Street Rod Of The Year 2002

Each year it's always fun and it's always a feud to determine the STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year (aka the SRY). The judging takes place among the staff while eating lunch, driving to and from events, sitting in my office, or standing in the hallway. In other words, it's an on-going process with little formality but lots of thought.

To be in the running for the SRY you must have attended one of the select Goodguys events at which the STREET RODDER Top Ten award was presented. For 2002, the seven events were: Del Mar, Indy, Columbus, Puyallup, Pleasanton, Kansas City, and Rhinebeck. At each event 10 street rods were selected and formally recognized by Goodguys with a plaque. It didn't stop there, however; next up came recognition on the pages of SRM and the "prize of all prizes"-- the STREET RODDER Top Ten jacket. It's fun to see the sea of black jackets continually swell each year.

So much for all of the pomp and ceremony, it's time to take a stand. This year, as in all years past, the selection process yielded some interesting results. We hope that you, the readers of SRM, will agree with our selection for the STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year. We also hope that you will concur that it's an unusual, but worthy choice. As in years past, selecting one street rod was next to impossible. Though we have placed one street rod front and center we have also opted to showcase a second car that warrants special attention. Drop the remote, put on those reading glasses, and hang on to your Bark-o-lounger for here's the STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year.

1940 Ford Phantom Pickup
SRM would like to recognize Bill Baldwin of Millersville, Maryland, for his '40 Ford phantom pickup. He received his STREET RODDER Top Ten while attending Goodguys Indy. In addition, Ray Bartlett of the Hot Rod Garage (HRG) in Denton, Maryland, also earned special recognition for crafting this rodding masterpiece in 10 months. (Next month we will take a look at Ray and the HRG to see other completed rolling works of art.)

Bill likes to refer to his truck as a long-door pickup. It's based on a fiberglass passenger car cab and fenders matched to a steel bed and hood. The cab is a 'glass Downs '37 Ford that had the back half of the roof and the tops of the doors cut off. A new roof and door tops were fabricated to resemble a '40 Ford truck roof, right down to the steel driprails, all of which give the cab a gennie look. A '37 Ford passenger car windshield frame was then cut down and chrome-plated. The bodyline on the doors and cab were raised to give a better visual "flow" to the beltline. Stock '40 Ford ribbed moldings (including door handles) now run down the side of the body and the hood.

From here, the phantom look begins to take form with the reshaping of the cowl and added firewall fabrication. The intent was to ready the truck for '40 Ford standard front sheetmetal. While the truck utilizes steel for the '40 Ford hood (custom-chromed hood hinges) and louvered inner fender skirts, the fiberglass fenders are from Wescott Auto Restyling. Next up was the steel MAC reproduction bed that underwent extensive surgery as it was narrowed 1 1/2 inches, shortened 9 inches, and channeled over the frame 2 inches. You will also note a fabricated filler panel that blends the bed to running boards and one that covers the gas tank.

The truck's other handcrafted one-of-a-kind appointments include the front nerf and rear bumper bars, engine turned gauge and switch panels, A/C vent bezels, taillight stanchions that hold Deuce lights, the brake pedal, and the previously mentioned inner front fender skirts and gas tank cover. Credit goes to Jason Gallo for crafting these items. He also contributed by wet-standing and rubbing-out the custom mix Sikkens Washington Blue paint after Rick Lowman sprayed it. A paint job is only as good as the prep work, and Bill Lang, Rick, and Ray spent hours on this chore. All of these craftsmen are part of Ray's team at the Hot Rod Garage. Finally, Jerry Campbell of Wilmington, Delaware, applied the accentuated pinstriping.

Dean Alexander of HRG handled the building and stitching of the bench seat, which is covered in vinyl. He also gets credit for the headliner and the fitting of the wool carpet. Other interior highpoints include the use of a passenger car dashboard with a custom engine-turned panel that houses the Hot Rod Series gauges from Classic Instruments. The steering chore falls to a manual rack-and-pinion that's operated by a column shift modified '40 Ford column topped with a stock '40 wheel and a custom horn button.

