited with Jack Fields of Kraftsman Autoworks in Torrance, California. Fields regularly uses House of Kolor paints and as luck would have it, Fields had a station wagon going through the paint process and its owner wanted something special for the roof. (We are seeing more and more custom panel and lacework painting done to roofs of cars while the remainder of the paintjob is straightforward. It’s proven particularly popular on station wagons, customs, and Gassers builds.)

We followed along and watched Fields who has the experience, creativity, and patience to do this type of work. Basically, as with any paintwork, it’s all in the preparation. Here Fields preps the roof of this wagon. He began with a degreaser to make sure that the surface is clean and free from any and all “baddies.” Next up he’s now going over the roof (or the surface to be painted) with 600-grit paper wrapped around a soft sanding block. If there was some “orange peel” to work around then you might start with a 400-grit paper. The intent is to knock off the shine and prep the color (there’s no clear sprayed over the paint at this time) so that the new designs can be sprayed on and it will “grip” (adhere to) the base color. House of Kolor (HOK) offers a solvent-based, California-compliant white paint that was used on our project wagon. (Many other companies have gone with waterbase paints but HOK has achieved success utilizing a solvent-based paint.) Fields also used Kandy Koncentrates, which was developed by HOK to intensify the base color. It will also speed up your spray process by using it to tint your base color and sealer. (It is also recommended for airbrushing.)

very hot rodder knows one of the most special things about the ’32 Ford is it has many one-year-only features. Designer Eugene “Bob” Gregorie was tapped by none other than Edsel Ford to be in charge of the new look Ford vehicles would soon take, which would use both streamline and European styling cues.

In the early ’30s, vehicle manufacturers would introduce new looks almost every year, setting themselves apart from their competition, and Ford was no different. The look of Fords from 1931 to 1937 drastically changed seven times in that short time span, and it was an abrupt change each time. Whereas there wasn’t much of a radical change between 1933 and 1934, the changes between the ’31 Model A and the ’32 Ford five-window are pretty obvious.

So, when Derryll Gehring, the owner of a ’31 Model A coupe (a car he has owned since he was 15) stopped in to talk to Paul Bosserman of Old Anvil Speed Shop in Orange, California, about a chop for his soon-to-be hot rod, the talk soon turned to adding a ’32 five-window roof to the A as well as the chop.

uys typically don’t read instructions, right? Well, I would suggest that before you dive into a roof chop you do a little research, which is exactly what Evan and Justin Veazie of the Veazie Brothers did before they jumped into the chop of Bruce Fortie’s ’32 Ford highboy three-window coupe. Why? Because it was to be their first ever chop.

Evan called a few people who might know, like the Kennedy Brothers and Jimmy Shine, among others, and as you would expect got as many answers. The only answer was to plan carefully and then have at it.

Before any cutting is done the body has to be braced. In this case, it was a brand-new Brookville Roadster three-window coupe that one would expect to be square, and it was. If, however, you are chopping an old body, one that may have been repaired—more than once—you should check the body for squareness.

You can do this by bolting the body to a frame that you know is square or to a frame fixture. Next, hang some plumb bobs, preferably three at the front, center, and rear of the body before measuring every which way to make sure the body is square. If it’s not then you have some pushing and pulling to do to get it into shape. There’s no point in proceeding with the chop until you have the body square.

Once you have the body square you can begin to brace it. Most people, Evan included, use 1-inch square steel tube and what you’re trying to do is hold the body together when you take off the roof. It will have a tendency to spring apart so you need to tie it together front to rear, side to side, and diagonally. As with actually chopping the top, there are many ways to do this; it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it.

he Danchuk Tri-Five Nationals promoted by the American Tri-Five Association (ATFA) and hosted at the historic Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, made an amazing comeback after the suspended 2020 event. While the rest of the country is getting back on track the Tri-Five Nats decided not to wait around and started up with a “bang.” There was a record 2,813 entrants, it was expanded to three days, the Golden Star Giveaway ’57 Chevy was a hit, and even Mother Nature’s wild Saturday thunderstorm couldn’t dampen the spirits of the participants.

There were dozens of awards handed out, with the Top 25 and the Tri-Five of the Year (awarded to Tim Helms of North Carolina with his two-tone, light and dark brown ’55 Nomad) being the biggies. To this Modern Rodding, Classic Truck Performance, and All Chevy Performance joined in on the celebrations by handing out awards of their own. For those of us at Modern Rodding it was particularly fun presenting a Top Gasser award to Lyle Thurman for his ’55 Chevy. Plus the Modern Rodding Top 5 was also awarded. These five Chevys truly are amazing examples, beginning with Tim Helms’ two-tone brown ’56 Nomad (also the Tri-Five of the Year winner), closely followed by Larry Olson’s black and white ’56 Nomad, Curtis Atkins and his blue and white ’56 sedan, Gary Brown with his truly original green ’56 sedan, and lastly, Jennings White with his bright red ’57 sedan. These proved to be MR’s picks for outstanding efforts.

n our world of street rods and hot rods there can be no denying that the ’32 Ford is “king,” and for all of the right reasons. But it’s always fun, and frankly more interesting, to see what can be done with a “Deuce” of a different marque. In our wanderings we’ve come across Tom and Tina Keyes out of Redding, California, and uncovered that they are building a Deuce of a different marque. It’s a ’32 DeSoto three-window coupe powered by an early Chrysler 354 Hemi.

Tom is a retired aerospace engineer who has always enjoyed hot rodding. Now that he has the time and space he decided it was time to build. In his travels he found what at first everyone thought was ’32 Plymouth sheetmetal out of Star Valley, Wyoming, but after some investigation he realized he had found a ’32 DeSoto three-window coupe (number 1,315 of 1,691 built). He was able to find out exactly what he had by using the body’s VIN and from here he found out that he had a ’32 DeSoto SC business coupe. Part of the decision to look for a Mopar to build was initially linked to the fact that he had an early Chrysler 354 Hemi sitting under the workbench.