Wrapup … Lowering the Lid on Project ’33-34
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On the Road … When Performance & Comfort Come Together
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Heidts’ Tri-Five
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AMD’s ’64
Galaxie Firewall
Replacement
AME & Strange
Engineering
Rearend Secrets
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Heidts’ Tri-Five
Rear Four-Link
AMD’s ’64
Galaxie Firewall
Replacement
AME & Strange
Engineering
Rearend Secrets
Knocking Off Decades of Ugly … POR-15
January 2023
Preview Issue
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Make It Yours. Make It Lokar. Modern Performance. Classic Style. Endless Options.
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Flaming River: One good turn deserves another
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Modern Rodding CONTENTS
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January 2023 article snapshots
Departments
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Industry News
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Features
Todd Nelson’s ’58 Chevy Bel Air
By Tommy Lee Byrd, Photography by the Author
Jeff Calley’s ’56 Chevy Nomad
By Chuck Vranas, Photography & Videography by the Author
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Bob Bauder’s ’32 Ford Panel
By Eric Geisert, Photography by Wes Allison
Kevin & Meridith Anderson’s ’50 Merc Custom
By Brian Brennan, Photography by John Jackson
Garret Kitchen’s ’33 Speedstar Roadster
By Brian Brennan, Photography by John Jackson
Tech
Auto Metal Direct Supplies the Sheetmetal and The Installation Center Performs Their Magic
By Brian Brennan, Photography by Jason Chandler
Our ’57 Ford Gets Rearend Components From Strange Engineering
By Ron Ceridono, Photography by Tate Radford
Part 2: How to Cut the Tedious Labor Associated With Chopping a Top
By Chris Shelton, Photography by Brian Brennan
POR-15 3-Step Stop Rust System
By John Gilbert, Photography by the Author
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We Upgrade a Tri-Five Chevy With Heidts’ Four-Link Rear Suspension
By Tommy Lee Byrd, Photography by Brian Brennan
On the Cover
Jeff Calley of New Hampshire is one mighty proud hot rod owner. A Roadster Shop chassis sits below his ’56 Chevy Nomad and it’s a major reason why driving and riding in this Tri-Five is such sure-footed comfort. Of course the Chevrolet Performance ZZ4 is as good a reason as can be for this wagon to hustle on down the road as well. Photo by Chuck Vranas
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Modern Rodding ISSN 2692-2371 (print) ISSN 2692-238X (online) Issue 27 is published monthly by In the Garage Media, 370 E. Orangethorpe Avenue, Placentia, CA 92870-6502. Application to mail at Periodicals prices at Placentia, CA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Modern Rodding, c/o In the Garage Media, 1350 E. Chapman Ave #6550, Fullerton, CA 92834-6550 or email ITGM at subscription@inthegaragemedia.com. Copyright (c) 2022 IN THE GARAGE MEDIA. Printed in the USA. The Modern Rodding trademark is a registered trademark of In The Garage Media.
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Modern Rodding STARTING OVER

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Where It All Begins
By Brian Brennan

I’m thinking that we all have similar stories on how we began our love affair with cars. The most popular routes to our lifelong passion likely started from one or more of the following three popular methods. The magazine. It presented monthly to each of us new dreams to aspire to. Then comes family, where Dad or older brother liked cars. This provided a great influence on our early likes and dislikes. Lastly, the hidden treasure. We would come upon a cool-looking hot rod, in any one of a thousand configurations, sitting behind a barn, gas station, or at the corner across from us.

For me it was family adjacent–my best friend and his neighbor who served as a surrogate father to the two of us. His love of all things mechanical seeped into our veins and as such we were fascinated by all manner of four-wheel mechanisms. Hence our love of cars.

Now, that was the easy part. I was hooked and I wanted to work on cars. I wanted to make my car go faster and I wanted to be behind the wheel, shifting the gears, mashing on the “loud pedal.” So where does one begin? Tools. You can’t achieve goals without having a means to an end.

