For some folks, building a car with a goal in mind is the only way something will ever get done. For others, it's having the car ready for the summer driving season, while others aim at a particular car show where they'd like to debut their car. For Cale Kern, from Bedford, Indiana, he was aiming for a particular award: the Goodguys' Hot Rod of the Year.
A fabricator and mechanic by trade, Cale was already well-versed in the assembly of hot rods. His history with the genre goes back to when he was 12 years old, when he bought a '40 Ford panel (he's 39 years old now, and he still owns the truck). Much of Cale's early influence came from his dad, Claude, who runs Kern's Speed Shop (who, incidentally, assembled the transmission in his boy's ride). Claude has been building hot rods since the '50s, and his interest in old cars must have rubbed off on the younger Kern, as this isn't the first time Cale has had a car he built featured in Street Rodder (check out Mark King's traditional-looking '32 three-window, featured in May of 2007).
Tradition played a big part in this build, too, as the look of the ride came from a photo of a car Claude had built decades ago, and Cale thought it would be great to replicate it. He found the body on eBay (it was originally a right-hand-drive version from Argentina) and over the next 18 months he spent what time he could find by putting it together at his shop, Cale Kern Automotive Specialties, in Bedford, Indiana.
A '62 Buick 401 is the basis...
A '62 Buick 401 is the basis for the motorvation in Cale's ride, and it dressed up nicely with a pair of Edelbrock 500-cfm Ultra Shine carbs, an Isky cam, Egge pistons, and a compression ratio of 10:1. Kern did all of his own machine work, and assembled the V-8 with an MSD ignition system (with Taylor wires), an O'Brien Truckers aluminum valley pan, and valve covers that were polished by Jeff Smith Polishing. Kern also made his own stainless steel headers and exhaust system.
Built from the ground up, Cale started with a pair of 'rails from American Stamping, which were fit to a jig he'd built to weld up the custom X-member and boxing plates. Set up on a wheelbase of 108 inches (two inches over stock), the frame features a C-notch in the rear and a Model A front crossmember.
Suspension-wise, a '40 Ford wishbone was fitted with custom ends to mate to the '40 Ford bells, to which a Winters center section (with 3.30:1 and Moser axles) was added along with a POSIES' transverse spring and chrome tube shocks from Pete & Jakes. With the front axle moved forward a few inches, Cale used a split wishbone system along with a Magnum drilled 'n' dropped I-beam axle, another POSIES' spring, plus another pair of Pete & Jakes shocks.
While the rear received updated Ford 11-inch drums, the fronts are '39 Lincoln, topped with finned Buick drums. Exiting the side of the cowl is a steering arm that connects to a Schroeder steering box, which has been mounted up under the dash. Rollers come by the way of Wheel Vintiques 15x5 and 16x8 steelies wrapped in Firestone 5.40-15 and 6.50-16 rubber from Coker Tire.
For power, a vintage '62 Buick 401 Nailhead was chosen to propel the rod down the road. Machined by Cale, the V-8 is equipped with a stock crank, Egge pistons (10:1), and an Isky 1101 cam. The heads are stock Buick units, but the intake and carburetion (twin 500-cfm carbs) came from Edelbrock. Spark is delivered through Taylor wires from a MSD distributor, and exhaust is routed through custom stainless steel Lakes-type headers fab'd by Cale, which also have the option of running under the car and out the back. Dress up for the engine (an aluminum valley pan from O'Brien Truckers, Buick valve covers polished by Jeff Smith Polishing) all complement the engine color that, in turn, matches the body color. The engine is backed to a TH400 trans prepped by Claude Kern, who installed a 2,200 stall converter from All Star Performance as well as a shift kit and an aluminum pan.