ver the years Jason Scudellari has built several muscle cars and classic trucks and he often displays his talents in Modern Rodding technical stories. But despite his lengthy involvement in most things hot rod, he’s never built a traditional roadster of his own—until now.

When it comes to hot rods, few are more traditional than what is often described as an A/V-8, a Model A Ford body on a ’32 Ford frame—in this case the body is from Brookville and the frame is from Speedway Motors (PN 91657007). This amalgamation does require some tweaking to make the two come together, in this case the necessary modifications to the shape of the framerails were made by Old Anvil Speed Shop. In addition, they reinforced the framerails with Speedway’s boxing plates (PN 9108969) and weld-in tubular crossmember kit (PN 91657029). All of this was documented by Ryan Manson in the Sept. ’23 issue of Modern Rodding.

With the necessary changes to the frame wrapped up, Scudellari turned his attention to the suspension. Up front is a laundry list of traditional suspension components from Speedway, including a dropped I-beam axle, reversed eye spring, and ’48-52 Ford F-1–style shock brackets. Holding the axle in place is a pair of Speedway (PN 91645127) split wishbones made from 12-gauge steel with forged ends—in the rear are 11/16-18 threaded bungs (Ford tie-rod end size). The bolt-on steering arms are Speedway 3-3/4-inch drop (PN 7022756), for use with split radius rods. Also available are 1-3/4 inch dropped arms for hairpins and four-bars (PN 7022754).

e previously looked at how the crew at Rad Rides by Troy, through the efforts of Adam Banks, scratch-built a body for Ross Myers’ ’36 fenderless roadster. While a new (or modified) body is most often fitted to an existing frame, they took a different approach here: waiting to design the frame until the shape of the body and grille shell were finalized. This allowed them to do an exceptional job of integrating the fit and contours of the two components.

The grille itself was completely scratch-built from steel, and while it retains the “flavor” of a stock ’36 grille, it is sectioned 4-½ inches, and a complete shell has been built from 18-gauge steel to surround the grille. As you’ll see in the photos, this was a massive undertaking. The grille of a car really sets the essence of the build, so this was a component they had to get right.

Since this will be a fenderless car and much of the frame will be visible, they decided to add a “rib” to the bottom of the framerails, somewhat like the detail on a ’32 Ford. Special dies were made for a Pullmax machine to shape this unique detail. This will become one of the many striking features of this cutting-edge project.

or many automobile racing fans some of the most unique series of events were the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Trans-Am races that began in 1966. Despite the name of the sponsoring body the real stars of the show weren’t imported sports cars, rather it was the made in the USA “pony” cars in the production class that got everyone’s attention. The sight and sound of these cars battling door to door sparked intense brand loyalty, something that was not lost on the manufacturers. And there’s no question that the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” strategy served them well.

To be competitive in the Trans-Am production class Ford developed the Boss 302 cubic-inch V-8. Available in ’69 and ’70 Mustangs, these small-block engines were based on high nickel block castings with four-bolt mains and screw-in soft plugs. But what really made the engine different from the standard small-block 302 Windsor engines were the canted valve heads that were destined to be on the 351 Cleveland series of engines. These heads were vastly superior to the Windsor heads of the day; as the bore spacing and head bolt patterns were the same on the Windsor and Cleveland block, heads would interchange.

n our last installment of brake system upgrades on this ’63 Impala, we swapped the single-pot master cylinder for a Classic Performance Products (CPP) power brake setup with a dual-reservoir master cylinder. While the booster and master cylinder provides safety and reduced pedal effort, the Impala’s owner wanted better braking performance. For this, he opted for a disc brake conversion from CPP to make simple work of the weekend project.

The drum brakes were still operational, but they would often cause the car to dart under hard braking. This can sometimes be the result of a swollen brake hose, but it was time for a brake overhaul to offer reliable service for many years to come. The kit used on the Impala is CPP’s front brake system (PN 5564WBK-SO), which includes brake rotors, wheel bearings, brake caliper brackets, calipers, pads, brake hoses, and all the necessary hardware to put it together. Regular hand tools were the only things needed for the install.

t seems doing a complete chassis swap has become SOP (standard operating procedure) for many shops. And while there is something to be said for a completely re-engineered chassis for your vintage ride, in many cases it simply isn’t needed, isn’ in the budget, isn’ available, or all the above. In that case it may be time to rescue that old frame.

Before any rescue and repair can be done to that original chassis you must first determine if the chassis is in fact repairable. Extensive rust, damage from a prior collision, or excessive cutting from previous modifications may make the frame beyond repair. The team at Hot Rod Specialties determined the frame under Terry Thompson’s ’34 Chrysler was in overall good condition except for the passenger side lower framerail. A section of that ’rail had received rust repair some time in this old car’s storied past. While the repair appeared to be structurally sound it was not up to contemporary standards.

Since the car was in the shop for a Fatman Fabrications front clip (more on that in a future issue), this was the perfect time for a proper framerail repair. This is a task well within the reach of many homebuilders who possess a reasonable amount of skill and know-how, including structural fabricating and welding skills. This is no place for “pretty good” welding, it must be professional-grade welding that includes internal fishplates for structural framerail repair. With that in mind, let’s follow along as the team at Hot Rod Specialties show us how the pros go about properly repairing a damaged framerail.

ne thing is for sure, our industry has its share of personalities with each having an endearing character trait that makes them easily and immediately recognizable. Many find themselves familiar with the nickname “Isky,” a stand-in for the moniker Ed Iskenderian of Isky Racing Cams fame. As famous as our centenarian hot rodding friend is, his highboy, a turtledeck ’23 Ford roadster, often called the original hot rod, may be more famous. But all of us who know Isky and know his famous call out, “Hiya, pal!” will always chuckle a bit.

But I am getting ahead. On these pages, there are appealing photos of the original ’23 roadster and alongside are the engaging photos of the Isky tribute roadster. The Isky tribute ’23 Ford roadster came from a conversation between Isky COO Nolan Jamora, Alex Taylor of Hot Rod Garage, and Dennis Taylor of Hot Rods by Dennis Taylor. They were looking for a “canvas” to celebrate the 75th year of Isky Racing Cams. After giving many potential hot rods the “once over” it was Dennis who came up with the idea to build an Isky tribute roadster.

From this point the build was undertaken by Hot Rods by Dennis Taylor and within eight months the ’23 Ford Isky tribute roadster was complete and debuted at the 2023 SEMA Show in the Iskenderian booth. It was Dennis having spent time at the Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed, where the original Isky roadster currently resides, that he did his homework on what was needed for the build, and at this point the decision was made on just what would be built. Dennis realized that the Isky tribute roadster needed to be a “tribute” and not an exact copy or close recreation.