The quest to have something that gives you enjoyment is the reason street rodding is as popular as it is today. Sometimes it's "how" you get to the finish point, sometimes it's the finished product itself, and occasionally, it's a combination of both. Dan Benak, from Houston, Texas, is the type of rodder who not only likes the journey of street rod building, but the destination as well.
After owning a couple of '34 Chevys (one coupe, one cabriolet, both 'glass) Dan set his sights on an original steel '32 Ford two-door sedan. Although not the most desirable of Ford's line from 1932 (at least to rodders of today) it was still a challenge to find an original, steel car in good enough shape. Bruce's Rod Shop (Spring, TX) told Dan about a '32 about 30 minutes away from his home in Houston in the small town of Waller. Dan went to check it out and found that the owner had been storing it in a barn. The owner also had some of the car's history, which indicated that it had been in Texas nearly all its life, having originally been sold in Galveston. Benak looked it over, told the owner he'd think about it, and while driving back home (he hadn't been out of the gentleman's driveway for 10 minutes) Dan called him back and the deal was done.
Dan's idea to build a sedan wasn't just because he wanted more space to comfortably haul his family (his wife, Sandy, and two children, Andrew and Kearby), but to see what kind of ride he could build with the thought: "If Henry Ford had today's technology, what would his Tudor look like?" Well, it's a safe bet Henry wouldn't have spent his cash the way Dan did to get his rod from the drawing board to his garage, but he might have at least appreciated that the '32's unique design was most certainly improved upon!
Benak's approach from the get-go was to blend the classic look of the '32 sedan with items that would make it function better (a kind of high-tech-resto-rod, if the oxymoron doesn't kill you!). The theme basically came down to three things: If you can see it, make it look factory; if it can't be seen, use whatever you can to make it better; and last, tie the above thoughts together with a well-detailed hand.
The rod's ride and performance were two areas Dan wanted to update. The chassis began life as a pair of boxed '32 rails from Just A Hobby, to which a Heidt's independent front and a Jaguar independent rear suspension were added (keep in mind that the Jag rear wasn't just torched out of an XKE and welded in place-every piece on Dan's is either chromed or polished aluminum and assembled with exceptional care and attention to detail). Bruce and Danny Burroughs of Bruce's Rod Shop did the chassis work on the '32, and it looks spectacular. Wires wheels were certainly the rage in the pre-billet days of the '70s, but Dan took advantage of today's technology to update an old standard. Yes, the wheels wrapped in Goodyear rubber found on each corner of this rod may look like those old Zeniths or Kelsey-Hayes wires, but they're a 15- and 17-inch combo now available from Wheel Vintique-another case of old meeting new.
Bobby Walden, the renowned metalman of Boerger, Texas, who pounded the metal straight and performed the chop on George Poteet's custom Sniper a few years ago, and has worked on many other high profile rides, got the call from Dan to do the work on the sedan. Besides filling the roof (by working and rolling a single sheet of steel through his English wheel) and the cowl vent, Bobby also reworked the rear fenderwell area to accept a pair of '32 five-window fenders, which are a little wider than sedan fenders. Walden also made a new steel floor and created a custom front splash apron, which mounts flush with the bottom of the grille shell.