"It was one of those instances where you see something and just have to have it," explains Arlington, Texas, Super-intendent of Schools Mac Bernd. "My wife Shelley and I saw the '37 on a visit to Roger Rosebush's Be Cool Radiator Company (Essex, MI) and traded it for my '57 Chevrolet 150 "Black Widow" business sedan. You just don't see that many '37 Ford business coupes made into street rods, and I've never seen one this nice."
Originally built by Doug Klann at Slim's Body Works, the '37 features a fully gusseted and reinforced '37 Ford chassis outfitted with a Chubby Chassis Mustang II tubular front suspension with Wilwood Engineering four-piston disc brakes up front, and a 3.70:1 geared, four-link-suspended Currie Enterprises aluminum centersection Ford 9-inch out back using Wilwood Engineering four-piston discs.
Powering the little coupe is a fully decked out and chromed Street & Performance LT1 Corvette small-block, which is so sanitary it looks like a huge piece sculpture, backed up with a Street & Performance 700-R4. The final link in the drivetrain is a fully balanced Inland Empire driveshaft.
Even the hardest of hardcore "Ford-A-Philes" may have trouble picking out all the subtle body modifications carried out by bodyman Doug Klann. For example, the coupe's rear fenders have been pie-cut and widened. Then the rear fender lips were extended downward by 3 inches. The front pan was rolled, and the bumper bracket holes in the front fenders were filled. The door hinges and door handles were removed. The entire body was smoothed and de-chromed, while a pair of manual outer door buttons were installed in the jamb area of the rear quarter-windows. The coupe was then painted in PPG Mazda Red by Klann, and buffed to perfection by Steve Cook.
However, as totally bitchin' as the outside looks, the inside does it one better. The first thing you notice is that totally-awesome two-tone "soft" black leather stitched up by Boyne, Michigan's Time Machines, which is so impressive that it flat out overpowers the fact that you're also looking at a set of Recaro seats, a Flaming River six-way-tilt steering column, Colorado Custom "Banjo" steering wheel, VDO cockpit instrumentation housed in a Brian Fourier-machined-aluminum bezel, a later addition Kenwood AM/FM/CD system, mirror from California Custom Roadsters, and Vintage Air climate control.
Of course, once Roger Rosebush had shown the '37 for a couple of seasons, he and his company were on to other projects. According to Bernd, the '37 sat languishing under a car cover for quite some time. "It was almost like 'she' had been in a cocoon," laughs Bernd.
Renamed "Sassy 37," the Bernds immediately began personalizing their new treasure. They added a set of Colorado Custom's latest machined 17- and 18-inch billet wheels to update the look. Then they added the aforementioned Kenwood CD system and commissioned Steve Cook from Cook Creations to install the Air Ride Technologies "Shock Wave" airbag system.
"Now this car is complete," says fellow LSSRA member and close friend Richard "Nadine" House. "Mac and Shelley have elevated the '37 to the highest level!" Yeah, Richard, ya got that right!