TRJ Issue #32

Freeze Frame ’58
In 1958, Mox Miller ordered a brand-new Impala with a Tri-Power 348, manual transmission, and Pos-A-Traction rear. He immediately had it lowered and scalloped. Over the next four years Mox transformed it into the wild ’60s-era custom it is today, with Dick “Peep” Jackson-applied scallops and fogging, Dennis Ricklefs pinstriping, miles of tuck-and-roll upholstery, and polished magnesium Indy-style wheels. It’s been carefully stored away in the decades since, and its supercharged 348 has never even been fired. We feature the Impala alongside Mox’s father’s flamed ’58 Chevy pickup.

Tri-Bolt Wonders
Stromberg 97s have populated hot rod engine compartments since they were introduced on the ’34 Ford V8. Our story explores the company’s history and examines the all-new Stromberg 97 two-barrel carburetors.

Capturing Moments in Speed
By the 1960s, drag racing had hit its stride as racers put their ingenuity to the test on strips across the country, pushing the boundaries of engineering and physics. Photographer Ed Stein captured the magic roaming the strips of Southern California, and we’ve featured some of our favorites from his collection.

Ak Miller Remembered
Ak Miller’s contributions to motorsports are monumental, from his hot rodding and drag racing efforts to land speed and road racing. Tom Madigan pays tribute to this icon of our sport, and his text is accompanied by historic photos of Ak throughout the years, along with a tribute written by the late Wally Parks.

Forging the Nailhead Path
Russ Martin is widely regarded as the guru of Buick nailhead speed. We feature two of his dual-quad nailhead-powered hot rods: a ’22 Buick roadster with a bored 401-inch and a ’55 Ford F-100 with a 425. We also take a look at some of the rarer items in Russ’s early nailhead speed parts collection.

Hot Rod Milestones
Our excerpt from Ken Gross and Robert Genat’s book Hot Rod Milestones explores the collection of influential hot rods chosen to represent the evolution of our sport. Included among others are the Chili Catallo “Little Deuce Coupe,” Tommy Ivo’s injected Buick-powered T-bucket, Dick Flint’s ’29 Model A roadster, and Joe Nitti’s Deuce highboy.

Rolling Bones: Bonneville and Back
Upstate New York’s Rolling Bones Hot Rod Shop has been turning out competition-inspired ’32-’34 Ford hot rods and driving them all over the country for years. Noted photographer Peter Vincent chronicled one of their annual trips to Bonneville with owners Keith Cornell and Ken Schmidt’s chopped Deuce three-windows, Dennis Varni’s Hemi-powered Deuce Tudor and Schmidt’s flathead-powered Deuce roadster (which made several 100mph+ passes on the salt).

Jalopyrama
The Jalopyrama indoor car show is a time warp in every sense of the word. Hosted by Mike Szuba and the Rusty Nuts car club of Maryland, the show features a small field of handpicked hot rods and customs arranged unceremoniously on a wood-floor armory near Annapolis, Maryland. It’s a special show that takes us back to the indoor events of 50 years ago, and the year we photographed it there were also a number of historic cars mixed in among the more recently finished cars.

Deuce Redux
After establishing themselves as one of the leaders in reproduction steel ’32 Ford roadster bodies, Brookville Roadster introduced their equally accurate and well-constructed Deuce three-window. Our story examines the company’s history, manufacturing process, and captures the first production three-window body fully assembled and in a baremetal studio feature.

Racing Into History
The Pete Henderson Deuce highboy roadster was rumored to be one of the fastest in Southern California when he famously beat a champion quarter horse in a race. The car has history that includes everyone from Don Blair and Vic Edelbrock to Manny Ayulo, Jack McGrath and Art Chrisman. Chuck and Mike Longley carefully restored the roadster, and we photographed it for our feature on the white sand beaches of Daytona, Florida.

The Paint Can Wait
The well-weathered exterior of this pair of ’32 Ford sedans belies their thoughtfully designed and well-executed underpinnings. California Hot Rods owner Mike Smith built his Deuce Fordor using a set of American Stamping rails, a 2×2-fed ’48 Ford flathead, a ’39 top loader and a host of other vintage speed parts. George Solimine, Jr. opted for a bored smallblock Chevy with six 97s on an Edelbrock X-1 manifold to power his hoodless, full-fendered Tudor.

Salt Flat Surprise
Scott Whittaker, owner of leading auto insulation company Dynamat, is a consummate hot rodder and showman. So, when he wanted to showcase both Dynamat’s insulation products and the capabilities of his Speed Kings hot rod shop, he built the “Dynaliner.” It’s a Brookville-bodied Deuce three-window that’s been chopped, split down the middle (like a real-life Rex Burnett cutaway), and outfitted with all manner of vintage-style racing equipment and weathered paint.

The McMullen ‘32
Easily one of the most recognizable Deuce roadsters in hot rodding’s history is Tom McMullen’s black, flamed, blown Chevy-powered highboy. The car has a history as colorful as its late owner. Our feature covers that story, complete with historic images and studio photography following the car’s nut-and-bolt restoration by Brizio Street Rods.