The highly detailed engine is a Ford Racing Performance Parts 345hp 302 small-block V-8 that's outfitted with tri-power from Pony Carburetion topped with air cleaners from O'Brien Truckers. Other noteworthy engine appointments include the deep fin Moon valve covers, ACCEL ignition with Taylor wiring, and Sanderson headers bolted to Tony's Custom Exhaust system. The alternator and A/C pump brackets are more HRG handiwork while all the chrome comes by way of Jon Wright. Wrapping up the other major points of interest are a Jasper Ford AOD transmission, a Walker radiator, and Ron Francis wiring kit.

The chassis features the workmanship of another well-known rodder, Barry Lobeck of Lobeck's V-8 Shop located in Cleveland, Ohio. (Think back and you will remember that Barry's Deuce highboy cabriolet won last year's STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year). Barry built the frame, equipping it with a Heidt's tubular IFS that features 2-inch dropped spindles wrapped with 11-inch rotors and Mustang calipers. In back, a Currie Enterprises 9-inch Ford rearend with 3.55 gears, parallel leaf springs, and tube shocks are used. A custom brake pedal and a Ford master cylinder operate the power disc/drum braking.

As with any street rod the wheel and tire combination can make or break the look. In this case we are looking at a masterpiece carried out by the pair of 15x6 Real Wheels by Eric Vaughn in front and a pair of 15x8 Halibrand Sprints in back. BFGoodrich Radial T/As are at the corners with two 195/60R/15s in front and two 255/60R/15s in back. Can you say, "bad, bad truck," oh yes, and it's all good.

That about wraps it up for the 2002 STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year. In closing we should again congratulate Bill Baldwin of Millersville, Maryland, for taking home the honors with his '40 Ford phantom pickup. But what about the "other" worthiest of street rods that we came across during our Top 10 selection process?

1926 Ford Lakes Modified
Apparently Goodguys Indy was the place to be last summer. The runner-up in our STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year competition was Whitt Brewer of Madison, Indiana, who was also at Indy with his homebuilt all-steel '26 Ford lakes modified.

Although we referred to his lakes modified as a '27 in our Indy coverage, it turns out that it's a steel '27 Model T body that Whitt had collected some time back. In fact, Whitt, who some would consider to be an "older" rodder, had been collecting parts for decades. Finally it all came together last summer and he was able to get the roadster together yet. Ironically, however, it was his son who drove the car to Indy.

We wouldn't have seen this hot rod if we hadn't taken a walk to the most remote part of the dragstrip. Sitting there near the guardrail was this two-tone scalloped red and white modified. The correctness of its proportions and the parts used piqued our curiosity and in time we found out the story behind the story on how Whitt had collected parts for decades and why, for one reason or another (that I'm sure we can all identify with), it took decades to finish. The '26 Ford roadster body with its cut down Model T windshield is the real deal in steel and comes complete with a twin-carb Ford Flathead hooked up to an early-Ford top loader three-speed trans. The Halibrand quick-change is another gennie piece from decades past and is located in back by a buggy spring with stock eyelets (no reversed eyes here) and split wishbones. The Houdille shocks, forward split wishbones, '37 Ford tube axle, 16-inch Ford wires with Firestone rubber, and early-Ford drum brakes are other nice touches to this period correct effort. We must confess that Whitt wired the car with a current wire and fuse panel and employed a modern dual-reservoir master cylinder. Safety first!

Other touches from the early days do include the Sprint Car nose coupled with the bumper bar and the aluminum panel interior. Look closely at the interior and you will notice that there isn't the traditional floorboard but rather that the flooring is the bellypan below. By doing this Whitt gained valuable leg and seating room while the bellypan ads to the race car look. The dashboard is an engine-turned panel that houses a Stewart Warner Wing series speedometer and four monitoring gauges.

We liked everything about this street rod but what we liked most was the fact that Whitt managed to gather the parts over years of staying focused on his dream and then having the fortitude and talent to build it himself. Nice going Whitt, this car exemplifies what owning a street rod is all about.

That about wraps up STREET RODDER Street Rod of the Year and we hope you agree with our choices. Yes, there are dozens if not hundreds of other street rods out there that are worthy of this distinction but somewhere we had to draw the line. If we didn't select your choice, let us know (via e-mail) what types of cars you have seen out there and why they should be recognized. Remember, you can't be considered if we don't see you this summer at one of the selected Goodguys events.