t’s been 40 years that the Shades of the Past Car Club has presented the Hot Rod Roundup. This year was its 39th (lost a year due to COVID-19) and the last one. It was one of the premier events in the South—many would say the country. While the Hot Rod Roundup was hosted this year and for the past dozen years at Dollywood’s Splash Country in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, this “roundup” has seen various locations as its home, always growing and always getting better.

The needs of Dollywood for expansion and the needs of the club having changed led to a match of “needs” and the Shades of the Past Car Club has opted to bring to a close a well-documented and experienced chapter of American hot rodding. Known for its many unique features, such as a yearly giveaway hot rod, the 50/50 drawing that oftentimes led to the winner taking home $20,000-plus, one of the pre-registered entrants having their name pulled from the drum and being gifted another $10,000, and countless charities that have benefited over the years. Of course, all of this is great but the attending rodders have always been privileged to enjoy an event that recognizes numerous categories of winners with awards for each to take home. While the name of the event is the Hot Rod Roundup it is repeatedly called by its nickname–“Shades.”

Shades had come to be recognized for its Top 25. To be recognized as one of the 25 meant you had to build an outstanding hot rod. Repeatedly, as I would travel the country, I would speak with rodders who would tell me about this or that hot rod and how cool it is. Somewhere in the conversation the storyteller would bring up it was a past Top 25 winner and that’s all that would need to be said. Everyone knew you meant that it had earned a Top 25 from the Hot Rod Roundup presented by Shades of the Past Car Club. It’s always been recognized that should you reap a Top 25 you truly had a hot rod that was worthy and could “stand tall” anywhere in the country at any competition.

ack in the Oct. ’22 issue of Modern Rodding we introduced John Winter. As we explained then, Winter was looking for a means of upholstering his ’32 Ford coupe that wouldn’t demolish his building budget. Not being afraid of a challenge, Winter bought an appropriate sewing machine, a good pair of shears, a few yards of material, and stitched the coupe’s interior himself. Since then, he has upholstered his ’36 Ford Tudor sedan and a variety of other vehicles for friends.

While talking to Winter he offered a few tips and tricks he’s picked up when it comes to seats in a hot rod. The first example we’ll show here is making a seat from scratch with blocks of polyurethane foam. Winter begins by making a pattern of how the cushions should be shaped. The foam rubber is then cut out on a bandsaw and then the individual blocks are glued together to make a cushion. Foam comes in a variety of densities, so the cushions may be soft or surprisingly hard—it’s not unusual to make the seat bottoms and the backrests out of different densities to suit individual preferences.

Another option is to make the seat cushions out of one large sheet of foam. In some cases, an extra “band” of foam is wrapped around the front and sides of the cushion to help the edges keep their shape. This extra material may be made from the same material as the seat cushion density or foam that is slightly “harder” to act as leg and side support bolsters.

1. Nick Sinioris at Hot Rods by Dean carefully planned out his work and then worked his plan–how’s that for a novel approach!

he world really doesn’t need yet another top chop story—or so I thought. Then ol’ Editor Brian Brennan visited Dean Livermore at Hot Rods by Dean and brought home these photos on the chopping of a ’33 Ford DeLuxe coupe.

It wasn’t the chop itself that caught my attention—it’s a moderate cut (2-1/2 inches) on a somewhat common car. Rather, it was the way Nick Sinioris plotted his cut lines to minimize effort and maximize accuracy that stood out.

Welding—specifically the preparation for welding—really eats up time. Strong welds that don’t distort favor tight, consistent gaps. While nearly anyone can get such a gap along a short run, it takes a fair amount of skill and time to get that kind of gap over, say … a foot or 2. To get those tight, consistent gaps over that large area usually requires cutting a little wide of the scribe lines then creeping up on them with snips and files. And that kind of fit up usually requires making tabs to support the panels during the trimming process. The fit, trim, and repeat cycle takes a long time.

n our last installment on Doug Melson’s ’47 Dodge, we delved into the coupe’s history and the somewhat bumpy road it’s traveled en route to becoming a nicely restyled hot rod. Without recounting every gory detail, the old Dodge was shuffled between several shops (bearing the brunt of at least one less-than-skilled bodyman along the way) before finally getting back on track at Cody Walls’ Delaware shop, Traditional MetalCraft. Based on a subtle but complete design overhaul by Eric Black at e. Black Design Co., every panel of the coupe is being nipped and tucked to create a profile that’s significantly racier and more aggressive than anything Dodge produced at the time.

After tackling the tail end (the rear fender and decklid work we showed previously), Walls moved forward on the body, revising the roof modifications started by one of the earlier shops and reshaping the front fenders, hood, and grille opening. It’s a monumental amount of work. Dodge business coupes of the ’40s had a greatly abbreviated turret-top roof that some consider a little out of proportion with the rest of the body. When the car landed at Traditional MetalCraft the roof had already been lengthened, but it was lacking in finesse—and in fully welded seams (beneath the body filler it was simply tacked in place). Those issues had to be remedied, along with integrating a more shapely ’49 Dodge grille and one-piece hood as dictated by Black’s design.

By Tommy Lee Byrd Photography by Camren Beattie

ot rodding continues to evolve, and it opens the door for many more build options. It’s becoming way more common to order a complete rolling chassis instead of piecemealing a frame and suspension system in your home shop. Back in the day, hot rodders would find a Camaro or Nova front subframe and rearend housing to bring their car into the modern age. While it’s still possible to achieve a smooth ride with the old-school approach, there are obvious advantages to the modern method of using a complete chassis. Scott’s Hotrods ’N Customs, based out of Knoxville, Tennessee, is one of the leading suppliers of custom frame and suspension systems for hot rods, customs, classic trucks, and more.

We recently had the opportunity to follow along with the process of swapping this ’47 Ford convertible onto a new chassis. The original frame had been upgraded with Mustang II front suspension and parallel leaf springs out back. It was a good setup but the stance didn’t provide any “wow” factor. With intentions of sitting the body as low to the ground as possible, the crew at Scott’s Hotrods ’N Customs built a chassis with Ridetech air suspension. The tubular front suspension, rack-and-pinion steering, and four-link rear suspension give this postwar Ford excellent handling capabilities and a smooth ride down the highway.

Although a chassis swap is an extensive process we’re showing you the highlights of the swap, as it went from a dated build to a contemporary showstopper with its patina paintjob, slammed stance, and gray center five-spoke wheels that are stuffed way into the fat fenders. This chassis swap required a little more fabrication than a standard application, so follow along and see the transformation of this ’47 Ford convertible.

his month’s Parting Shot is looking at “TV Tommy” Ivo’s iconic T-bucket. We are fortunate to have hot rod historian extraordinaire Greg Sharp writing the historic look. It will appear in a rapidly approaching issue of Modern Rodding. To finish off the T-bucket story we have historical photos from Tommy himself.

Now, we are also going to give you a sneak peek from Dave Rocha showing his build. It’s a tribute T-bucket that he is building that is as “correct” to the original as possible. We have been following this build for several years and Rocha is making progress, but it does take time. Let’s take a preview of how Sharp opens the Ivo story…