Rodding Around

InTheGarageMedia.com

A picture of the Morrison Team posing outside in the street holding a banner

red gear icon Art Morrison Enterprises Surpasses Chassis Milestone

The team at Art Morrison Enterprises (AME) just turned a milestone page as they celebrated a major chassis milestone. We here at Modern Rodding can remember the original phone call and email when Art Morrison first revealed they were thinking about doing the C1 chassis. As of August, they have shipped their 500th C1 GT Sport chassis.

Nearly 70 years later, the sleek lines have withstood the sands of time, but the chassis technology that helped propel the Corvette to new heights handles more like a bus than a sports car, which is where AME engineering and development comes in.  

Recognizing that combining beauty, brawn, and performance is the foremost goal of most hot rodders, AME’s engineering team developed a true bolt-on C1 chassis designed to maintain the car’s classic looks while modernizing its performance.  It’s the proverbial marriage made in heaven and an investment in long-term driving pleasure that has resulted in several AME-equipped C1s garnering jaw-dropping hammer prices at prestigious auctions.

Modern Rodding NEW PRODUCTS
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steering wheels, louver panel, cone air filter, sway bar kit

By Brian Brennan

1. Slim-Fitting Under Dash Louver Kit

Vintage Air now offers its all-new Under Dash Slimline Universal Louver Panel with Brushed Aluminum Trim Kit. The kit includes a two-piece louver panel, all four louvers, and 2.5-inch hose adaptors.

The louver panel comes with brushed aluminum trim and can be painted to match the dash and interior. The underdash panel was designed to minimize intrusion into the occupancy space, with the louver bezel only protruding 3-1/2 inches below the dash.

Engineered for installation on any vehicle with a flat underdash area, the Under Dash Slimline Universal Louver Panel Kit includes four louvers with 2-1/2-inch hose adaptors to easily pair with Gen IV or Gen II evaporator systems. The passenger-side panel is 34 inches wide and incorporates two 3.8×1-1/2-inch louvers and a 2-1/2-inch passenger-side ball louver, while the driver-side panel houses a single 2-1/2-inch ball louver.

Modern Rodding FEATURE
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By Tommy Lee ByrdPhotography by The Author
Next Level title
An Incomplete ’58 Chevy Bel Air Proved to be a Dream Project for Todd Nelson
By Tommy Lee ByrdPhotography by The Author
W

hen scanning classified ads, seasoned hot rodders can usually sniff out untruths, like “ready to paint” or “90 percent complete” or, the old standby, “Corvette engine.” It’s almost always a red flag when these statements are presented in the ad, but sometimes curiosity gets the best of us. Such is the case with Todd Nelson, a longtime car guy from Land O’ Lakes, Florida. He’s bought and sold quite a few cars and trucks through the years, and that list of previously owned vehicles includes a ’58 Chevy Biscayne. He sold that car to his brother-in-law, Doug Peterson, and that car created a new appreciation for the one-year-only body design for both Todd and Peterson.

'58 Chevy Bel Air

Modern Rodding TECH

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"Firewall Replacement" title
New AMD firewall
1-2. Out with the old and in with the new–firewall, that is. The Auto Metal Direct (AMD) firewall for the ’64 Ford Galaxie (PN 370-8964) is a good fit, making further firewall-related installations an easy process.
Auto Metal Direct Supplies the Sheetmetal and The Installation Center Performs Their Magic
By Brian Brennan Photography by Jason Chandler
D

ealing with the hot rods from the ’50s and ’60s is a lot easier nowadays given there is so much reproduction sheetmetal. This month we are going to look at a ’64 Ford Galaxie and the replacement of its firewall using an Auto Metal Direct (AMD) firewall (PN 370-8964). The work for this project was done at The Installation Center (TIC).

