It won’t take long to realize just how good looking this 1934 channeled Ford roadster is, with its amazing craftsmanship, attention to detail, and overall presentation readily apparent to all. Of course, that’s once you get past the brilliant Ferrari Fly Yellow applied over the stunning bodywork and then painted by Darryl Hollenbeck of Vintage Color Studio. The paint is a PPG brand formulated in its Envirobase, a waterborne basecoat, followed by PPG’s VC5700 clearcoat from the Vibrance collection.

What’s hiding beneath the brilliant yellow paint is a steel reproduction of a 1934 Ford roadster body from Steve’s Auto Restorations. All the metalwork was accomplished by fellow Brizio team member Andrik Albor. From this starting point, the work began with the cowl and windshield, both of which were narrowed by 2 inches, then the grille shell, which was narrowed by 3 inches and shortened by 5 inches. Nestled behind the cowl and beneath the windshield is a custom dash with an original Auburn gauge panel that Brizio donated to the project. As with many hot rods, we see smooth-edged corners, and this roadster is no different with its doors and decklid corners neatly rounded, while the body is channeled 6 inches over the framerails. Beginning from scratch, the rear quarter-panels, wheelwells (with custom tubs), and floorboards are freshly fabricated. The unique grille is made from aluminum and then nickel-plated, while the one-off hood complements the body flow between the grille and the cowl, along with the handmade aluminum rear rolled pan. The rear license plate is mounted to a drop-down bracket that, when in “up” mode, is huddled within the bottom of the rolled pan. There’s a bit of a story behind the style of the rolled pan. Oftentimes, the depth of the rolled pan is substantially “deeper,” but there is a polished, highly detailed Winter’s Champ quick-change. It was thought that the best approach would be to minimize the depth of the rolled pan, thereby allowing those coming upon the rear of the roadster to easily see the quickie. Because of this approach, the coilover shocks were positioned, via brackets, in front of the housing, thereby leaving more of the quick-change exposed for viewing. (The idea was originally from one of Lil’ John Buttera’s builds.) The same approach was used at the front, with the tube shocks mounted behind the axle, leaving the beautifully plated 5-inch Super Bell drop tube to shine through. All good choices. The rear lighting is based on a 1937 Ford, using the taillights, lenses, and bezels. From there, they are captured within a brass trim piece that has been nickel plated, adding a bit of obligatory eye-appealing brightwork to the roadster’s tail.

We have mentioned the chassis, but let’s go into it in more detail. The frame is fully boxed, pinched in the front and radiused in the rear, with 1-1/2-inch tube crossmembers, all fabricated and integrated into the platform for the 1934 Ford roadster body by Jack Stratton of RBSR. Rick’s Tanks welded up the stainless steel gas tank mounted in the trunk. Other rear end appointments include the Winter’s Champ quick-change, which runs an “everyday” 3.78 gear and features 31-spline axles. Positioning the quick-change in place is a four-bar setup with QA1 coilover shocks (220-pound springs), an RBSR-fabricated rear sway bar, and a Panhard bar. As mentioned previously, the braking is via the Boling Brothers early Lincoln drum brake system. The front suspension is based around a chromed Super Bell 5-inch drop tube axle with Pete & Jakes chromed tube shocks and a Borgeson Vega-style steering box.

One can look anywhere on this hot rod and walk away scratching your head asking, “How did they do that?”, or just stand there, saying nothing yet wondering. Then there is the engine. It’s a Ford V-8 for sure, but all of us here are willing to bet you may not have seen one of these, especially in real life. Brizio was able to round this 1996 Ford Racing Prototype (PR4V), which has a pushrod, four-valve-per-cylinder aluminum head configuration. (There are four of these V-8s; two are 302 inches and two are 351 inches. The late Angelo Giampetroni, then head of Ford Racing, had one of the 351 engines. The whereabouts of the other two are currently unknown.) It displaces the traditional Ford 302-inch displacement based on a cast-iron block from Ford Racing. Bob Panella of Panella Racing Engines built the small-block Ford using Ford Racing forged pistons, a camshaft, and custom four-valve prototype valve covers. Resting on top and doing so impressively is the Borla 8-Stack EFI, utilizing a Holley ECU, a Joe Hunt electronic magneto-style distributor with MSD plug wires, and a coil. Feeding the EFI is an Aeromotive in-tank fuel pump. The exhaust is handled by a custom set of Sanderson headers with 1-5/8-inch primary tubes that dump into 2-1/4-inch custom steel exhaust tubes fabricated by RBSR’s Jack Stratton, which eventually run through a pair of Hushpower mufflers. Other engine accessories include a Mattson’s radiator, a SPAL electric fan, a Powermaster alternator and starter, and an OPTIMA battery located in the trunk directly behind the bench seat back. The brightwork throughout is polished nickel plating by Sherm’s Custom Plating. Matched to the V-8 is a TREMEC five-speed (TKO) that employs a Modern Driveline billet flywheel, clutch disc, pressure plate, and a Lokar shifter topped with the traditional white ball.

The steering column is a LimeWorks stainless steel column with the 1950 Ford Crestliner wheel. The wheel is reminiscent of what hot rodders sought as a custom touch back in the day. The wheel and shift knob, which began life as bright white in the ’50s, are now covered in Vanilla Shake (white with a slight cream tint), a color Brizio has had success with on many hot rods in the past. Because many hot rodders remember the wheel, Brizio, along with the Myers, believed the wheel’s color shouldn’t be changed too much and that it should stand out as a custom interior touch. The original Auburn gauge panel featured original Auburn gauges refurbished by the Gauge Works, and the gauges themselves are accented by an engine-turned panel. The gauge faces, originally black, were repainted in a “beige” color to help them blend better with the overall car’s appearance. Jim Vickery, also of RBSR, handled the wiring throughout the interior and the remainder of the channeled roadster.

This lowboy roadster competed for the 2026 AMBR trophy and, while it didn’t win, it came incredibly close, taking home Best Paint, Best Undercarriage, and Best Detail. No argument here, for a car that now has 350 miles on it. It is well worth your time to enjoy how Brizio tells us what it took to build this hot rod, and then he takes us for a drive—hot rodding just doesn’t get any better.