1925 Dodge Highboy Passenger Side Front View

1925 Dodge Highboy - The Other Side Of The Fence

Cory and Michele Eberle’s ’25 Dodge highboy touring is no same ol’ hot rod

From the June, 2011 issue of Street Rodder

By Brian Brennan

Photography by Josh Mishler

All of us have a story on where or how our project came to be. Cory and Michele Eberle’s story, of Ellis, Kansas, was a long time in the making; decades to be exact. Their ’25 Dodge touring turned two-door roadster pickup is a story unto itself. The ’25 Dodge touring body was living its life as a T-bucket-styled hot rod during the ’70s and belonged to Greg and Steve Kroeger. Cory had seen the car and thought it would be an inexpensive yet fun way to get a hot rod.

The time came in 2006 when Greg opted to pull the powertrain and put the car out to rest in a neighboring field. The bucket was tired and in need of some major refurbishing. Cory talked Greg into selling him the body under the stipulation that major reworking would ensurenamely a new frame.

From here Cory and fellow hot rodding friend Mike Keller, of Big Creek Restoration in Ellis began working in earnest. The first year of construction saw a new frame, battery box, ladder bars, steering box, and shock mounts fabricated. Next up was a powertrain, plywood floor, it will work for now gas pedal, and shifter. Giving the roadster some semblance of direction, the body was spray-painted in flat black with a bright red firewall and grille shell.

Come the winter of 2007, the frame was finished out and painted. The firewall, grille shell, and steering column were painted gray. So much for 2007 as the roadster saw little road time but 2008 was to prove to be a major turning point.

Cory and Keller thought it was time to shed much of the Model T identification and make the car more in line with its Dodge heritage. From here an original grille shell was rounded up and things began to happen. With a little help from drawings by Jason Rushforth the project zeroed in on a direction of looking like a factory-produced Dodge roadster pickup.

The newly fabricated frame houses a pair of 32-1/2-inch ladder bars that locate a ’57 Ford 9-inch rearend with 3.0 gears, posi differential with 28-spline Ford axles all positioned by a Pete & Jakes Model A transverse spring. The rear brakes are a compilation of Wilson Welding finned backing plates and 45-fin Buick, 12-inch-diameter drums. Shocks come by way of Pro Street Rod (SM500s).

The front suspension is based on a ’37 Ford I-beam and split wishbones with ’40 Ford spindles, Pro Street Rod shocks, and again, a combo of Wilson Welding and Buick finned 12-inch drums. The master cylinder is a ’66 Ford fruit jar (single reservoir) with a custom-fabricated pedal assembly. The steering box is a Maverick while the steering column is made from 3-1/2-inch aluminum (hefty!)no visible support. The floating column is topped with a custom wheel with engine-turned spokes. At the corners are Team III (model E-T Altered) all wrapped with Firestone/Coker rubber. The ribbed fronts are 15x5 with 5.00-15 while the rears are 15x8 with grooved 8.20-15s.

The ’71 Mercury engine is a very mellow 429, pumping 365 hp in its youth. An Edelbrock Performer intake with a 625-cfm Road Demon four-barrel supplies the mixture that once spent exists through custom BCR headers. The 1-7/8-inch tubes are coated by Performance Coatings Plus while the cones come by way of Cone Engineering. A Best Radiator is responsible for the cooling chores while Ford Racing valve covers that are powdercoated with the centers milled and engine-turned inserts dropped in by Cory. More detailing is seen on the March pulleys as they are powdercoated and the backsides are engine turnedmore handiwork by Cory. Getting the power to the Ford 9-inch rearend is a C6 tranny.