Orange Crush

The hot-rod and street-rod world is no stranger to age-inappropriate behavior. For the most part, we use old cars as conduits to our youth. We buy printed shirts that proclaim the wearer as "world's oldest teenager." We power our creations incredibly out of proportion to their weight. Our insurance carriers would clutch their collective chests if they heard the squirrely tales we spun while bench racing with buddies. Plain and simple, we don't act our age.

Brent Schieder doesn't act his age, but his motivation differs. Brent's of the age that, if he were to relive his past, he'd build a '60s street fighter. Instead, "I've always loved '30s cars," Brent said. "My family has always been involved in cars, so became interested as a teenager...but most of my friends were into muscle cars."

As a consequence, the enthusiasm he imported into the street rod world has a different tint than the street rod world at large. For starters, "the mainstream resto rods and fiberglass roadsters just didn't excite me much...a fat-fendered convertible would be our first choice." That pretty much narrows the playing field.

However, "in the spring of 2002, my dad (Dick) and I found an abandoned project car and knew immediately that this was the perfect car for us," Brent said. "Even as a basket case, we could tell it had the basic look we were after: low, wide, and smooth." In other words, it would be a huge project, but someone had to finish it!"

The good start the '39 Ford deluxe cabriolet enjoyed came courtesy of Reno, Nevada's Tom Christianson. Once the Schieders took possession of the car, they put the car in very able hands: Leonard Lopez and Andhony Fernandez of Dominator Street Rods in Brentwood, California.

Dominator reworked the Pete & Jake's chassis to accommodate a height-sensing Air Ride Technologies system and Shock Waves air spring/shock combos. The system drops the wheelwells over 18- and 20-inch Boyd Coddington Renegades.

The chassis' shroud received a near excessive amount of attention in the original build. By the time Brent took possession, the windshield was 2 1/2 inches lower and leaned back, the fenders were 3 inches wider, and the hood was pancaked. Other modifications included the hand-formed and boxed running boards, reshaped engine compartment, and folding top mechanism. Dominator also fabricated a retractable license plate mechanism to clean up the rearend when parked.

Early on in the process, Reno's Pete Hagan (Hagan Street Rod Necessities) fabricated a complete steel dash and console for the car. The prior owner even lead filled the major body seams to give the car a more unitized look. The distinctive taillights came from a Lexus IS300's decklid lamps. Dominator visually broke up the rather large rear panel with three aluminum spears on the fuel filler door. Brent then sent the roughed-in body to Toy Works Autobody in Concord, California for a judicious going over. Toy Works realigned the body panels to match all the lines, smoothed the car over, and applied the special-mix orange/tangerine spray.

Dominator then refreshed the '95 LT1/4L60 combo and outfitted its injection system with the Street & Performance wiring. Dominator then plumbed the Street & Performance headers with a 2 1/2-inch mandrel-bent exhaust system. Other goodies include the Street & Performance accessories and the hand-formed engine cover.

Santana Interior Design's Rich Santana stitched up the Recaro seats and interior trim pieces in tan leather with perforated leather inserts. Rich completed the trim with German wool carpets on the floors and in the trunk. Other interior items include a modified Budnik steering wheel on an ididit tilt column and one-off gauges courtesy of Auto Meter.

The results? Well they speak for themselves. Brent and Stephanie's '39 Deluxe cabriolet earned Boyd Coddington's Pro's Pick and a Street Rod d'Elegance pick at Goodguys Del Mar 2004 event in Spring. By late summer they swept the Boyd's Fab Four, Goodguys' Slick 'n' Smooth, and PPG Dream Car at Goodguys' West Coast Nationals in their Pleasanton hometown.

All in all, that's not too bad a start for a young upstart and first timer like Brent Schieder. Of course after the incredible resource hemorrhage the Schieder family endured to finish this car to such exacting standards prompted Brent to say he'll buy his next car instead of build it, but we'll wait and see. After all, this adrenaline rush has to wear off sometime!