Burning Midnight Oil

Two means seem to engender passion in the American youth: forbid their interest in a particular subject or cultivate that interest with the subject as common ground. Either way you're assured polarity; a healthy young'un can resist neither forbidden fruit nor positive reinforcement.

Jason Smith's dad, Jim, chose the latter route. Above and beyond the lifelong enthusiasm a car family can instill, the elder Smith indoctrinated the boy by buying him his first car: a clapped-out '55 Chevy. Jason summarily learned the car-building ropes with some assistance from his pop through his high-school years. The education proved invaluable--so much so that Jason still owns the '55.

Fast-forward 20 years. Jim and Jason started The Hot Rod Garage in their Sand Springs hometown in the late '90s and it swings with numerous employees and jobs. While Jim and Jason get the opportunity to work together on their common passion, the shop gig has one small drawback: their jobs are other people's commissions, and as such they concede to their patrons' whim and fancy.

But they still had this idea: why not build a car of their own, to their own whim and fancy, and for their own gratification? The only real mandate: they would start from scratch and work off hours--fun yes, but not an easy deal in any profession. The fact that they work with a number of highly specialized professionals daily doesn't exactly hurt, though.

The father-and-son team started simply enough: with a bare chassis. They outfitted it with the standards: tubular crossmembers, a Pete & Jake's ladder bar kit on a Currie rearend and hairpins on a Super Bell I-beam axle. As they laid the foundation they gave it a number of one-off elements, most notably the hammer-formed splash shields on the Wilwood disc brakes and the aircraft-inspired combination headlight and shock mounts.

The Chevrolet engine they used is a common adaptation from the OE world, although it's a less-than-likely version: a late-model LT1. They simplified it with a GM Performance carbureted manifold and a Barry Grant Road Demon carburetor. They further emphasized the retro theme with a set of Corvette-style ram's horn exhaust manifolds and '64 327 valve covers on valve cover adapters. The engine room features a number of one-off pieces including the hand-machined fuel log and air filter housing.

Initially the Smith clan opted for a fiberglass body, although through some horse-trading they happened into a Brookville Roadster body. While the body remains largely stock, it features a smattering of details including a full quarter panel framework to shore up the body and a Dzus-latched decklid. The nose features a shaved Brookville grille shell and a Rootlieb four-piece hood. The Smiths ordered the hood bare and commissioned Tulsa's Route 66 Body Shop to litter it with their specified louver pattern. The hood fastens to the chassis with yet more Dzus fasteners. Finally, Jason Smith, Tim Goodbar, and Tom McDonald prepped the body for a special House of Kolor blend: Moon over Tulsa. Jason shot the color.

This car's brown gut features a number of unique elements that elude attention at first glance. Chuck Rowland hand-fabricated the seat to fit its future occupants like a glove. Then he did something to reinforce the glove theme: he open stitched the seat's perimeter seams in a catcher's mitt pattern that would make even a Bill Dickey or Yogi Berra feel at home. The solid door panels feature a hard pocket and flap and a perimeter stitch for a flourish.

The roadster's dash features one of the Hot Rod Garage's scaled-down Auburn-style dash panels. The installation, however, nearly rivals the insert itself: Rowland wrapped the dash in the same material he clad the interior in. The cockpit also features Hot Rod Garage's pedals and '50s-style GM Daytona weave.

An automatic transmission is certainly a modern indulgence for an early-appearing car, but it doesn't have to immediately reveal itself. Jim cloaked the automatic by fabricating a column shift mechanism to parallel the 1 1/2-inch diameter steering column. He broached the shift shaft, located it in oil-impregnated bronze bushings, and fabricated a handle from a Deuce cowl vent handle. A Bell Auto Parts-style midget racecar steering wheel lends the cockpit that much more of an authentic feel.

All roads lead to 1948 regarding the Smith roadster's aesthetic, so anything other than a skinny, 16-inch diameter wheel was strictly verbot . They found a pair of '40 Ford wheels for the front and commissioned Wheel Vintiques to assemble a set of 16x6 hoops for the rear. The car's subtle nature would suffer if subjected to a trendy bright color, so the Smiths went full-fledged stealth black on the wheels and clad them in plain Firestone hides. Then Jason Smith did something that we can really identify with: with 80 miles on the clock, he fired up and struck out for the Lone Star Roundup in Austin, Texas. Smiths proved their craftsmanship by logging 1,200 miles without a hitch.

In early June Jim risked downpours and the occasional tornado warning by taking the roadster to Goodguys' 17th Hot Rod Nationals in early June. Among a sea of vibrant, chromed pussyfooters and overblown themed cars, this modest, midnight blue, and black-wheeled driver beckoned us. The attention to the interior, the brakes, and the engine merely closed the deal; the car won us over. We responded by bestowing it our highest honor: a STREET RODDER Top 10. While we feel this car makes a statement with its details, our printing package dictates that we can run only so much in STREET RODDER magazine. However we have a remedy: STREET RODDER online at www.streetrodderweb.com, where we can give this car the space it's due. The online feature boasts not only eight more images, but bigger images as well. If you like what you see so far, you'll really dig it in greater detail.