Fads are a funny thing. Someone will come up with a new way to do something and then suddenly it seems like everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and claim their 15 minutes of fame. But, there is a downside to fads and trends. Remember pet rocks? Remember your high school graduation picture? How 'bout bullet-nose Studes?
Take the current popularity of station wagons. Only a few years ago you couldn't give one away and this year you could have had a wagon roundup at the Goodguys Indy show. They were everywhere! And though station wagons of all shapes and sizes have recently enjoyed a fad-like status in the hot rod world, very few are done with the street rod mentality: a high-level rebuild from the ground up. That's what separates the posers and wannabes from the real deal rides, cars like the '47 Ford woodie that Alabama's Alan Johnson recently finished for Georgia's Bob Johnson (no relation), a specialty car/truck collector and dealer.
Alan's approach to rod building is to take everything down to its most simple elements and then rethink the way the pieces will go back together again. More often than not, that also means either looking at something in a new way or building something that hasn't been done before. And, since a '47 Ford woodie doesn't have a slippery profile to begin with, it was going to take some heavy massaging to get Bob's ride to match the concept Alan had for it.
At times Alan thought it might have been quicker to build the car from scratch (he nearly did anyway) because every square inch of Bob's '47 was modified in some way or another. But Alan's rides don't just have a pretty exterior. Performance has always been a hallmark of any Johnson project, too. Work on the woodie began with the removal of the body from the chassis. The stock framerails were retained, though they would benefit from being boxed, and a new tubular X-member was added. Alan and Ted Wallace worked on creating a new cradle for the '47s rear suspension, which is based on a Lincoln IRS. New upper and lower control arms needed to be made so they could use a set of ShockWave airbags from Air Ride Technologies (as opposed to the factory bags). While that work was being done a new third member cover was milled, as was a new centersection mount.
Alan used a Fatman Fabrications IFS, and added another set of ShockWave airbags. Each corner of the chassis also got Baer disc brakes, with a pair of 13.5-inchers going in up front and 14-inchers out back. NASCAR-style sway bars from Speedway Engineering were also used fore and aft, with a .875-inch bar located in the rear and a 1.25-inch unit in the front. Baer also supplied the proportioning valves and brake master cylinder, which pushes the juice through stainless steel lines. Another four-corner-combo was in the wheel and tire department. Colorado Custom wheels (18x7 and 18x9.5) were shod in Michelin rubber (225/40 and 255/45) for maximum grip.
With 281 cubes, the '97 4.6L Mustang Cobra was left alone internally, but dressed up with eye candy and performance pieces on the outside. Parts like a Powermaster alternator, a pair of Spal electric fans, and a Steve Long radiator all aid the performance, but several pieces had to be fabricated. The whole induction system was topped off with a custom fiberglass air intake that gives the engine compartment a techno, new-millenium feel.
With all that work on the chassis going along, Alan and his team of fabricators also began working on the body, taking styling cues from the concept drawing that Alan had done. Small items, like the "curl" located at the front of the fender bodyline near the headlight, were removed to leave only the reveal. And, though the front fenders were sectioned in a pie-cut, the result moved the headlight down but kept it level with the hoodline. The marker light was also filled, and the edge of the fender where it meets the running boards was reshaped.
For the car's wood needs Alan and Tony Inman made up patterns out of polyurethane foam to help visualize what the wood side panels would look like. Though it took about 30 hours to do, they learned a lot about the flow of their intended design. Still, something wasn't right. Alan faxed an image of the woodie to famed automotive designer Chip Foose who, in turn, suggested a curve to the rear window opening. With that problem solved, it was on to the next one: neither Tony nor Alan had ever formed wood before, let alone wood for an entire vehicle! Inman got to work and soon figured out why Ford made their woodies square and straight.
All of the car's bells and whistles were something of a nightmare for the upholsterer, Paul Atkins. It was Paul's job to cover everything in copper-colored leather, and to work around all of the gadgets Alan had installed as well. And, it's not like Paul had "custom '47 woodie interior templates" mounted on a hook in his shop in Cullman, Alabama, either! He had to create everything from scratch (except for the front seats, which were taken out of an '87 Mercedes Benz 500SL, but were still recovered to match the rest of the interior). The car made its debut at the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Show in Las Vegas less than a year ago. It's the type of show where major manufacturers debut their new products for the coming year, as well as new vehicles. Street rods have made a big impact on that show in the past few years, a testament to how important the multi-million dollar street rod aftermarket really is. And, in a sea of "special" cars at that show, Bob Johnson's woodie stood out from the rest, as it would at any street rod car show.