It should be noted that while our installation of our OE-style firewall (factory firewall is PN C4AZ-6201610-A) is on a ’64 Ford Galaxie, the AMD firewall shown here will fit the ’64 Ford Galaxie and the ’64 Mercury Marauder and Monterey. AMD stamps the firewalls, and other sheetmetal, from a high-quality 19-gauge steel. The firewall itself weighs 65 pounds. According to AMD, each firewall features the correct shape, size, bends, holes, ribs, and frame mounts like the original. All these sheetmetal pieces also feature EPD coating to protect against rust and corrosion.

Modern Rodding FEATURE
InTheGarageMedia.com
Vivacious in Vermillion title
Vivacious in Vermillion title
Jeff Calley’s ’56 Chevy Nomad Packs a Punch
By Chuck VranasPhotography & Videography by The Author
E

xclusivity can create something very iconic. When GM’s chief designer, Harley Earle, introduced the Nomad as one of his very special Dream Cars for the 1954 General Motors Motorama in New York, it created an incredible buzz among the public with its ’53 Corvette nose artfully melded to a sleek sport wagon body capable of carrying six passengers. Its success on the show circuit led to the design being massaged for introduction into the freshly revamped ’55 Chevrolet passenger car lineup. The sleek ’56 Chevy Nomad laid out across our pages belonging to Jeff Calley of Franklin, New Hampshire, has a perfect balance of performance and handling.

With the Nomad’s style evoking that of a hardtop sedan rather than that of a standard station wagon, its two-door body featured a fold-down back seat offering an expansive cargo area as well as a split tailgate with the glass flipping up and a fold-down tailgate. Having 19 different models being produced by Chevrolet for the 1956 car lineup, there were only a little over 8,000 Nomads built that year. Considering that total production for the year was more than 1.62 million cars, the Nomad surely earned its place as a rare sight on the roads, especially with a three-year production run of around 22,000 units.

Modern Rodding TECH

InTheGarageMedia.com

"Strange things for the Ranch Wagon"
1. To prepare the new Art Morrison Enterprises (AME) axle housing for installation under his ’57 Ford, Colin Radford thoroughly cleaned it inside and out to remove any debris that could damage the new Strange Engineering internals or contaminate the upcoming paintjob.
"Strange things for the Ranch Wagon"
Our ’57 Ford Gets Rearend Components From Strange Engineering
By Ron Ceridono Photography by Tate Radford
I

f you’ve been following the construction of Colin and Sue Radford’s ’57 Ford Del Rio Ranch Wagon so far you’ve seen the installation of the Art Morrison Enterprises (AME) front bikini clip, a Ford Performance Coyote, and an AME four-bar kit with their 9-inch rearend housings. This time around we will get into the whys and wherefores of selecting the components from Strange Engineering to make the rearend complete.

Ford’s 9-inch rear axle was produced from 1957-86 (the 9-inch reference refers to the diameter of the ring gear). So, yes, our wagon did come with a 9-inch, so why did we change it? There were a number of reasons for the decision. The new housing came from AME with all the necessary brackets for the four-bar and Panhard bar welded on in a fixture, so we knew they were located correctly and didn’t have to worry about the warping from the original housing welding those items in place in our shop. It also came with the late, big bearing, Torino-style axle ends that provide more options when selecting aftermarket disc brakes. We should point out there are three distinct 9-inch axle ends: the late big bearing (Torino) and the early big bearing both take a 3.150-inch od wheel bearing (the difference is in the bolt spacing for the backing plates), the small bearing ends take a 2.834 od bearing with yet a different backing plate bolt pattern. Our final reason for making the change is the custom width housing will allow us to fit the wheels and tires we have planned without modifying the fenders or wheelwells—all things considered a new housing was the practical choice.

Modern Rodding FEATURE
InTheGarageMedia.com
The Bauder Panel typography
This ’32 Ford Panel is Restored to its Former Glory
By Eric Geisert Photography by Wes Allison
B

ob Bauder was what you’d call a “real hot rodder.” The look and performance behind the cars he built for himself and his select customers was not necessarily for the faint of heart. These cars were “drivers,” in the purest sense of the word, and Bob drove the hell out his hot rods.

