Custom Street Rodder - Go Spitzer!

If you sit back and think about it, when was the last time you saw something new in the street rod arena? Not just a new paint job or wheel design, but a whole new approach to an entire street rod vehicle?

If you paused a little bit before you answered that question, it is because it doesn't happen that often. Whether it's a rodder's comfort level with the traditional look (something that will be popular for decades to come, more than likely) or possibly a general lack of imagination, you just don't see too many new, radical departures in how street rods are presented. That is, until now.

Mike Spitzer, who for the past 30-plus years made a name for himself in the drag racing world (first as a chassis builder, then onto carbon-fiber race car parts fabrication), loves to have something different than anybody else. New and exciting ideas have flowed across his desk for many years when it came to his business, but he's also been scoping out the street rod market for some time now, wanting to involve his company on some level by offering unique, but production-based, street rods to the public.

Finding something new to build was first on his list, so he began by looking around for someone to help him visualize this new venture. After checking with "the usual suspects," Mike decided on veteran pencil pusher Thom Taylor, whose career in automotive illustration goes back to the mid-'70s.

Thom can always be counted on to see things from a different angle, so when he sent Mike some of his ideas as to what could be done with an Indy-inspired boattail speedster, Mike jumped on the concept. In fact, so did STREET RODDER, as the illustrations and Thom's thoughts on the subject were published in a "Sketchpad" article in the December 2003 issue. There were four different designs featured, but Thom drew this boattail with a combination of elegance and horsepower, and that's exactly the route Mike took with the car.

Mike, who runs Spitzer Enterprises (which includes Spitzer Race Cars, Spitzer Composites, Spitzer JR Dragsters, Spitzer Concepts, and Deanco) in Greenfield, Indiana, first wanted to build the cars using a carbon-fiber chassis, but settled on using the material only on the body and using steel in the building of the chassis. Having worked with carbon fiber extensively in his race car shop (he has sold more than 3,500 vehicles over the years), Mike knew the ins and outs of the medium, and knew how to maximize its use in this project.

For the most part, this prototype follows the Taylor design, right down to the 17- and 20-inch wheels. Mike used Thom's drawings, which included fullsize 1:1 illustrations, to make a station buck, from which a plug was then made and the first bodies pulled (the application of carbon fiber is roughly the same as fiberglass, though a vacuum bag surrounds the material as the resins are pulled through the entire piece, then cured).

Thom also supplied drawings of the frame, which were an integral part of the car's design. Long and lean (the car is set up on a wheelbase of 103 inches), the frame was created in Mike's shop by Brent Eversole, Tony McCorkhill, and Travis McCann. For the suspension system, the idea was to simplify the look of the front while exaggerating the rear. The front suspension involves a Magnum 5-inch-drop tube axle, Spitzer-fabbed friction shocks, a set of hairpin radius rods, and quarter-elliptic springs. The use of the friction shocks lowers the profile of the nose and lends itself to the car's overall swoopy lines.

The rear is as obvious as a slap to the face, as an independent-type Winters quick-change uses a custom-fabricated rocker arm system coupled to a pair of AFCO coilover shocks mounted above the center section. Everything (except the coilovers) is visible on the rear end, and all the parts are either polished or chrome plated.

Rollers are 17x7- and 20x9-inch Boyd Coddington wheels, wrapped in BFGoodrich (205/40R17 and 295/40-20) rubber. Both hard line and braided stainless steel was used throughout the car for the Wilwood disc brakes, which are found on each corner. And though high-horsepower engines are usually associated with any of the other Spitzer line of products, Mike chose a 350 crate engine for drivability and reliability, and backed it up to a Coan Engineering 700-R4 transmission.

Since the time these images were taken, Mike removed the Holley carb and replaced it with one of Holley's fuel injection systems, which he reports is working out great. Stainless Works mufflers, Sanderson block-hugger headers, and a dress-up kit from Zoops rounds out the engine compartment parts list.

Once the carbon-fiber body was created, Spitzer's Ed Peck finished off the bodywork before he covered the vehicle in PPG Black Diamond and Creamsicle paint. The two-tone paint job split the car at the beltline, with a champagne-colored pinstripe added by Tony McCorkhill between the halves. About the only other exterior items on the speedster are the Headwinds headlamps, the Lambert LED taillights, and the custom grille, capably chromed by J&D Plating.

One of the challenges of building a car this small in stature (the 103-inch wheelbase is deceiving as the car's frontal area is almost nonexistent) is creating an interior that would be both functional and comfortable. A form-fitting bench seat was created in-house, then covered in black charcoal leather by Larry Snead in Louisville, Kentucky. A simple smooth dash, filled with three 5-inch Classic Instruments gauges, lets both passenger and driver know what's going on with the car. A Flaming River steering wheel wrapped in black leather and an aluminum shift handle are about the only polished pieces in the otherwise inky interior.

Since this car is a prototype model, you can bet Mike learned a lot with its construction. Along with the aforementioned Holley fuel injection system swap, he has chopped the windshield posts 2 inches and added vents to the hood sides to aid cooling while sitting in traffic. He and his wife, Karen, take the car out to the local rod runs (where the "locals" are blown away) and Mike has also received some accolades with the car too, such as a Boyd Coddington Pick at the Goodguys Nationals last July.

About the only thing he said he'd like to change on the car is its overall size, as he feels some rodders won't fit too easily in its confines. But the future of Spitzer Concepts doesn't rely on if Mike sells a thousand of these cars or not. While marketing these vehicles, he's already well into the next project (a '37 that Thom Taylor also designed) and he's got more ideas than you can shake a stick at. You can see more on his shop by visiting his www.GoSpitzer.com Web site.

Just like those hardtail Harleys and lakes-modified hot rods out there, sometimes driving in your car should be done by yourself, with the open road before you, the sound of the engine purring in your ear, and the wind flowing through your hair-or at least what little you may have left!