With plenty of Bonneville-inspired accents, Paul’s coupe looks like its ready to run flat-out on the 3-mile course. Notable touches include a hand-formed track nose by J&M Rod Works, extended wheelbase, American Racing Salt Flat Special wheels, and a low-slung stance.
For seamless power, a Bill...
For seamless power, a Bill Mitchell–built 427ci small-block was packed with a speed shop full of goods, including a Scat crank, Mahle slugs, and a COMP Cams stick. Extra gusto comes from a dazzling Inglese induction, featuring FAST EZ-EFI fuel injection with Inglese 50mm IDA-styled throttle bodies.
The evolution of street shakers can actually be traced back to the dawn of hot rodding, when young car builders first started stripping down their coupes and roadsters to create early hop-ups. By dumping the extra weight, adding more horsepower, and dialing in an aggressive stance, their cars easily stood out among the rest, thanks to an infusion of attitude and performance.
For teenagers growing up in the ’50s, the activity seen on the salt, dry lakes, dragstrip, and local streets easily generated excitement, influencing them to get involved. For Paul Rhodes of Fredericksburg, Virginia, seeing his first hammered Deuce coupe motoring through the local streets was all it took to pull him into the world of hot rodding. By the time he was 17 in 1964, he was campaigning a ’55 Chevy with a nasty 327ci mill through 5.13 gears in B/Modified Class at Manassas Drag Strip in Virginia. A few years later, after moving to California for work, he assembled a ’23 T with a Hilborn-injected de-stroked small-block on nitromethane to compete in the B/Altered Class. A regular runner at Carlsbad Drag Strip, he consistently turned quarter-mile times in the 140-mph range. Although Paul took some time off to settle down and start a family, he never forgot the adrenalin rush he experienced both on the street and at the racetrack driving his cars.
The ’34 looks period perfect...
The ’34 looks period perfect with its classic scalloped body, neatly laid-out louvers, and tucked ’39 Chevy taillights.
As the ’90s rolled in, Paul was ready to step back into rodding. He had never forgotten his years in drag racing and in his new quest combined it with a passion for Bonneville and land speed racing while seeking out the right car. After pursuing a number of uninspiring leads, he finally came across a ’34 Ford coupe that stood out among the rest. The coupe embodied a very ’80s-era Pro-Street build style but also featured an Anderson Industries 5-inch chopped body, 3-inch channel, stretched wheelbase, and a custom one-piece nose. A deal was made and Paul drove off with the car, continuing to enjoy it for close to a decade with his wife, Anita, prior to making any changes. Since it was powered by a mild Chevy small-block, a decision was made in 2005 to finally incorporate some serious horsepower into the mix. A visit to Speed Unlimited in Suitland, Maryland, located the perfect mill from engine master Bill Mitchell. The 427ci small-block was filled with plenty of go-fast goods, including a Scat crank, Manley rods, Mahle pistons, COMP Cams hydraulic roller cam, and Motown 220 aluminum heads. Capped with an Edelbrock intake and 870-cfm Holley carb, the combination dynos at 534 hp, finally bringing the car to life, shifted through an ATI TH400 trans. Somehow though, Paul still yearned for more and started drawing illustrations of how he imagined the car could look if it was massaged with some Bonneville-inspired influence.
To bring a full competition...
To bring a full competition feel into the business office, Mike McDaniel created a full aluminum interior, completed with endless hand-popped rivets. A custom dash filled with Marshall dials navigated through a Lecarra wheel, and shifted through a B&M unit gets the job done.
Paul had met Mike McDaniel of J&M Rod Works in Glenwood, Maryland, a few years prior and was impressed by the traditional-styled hot rods he built. Knowing Mike’s talents for custom fabrication, a meeting was set where the pair reviewed Paul’s vision for the coupe. With their combined ideas now given the green light, McDaniel wasted no time in tearing the coupe down to its bare essentials to get started. To lay the groundwork, the original modified ’34 Ford chassis was first stripped of all its components. McDaniel started up front by removing 18 inches of the frame and creating new framerails to support the freshly designed suspension. A Speedway Motors tube axle was anchored in place through a custom designed four-link and Panhard bar combined with QA1 coilover shocks and ’49 Chevy spindles. Out back a 9-inch Ford rear filled with 3.89:1 cogs was suspended in place with a custom four-link, antiroll bar, Panhard bar, and QA1 coilover shocks to soak up the bumps. To bring everything to a halt, 10-inch Ford drums out back combined with 11-inch GM rotors up front capped with vintage Howe Racing double-piston calipers gets the job done. Setting the stance, a set of big ‘n’ little American Racing Salt Flat Specials shod with classic Firestone/Coker rubber completes the look. With the underpinnings complete, McDaniel worked his magic topside by first creating a buck for the custom aluminum track-styled nose to be formed. Once the nose was complete, he created a neat grille insert and followed by fabricating the aluminum hood and hood sides. Plenty of louvers were then added to the mix by Dave Butte and Mike Minor. Paul’s passion for racing surfaced again with the addition of an Inglese EZ-EFI fuel-injection system employing FAST EZ-EFI fuel-injection combined with precision-flow fuel injectors and Inglese 50mm IDA-style throttle bodies. To complement this, McDaniel fabbed up a unique aluminum hood scoop and airbox to complete the look.
To bring a full competition...
To bring a full competition feel into the business office, Mike McDaniel created a full aluminum interior, completed with endless hand-popped rivets. A custom dash filled with Marshall dials navigated through a Lecarra wheel, and shifted through a B&M unit gets the job done.
Focusing on the body, McDaniel worked with J&M team member Bill Jones to strip and prep the coupe and all related exterior panels till they were mirror straight. McDaniel then laid down a lustrous coating of PPG Super White, complemented by a pair of classic black scallops. To bring a competition feel to the interior, McDaniel first created a custom aluminum dash and filled it with Marshall Instruments. He then continued by forming the remainder of the interior in aluminum and securing it in place with 2,773 hand-popped rivets (no small feat!). Completing the interior are a pair of reworked Dodge Omni buckets covered in red leather and a six-point rollbar while a Lecarra steering wheel plots the course. All we can say is this is one wicked venomous Street Shaker that looks equally at home on the street as it would on the salt.
How can I determine a spring’s maximum lift?
There is a simple formula for calculating any spring’s safe maximum lift. Take the installed height of the spring and subtract its coil bind. Then subtract 0.060 inch. The number you end up with is the max lift the spring can handle. Installed Height - Coil Bind - 0.060 (inch) = Safe Max Lift.
There are more wires to run when installing an XFI system than when installing an EZ-EFI system, which means more care must be taken. Make sure that every ground wire in your XFI system that is supposed to go to the battery actually does. At the same time, keep all ignition wiring away from FAST wiring to ensure clean signals.
Always slowly bump the engine over to check for hydrolock before starting. You may not notice a small piece of debris caught in your Weber carb, but if your car has been parked for any amount of time, that piece of trash can cause a fuel leak that leads to damaging hydrolock.