eing a four-door was never easy.
Though favored by new-car buyers, their family car image made them decidedly uncool among enthusiasts. With very few exceptions, four-doors got treated as parts harvests to build roadsters, coupes, and even two-door sedans.
Then something happened that nobody really expected: that pool of buildable roadsters, coupes, and two-door sedans dried up and people started doing something very unexpected: thinking of four-doors in downright favorable terms. Then Don Sangster did something he admits he never would’ve dreamt of doing. “I told John (John Barbero at Pyramid Street Rods) that I’d like to do a Deuce highboy Fordor,” he says. “And I wanted a Nailhead in it.
eing a four-door was never easy.
Though favored by new-car buyers, their family car image made them decidedly uncool among enthusiasts. With very few exceptions, four-doors got treated as parts harvests to build roadsters, coupes, and even two-door sedans.
Then something happened that nobody really expected: that pool of buildable roadsters, coupes, and two-door sedans dried up and people started doing something very unexpected: thinking of four-doors in downright favorable terms. Then Don Sangster did something he admits he never would’ve dreamt of doing. “I told John (John Barbero at Pyramid Street Rods) that I’d like to do a Deuce highboy Fordor,” he says. “And I wanted a Nailhead in it.
He found his as a body down in Texas. “The guy bought it as a complete car and replaced that Fordor body with a roadster body,” Don says. “So, I had it shipped to Barbero’s place. It was nice.”
Barbero sent the body over to Ryan Schmitt for metalwork while he built the chassis. He spanned American Stamping Rails with a Model A–style crossmember up front and round tubing everywhere else. He achieved the front stance with a 5-inch Magnum tube axle and reversed-eye spring. Swivel shackles pin the axle to an Industrial Metal Craft split wishbone. A Vega-style box steers it. Hot Rod Brake Company Kinmont-style discs stop it.
A Winters V-8–style quick-change axle mounts to the chassis with Ford radius rods that Barbero modified to meet the outside of the frame. A pair of Strange adjustable coilovers suspends the chassis over the axle.
Meanwhile, Schmitt fabricated the floors, chopped the top 2 modest inches, and fabricated the chin panel ahead of the grille and fillers between the body and tank. He also fabricated a three-piece hood to fit the Carolina Custom hood latch; however, he did it a slightly different way than usual. “I told him to extend the body line so it forms a lip that overlaps the hood side slightly, like the way it does on a stock hood,” Barbero says. Schmitt also made the blisters that mount in the hood.
Paul Reichlin at Cedardale Auto Upholstery in Mount Vernon replaced the seat innards with foam carved for lumbar and thigh support. He then trimmed everything in burgundy leather and Feintuft carpet. He also milled and fabricated the oak-slat headliner.
And call Don a converted man. “I really should’ve done something like this a long time ago,” he admits. “Those two extra doors make a car so much easier to live with!”