Born To Run -- Street Rodder

The Saga of a rare prewar lakester

By John Gilbert

Photography by Randy Lorentzen

Third-generation architect David Martin's first roadster was new the same year his grandfather's architectural plans for the landmark Los Angeles City Hall were completed. David bought his 1928 Model A (formerly an East L.A. woodshed) when he was 12 for $25, and by the time he'd turned 16, he was the youngest member of the L.A. Roadsters, cruising a 322-inch Buick-powered hot rod in style.

One would be hard pressed to find a better example of how hot rods arose from the dry lakebeds of Southern California's high desert than David Martin's '31 Model A roadster gracing the cover of this month's STREET RODDER.

While some aspects of our cover car's prewar racing history are cloaked in mystery, other elements are documented facts verified with archival photos.

The saga of David's roadster was first revealed to STREET RODDER readers when it hit the cover of the February 1986 issue. Although the cover is usually reserved for main-event feature spreads, the focus of David's '31 was its extremely rare Riley SOHC V-8 engine.

Tucked way back on page 78's black and white images of "Garage Scene," the opening shot featured a three-quarter view of George Riley's mid-'30s experimental V-8 engine.

Quoting from then associate editor, Steve Hendrickson, "About 1935, Mr. Riley got a request from the Ford Motor Company of Portugal for an overhead cam V-8 engine. He supplied three of them, using a stock Ford crank, rods, and pistons as a starting point. The rest of the engine was essentially hand-hewn out of blocks of steel and aluminum. Those three engines were never seen again.

"A year or so later, George got interested in the 225-inch displacement class hydroplane boat races in Southern California. Because his V-8's had been exactly that displacement, he made four more for use in boats. These engines proved to be far and away better than their competitors, and set many records before they were banned from the circuit due to their enormous advantage.

"From there, three of the engines were installed in a series of Sprint Cars, dry lakes roadsters, and so forth. One of them was fitted with a Hollywood Graham supercharger and installed in a Lincoln Zephyr. (It also did some racing duty in other cars.) That's the engine that David Martin eventually latched onto.

"He enlisted Jim Ward to rebuild the engine, (Editor's note: David recollected to us that he contacted Dean Moon first, but upon visiting Moon Speed Equipment's shop facilities, he was not sufficiently inspired to leave the Riley V-8 with Dean), and that included solving several built-in engineering problems that plagued the unusual powerplant."

As the Riley motor's saga unfurled, Steve Hendrickson's words, "plagued with engineering problems," prophesized David's bleak future with the "unusual" SOHC V-8. In his February '86 editorial, STREET RODDER editor and associate publisher Geoff Carter promised SRM's loyal readers expanded coverage on David's Riley V-8-powered '31 in an upcoming edition. David had every intention of running the Riley on the dry lakes, and he'd even installed a roll bar along with approved safety equipment at the time he and Terry Finch restored the Ford. But it wasn't meant to be. As soon as Jim Ward had completed the Riley's custom rebuild, he scheduled a dyno run at Champion Spark Plug's Long Beach, California, testing facility. The entire SoCal hot rodding community was aware of the Riley V-8, so a bunch of guys, including Dean Moon, showed up to watch the rare V-8 make pulls on Champion's engine dyno. Afterward, Jim and Dean (not to be confused with Jan and Dean) wouldn't reveal the results to David--to this day David doesn't know if his motor made 60 or 400 hp.

In spite of the fact, David was happy as a lark that he was finally able to drive his Riley V-8-powered roadster. Unfortunately, this is where it all turned bad. With only two hours on the Riley V-8, it produced a loud resounding thud before it stopped abruptly. The Riley was "lunched" and an autopsy wasn't performed. Both Jim Ward and David Martin, after months and months of dealing with the temperamental Riley engine, had reached their limit.

The next chapter in the '31 roadster's life would include the reinstallation of the Flathead motor it had when David first bought the car. David discovered the ex-lakester in an L.A. Times newspaper ad, when it was located in the middle of nowhere at the Parrot Ranch in Borrego Springs, California.

When David arrived, he spotted a candy apple red '31 Ford channeled Model A roadster with a white tuck 'n' roll interior. The guy selling it told David that it had been a lakester before the war. In addition to roll bar mounts, the '31 had snaps for a prewar-style canvas bellypan, indicating the seller was probably telling the truth (later on, the L.A. Roadsters' archives confirmed David's '31 was a prewar lakester).

Shortly after the Riley V-8's untimely demise, the '31 roadster's reunion with its newly rebuilt Flathead engine lasted only two weeks. The flat motor's twin water pumps seized, causing it to boil into a generous helping of "Flathead charcoal surprise."

David's faith in Flatheads evaporated with the coolant in his second motor; for his third go-around he chose a supercharged small-block Chevrolet.

The blown 350-inch Chevy proved to be a reliable choice with the exception of heating up while running at high speed in extreme temperatures across the desert during Hot Rod magazine's inaugural Power Tour. David enjoyed the Power Tour immensely and participated in Power Tours to follow. David, along with his son Lee, racked up thousands of miles running the Dayton wheels off the roadster in as many long-distance events as they could find.

By 2003, David's ex-lakester was getting a little ragged around the edges from running long, hard miles in a very short amount of time. In his search to find a good place to restore the '31 Ford, he discovered Scott Bonowski's Hot Rods and Hobbies in Torrance, California. In one year's time, Scott's crew transformed David's car into a showpiece, taking first in its class at the Grand National Roadster Show in Pomona, California. A few days after the show, David hopped into his trusty '31 Ford and blasted off to Las Cruces, New Mexico, without missing a beat.