1929 Ford Highboy Roadster - Longtime Coming

Ed Pink Spent 24 Years Bringing His '29 Ford Highboy Roadster To Life

From the December, 2009 issue of Street Rodder

By Brian Brennan

Photography by Randy Lorentzen

You'll have to think long and hard to find another name in the automotive world that garners the respect and embraces the talents of Ed Pink. He's spent a lifetime understanding the subtle nuances that place him ahead of the competition. His days as an up-and-coming performance mechanic at Lou Baney's Speed Shop in downtown Los Angeles, and as the mind behind the legend that is Ed Pink Racing Engines, have made his life an incredible journey.

Fast forward to today, you would expect Ed's stable of hot rods to be impressive. Not quite. We aren't saying Ed hasn't had his share of hot rods. Nor are we saying he hasn't been part of some of the fastest and quickest cars to come to life. Ed has raced at the lakes, Bonneville, nearly every dragstrip in the country, Indy, Sprint Cars, Midgets, Offshore Boat racing, experimental air craft, Formula 5000, Trans-Am and IMSA 24-hour endurance motors. You get the drift, Ed can build an engine. His success with drag racing legend Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, who won dozens of Top Fuel titles with Ed's motors, is of iconic status.

But you have to wonder why it has taken Ed 24 years to finally drive his own honest-to-goodness street rod? Well, Ed wonders the same thing himself, especially since it has been a dream since he was 17 years old. But that's old news and the new news is Ed's '29 Ford on Deuce 'rails, the quintessential highboy hot rod, an A/V-8.

While Ed worked on the powerplant longtime builder with his own stellar reputation Roy Brizio of Brizio Street Rods (south San Francisco) took over the build. To listen to Ed, "If I had just started with Brizio I would have saved 23 years!" Well, that may be true but we think "old Roy" may not be that old; but hey he's catching up with the rest of us! To be fair to Ed he did start the project back in the mid-'80s with Magoo's Auto (Richard Megugorac) in Canoga Park, California. As car projects have a way of getting sidetracked this one really took some time off-about 22 years. But hey, it's done and driving and that's what counts.

It's Ed's car and the signature appointment on this highboy is the engine so let's start there. Ed's shop in Van Nuys, California is named Ed Pink Racing Engines (EPRE) and from within its pristine walls and gleaming floors come numerous race engines and now one very gorgeous (if an engine can be gorgeous), very powerful, yet ultimately streetable small-block Chevy V-8. All of us have seen our share of small-blocks but this one may be for the record books.

Starting with a '75 small-block Chevy 350, EPRE massaged the internals with a billet crankshaft (3.5-inch stroke), steel Cosworth rods (6.125 inches), Wiseco piston (10.8:1), Total Seal rings, and a Crane Cam hydraulic roller (0.600 lift). The cast iron Chevy heads are outfitted with Manley valves and springs, Norris rockers, and cooling this package is an Edelbrock water pump and an aluminum radiator. But the real pièce de résistance is the EPRE intake and Indy-style EFI with EPRE air cleaners, all fired by an EFI ignition and MSD primary wires.

The stainless steel exhaust is truly a work of art and credit for that goes to Roy Brizio Street Rods. And what do you get for your money? Well in Ed's case this small-block pumps out 475 hp at 6,500 rpm and 465 lb-ft of torque at 4,500 rpm. For anyone who has been around street performance engines you realize while the horsepower is impressive it's the torque that guarantees you an E-ticket ride complete with a Cheshire Cat grin and bugs on the forehead. It doesn't get any better than loads of torque in a 2,400-pound street rod. All this power is corralled by a B&M Turbo 350 and pushed back to the Ford 9-inch rearend (3.0 gears) with Currie axles.