The Don Varner T

From an automotive perspective, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times--it was the '70s! During this era, when looking at most Detroit iron, one found a vast wasteland of federally-mandated bumper laws, the death of performance from more bureaucratic meddling, i.e. emissions controls, and if you still had something decent to drive, they got you there, too, with gas lines. Now, with all of this said, how could there have possibly been a BEST, you wonder? Well, besides the very first Street Rod Nationals being held in Peoria, Illinois, in 1970, it seems that the '70s was also a decade where a cadre of talented hot rod craftsmen honed their skills to the max, raising the bar higher than ever before. These were fabricators with a vision, men like Lil' John Buttera, Ron Covell, Steve Davis, Kent Fuller, Jack Hagemann, Jr., and the list goes on and on.

However, as with most things that live on in men's minds to eventually see revival, track roadsters never really went away completely, they just rested for around a decade. The flame of their former glory kept burning by die-hard enthusiasts of this endangered breed of hot rods, even if it were only to preserve the past by storing such cars in garage rafters, barns, etc. This might not exactly have been moving ahead, but at least held the line against what could have become total extinction.

There had been a couple who discovered these dirt track veterans, restoring them with just enough modifications to make them reliable streeters and reachers (like driving them to Memphis for the second Rod & Custom/NSRA Nationals in 1971, for instance). Also, by the early '70s, there was movement in bringing the track roadster back to its rightful place in the rodding scene as a viable alternative to that other style of street rod gaining popularity, resto rods. For instance, Duffy Livingston was hard at it building a '27 to immolate his earlier sports rod track effort, and Ron Weeks had restored and already driven to the aforementioned Nats in the old Dick Kraft/Highland Plating Special. Jim Jacobs also made that historic road trip in his restored Niekamp '29 A roadster (which wasn't actually a dirt tracker, as it had earned its salt at the lakes, but had a stunning proboscis, nonetheless), along with Bud Bryan in his traditional highboy revival in the form of an open '29 A body on Deuce rails.

It was within this environment, then, that a hot rodding tradition was being reborn on a couple of fronts (we won't even get into Volksrods), leading the staff of Rod & Custom magazine to propose a track roadster revival, devoting almost an entire issue (Jan. '93) to the subject, with history pieces, Tom Daniel's inspirational rendering and cutaway, and John Thawley's technical insight on utilizing foreign bangers and suspension bits to facilitate the construction of such cars. Like has always been said, it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same, so one of the first of this new breed of nearly extinct racers was an exact interpretation of R&C's plans by our old friend, Tom Prufer--has this man always been on the cutting edge, or what? Tom called on Ron Covell for all the aluminum work necessary to duplicate Daniel's idealized trackster rendering from the frame up, and Ron made it happen.

By 1979, both of Jack Hagemann, Jr.'s completely handformed aluminum track roadster creations (one his own, and the other for Bob Acosta) were on the rod run road, appearing together at the NSRA's Lodi event. Also, Spueege Jerger journeyed to the 10th NSRA Street Rod Nats in St. Paul in his traditionally-styled track roadster as well, and there were many more examples of the genre besides, including Bill Roach's '27 T Pinto Rod, with aluminum work by Pete Ogden. Hagemann forewent the traditional style with his brace of tracksters, rather opting for the then-current San Jose Super Modified look that roared in circles on the local dirt. His roadster did, however, have a recognizable race car-inspired nose that was tradition-based, and a body that, if not a direct copy of a T, was at least heavily influenced by same. Acosta's commission, however, was something closer yet to what was currently being campaigned, more modern nose and all. To say that both of these cars were stunning in both design and construction would be an understatement, but as they more represented sports rods than street rods, they were on a branch growing in yet another direction from their track T roots that burrowed deep in the soil of tradition. And although they didn't start a major trend, they were nonetheless visually exciting variations on a theme.

For our feature, we'll have to back up four years to 1975, when the "Rodfather," Andy Brizio, got the track roadster buildin' bug. Andy already had a very modern version of a '32 Steve Archer 'glass highboy roadster, which even had 'glass Deuce rails hiding a tubular frame. The roadster became famous in the pages of Hot Rod magazine as the northern contingent in what they called The Great California Street Rod Civil War. The June '74 issue had a feature on the finished product, powered by a dual Mazda rotary powerplant. In this instance too, the North won the war, as Lil' John was full of excuses, like, "It took me a day just to machine each of those hose clamps, etc., etc." Why are we telling you this? Because, the coupler between the twin Wankle motors went away, and as Andy wanted to motor to the Nats in his '32, he substituted a more familiar, blower-equipped Chevy engine, then pondered what to do with the leftover rotary. He didn't have to ponder long, as it occurred to him that if two such powerplants would propel a Deuce in style, the lead motor alone would be more than enough to power his proposed T trackster.

