If you didn't know it already, T-bucket owners are some of the hardiest people on the face of the earth. Sure, sometimes they're ridiculed for the type of car they drive but, as many of them will tell you, at least they drive their hot rods!
At events like the National T-Bucket Alliance Nationals (this year to be held in June in Lenoir, North Carolina) you'll find hundreds of Bucketheads who will gather for a few days of devotion to the Model T Ford. But, unlike some participants who only take their rides out one day a year to a local car show, here you'll see many folks who have driven hundreds of miles in their little hot rod just to get to the event. Ray and Pat Liffrig know this fact intimately, as they drive to and display their copper-n-flamed roadster at many events, too.
As a kid Ray had always liked T-buckets and, 40 years and several cars later, he was finally able to slide behind the wheel of his own T roadster. Living above the 44th parallel north in Lake City, Minnesota (not amongst the warmest climates for T ownership), Ray found the T 100 miles away at a business--Hooked on Classics--that deals in old hot rods and restored vehicles. One of the great things Ray believes about owning a T is it allows the owner to express himself as an individual, as no two T-buckets ever seem to look the same!
Ray's dream began with him going through his recent purchase from the ground up. The chassis is from Total Performance and set up on a 96-inch wheelbase. Out back a Ford 8-inch rear (3.50:1) was used along with a Panhard bar and QA1 coilover shocks (rated at 150 pounds), while the front uses a chrome straight axle and friction shocks from Total. With drum brakes mounted in the rear, the fronts are 11-inch GM discs. Monocoque aluminum wheels, 15x4 and 15x14, are wrapped in big 31x18.00-15LT Mickey Thompsons out back, little 165R-15 Kelly rubber in the front. Steering is aided by a Corvair box and a chrome 24-inch ididit steering column.
Performance is the name of the game with most T-buckets, but Ray also wanted reliability, too. A Chevy 350 engine, bored .030 over by Jeremy Swanson in Bellchester, Minnesota, and then assembled using a stock crank and rods, was also upgraded with valvetrain components that include a Comp Cams camshaft and roller rockers.
Under all the chrome and polished...
Under all the chrome and polished aluminum is an '85 350 Chevy that's connected to a TH350 transmission. Jamey Swanson did the machine work (boring the block .030) and assembly on the V-8 using Speed Pro pistons and a stock crankshaft and rods. Edelbrock RPM polished aluminum heads are fed by a single Holley Street Avenger carb, which is bolted to an Edelbrock Performer manifold. Sprint Roadster headers from Speedway Motors help extract the exhaust out and down the side of the car.
Up top a single Holley Street Avenger 670 carburetor feeds the mix into a polished aluminum Edelbrock Performer manifold and a pair of aluminum Edelbrock RPM heads. A Tuff Stuff water pump, 17-inch Flex-A-Lite fan, and an AFCO aluminum radiator help keep the V-8 cool while a Tuff Stuff 60-amp alternator and stock ignition with Moroso 8mm wires take care of the electronics. The motor gets its supply of go-juice from a 10-gallon tank mounted in the bed, and spent gases are extracted through a set of Sprint Roadster headers from Speedway Motors that exit alongside the body. The drivetrain was completed with the addition of a TH350 transmission equipped with a B&M torque converter and a Lokar 23-inch shifter.
About the only modification done to the `glass body was the removal of the Total logo on the shortened "tailgate." Rick Rodewald, from Red Wing, Minnesota, did the required body and prep work before spraying the PPG paint (specifically a candy orange glow pearl with Harlequin magenta gold flames). After the gray-tint windshield from Lake City Glass Shop was added and the '40s-era Chevy taillights added, about the only thing left was to get the interior done.
Ray used a piece of cherrywood as a dash, then filled it with Stewart Warner gauges (plus an Auto Meter tach) wired up with a Painless Wiring kit. A mahogany Grant steering wheel complements the dash, and the satin black Spradling material (a vinyl-covered automotive fabric) installed by Dennis Hatleli of Hatleli Upholstery in Lake City looks great stretched over the custom bench seat.
Ray and Pat finished up the interior when they equipped the T with a Sony stereo/CD head unit coupled to four 12-inch Sony speakers. The Liffrigs like to drive their bucket whenever they can but, like when the couple hit a deer with their ride one memorable trip, that's the chance you take when you drive your hot rod. You never know what's around the corner, and that's just the way Ray and Pat Liffrig like it!