Bob died in 2017 but not before making a mark in the industry and hobby he spent his life pursuing. Involved with nearly every major well-known car builder in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s you could think of, Bob preferred to be more in the shadows, unconcerned with the trappings of celebrity (of which he could have easily qualified).

three quarter drivers side view of the '32 Ford Panel in brown, with black fenders and a side graphic text reading "Bauder's Race Car Restoration"
Modern Rodding FEATURE
InTheGarageMedia.com
This ’32 Ford Panel is Restored to its Former Glory
By Eric Geisert Photography by Wes Allison
B

ob Bauder was what you’d call a “real hot rodder.” The look and performance behind the cars he built for himself and his select customers was not necessarily for the faint of heart. These cars were “drivers,” in the purest sense of the word, and Bob drove the hell out his hot rods.

Bob died in 2017 but not before making a mark in the industry and hobby he spent his life pursuing. Involved with nearly every major well-known car builder in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s you could think of, Bob preferred to be more in the shadows, unconcerned with the trappings of celebrity (of which he could have easily qualified).

The Bauder Panel typography
three quarter drivers side view of the '32 Ford Panel in brown, with black fenders and a side graphic text reading "Bauder's Race Car Restoration"

Modern Rodding Tech

InTheGarageMedia.com

A Mile Deep Title Typography

Part 2: How to Cut the Tedious Labor Associated With Chopping a Top

By Chris Shelton Photography by Brian Brennan

I

n the Dec. ’22 issue of Modern Rodding, our pals at Hot Rods by Dean (HRBD) started to show us a clever way to chop a top. To chop a top, most of us cut a band of metal from the entire top perimeter then tune the parallel edges to make a tight, consistent welding gap. And welding gap is everything in a top chop.

While time-honored and effective, the technique takes time. Nobody has a perfect hand, so the cut lines never line up perfectly for a tight weld gap. Tuning those parallel edges takes a long time.

Nick Sinioris chopped the windshield posts, doorjambs, and rear window with parallel cuts. But he made only one cut around the rest of the top. Then he slid the top section down into the body. The panels overlap, so drilling and pinning them turns the body into its own fixture.

Modern Rodding FEATURE
InTheGarageMedia.com
Old-Time Custom script
This ’50 Merc Custom Has a Long and Storied Past
By Brian Brennan Photography by John Jackson
C

ustoms have long been a part of hot rodding. As much as any other build style they are a focal point. While we have seen any number of body styles customized it seems like we always come back to the ’49-51 Merc as a standard. Such is the case for Kevin and Meridith Anderson’s ’50 Merc custom. It looks great by today’s standards, but it should be known that this ’50 Merc custom has been around for a long time.

The ’50 Merc custom you see before you has its roots in its initial build dating back to the late ’50s. It’s been in Kevin’s care for the past 30 years and has undergone a complete makeover, as well as continuous upgrades since the five-year makeover. This ’50 Merc has the “traditional” looks one might expect in a ’49-51 Merc custom. To listen to Kevin, he will tell you there are 100-plus modifications to the two-door coupe.

Driver's side profile view of the '50 Merc in Candy Cobalt blue, parked in front of a old stone building at night
Modern Rodding TECH
InTheGarageMedia.com

1. The street is my spray booth and Harbor Freight’s 3621 HVLP spray gun is affordable enough to use only once. Spraying POR-15 at very low pressure kept overspray to a minimum.

Stirred Not Shaken

POR-15 3-Step Stop Rust System

By John Gilbert Photography by THE AUTHOR
S

ometimes a plan goes sideways. The first step to turning a tech article on how to stop rust on a mangy old Model A frame into a how to restore a 20-year-old car trailer is to temporarily redirect one’s priorities.

Originally, I was gearing up to use POR-15 products to stop the rust on “East Coast Graffiti,” my ’31 Model A. On the day I ordered everything I needed from POR-15 to begin the Model A project I mentioned to friends on Facebook I was thinking about thinning out my collection of classic trucks, starting with my favorite, a ’79 Chevy C10 Big 10. The trick to shedding a collection of vehicles without any regrets is to get rid of your favorite one first, then dumping the rest should be easy.

