By Ron CovellPhotography by Adam Banks & Brian Brennan

his is the last in the series of articles about the “Fenderless ’36 Roadster” being built at Rad Rides by Troy for Ross Myers. The metal fabrication is nearly finished at this point, and in this article, we will focus on a couple of very special details: the innovative headlight and shock absorber mounts and the custom-built dashboard.

On any fenderless car, it helps to minimize the visual complexity of the front suspension. The crew at Rad Rides developed a way to conceal the top portion of the shock absorber inside the headlight bucket and use one sturdy bracket for both the headlight and shock. This detail requires a great deal of careful fitting, and all the parts must be strong enough to withstand the hammering of the shocks as the car is driven. Not only do the components need to be stout and compact, but they must be easily assembled after all the parts are painted and plated.

The dashboard for this car has a unique design. The center has an embossed detail that augments the custom-machined instrument cluster, and this was formed with a variety of tools. First, the area was pre-stretched with a power hammer, then a blank of plywood was cut in the shape of the embossed area and then used as a guide for the Pullmax machine to form the stepped edge. After the initial forming, the embossed section was worked with hand tools to taper the edges; then it was metal finished to remove all tooling marks. This is slow, painstaking work, but the results are striking.

Special air conditioner vents were positioned below the dash, and the design has an intricate, vintage look to it, like something you might see in an expensive European car.

It “takes a village” to build a masterpiece like this one, and Troy Trepanier wants to credit the key people on his staff who were involved. Adam Banks is the lead fabricator for the body and chassis, assisted by Casey Modert and Colby Marshall. The CNC design and machining were done by Lawrence Laughlin, Jake Murry, and Jack Trepanier.

You can expect to see an article on the finished roadster in the not-too-distant future, and we believe the timeless design and hyper-attention to detail will make this car a new benchmark for state-of-the-art hot rod construction.

3. The first step is filling all the extraneous holes and smoothing the headlight shells to perfection. Lines have been placed on the shells to get them plumb and level when mounted.

5. The shock absorbers place heavy loads on their mounting brackets, so the design for the headlight and shock mount needs to be very stout. This robust bracket is solidly attached to the core support.

7. The top shock bolt is placed in double shear. Note the projections on the studs to align the nuts during installation. Details like this really help in the assembly stage.

9. Here’s the recess welded into place. The large center hole will accommodate the headlight wiring.

11. In this close-up shot, you can see the precision of the fabrication and how well all the parts fit inside the headlight bucket. It takes a lot of planning to pull off a job like this, but the benefit is a remarkably clean look for the front of the roadster.

13. Here’s a front view with the headlights and shock mounted showcasing the masterful execution.

15. A piece of plywood is cut as a guide for the Pullmax machine, forming the embossed detail in the center of the dash.

17. Various tools were used to subtly taper the embossed section, and once the tapered edges of the “plateau” were refined, the dash panel was completely metal-finished.

19. New material is added to the bottom of the dash to create the bottom radius.

21. A filler piece will be added to the sides of the dash panel to blend it in with the doorjamb area.

23. A matching filler piece is made for the front corners of the doors to blend them in with the dash.