1929 Ford Sports Coupe - The New Tradition

Necessitating that open-drive conversion was an open-drive transmission that not many people recognize anymore: a full-synchromesh Borg-Warner T15. It's a three-speed from a late '50s Ford pickup. Though this is the tranny that will take a Jeep top-shift tower, that would've taken money that Bill said he felt was better spent in other places. Anyway, this one sported an early Hurst shifter, and that's cool in its own right.

The transmission plugs into a Ford Y-block. "I've had the engine for years--it was in Emerald Envy (the green '47 Convertible that Buck Owens bought)," Bill pointed out. "So it was taking up space in the garage for a long time." Bolted to that engine is something of Y-block legend: a McCulloch supercharger. This one's a VS57 from a Kaiser, but it's not too unlike the blowers that turned lowly Thunderbirds and Fairlanes into F-code monsters.

Bill's past cars have been known for their finishes; they capture a philosophy. Emerald Envy, for example, was a true Custom, a car originally built before the word began with a K. So it's a rich green, a color probably in the Westergaard palate. His old ground-dragging '54 Buick wore a pale blue the color of the cashmere sweater that Mamie Van Doren wore in your dreams.

But the '29 wears bible black. Though most people think it's the de-facto finish for a vintage car, it's really not; cars of yesteryear were almost always painted. Look at the pictures and see for yourself. No, the John Deere Blitz Black on Bill's '29 is a color certainly more popular today than it ever was. And that's entirely appropriate; this car is more today than any other time in history. You just have to look beyond all them old parts to see it.

It doesn't look like it from...        read full caption It doesn't look like it from this perspective, but the '39-to-'40 Lincoln front brake backing plates are tremendously deep and work only with the matching hubs, spindles, and flat drums. So why not bolt them to a Ford axle? Lincoln spindles have a different kingpin inclination and the combo won't work without bending the axle. Since Bill built the car around the axles, he just used the Lincoln axle.	The seats are Speedway's budget...        read full caption The seats are Speedway's budget bombers; Bill made every panel around them, including the well-fitting trans tunnel. Jamie Rice, the guy who trims everything Bill cobbles up, made the seat pads from old army blankets.	Still a cowl vent in the sense...        read full caption Still a cowl vent in the sense that it opens the cowl, but this unknown-vintage Durant piece is now the access port for two fruit-jar master cylinders: one for the clutch; the other, the brakes. The masters are '40s-vintage pieces mounted reverse on a cantilever-style pedal assembly. Naturally the fuel filler is a dummy anymore.
After struggling with conduit,...        read full caption After struggling with conduit, chicken wire, and even fiberglass, he struck upon a novel top construction method. For it, he creates his frame from .049-inch-wall 1/2-inch OD steel tubing and steel channel. Then he pounds expanded aluminum into the right contour and rivets it to the frame.....	.....He covers that with 1/4-inch...        read full caption .....He covers that with 1/4-inch foam, and after a bunch of sanding and re-layering, has his bud Jamie skin it with cobra-grain vinyl. The result of Bill's top-building exercise is, without a doubt, amazing. "Happy" Carson, Glen Houser, Bill Gaylord, and CA Hall would be sufficiently impressed. The fuel filler goes to a narrowed '49 Chevy pickup tank that sits upright behind the seat.	This car is a budget deal,...        read full caption This car is a budget deal, but only 'til you factor in the wheels. They're 20x5 Daytons, real knock-off wheels known in urban circles as Killer Ds 'cause people kill one another for 'em. The tires are Excelsior Comp V vintage-racing-spec hides.