The car bug bit Bruce Ham at the tender age of 13 after he passed a Shell Station in his childhood hometown of Abington, Massachusetts. He was hooked soon after talking his mother into stopping at the station to have a look at a 1931 Model A Vicky with a $300 price tag. He had been mowing lawns and performing odd jobs around the neighborhood and had a few bucks stashed away, but still fell short of the asking price. Bruce begged and pleaded with his parents to lend him the extra cash to purchase the car, and he even went so far as to negotiate some garage space from a neighbor in the event the car would be his. After a bit of nagging and prying, his parents finally relented and helped him purchase the car. Bruce would hang onto that Vicky for another seven years, driving all summer long and parking it in the winter, before life caught up with the youngster and he was forced to sell the old Ford.
A few years later, Bruce was working as a delivery driver for a local Chevy dealership when he spotted a '57 Chevy 150 for sale on one of his runs. A quick peek under the hood and there was no mistaking the 327ci dual-quad engine, and the Hurst shifter inside the car revealed the Chevy's true identity. Bruce fell in love once again and purchased the Chevy, proceeding to street-race the wheels off it. Over time, Bruce ended up selling the Chevy, picking up a GTO and a couple of Vettes along the way, but he always yearned for an early car like his old Vicky. An ad in a local paper described a '36 Ford Tudor for sale in White River Junction, Vermont, that had been street-rodded over the years and was selling for $5,500. When Bruce saw that ad, he knew his relationship with early Fords had just been renewed.
When Bruce originally purchased the sedan, the car sat on a Corvair front suspension up front and a Nova axle out back, with Olds Cutlass rally-type wheels at all four corners. The tired 400ci engine was soon replaced by a blown 350, which had constant overheating issues. The '36 made the trek in this guise from Massachusetts over to the 25th Street Rod Nationals in Kentucky, including a stop at Niagara Falls. Upon returning, it was decided to replace the huffed Chevy with a naturally aspirated ZZ4 and a Walker radiator, which solved the overheating issues.
These days, Bruce and his wife, Denise, have relocated to the sunny climate of Scottsdale, Arizona, but they haven't managed to shake the old '36, nor do they want to. They've recently finished a complete rebuild that was rudely interrupted by a heart attack Bruce suffered. He pulled through like a champ, and while he was enjoying a little R&R, Squeeg's Kustoms in nearby Mesa, Arizona, finished screwing the car back together. The final iteration of the Tudor sedan rolls on a Rod Factory chassis with a Mustang II IFS and a Currie 9-inch rear on Wheel Vintiques Gennie wheels. The ZZ4 is still tucked under the hood, mated to a T5 manual trans, and runs like new. The gray/green paint applied by Bob Grinell and Roy Clements more than 10 years ago at Roy's Autobody in Falmouth, Massachusetts, showed no signs of wear. So, once Squeeg and the crew finished bolting the body on the new chassis, they rolled the car down to Concept Works where Bryan Cline stitched up the off-white leather interior.
When you have the kind of history with old cars Bruce does, it helps to have a wife who understands the "bug." Not only is Denise an active supporter of the hobby (she helps out with engine changes!), she even makes a living at it as a realtor specializing in multiple-car-friendly residences. Bruce and Denise are the epitome of the hobby, being hardworking, friendly folks who are into the hobby for the shear love of it and are not afraid to hit the pavement in their beautiful '36 Ford Tudor sedan.