The 1956 was Joe’s dream, so this time around it was Josh’s turn to have his dream come true—a 1957 210. He’s always thought of this specific Tri-Five as his favorite. Back when Josh was 9, Joe bought three 1957 Chevy 150 two-door sedans and over the course of time sold two but kept one for Josh. To listen to Josh tell the story, “Well, that car had been set up for a big-block 427, but our friend Bobby Alloway told him I needed a ‘training motor’ to start with. It ended up having a 327 with a TH350. This is the black and turquoise 150 Utility Sedan I still own today.”

The Baileys’ day jobs are working at Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop. While the two of them perform a myriad of jobs, most days you can find Joe in the paint and detailing area working his magic while Josh is fabricating on a fresh build. Night, and all other free time, is spent working on their own projects. Turns out building a Tri-Five is the perfect father/son project and now that sufficient time had passed it was Josh’s turn to have his dream 1957 Chevy 210 Delray sedan. This time the “training motor” was kicked to the corner of the garage and in went the mack daddy of all Chevy big-blocks: the L88, or at least their adaptation.

t sounds like an oxymoron—“modern traditional”—but that appears to be what’s going on today when we take a knowledgeable look at what appears to be old-timey hot rods running the streets. There’s nothing like a traditional-built car. While traditional builds are true to form, adhering to the old-time look and performance via nostalgia parts and pieces, there’s also the modern-traditional build that visually replicates the bygone era look but taking “license” as to what’s required to get the job done for today’s look and performance.

And that’s where we find ourselves when taking a look at effectively the same car before us but with notable changes. A quick inspection tells us they aren’t the same, with each getting its own “point” across. In our story the basis for both hot rods is the Brookville Roadster steel 1932 Ford three-window coupe body. Both coupes are highboys, both have three pedals, both are chopped (well, the modern traditional is yet to be chopped but it’s coming), both run solid front axles (one an original tube and one a modern drilled I-beam), and both run a venerable version of the Chrysler Hemi (one vintage and one a modern V-8), but for all of the similarities there’s no mistaking they are 180-degree different approaches. Let’s take a look at what it takes to arrive at your destination from two different build routes. On a current visit to Veazie Bros. Fabrication (Evin and Justin) in Pomona, California, we found two similar but different builds. One was clearly the traditional execution and the second build showcases the modern traditional implementation.

COVERING A BLOWER MOTOR CAN BE … A STRETCH

By Gerry Burger

ill Sather has been around hot rods for a long time. Living in the Austin, Texas, area you just know he has an eye for traditional hot rods. Sather acquired this coupe a few years back as part of a trade. It was just an old 1934 five-window coupe body with typical battle scars but well worth saving. Sather purchased the chassis from a fellow in California, part of a stalled project, but Sather liked the magnesium Halibrand wheels, quick-change rearend, and the dropped front axle with hairpins. So, the coupe was mounted to a vintage hot rod chassis and with the top chopped it became the classic image of a bad-boy hot rod coupe. Oh, and did we mention Sather has a thing for blowers? Adding a BDS 6-71 blown small-block to the profile completed the hot rod packaging. There was just one problem, while the profile was there, the craftsmanship was not up to contemporary standards. A call to BBT Fabrications in Mahomet, Illinois, would take care of that problem. After talking with Troy Gudgel, Sather was certain he could come up with the perfect blend of old-school hot rod attitude and world class craftsmanship.

The coupe was shipped up to BBT Fabrications and work began. The metalwork was extensive and so we decided to follow along, starting with fitting the hood. The coupe came with an original four-piece hood but that was set aside in favor of a new three-piece Rootlieb hood. This three-piece configuration would allow for four vintage-style breathers to protrude through the hood. The hood sides carry stock louvers but without the lower body reveal and the two holes for the hood latch handles.

On a recent visit to The Installation Center, we checked in with Craig Hopkins as he and Wesley Kennedy were about to undertake a massive sheetmetal project on a 1969 Ford Torino Sportsroof (fastback). In fact, this particular project was on a highly desirable Torino Cobra Jet 428 car, making it advantageous to perform whatever sheetmetal work it took to bring this body back to life. The Installation Center had on hand all of the common panels required for a 1968-1969 Torino Sportsroof, such as the quarter-panels, tail panel, inner fender panels, and a few others, all from Auto Metal Direct, commonly known as AMD. For our story we zeroed in on the rear quarter-panels (PN 700-8469-L, driver side; PN 700-8469-R, passenger side). Also, the 1968 and 1969 are similar sheetmetal with the discernible difference being the side markers. (It should be noted that AMD has replacement sheetmetal for the 1970 and 1971 Torino as well, but this is a different body style.)

