Some people's cleverness and talents just blow me away. Take this young whippersnapper Jake Yenny, for example. His early style lakes-modified/track roadster includes so many trick ideas, somewhat less than mainstream touches, and just plain attention to detail that it makes me, a rodder twice his age, wanna slap myself for never having had the imagination to stray from the norm. So, as if the images of Jake's T don't make this observation obvious, let's talk a bit about this baby, and while we're at it, the young man who built it.
Jake's a 25-year-old builder from Fort Collins, Colorado, who spends his days working for Dave Course at a shop called Custom Auto. Back in '03 he ran across the front half of a '27 Touring, a '28 Chevy frame, and a rear panel from, as he put it, a big car. With these few parts in hand, Jake and his pal, Dustin Nere, decided to get to work. From the start, Jake pretty much knew what he wanted-a hot rod that emulated the style of the early track roadsters and modifieds he'd become enamored with. With this goal in mind and the enthusiasm of youth, the pair began thrashin'.
The frame is basically a homemade unit that utilizes a combination of 1 1/2x3x.120-wall tubing, about 14 inches of the '28 Chevy front framehorns, and a Model T rear crossmember. As you can't help but notice, Jake grafted the front horns to the main 'rails upside down and fabbed a custom front crossmember that would allow him to mount the POSIES parallel leaves above rather than below the 'rails. A 4-inch drop tube axle with '42 Ford spindles, early Ford Lockheed front drum brake assemblies, a VW steering box, and a pair of early friction shocks finish off the front suspension and steering. The rearend and suspension is a pretty straightforward affair consisting of a '42 Ford pickup open rear mated to a Model T spring. Jake fashioned a set of rear radius rods out of a pair of split wishbones from a '36 Ford, fabbed up a Panhard bar, and bolted up a pair of tube shocks. The finished chassis rolls on a quartet of original Ford steel wheels, 16x4s up front and 16x4 1/2s in the rear. Tires are Firestone's from Coker Tire in 6.00-16 and 7.50-16, respectively.
In keeping with the early modified theme, Jake was steadfast regarding the T's motorvation. An Offy would have been the desired choice, but the idea of knocking off a couple of 7-Eleven's just didn't fit into the game plan. So, in lieu of the Offy, he decided on a 138ci overhead-cam Quad 4. Treating it to various shades of silver and aluminum color paints augmented the quasi-traditional styling of the little Olds motor. The original fuel injection was removed and Jake used the original intake flanges coupled with four Y-shaped runners he hammerformed, welded together, and bead blasted to give it a cast look. He then bolted up a pair of Carter YH carbs and fabricated the needed linkage. With the intake side handled, he then shaped an exhaust header (again using the factory flange) using an assortment of 1 3/4-inch-diameter U-bends and a '36 Ford driveshaft tube. A GM T5 trans was then bolted behind the banger and, as he put it, "a really short driveshaft" connects the trans to the early Ford rear.
As stated earlier, the body consists of the front portion of a '27 Touring backed by a cut-down and modified "big car" rear panel. Jake fashioned and installed dropped seat pans and a dropped footwell to allow him to sit down into the bucket. Jake's pals, Dustin Nere and Rex Rogers, helped him with the sheetmetal and paintwork (Rex hammered out the .040 aluminum hood), and Alan Johnson of Blairstown, New Jersey, laid down some subtle pinstriping. Headlights are Guide 903J units and taillights are worked-over '37 Fords.
When it came to the interior, Jake reworked the original T dash and installed Stewart Warner speedo, oil pressure, and coolant temperature gauges. Roy Kaufman handled the wiring using a Painless panel in conjunction with a custom-built harness, while Doug and Lori Winters of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, took care of the awesome dark oxblood upholstery.
There is just so much engineering and so many cool ideas in this car that space doesn't come close to allowing me to mention more than a fraction of 'em. And though photographer Lorentzen did a fantastic job capturing Jake's car on film, this car needs some serious in-person viewing in order for one to see and appreciate its myriad of detail. Not too shabby for a trio of youngsters, don't you think?