Brion Rose learned how to do bodywork in high school back in 1986 while working for Jack Graves Body Shop in Metairie, LA. At the age of 16 he entered his first car in the World of Wheels Auto Show and has been hooked since. He’s 41 years old now, and he built this Model A sedan in his garage. The body was given to him, and all the inner wood structure was replaced with steel tube. He chopped the roof, then stretched the body so the suicide doors could fit flush. The body is channeled over the frame, which Brion made as well. The engine, a 600-horse 350 built on a Dart block and fed by a Blower Shop blower and twin Demon 650s, was built by Greg Hekimian Racing Engines located in Watertown, MA. The wheels are 10-inch whitewall Firestone cheater slicks and 4-inch whitewall Firestones up front. The doors were lettered by Kal Smith. This project was started in January 2009 and car was completed in January 2011.
The restoration on this Vicky was done about 12 years ago by a family in Detroit. Except for the wheels, the exterior is unchanged, right down to the all-steel body and the original front and rear suspension. The motor was rebuilt by H&H Flatheads and Michael Elwood installed a five-speed transmission. The seats are from Wise Guys. There aren’t a lot of Vickies around, and it’s nice to see one in close-to-original condition but still sporting a hot rod attitude. Elwood’s next project is even more rare: a ’28 Hudson Super Six.
Henry Grusniewski got his car from its third owner when the car was in run-down condition. It had been built by Ed Belknap (the gent who had designed the pinch-nosed Super Bell coupe), and Belknap had the help of Pete Chapouris, Pete Eastwood, Eric Vaughn, Kenny Ellis, and Jim Ewing in construction on this car. The base shares an early Super Bell frontend and a Ford engine while the rear features a “Torrance” Halibrand unit. It now has a new interior by Louie Loyola, and Grusniewski had a lot of guidance from Steve Beck in bringing this car back to the state it is in now after putting in about 900 hours of his time putting the car back in shape. Destiny must have been involved in Grusniewski having this car—he found it on eBay only three miles from where he lives!
When he bought this car in 2001, it was a driveable shell of an “old-school hot rod” from the early ‘60s. Never completed back then, it was “barned up” for almost 40 years until the guy Ernie bought it from got it running and roadworthy. He lost interest in it and Ernie got his chance, and he drove it for a summer as it was. Realizing the rear suspension and gear ratio weren’t up to par, he fabbed a new rear clip and installed a Jaguar rearend. The next summer he ran it to get the bugs out of the drivetrain and then the body came off for bodywork and paint. A polished stainless steel firewall was fabbed and installed and a tonneau cover was customized so the roof could remain open when the sun was shining, but closed and almost stock looking if it rained. The upholstery was stitched up by EZ Boys Interiors, but the ABS panels and covering was done by the owner. New gauges from TPI were fit into a stock instrument panel that retained the original fuel gauge (the tach and speedo were mounted alongside the steering column. The '41 Flathead hasn't been touched since the early 60's, except for a little dressing up, such as a pair of Holley 94s, the Edelbrock manifold, a Mallory electronic distributor, and a handful of chrome cap nuts. After 10 years of driving and working on it, there are only a few items left to do. But that's in between cruising and car shows.
Jim Payne was looking for a roadster in 2000 but came across this coupe for sale at a car show in Vista, CA. Originally built in 1993 in La Verne, California, the ’60s-style coupe was painted a bright yellow with a cream and orange interior by Eddie Martinez and a 383 Chevy with three Rochester carbs. Payne put 35,000 fun-filled miles on the odometer before wanting to make the car his own so, in 2006, he and Stretch (a bodyman and painter) started a body-off redo. They installed a Glide fully adjustable bench seat that gave him 10 more inches of legroom and a place to hide all the audio equipment. After blasting the body (what looked great had turned into Swiss cheese), they welded in patch panels, removed the ’32 cowl vent due to graphics concerns, and added vents inside the top of windshield to draw air from under the visor. Payne also freshened up the engine with all new exterior parts, and went through the suspension as well. They painted the main body with three-stage PPG Evening Glow Orange Pearl, and the front a custom mixed yellow pearl mixed by candy pearl flames. Interior is rolled 'n' pleated white pearl vinyl with orange pearl piping, stitched by Friendly's Upholstery. It was finished in October 2009, and he's since added 4,200 extra miles to the odometer.