The AMD sheetmetal is known for its OE condition, meaning that it’s stamped from high-quality OE gauge steel on AMD’s own tooling. Each quarter-panel displays features that are as correct as original shape, size, bends, curves, and body lines. Like all AMD parts, these items arrive EPD coated to help protect against rust and corrosion. (EPD stands for electrophoretic deposition. It’s an industrial process that includes electrocoating. E-coating, as it is commonly referred to, is an immersion wet paint process that uses electrical current to attract material, paint, to the metal surface.)

Many times it’s the simplest experiences growing up that are the longest lasting. Building scale models at the kitchen table and devouring performance automotive magazines brought everything to life, augmented by an endless stream of hop-ups making the scene on local streets. It was obvious that a path was set when he’d sneak into his grandfather’s, John Bukovac, garage to peel back the cover of his new 1985 Corvette and slip into the driver seat to dream of what it might be like to lay into the throttle. Nothing, however, could match the scent of nitro and burnt rubber he experienced on a regular basis while visiting Route 66 Raceway in Joliet to watch his hot rod heroes compete for total dominance on the quarter-mile.

As the years passed, Rob went onto an 11-season career in the NFL, becoming a two-time Super Bowl Champion during his time spent as a member of the New England Patriots. One thing that never changed was his passion for performance cars, leading to a 2008 Corvette as well as a 2012 Camaro ZL1, however a fire still burned in the back of his mind for a classic muscle car. This eventually led to a restored 1970 Chevelle SS packing a 454ci big-block. While the car had plenty of brute force in a straight line, he longed for something that could also handle the curves and stop on a dime. Reaching back to his fascination with second-generation GM A-body muscle, it was time to take on the build of something that would be unique enough to stand out in a crowd.

Early Ford Kingpins, Rekindled

Replacing Bushed Bushings With Much-Needed Needle Bearings

By Ryan Manson Photography by the Author

tight frontend can make all the difference between an enjoyable early Ford and a downright rotten roach of a hot rod. A car that wanders around the lane, is hard to steer and control, or clunks, clangs, and creaks while going down the road is not only uncomfortable, it’s dangerous. Thankfully, early Fords are easy to work on, simple to fix, and easy to find parts for because of companies like Speedway Motors. They stock everything from aftermarket, modern upgrades to OE-style replacement parts for 1928-1948 Fords and beyond.

When it comes to restoring an early Ford frontend or solving any of those aforementioned issues, most attention is usually paid to the area of the kingpin. Over time this is usually the spot that has seen the majority of abuse and is one of only a few items on an Early Ford frontend that requires any kind of maintenance. Put simply, a kingpin attaches solidly to the straight axle via a lock pin and the spindle rotates around the kingpin on brass bushings. Years of regular use eventually wear the softer brass bushings down, allowing the spindle-to-kingpin clearance to increase, resulting in negative handling characteristics. Caught early, it was a simple manner of installing new brass bushings, honing them to match the kingpins, and reassembling the frontend. But many Early Fords were driven into the ground, scrapped, and then scavenged for useful parts. That means buying an old axle at the local swap meet can be a bit of a gamble. Oftentimes, the wear that first attacked those brass bushings, moved on to attack the axle, hogging the kingpin bores out to an undesirable shape. This makes the job of the restorer/rebuilder that much more difficult. Thankfully, there are solutions to even the most clapped-out early Ford axle, one of which bears little resemblance to the old bushing kingpin design.

They’re Still Out There

By James Handy Photography by THE AUTHOR and CHERYL DENTON

f you’ve been involved with old cars and hot rods as long as I have, you no doubt have heard stories about the barn find Plymouth Superbird or the 1951 Bonneville racer or the Corvette with 200 miles on the odometer that had been in storage since 1955. I have heard my share of them; some believable, most not. What you are about to read is the absolute truth. I know because I am the one who found the cars and bought them.

The saga started with a phone call on a cold November morning. Seems a business associate of mine had heard about a stash of old Chevys in a soon-to-be-demolished warehouse in Southern California. The story got more intriguing after a second phone call a few days later. As a machined parts buyer for a defense contractor many of my suppliers were in SoCal, so a “business trip” was soon arranged.

In the heart of Southern California, the custom car and hot rod capital of the entire free world (let them think that!) was a complex of old wood and corrugated tin buildings resembling a public storage lot that might have been built in the ’40s with leftover building materials. This place was a real work of art. Two acres of junk. Some was good car junk; most was just plain junk. The property owner led us through the dirt and mud to a side sliding door. The door partially opened with considerable effort to a dark and dingy 20×40-foot room. The silhouettes of five cars were barely visible. With a little more effort, the door opened wide.