Usually when one says "mixed messages" it means the idea isn't coming through clearly. But what 42-year-old Steve Legens, a hot rod builder with his own shop based in Martin, Tennessee, says with his latest ride comes through loud and clear!
Regular readers will remember some of Steve's other creations that have recently graced the pages of STREET RODDER (an orange and white '48 Chevy truck featured on the cover of the May '99 issue as well as an inky black '34 Plymouth coupe in the April '01 issue). But his latest ride, a '36 Ford coupe he built for himself, may be so subtle that it is disarming.
At first glance, the three-window is high-tech. Big 17- and 20-inch Colorado Custom wheels are under each fender and the coupe is also equipped with an airbag suspension. The hood seam has been welded up, smooth hood sides from Rootlieb have been added, and other exterior projections (i.e. door and trunk handles plus the cowl vent) have been shaved.
But in the street rod world, you'd expect a car like this to be chopped or maybe have a new dash filled with techno gauges, but you'd be off the mark. The roof lines are as stock as the day when Ford first punched them out of their presses in 1936. The dash is stock, save for the trio of classic (at the risk of being redundant) Classic Instruments gauges, and the original horn grille (once located below the headlight) is now mounted in the dash and used as a vent for the Vintage Air-supplied atmosphere.
Up front, a clean and simple engine compartment belies the fact there is also a 454 cubic-inch Chevy big-block fed by triple Rochester carbs in there, too. Everywhere you look you don't see what it took to build this hot rod. At first glance you might miss the water pump--mostly because it's a remote unit operated electrically and hidden under the motor. All you see on the front of the V-8 is a cover plate with a couple of water tubes coming out of it. But it is a better builder who can do that successfully and that's what Steve Legens and his team at Legens Hot Rod Shop did--they made the difficult look easy.
You don't notice the frame was narrowed 4 inches out back to accept the huge rear wheels, and you don't see the work it took to adapt among the first sets of Shockwave airbags that Air Ride Technologies sold. And subtle changes in the rod's lines (such as the chopped headlight stands) are just that: subtle.
Many rods built nowadays are so over-the-top they assault your senses like a 2x4 to the back of your head. Restraint is a lot harder to control, especially when you have talented builders such as Legens. So the next time you see what looks like a simple hot rod with nice paint, look again. Chances are there is more than what initially meets the eye!
Though it's a high-tech car,...
Though it's a high-tech car, there are many traditional styling cues throughout the coupe, including in the engine compartment. The Edmonds air cleaners atop the three Rochester carbs that feed the 454 are definitely "old school," but the engine bay's lack of wires and overall sano appearance say "new school."
The stock dash holds a trio...
The stock dash holds a trio of Classic Instruments gauges and the horn grille (once located below the headlight) is now used as a vent for the air conditioning system controlled by Vintage Air. The mix of traditional pleats with updated swoopy shapes is the work of Paul Atkins, who also created the leather seats and installed the wool carpet.