There's little doubt that the "barn find" appearance on any street rod will bring out the curious. Everyone loves to hear a good story about the one that was found in a barn, behind a shed, locked up in a garage for five decades, that sort of history.
Nowadays, a little imagination can take something that wasn't and make it something that is. Patina, a rod culture buzzword, has caused many a car to jump in its aesthetic value because of its apparent sheetmetal history-or what appears to be vintage tin!
Todd Varble of West Los Angeles, California, found himself wanting a piece of history one day-vintage tin with all of its character intact, derived from years of exposure-but the thought of spending years gathering parts and the time required wasn't so appealing. Instead, he achieved the look he wanted along with a well-engineered street rod that is safe, reliable, and racks up 30 mpg on the highway. In effect, he made his "piece of history" by taking components available to him today and applying "yesterday" to the '37 Ford coupe.
What about the barn find '37 Ford coupe? Well, it started innocently enough while attending the Goodguys Bakersfield event in '05. Todd found himself longing for a rat rod, but he was short on construction time. After wandering the vendors area, he saw this nifty looking fiberglass '37 Ford three-window coupe from Oze Rod Shop out of Quebec, Canada, sitting in their booth.
Todd took delivery two months later, and in the interim drew sketches of what he thought the car should look like, and the final effort is surprisingly close to the original drawings. The '37 came with 4 inches taken out of the top, sectioned 4 inches, and channeled 4 inches resting on an Oze frame featuring an MII frontend, and a Ford 9-inch rearend attached through a triangulated four-bar. The braking is made up of Mustang II disc brakes in front and '80s-era Ford T-bird discs in back with a Wilwood proportioning valve and a Corvette master cylinder from Master Power Brakes. Shocks come by way of Pete & Jake's while the air suspension comes from Air Ride Technologies. At the corners are steelies from Wheel Smith, measuring 15x7 in front and 15x8 in back, all wrapped with Dayton 215/65R15 in front and 255/65R in back and purchased from the Whitewall Candy Store in Orange, California. Helping negotiate the steering is a rack-and-pinion with a Flaming River column and a LeCarra wheel.
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A traditional cluster five-pack of gauges (Auto Meter antique beige series) wraps around another extended bezel that houses the speedometer. |
Slow down-at first glimpse, you may think Ardun-powered Flathead, but closer inspection says LS1! |
The Ardun mockup heads are bolted to the Chevy LS1 valve covers, completing the faux Flathead. |
The seat was made by Todd and upholstered in an off-white (vanilla) vinyl by Pete Egan of Westminster Upholstery while a Flaming River column is topped with a LeCarra wheel. |
A Mexican-style blanket is the seat and upholstery in back, while the continuing theme of wide pleats wraps around the space behind the bench seat. |
The Oze dash is outfitted with an extended bezel (bucket) that houses the Auto Meter tach. |
The roof has all the earmarks of decades of patina when in reality it is a fiberglass top painted to look vintage. |
The shifter used on the 4L60E trans comes by way of Lokar. With the overdrive and 2.70 gears, the coupe runs down the blacktop at 1,600 rpm at 80 mph and brings home almost 29 mpg. |
Patina followed by rust followed by pinholes in the metal ... well almost. The pinholes in the rust are actually drilled holes in the 'glass body and then painted to look "right." |