At the corners you will see a full complement of Wilwood brakes, Marcus Wheels, BFGoodrich rubber, and Bilstein shocks. The Wilwood Dynalite calipers are in the front and rear, and in back the Wilwood-Ford Explorer-style parking brake is used. Other Wilwood components include the proportioning valve, residual check valves, hubs, and rotors. The slotted billet orbs come from Marcus Wheels and are shod with BFGoodrich Radial T/A rubber with matching tread pattern-a treat for rodders with mismatched tire sizes. The fronts are P165/80R15s while the rears are P285/60R16s. Steering the wheel/tire combo is an ididit painted column with a J.B. Donaldson '40s-era wheel through a Borgeson-Mullin Vega box. Finishing off the corners are Bilstein non-coilover shocks with a "comfort" valving that make for a truly well-handling and well-riding street rod.
The powertrain for the highboy is a combination of a GM Performance Parts 383 (hi-po) with Demon carb, MSD ignition, and Sanderson headers running through Magnaflow exhaust pipes and a stainless muffler. The dress-up items on the V-8 come by way of SO-CAL air cleaner and valve covers, and a Powermaster alternator and starter. The transmission is a GM Performance Parts 4L60E with TCI Automotive controller, distributor harness adapter, remote throttle position sensor, and a throttle-to-valve body cable bracket. Connecting the two is an Inland Empire Driveline driveshaft.
While "living" at Hot Rods by Dean, the Brookville '29 roadster body (coated inside with LizardSkin spray-on insulation) has undergone a fair share of modifications. The most obvious is the one-off windshield, channeled into the posts and body while a top rail encloses the PPG-manufactured and tinted glass. Other mods include a rear rolled pan, '50 Pontiac taillights from Bob Drake Reproductions, "hidden" gas filler from Hagan Street Rod Necessities, and a power decklid ram and keyless door entry, both from Dakota Digital. The '29 sports a Brookville repro Deuce grille shell outfitted with a Dan Fink Metalworks stainless insert anchoring a Brookville three-piece hood operated by a Dan Fink Metalworks hood release. The Deuce dash, Model A dash "eyebrow," and doors are all reworked where they come together at the forward doorpost to accommodate the reworked windshield posts. Other significant but seldom identified mods are the lower hood seam that continues through the thoroughly reworked cowl section of the roadster body. All of the bodywork and paint was done at Hot Rods by Dean with Chris Walker applying the final color from the PPG Vibrance collection in a candy red Cabernet.
The interior is as Magoo-style as they come, featuring 2-inch-wide pleats sewn by Lance Troupe of Phoenix in leather over a custom bench seat. The trunk is also fully finished in matching black carpet and leather side panels. Visually the dashboard is a Brookville Deuce fitted with a Hot Rods by Dean insert that houses Classic Instrument gauges while the switches come from SO-CAL Speed Shop. The inside and outside rear view mirrors are from the parts bin at Moal Inc.
Well, there you have it, a brand-new 1974 Model A highboy on Deuce 'rails built with today's rolling body and chassis packages. Say what you want, but there's something to be said for the growth of our industry and what we can now accomplish in our very own garages.