The Diversity of the Deuce
Despite the sheer number of ’32 Ford roadsters that have been turned into hot rods in the last eight decades, no two are alike. To compare two very different (but both traditional) Deuce roadsters, we photographed the ’60s-style highboy of Bob Anderson alongside Don Dillard’s chopped, raked, and full-fendered example on the sand in Huntington Beach, California. Both are smallblock Chevy-powered, and both are real Henry Ford steel, but their styling is decades apart.

The Pick-A-Deuce Ranch
Ford produced 16 different body styles in 1932 and hot rodder Thom Holmquist has one of each–and a few extras to boot. Each of them is a running, driving car. Some have been hot rodded, and some are restored stockers waiting to go under the knife. Our feature takes a look at the collection and how Thom went about acquiring them all.

Worth the Wait
Pennsylvania hot rodder Howard Radtke built the quintessential Deuce highboy for his wife, Sharon. It’s a simple little roadster, with a host of hot-rod accoutrements like a dropped and drilled axle, a Winters V8 quickchange, steel wheels, big-and-little blackwall tires, and a smallblock Chevy for power.

So-Cal Dreamin’
At the time of their 60th anniversary, two of the hot rods turned loose on the street by So-Cal Speed Shop were Don Puhto’s Deuce five-window and J.J. Barnhardt’s highboy roadster. Puhto’s chopped coupe started as a gennie ’32 Ford, and it’s now fitted with a Hilborn-injected 354 Hemi and polished Halibrand Kidney Bean wheels. Barnhardt’s Brookville-bodied roadster also has an injected Hemi, though his is a later 392.

Return of the 404
In the ‘50s, Southern California’s Berardini brothers were virtually unbeatable with their flathead- (and later Hemi-) powered Deuce roadster. After setting many records and logging a couple hundred thousand miles on the old racer, it’s been restored by collectors Roger and Sissy Morrison of Salina, Kansas.

Parts is Parts: Deuce grille shells
It seems the only logical choice for a Parts is Parts feature in our Collector’s Issue #32 is a feature on the multitude of reproduction Deuce grille shells available. From stock-style steel to filled and chopped steel and fiberglass, we highlight some popular options for your next project.

Split Personality
Sonny Hunt, a life-long hot rodder and early Chevy collector from Ohio, has an impressive collection of ’32 Ford hot rods as well as a smattering of ’38 Chevys. We take a look at his ’32 Fords–including his flathead-powered three-window and roadster, and his in-progress five-window, Tudor, and Vicky–as well as his Chevys and various other hot rods and drag racers from the past.

Six from the List
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Deuce, Ford Motor Company recognized 75 of the most significant ’32 Ford hot rods. Avid hot rodder and collector Bruce Meyer owns six of them. Our feature incorporates a mix of current and historic photography of this sextuplet of roadsters and chopped three-windows, including the Doyle Gammell coupe, the Meyer/Benish/Cook coupe, the Doane Spencer roadster, the Tom Prufer coupe, the McGee/Scritchfield roadster, and the Lobeck/Coonan/Bauder roadster.

The New Lobeck Look
Barry Lobeck helped define the “Ohio look” with his drag-inspired, heavily raked Deuce hot rods. But he was equally adept at incorporating even more traditional ‘40s and ‘50s influences. We take a look at three recent Deuce roadsters to roll out of Lobeck’s Hot Rod Shop, including Bruce Elmer’s smallblock-powered highboy, Brad Arnold’s highboy with a DuVall-style windshield and dual-quad nailhead, and Jeff Scott’s full-fendered, flathead-powered roadster.

Five-Window Coupes
We traveled to San Antonio, Texas, to photograph two different takes on the venerable chopped five-window coupe. Vintage Air’s Rick Love built his highboy style, with a healthy chop, a tri-power smallblock Chevy, and a bevy of traditional details like a dropped and drilled axle and finned Buick drum brakes. The Lou Bingham coupe has been a hot rod for decades, and its history includes several magazine features and even some Bonneville land speed racing. At the time of our feature, it was owned by Gordon Chisenhall.

Deuce Tableaux
Steve Moal’s Moal Coachbuilders has earned a reputation for ingenuity, impeccable craftsmanship, and an ability to incorporate modern high-performance technology in traditionally inspired hot rods. Two examples are the Deuce roadsters of Bob Dron and Eric Zausner. Dron’s injected smallblock Chevy-powered ’32 has a decidedly East Coast style, with a chopped windshield, heavily channeled body, and belly pan-style fairings. Zausner’s highboy incorporates Indy influences with a Miller-style grille, WWII bomber-inspired seats, and one of the wildest blown Ardun-equipped flatheads we’ve seen.

Carolina Cruisers
In North Carolina we photographed two full-fendered Deuce three-windows with similar histories. Bill Barkley has been driving his ’32 since he bought it as a stocker back in 1953. A few familiar Southern California names play into the story, including Chuck Porter and Bell Auto Parts, and it’s still on the road today with smallblock Ford power. Lewis McMillan bought the body of his chopped ’32 at the L.A. Roadster Show in ’73. It was completed in time to make the August 1977 cover of Street Rodder Magazine. It’s got a 327 Chevy hooked to a Hurst-shifted Borg Warner transmission.