Modern Rodding FEATURE

InTheGarageMedia.com

By Brian BrennanPHOTOGRAPHY by John Jackson

Warbird

This ’33 Ford Speedstar Roadster Has Vintage Fighter Plane Feel & Hot Rod Performance

By Tommy Lee ByrdPHOTOGRAPHY by The Author
H

ot Rods and fighter planes for as different as they are also have a great deal in common. Both are compatible. There are pilots and some fly using wings while others “fly” piloting hot rods. They both feel the “need for speed.” Virgil Winland has long wanted a hot rod with a vintage fighter plane theme. Garret Kitchen of Garret’s Rod Shop (GRS) presented it to him in this ’33 Ford Speedstar roadster known as the “P-33.”

The basis of this ’33 Ford roadster is the Speedstar body originally manufactured by Rat’s Glass exclusively for Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop. While the body supplied the foundation for the build, Virgil still wanted the vintage warbird look to tie in the overall theme. This is where Kitchen and the remainder of the staff from GRS stepped up and brought it all together. Kitchen tells us there are hundreds of custom-made pieces to make the transformation come to life. The roadster is often referred to as the P-33. The “33” should be obvious, but did you know back in the day the “P” stood for “pursuit” and was assigned to such iconic warplanes as the P-38 and P-51, which were long-range fighter escorts. This warbird-themed roadster has plenty of “pursuit” in it.

’33 Ford roadster

Modern Rodding TECH

InTheGarageMedia.com

1. Our goal was to take out the old Chevy rearend and install an upgraded 9-inch complete with a Heidts four-link suspension to modernize the ride of our ’56 Chevy wagon.
LEAF REMOVAL
We Upgrade a Tri-Five Chevy With Heidts’ Four-Link Rear Suspension
By Tommy Lee Byrd Photography by Brian Brennan
L

eaf springs are commonplace in the old car world. We’ve relied on them for more than 100 years but they’re not always the ideal platform for performance. In the case of this ’56 Chevrolet Nomad project car, it had a nice stance and already had a selection of aftermarket components, but the owner wanted to make big improvements. He commissioned Hot Rods by Dean (HRBD) to revitalize the suspension with a Heidts four-link rear suspension kit (PN RC-151-K).

The new suspension eliminates the leaf springs in favor of an adjustable four-link system, coilovers, and a sway bar. Additional options include a new 9-inch rearend housing, complete with pre-installed brackets. In addition to the rearend and suspension upgrades, this Nomad also received 12-inch Wilwood disc brakes and four-piston calipers, a huge upgrade from the original drum brakes.

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PARTINGSHOT

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Ricky (seated) and David Nelson (standing) made the roadster famous for generations to come. To this day it is still called the “Ricky Nelson” roadster.

When TV Paid Attention … the Ricky Nelson ’29 Ford Roadster Belonging to Tony La Masa

By BRIAN BRENNAN
H

ow much television do any of us watch nowadays? I’m talking about weekly sitcoms or some form of television drama. I’m thinking not nearly as much as we once did. Nowadays it seems to be a lot of TV specials or shows we “cast” from our smartphone onto our “smart” TV. But there was a time when popular hot rods made their way onto regularly watched TV programming. Three that come to mind are Norm Grabowski’s T-bucket on 77 Sunset Strip (1958-64), another Grabowski creation was the made-for-TV-Touring in My Mother The Car (1965-66), and the Tony La Masa ’32 Ford channeled roadster that appeared now and then on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952-66). One of my favorites was Route 66 (1960-64). The Corvette was the center of my attention every week! 

Nowadays I don’t seem to find much in the way of “hot rods” and television. That’s not to say that cars (and hot cars) can’t be found because they can, but I’m not seeing cars with a legion of young males (and some females) who follow a show because of the cool car(s). 

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Thanks for reading our January 2023 preview issue!