1934 Ford Roadster - Buckshot!

I bought a 1934 Ford roadster several years ago that was finished in a '50s style. You know the look: flat black paint, red steelies, wide whites, the whole deal. I liked the car, and I drove it everywhere, but it wasn't truly traditional with its fiberglass body, small-block Chevy (no disrespect meant to hot rodding's number one engine of choice), and radial rubber-yuck! It had no soul. Down the road it went, literally, as I sold it to pay some bills. Lo and behold, I was left with $6,000-what to do?

I had always wanted a traditional roadster, at least one that filled my vision of what one should be: made from steel, bare bones (or should I say unfettered interior), Flathead for power, and the obligatory bias-ply rubber where it meets the road. Oh yes, I also wanted to prove that it could be built on a tight budget-remember the $6,000 leftover from my '34?-and built by a novice builder such as myself.

The parts search had begun, and it got off to a great start at the estate auction of a local rodder who had several old Fords. I scored '40 Ford front and rear axles with brakes, a rebuilt 8BA, and a '39 tranny, all for $340. The cars sold for good money, but the stash of axles, Flatheads, wheels, etc., sold pretty cheap, which was great for my budget.

What about a body? I'm a roadster guy; you either are or you aren't. (Editor's note: See, I'm not the only one. -B.B.) I like open cars, but where was I gonna find a steel roadster body in my price range? I came across www.fordbarn.com and noticed a posting for a 1928 Ford roadster pickup cab near Atlanta. The owner sent some pics, and although the body looked pretty beat, the price was right-$300. After driving four hours to take a look at the body, it was worse than I had imagined. The lower 2 inches were completely gone, the subrails were rotten, and someone had shot the driver's door with a shotgun. But I wasn't about to drive home empty-handed, so a deal was struck, and I piled the remnants into my truck and headed home.

I then needed a frame. Again, I knew of another local rodder who had recently passed who had a substantial stash of parts. His family was nice enough to let me come by and look for what I needed. I was able to get a decent Model A frame with front and rear springs, plus a decent set of subrails for the body, all for what I thought was a fair price for all involved-$200.

The body was a chore, to say the least. I started with the subrails and bolted up the firewall. The cowl panels and subrail extensions are reproductions, while the rest of the body was patched with homemade patch panels. The gunshot to the driver's door, well, that wasn't going to be easy to fix, so I just left it, and the car had a name-Buckshot.

At this point, I had a little more than $1,000 invested in Buckshot, and I had most of the major pieces for a neat ride. The Walker radiator and Coker tires, however, were about to take another $1,000 chunk out of the budget.

Next, I placed the body on the frame and mocked it up at ride height with a healthy rake. The new tires were mounted on freshly blasted and painted '35 Ford wires (swap meet score-$80) and mocked into position. The look that I was going for would place the front and rear axles about a foot forward of their original locations. Next up was placing the Flathead in the frame. The brake and clutch pedals are '49 Ford truck; along with the narrowed truck crossmember, these came from a local truck that was street-rodded-$50. The brake pedal pushes a '67 Mustang dual master cylinder. The '40 Ford brakes were refurbished with new wheel cylinders, shoes, and lines. Steering is handled by a rebuilt '49 Ford truck box topped by a vintage Sprint Car steering wheel.

The '40 Ford front wishbones were split and mounted to the side of the frame. The stock Model A front spring was left in the stock location and attached to the wishbones via stock perches mounted upside down through the bones. Again, the stock spring was utilized out back, but it now rides in front of the '40 axle. This was accomplished by switching the axlehousings left to right. Both axles' travel is dampened by vintage-style friction shocks mounted to the frame and connected to the axles with dogbone shock links.

Fuel is supplied by a Model T Speedster tank mounted over the rear crossmember. The stock windshield was chopped almost 3 inches, and the stanchions were pie-cut at the bases to lean the screen back for an aggressive look.

Wiring is so basic that a harness wasn't necessary, just a holder for a couple of fuses. Headlights are Guide 903-J, and the stoplight is a N.O.S. KD unit from a '40s school bus. Four Stewart Warner Wings gauges are used to track the vital stuff. The interior is modest, to say the least, with handmade black vinyl bucket seats and vintage aviation seatbelts.

I spared no expense on the paint and used the Best Paint Sold. That's the brand of tractor paint sold at the local tractor supply company. The topcoat is Massey Ferguson Gray. The body was first primed in red, then the gray was applied and allowed to dry. Then I wet-sanded some of the areas that would have seen the most weather, like the top of the cowl, doors, etc., so some of the primer showed through. I hand-painted the numbers on the side with thinned 1-Shot, and then sanded the lettering to convey age. Some people don't like fauxtina, but if your goal is to have a car that looks like it raced on the salt in the '40s and has been untouched since, why not?

The Flathead needed very little work to get running. I did take the heads off just to take a look, and verified a fresh rebuild of .040-inch over and adjustable lifters. One cylinder had some rust from storage, so I honed it and slapped the Flattie back together. I then blasted the block and coated it with red paint. The distributor is a vintage Mallory dual point with a PerTronix Ignitor module and a 12-volt coil. The intake is an original Thickstun PM7 topped with, what else, two Stromberg 97s. I scrounged around to find about five carbs to get enough good parts to make two. The tranny is a '39 Ford with a 9-inch clutch and pressure plate. The '40 Ford torque tube was shortened by about half in order to fit the '28's short wheelbase.

Parts chasing is one of the most interesting aspects of a build. Some parts were found locally, some from swap meets, and yes, some from eBay. There are a couple of interesting stories about parts chasing. The first is that I wanted a Model T gas tank. I thought the new ones were too expensive, so I was looking for a bargain. I found what I thought was a good one on eBay. It was listed as "Ford Gas Tank" with some fuzzy pics, but I was the high bidder at $15, so it was mine. When it arrived, I noticed it was larger than I expected, and it didn't say Ford on the side, but Fordson. Turned out it was a N.O.S. Fordson tractor gas tank. I promptly put it back on eBay and sold it for almost $500. Needless to say, I figured I could now afford a new repro Model T tank. Another interesting story is that I was going to just run a single carb on the stock intake, but my wife was talking to a guy at a ball game about old cars, and she told him I was building a hot rod with a Flathead. He said he had an intake in his barn I could have. He brought it to the next game, and I was stunned: It was an original Thickstun PM7. I tried to pay him, but he just told me to buy something nice for my wife. I did.

I've driven Buckshot pretty hard all summer, racking up about 3,000 miles without incident. I was pleased to find out that it keeps up with highway traffic quite easily. It cruises comfortably at 70 mph, and it will jump up to 80 or 90 when needed. I've driven to the NSRA Nats South in Knoxville, the Nationals in Louisville, Goodguys in Nashville, Shades of the Past in Pigeon Forge, etc. At all the shows, people would walk past $100,000 street rods to get a closer look at the cool little modified named Buckshot!

The build expenses came to just less than $6K. I kept a spreadsheet itemizing all the costs. I'm sure I missed a few things, but that number is pretty darn close to the total investment.

I would like to credit two fellow old-Ford lovers in the build, Gerald Guinn and Andrew Harper. I visited with each of these men when they were alive, and we talked about their old Fords. These men collected many of the vintage parts that made this car possible, and I wish both were still alive to see the end result.

Editor's note: Rich Linder is a hot rodder from Glasgow, Kentucky. We are familiar with Buckshot and took the lead photo for this article while at last summer's NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. We can attest that he drives it everywhere.