n past issues, we covered much of the metal fabrication done by the Rad Rides by Troy crew on the Ross Myers fenderless ’36 Ford roadster. This time, we’ll take a deep dive into the apron panels that fit under the lower hood panels and the construction of the doors.

The team at Rad Rides uses shrinking dies on a powerful Eckold machine to do much of the forming of large, low-crown panels, along with an English wheel and a planishing hammer for the final smoothing. A Pullmax machine is used for many of the steps and beads; they metal finish and carefully sand each panel to perfection as it nears completion.

ot rodders old enough to have survived the ’60s can probably recall when a car with 300-plus horsepower was impressive. Take the popular ’67 Chevy Nova as an example—it could be had with the L79 Turbo Fire 327ci small-block that was rated at 325 hp. Coupled with a four-speed transmission, it was a formidable package. These little Chevys had plenty of go. However, the whoa department was a little less impressive with the standard drum brakes. In base form, Chevrolet equipped Nova with 9.5×2.5 drum brakes up front and 9.5×2 drums in the rear. Those who opted for the J52 disc brake options got 11-inch rotors up front with the standard drums in the rear. Certainly, it is better than four-corner drums, but it is certainly not up to what we expect today.

As we said, 300-plus horsepower was respectable in 1967, but as painful as it is for the Modern Rodding staff who were kids back then to admit (namely Brennan), that was 57 years ago. Today, horsepower is much easier to come by, and what could be cooler than wrapping classic vintage sheetmetal around a contemporary high-performance engine? As a case in point, we offer John McLeod’s (director of Classic Instruments and Detroit Speed & Engineering) ’67 Nova with a 435ci small-block that makes 650 hp, which is more than enough to make it go. Now all the little Chevy needed were brakes to bring it to a stop.

2024 Barrett-Jackson Cup

car auction is a circus for older kids … hot rodders. While most of us will never come close to purchasing a car from a car auction, the fact remains we like to go, we like to look, and we like to dream. Such is the case with one of the truly great car auctions, the Barrett-Jackson Auction held at WestWorld in Scottsdale, Arizona. We come each year for the Barrett-Jackson Cup competition, but the fact remains we are still fascinated by the number of cars that pass over the stage and just how much money these objects of want bring in total dollars.

Barrett-Jackson Auction Dollar Sales

avid Goodwin is like most of our readers: he has been a car lover his entire life. His first new car was an SS 396 Chevelle, so you know he enjoys performance, too. Growing up in the ’60s Goodwin remembers several hot rod ’55 Chevrolets; he once owned a more traditional hot rod ’55 Chevy before he began scheming to build a Pro Touring Bel Air. So, he set about doing two things; first was finding a good car to modify. Goodwin knew there was no better money spent than on the original car. Paying a bit more up front for a good example saves you money in the end and leads to a better-finished product.

He located a restored ’55 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop on eBay. It appears the car was subject to a “body-on” restoration in the past and was represented as an excellent car. As we all know, one man’s excellent is another man’s just average. Like many purchases based solely on photographs and descriptions, this purchase came with some surprises, but we would still classify the ’55 as a good start. While the car was far from perfect, it had good “bones,” making it an excellent candidate for the desired modifications. Keeping the body mostly original was the easy part. Going the Pro Touring route by adding four-wheel independent suspension, Detroit Speed power rack-and-pinion steering, big Wilwood disc brakes on all four corners, and modern LS9 horsepower underhood sounded a bit more involved.

o, you’ve finished chopping your top. After months of planning and days executing the perfect profile, you’re finally ready to cruise among the ranks of the full-custom elite. Just a few pieces of glass to cut and down the road you go, right? Not quite. As much work as it takes to lower the lid, a great deal must be done before your chop is truly finished.

In this second installment on our ’41 Buick top chop, we’re tackling the garnish moldings—those all-important pieces that will frame your view every time you roll down the road. As with chopping the roof itself, planning is critical. These moldings are far from simple in their shape or profile, so the “measure twice, cut once” mantra is even more critical here; you don’t want to cut too much and find yourself fabricating complex filler pieces unnecessarily. Since each piece of molding comprises numerous complex, compound curves (especially in the quarter windows), serious thought will go into how and where each cut is made to ensure all the profiles and transitions come out just right.

t was 1960 when 17-year-old Steve Scott, then of Reseda, California, walked away from an advanced physics class with the idea for the “Uncertain-T,” as the story goes. The Uncertain-T, while hand made out of fiberglass, did have a Model T flavor with the inclusion of the 1921 Ford headlights, radiator shell, and motor meter. By 1965, the Uncertain-T made its splash on the November cover of Car Craft, having already appeared in the May ’65 issue as an inside story.

It would take Steve, with help from his brother, John, some 4-plus years and $15,000 (a large sum in those days) before the Uncertain-T appeared at the 1965 NHRA Winternationals Custom Auto Fair at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in L.A. Right out of the gate it was featured on the cover of the events program and before the weekend was over it would be given the Special Sweepstakes Award over a rather famous hot rod, the “Ala Kart” after George Barris had freshened up the car. In 1966, Monogram released a 1/24 scale model of the hot rod, but unfortunately it was pulled, some say prematurely, from the model car shelves. We will never know just how popular it could have been.

As with so many famous hot rods, they have a way of vanishing. And they also have a way of being found. Beau Boeckmann of Galpin Motors tells a great story about how they came to find the missing hot rod. After looking for the Uncertain-T and other missing hot rods, Boeckmann found the car in its nearly original form in a warehouse that, of all things, was near to his Galpin Ford dealership in Van Nuys, California.