1930 Ford Roadster - Survivor

The "Right Coast" was always a hot bed of cool cars, despite what the perception might have been in the magazines of the day. As a Right Coast kid, waiting for the "little pages" to arrive at the local drug store was what kept my buddies and me going. By the time I arrived in Massachusetts to try the college scene, hot rods were pretty much gone, overshadowed by the factory cars with big engines and floor boxes already in them.

In 1953, a kid named Joe "Sonny" Mazza of Lynn, Massachusetts, saw the handwriting on the wall as to the demise of the Flathead. He built a real hot rod Ford with a Hemi engine 50 years before it suddenly became popular. He started in June of 1953 and spent the next year and a half building this true icon of the period. In the next four years, he raced the car at places like the old airport at Sanford, Maine, running consistent times in the 14.0s at 100-105 mph.

Sonny began by buying a complete Model A roadster for $35 at United Auto Sales in Lynn. It was a rust-free original, which he drove home and disassembled, throwing away everything but the body. The 1932 Ford frame grabbed another $25, and the 4-inch dropped Bell axle was delivered parcel post from California for $24.95. Even by the time I arrived in New England, there were still a lot of junkyards with good tin and parts. I purchased a running '40 Ford from one, and the owner even delivered it on the hook for $100. Later I bought another '40 coupe body for $5! Sonny found his transmission, rearend, and brakes all from a '48 Ford at Harbor Junk in Lynn. Remember, those parts were only five years old, and at the time already obsolete for most people because of the many changes that took place in the auto industry in 1949. Sonny fabricated the hairpins and headlight bar, dipping them in the chrome tank for added sparkle. Auto Cool of Lynn fabricated the high-dollar radiator ($125) by adding a BX racing unit core to new upper and lower '32 Ford tanks, purchased from NelNick Ford, also in Lynn. Sonny was a pretty regular customer at Harbor Junk, as he also grabbed the nearly new 1952 Chrysler 331ci V-8 in '54. He then added a Howard camshaft and Imperial pistons, and the aluminum four-pot manifold topped with Stromberg 97s-all the while Smithy mufflers quieted the raging horsepower. Friend Hal Tilly, from Lynn, helped Sonny rebuild the transmission with Lincoln Zephyr gears from the parts bins at NelNick Ford, adding an e-brake from a '48 Ford. While combing those bins at the Ford dealer, he also came up with a new '52 Ford radio, which must have been drowned out by all the noise at the track, and the new '55 T-bird shifter that, for some reason, has a backward shift pattern. A Plymouth steering column was adapted to an early Ford steering box, with a '40 Ford steering wheel cut down to 15 inches, using a rim from an early Jeep. And you thought downsizing was a new idea!

With the chassis good to go, it was ready to set-not on the frame, but over it. There is no recorded information on how much the car is channeled, but the body sits past the 'rails by several inches. When you see someone driving it, the scene is almost comical. Then Sonny had to chop the grille to match the body drop, which, as with the smoothing of the body, he filled all welds and cuts with lead.