To this end, Andy commissioned friend Lil' John Buttera to build his dream, as his customer's cars came first, and he was, as usual, booked solid at Champion Speed Shop. John whipped up a frame consisting of 1 1/2 x 3 inch x .120 wall rectangular tubing rails, with 1 1/2-inch diameter, .083-wall round tubing crossmembers. To this he added a Brizio Bell-style dropped tube axle with traditional buggy spring, a four-link setup both front and rear, and Vega steering, while Koni coilovers supported a narrowed '56 Chevy rearend. With the chassis now a roller (with the addition of 16-inch Kelseys wrapped in big 'n' little Firestones), the rotary powerplant and its accompanying transmission was dropped into place.

The chassis was then turned over to Steve Davis to add all things track-like to the Steve Archer 'glass '23 T turtledeck T roadster body. Upon delivery back to NorCal, paintwork in white by Steve Archer followed with flourishes of orange around the nose and on the many Jack Hagemann-punched louvers by Tommy the Greek, with a smattering of his signature teardrops to finish off the look. For an interior, orange Naugahyde was stitched up over a custom seat at Sacramento's A Action Interiors, replete with orange nylon carpeting--the deed was done--for the first time, that is (a full feature on the car in Brizio guise may be seen the May '76 issue of Rod Action).

At first Andy loved his little car, but aside from its wonderful looks (which no one could deny), no one would ride with him--it seems that the boisterous chainsaw-like exhaust note emitting from the huge passenger-side pipe crafted by Denny Craig was just too much for most people's ears. Enter fellow Bay Area Roadsters' member Don Varner. Don loved the car too, and could not only see a fix for its less than socially proper powerplant, but a slightly different look as well--a variation on a theme as it were. And so began the transformation to its most recognizable form.

As Don shared shop space with metal wizard Ron Covell (who had built Prufer's similar car), and Steve Davis was all the way down the coast in L.A., the choice of craftsman was obvious. And so it was that Ron Covell blew the little car apart, then started over to flesh out Don's dream of how a track T should both look and behave. A Capri V-6 was chosen for power, brakes were changed to Porsche rotors with PSI calipers all around, and a 3.78:1 Halibrand quick-change connected to '37 Ford axle tubes was hung on Carrera coilovers. The firewall was extended some 4 inches and the motor offset some 3 inches to the passenger side as well, adding much-needed legroom for Don. Ron then created the most beautiful set of headers ever for the little 2.3 liter Capri, backed by a C4 automatic, while Don whittled up some finned aluminum valve covers, as none existed in the aftermarket.

Now it was time for Ron to attack the body, which he did with great skill and subtlety. A new nose and grille were formed (Don sold the Steve Davis version, but now wishes he had it hanging on his garage wall), along with louver dies for a tapered look, as each louver in the nose had to be pressed with a separate die. Ron also created a centersection for the 'glass cowl in metal so that louvers in the added center row would continue all the way back to the windshield, which he chopped an additional 5 inches as well. With everything as perfect as humanly possible, Don sprayed the body beautiful a lustrous black before turning it over to Rod Powell for the ultimate in a blended flame-into-scallop graphic job. Then Don himself wielded the squirrel hairs to lay on the outline pinstriping, as well as decorating every louver not already covered with flame licks. Sacramento's Dave Putman continued the work by covering the interior in black Naugahyde. After a few healthy bops with a rubber mallet, real knock-offs to hold real Halibrand magnesium kidney bean wheels wrapped in 'Stones finished the job, and the deed was done yet again.

It may be pointed out that Don went back to painted wire wheels while he owned the car, and after a nasty incident with a leaking wheel cylinder (wherein brake fluid lifted a goodly amount of Rod Powell art), Don repainted his roadster, including doing his own flames this time around. The same colors were used, and the same basic layout adhered to, but there are some subtle differences if you compare Eric's recent photos to car features from the time (1001 Custom & Rod Ideas, Oct. '77, and STREET RODDER, Feb. '80).

Afterwards, the car ended up in the hands of Lil' John Buttera again (this time as owner) where he made a few more changes, like a Tony Nancy interior and painted windshield frame, before turning it over to his daughter to drive. Today, Dick Carroll of Woburn, Massachusetts, is the roadster's caretaker, and although Dick himself is a builder of street rods, having a historic roadster with such a proud lineage is one of his prized possessions.