Hotrods & other cool cars.
Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 5:45 pm
By popular demand (Pink), I'll start this new topic with a little info about my hotrod. Anyone else with a cool car feel free to post along with me.
<Disclaimer> I didn't build this car, although I have made a few changes. The car was built by an old friend of mine, Ron Werderitsch. Ron had owned this car since high school back in the 50's in the midwest. When he moved to California, he brought the car with him. I meet Ron at a car show in the early 90's. It was our mutual love of hopped up vintage 4 cylinder engines that brought us together as friends. In 96 my wife & I moved to South Dakota and except for an occasional letter, I never saw Ron again. Around 98 or 99 Ron decided to rebuild his car the way he would have built it in high school if he'd had the money. It was a labor of love for him. Only the best parts & shops were used. He finished the build in 2007, and enjoyed driving it & showing it at car shows, but within a few months of completing the car he had a massive heart attack & passed away. About 3 years ago I got word thru another west coast friend that Ron's car which had been sitting in his widows garage was going to be put up for sale. I immediately contacted her, bought Ron's car and arranged to have it shipped up here. His widow made me promise that no major changes would be made to the car before she agreed to sell it to me. As a tribute to Ron, his old high school parking lot sticker is still attached to the right rear window. It will stay there for as long as I own the car.
Ron's high school parking sticker.
Mine (Ron's) is a 1930 Ford Standard Coupe. It's a bit unusual as hotrods go. Instead of going with a monster V8 engine, mine has a hopped up Model A Ford 4 cylinder engine. I'll go into details later, but first a few pics.
Interior is done in orange & black tuck and role, old school 50's style. The dash is 32 Ford with a custom insert & gages. 37 Ford "banjo" steering wheel.
The engine is a 1929 Ford, chosen because the 28 & 29 engines had 5 cam bearings as apposed to 3 bearings in the 30 - 33 Ford 4 cylinder engines.
The engine has been fitted with a Model B Ford crankshaft with flyweights added for balance. The crank & rods have been machined to accept replaceable shell bearings. High performance connecting rods & racing pistons. The flywheel has been turned down from a stock 65 Lbs. to much lighter 26 Lbs, & redrilled to accept a later 9" Ford clutch & pressure plate. The whole bottom end was balanced as a unit.
There's a 3/4 race camshaft, adjustable lifters & stainless steel valves. An aluminum high compression head, dual Stromberg 97 carburators with rare SCOTT racing tops & fire by a Mallory dual point distributor. A custom ceramic coated exhaust header dumps into a 3" straight pipe running out the back of the car. Everything is hooked to a 39 Ford transmission & 40 Ford rear end.
Suspension & rolling gear start out with a 4" dropped front axle fitted with 37 Ford spindles & 40 Ford hydraulic brakes. The whole thing rolls on vintage Kelsy Hayes 16" wire spoke rims with Firestone tires. Big in the rear & small in the front to give it the hotrod stance.
The entire electrical system has been converted to 12 volt. The stock starter was rewound for 12 volts, and the old generator has been replaced with an alternator.
The framework on this car was a feature in Rod & Custom Magazine back in 2007. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0708rc-boxing-the-frame/ , and a followup article about the hydraulic brakes & clutch. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0811rc-h ... d-model-a/
<Disclaimer> I didn't build this car, although I have made a few changes. The car was built by an old friend of mine, Ron Werderitsch. Ron had owned this car since high school back in the 50's in the midwest. When he moved to California, he brought the car with him. I meet Ron at a car show in the early 90's. It was our mutual love of hopped up vintage 4 cylinder engines that brought us together as friends. In 96 my wife & I moved to South Dakota and except for an occasional letter, I never saw Ron again. Around 98 or 99 Ron decided to rebuild his car the way he would have built it in high school if he'd had the money. It was a labor of love for him. Only the best parts & shops were used. He finished the build in 2007, and enjoyed driving it & showing it at car shows, but within a few months of completing the car he had a massive heart attack & passed away. About 3 years ago I got word thru another west coast friend that Ron's car which had been sitting in his widows garage was going to be put up for sale. I immediately contacted her, bought Ron's car and arranged to have it shipped up here. His widow made me promise that no major changes would be made to the car before she agreed to sell it to me. As a tribute to Ron, his old high school parking lot sticker is still attached to the right rear window. It will stay there for as long as I own the car.
Ron's high school parking sticker.
Mine (Ron's) is a 1930 Ford Standard Coupe. It's a bit unusual as hotrods go. Instead of going with a monster V8 engine, mine has a hopped up Model A Ford 4 cylinder engine. I'll go into details later, but first a few pics.
Interior is done in orange & black tuck and role, old school 50's style. The dash is 32 Ford with a custom insert & gages. 37 Ford "banjo" steering wheel.
The engine is a 1929 Ford, chosen because the 28 & 29 engines had 5 cam bearings as apposed to 3 bearings in the 30 - 33 Ford 4 cylinder engines.
The engine has been fitted with a Model B Ford crankshaft with flyweights added for balance. The crank & rods have been machined to accept replaceable shell bearings. High performance connecting rods & racing pistons. The flywheel has been turned down from a stock 65 Lbs. to much lighter 26 Lbs, & redrilled to accept a later 9" Ford clutch & pressure plate. The whole bottom end was balanced as a unit.
There's a 3/4 race camshaft, adjustable lifters & stainless steel valves. An aluminum high compression head, dual Stromberg 97 carburators with rare SCOTT racing tops & fire by a Mallory dual point distributor. A custom ceramic coated exhaust header dumps into a 3" straight pipe running out the back of the car. Everything is hooked to a 39 Ford transmission & 40 Ford rear end.
Suspension & rolling gear start out with a 4" dropped front axle fitted with 37 Ford spindles & 40 Ford hydraulic brakes. The whole thing rolls on vintage Kelsy Hayes 16" wire spoke rims with Firestone tires. Big in the rear & small in the front to give it the hotrod stance.
The entire electrical system has been converted to 12 volt. The stock starter was rewound for 12 volts, and the old generator has been replaced with an alternator.
The framework on this car was a feature in Rod & Custom Magazine back in 2007. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0708rc-boxing-the-frame/ , and a followup article about the hydraulic brakes & clutch. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/0811rc-h ... d-model-a/