Inhaltsverzeichnis für September/October 2021 in Rodding USA

Finding something different to power your hot rod has become rather tricky, so how does a blown four-banger Pontiac Tempest engine known as the “Trophy 4” sound? Meet Rich Ralstin, the owner and builder of this daily driver, 1931 Ford Model A, who did just that and installed the 195 cubic inch 4-cylinder in his roadster. At the age of 14, Rich became a car guy. Even before he had a driver’s license, he was the owner of a 1952 Plymouth, although he only had it for a few years. A 1954 Ford Sun-Liner became Rich’s next car. Since it didn’t have an engine or transmission when he purchased it, he soon located a 1957 GMC/Pontiac 347ci V8. It has been said this engine was the most powerful V8 in…

Our Plymouth was owned by my Uncle Robert Burke & his wife Caroline of Phoenix, AZ, before my parents, Aaron & Margaret Baker (Robert’s sister) purchased it in 1979. Robert had owned it for about 15 years and used it for daily transportation in the “Valley of the Sun.” It was still stock, running its original flathead six-cylinder and original black paint. Sadly, one day, on the way home from work, a stake bed truck plowed into the right rear quarter while he sat stopped at a traffic light. This was when Robert offered to sell it to my Dad. My wife Charlene and I lived in Colorado and went to Phoenix and towed the Plymouth home behind a Datsun pickup with a tow bar which made for an exciting…

While hot rodders started with a bad reputation back in the early days, age, maturity, and generous actions over the years have made most of them respectable citizens. Many clubs make sizeable donations to their favorite charities from the proceeds raised from their events. Hot rodders are usually quick to help out a good cause. For that reason, it is no wonder that Shelby’s Way hosts their Deuces of the Bluegrass event to raise money for the prevention and awareness of suicide and depression. Hot rodders from throughout Kentucky and the surrounding states ventured to Lexington on June 27 to support the cause. Although it wasn’t necessarily an official part of the event, host Mark Cain did organize a scenic tour for early arrivals on Saturday that included lunch at…

OWNER: Oscar Gamble - Paducah, KY CHASSIS: American stamping rails, boxed by Precision Hot Rod Shop. FRONT SUSPENSION: Super Bell 5-inch dropped axle, Durant mono leaf spring, Pete and Jake’s front four-bar, SoCal disc brakes and spindles, Vega steering. REAR SUSPENSION: 9-inch Ford, 3.62 gears, Pete and Jake’s ladder bars, RideTech coil-overs, stock drum brakes with SoCal aluminum drum covers. WHEELS: Dayton Wire wheels, front – 16x5.5, rear 18x5.5 TIRES: Reproduction Firestone Deluxe Champion bias ply, front – 16x5.00, rear – 18x8.90. ENGINE: High performance 1965 Buick Riviera 425 Nailhead, Fireball V-Eight, Offenhauser intake manifold, dual AFB four-barrel carburetors, custom shield to cover carbs and spark plug wires by Brad Starks Hot Rods, Paducah, KY. TRANSMISSION: GM Turbo 400. BODY: All sheet metal is Ford steel (including stock front and…

In 1974, Dub Adams, Butch Turner, and Gary Mussman brought up the idea of creating a car club dedicated solely to the 1932 Ford, so they started the Midwest Deuces. It was initially ten members from Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas. Forty-seven years later, the club has grown to 175 members from around the country but primarily those four states in addition to Minnesota and Illinois. The Midwest Deuces’ big event each year is the Deuce Doins special parking area at the Des Moines, Iowa Goodguys Show. The Deuce Doins have been held around the country since 1976 but picked up steam in 1983 when Gary Meadors, who attended several of the Deuce Doins events, started the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association. Midwest Deuces started a partnership with Goodguys and…

Oscar Gamble is known for having owned several very nice hot rods of 1932 vintage. The latest of which is this 1932 Ford Victoria that was recently the recipient of the 2021 Rodding USA Magazine pick at the 4th Annual Deuces of the Bluegrass. While not the rarest of Ford body styles, the Victoria (Type B-190) is certainly not the most common. A total of 7762 (7241 with a V8 and 521 with a four-cylinder) were manufactured during the 1932 model year. When combining rarity with that sexy body style, a high pedigree hot rod is sure to emerge. The real story of this classy lady is a combination of stories told multiple times over in the hot rodding world. The first story is of the previous owner of the…

Growing up on a farm in the middle of the country during the 40s and 50s, spare parts for farm equipment weren’t always readily available, so you learned to be creative and fix things with what you had. For example, tractor engine repairs were often done by the folks living on the farm. It was almost like getting a condensed apprenticeship in automotive repair and mechanical design for those lucky enough to be raised in these surroundings. Dennis Groundwater happens to be one of those lucky guys who experienced that life as a youngster. While he pursued a career as a plumber, the automotive and mechanical lessons he got from life on the farm came in handy for when he built his ‘48 Woody. He first became interested in cars…

When you have a museum filled with an endless supply of cars from 1910 to 1965, the goal is to have a handful from every era and style. Nostalgia Street Rods in Las Vegas has done just that, and they were kind enough to share this cool 1924 Dodge “modified” Track Roadster with us. It doesn’t have a historical pedigree, but we just liked its look and wanted to share it with our readers.…

We take you back to December 22, 1957, when Hal Ashton was a mere 17 years old and was visiting relatives in Pasadena, California, along with his family. Hal was from Tucson, AZ and had a keen interest in hot rods and kept his eyes peeled for a 1934 Ford 3/window coupe. Bright and early on that Sunday morning, young Hal was reading the classifieds in the L.A. Times when he spotted an ad for his dream car. The ad was for a completely stock 1934 Ford 3/window coupe that had been reconditioned and ran the original Flathead V8. The asking price was $375.00. He asked his dad if they could take a look, and they did. Upon arriving, he found the car of his dreams. The stock coupe was…

The plans for my wife Judy and I was to find and purchase a vintage house with the capability to have enough garage space to build/store three to four cars/hot rods with a shop set up with the tools to fit my capabilities. This was not an easy feat; however, we got lucky and stumbled upon our 1898 Victorian, located in a historical area of Prescott, Arizona, online. It had a 24 x 31 (740 sq ft) garage with a very high-pitched roof, and the inside had a full-length, walk-able storage area above with easy access. The interior of the garage had never been finished inside. I thought, being that it was deeper than a standard three-car garage, I could lay it out to utilize my larger equipment such as…

Quick change rear ends have been a staple of our hobby since the first hot rodders adapted the race-bred rears to their street cars over 70 years ago. The premise is simple: instead of the driveshaft connecting directly to the ring and pinion as it does in a traditional fixed-ratio rear, on a quick change, it connects to a lower shaft running beneath the ring and pinion to a pair of vertically-oriented spur gears that drive the pinion. These spur gears can quickly and easily be changed in the pits, the parking lot, or the side of the road in just a few minutes, allowing you to dial in the perfect rear end ratio for any conditions—whether you’re cruising down the highway or blasting from stoplight to stoplight (or Christmas…

What a difference a year makes. Amid the 2020 pandemic, NSRA, the state of Kentucky, and the city of Louisville managed to pull off the 51st Street Rod Nationals, which was not only the most prominent car show of the year but one of the only car shows of the year. The event drew approximately 4,500 entries, and everyone had a great time. It was certainly down from the 50th Anniversary show, and its 13,000 entries in 2019, but those that attended were glad to be there. Fast forward to August 5-8, 2021, and the Nats managed to draw 9,000 entries, an extraordinary number of vendors, and vast crowds of spectators. You could tell the car owners were ready for their annual trek to the beautiful state of Kentucky for…