By June he sent it to City Glass & Upholstery for brown vinyl and loop carpets. Barely a month later he debuted the car at the '08 Goodguys West Coast Nationals in Puyallup. The following day we shot the photos, the car still reeking with that new-car smell.
Though the car is practically new, John already has stories. "On Saturday night after Goodguys I was driving home and it started raining," he recalled. "After throwing some nice tall rooster tails all the way home, I pulled it in to the garage. And even though I was soaked and covered in dirt I would not have done it any different. Cars are meant to drive and this one is really fun!"
But probably our favorite goes back to the car's birth. "I was loading it on to a car trailer when some guy walked by and said, 'Why did you buy that thing? You're never going to do anything with it,'" he said. "I wish that ass could see what I did do with it.
Offenhauser still makes the...
Offenhauser still makes the Red Ram 3x2 manifold. This one wears a trio of Holley 94 carburetors. Hot Heads offers adapters to mount a Chevy pump to these engines, but John kept the original since it's up to the task and it serves as the engine mount as well.
By way of Hot Heads parts...
By way of Hot Heads parts and machine work by friend Scott Murray, John rebuilt his 241-inch Dodge Red Ram to 150-horse specs. The intake, re-curved dual-point Chrysler distributor, and the Sanderson headers do give it a bit more beans, though.
City Glass & Upholstery trimmed...
City Glass & Upholstery trimmed the simple plywood seat and laid the carpets. Mike Walter fabricated the dash, including the twin-pod boss for the Classic Instruments All American-series gauges. John used a reproduction '40 wheel on the '64 Falcon column.
John and co-worker Brett Lewis...
John and co-worker Brett Lewis bent the 14-gallon fuel tank on brakes at work and Brett welded it together. John repurposed an old ice chest as the battery box.
The wheels are Wheel Vintiques'...
The wheels are Wheel Vintiques' 10-series Smoothies and the cheater slicks are radial carcasses recapped by Hurst Racing Tires. John dissected the original bed keeping only the stake pockets and hardware. He made the rest.