The Sidebotham roadster

As with all old stories, the more they're told the more the information changes. It's not an intentional thing (usually) but, just like 10 witnesses to a car accident will relay 10 different accounts of what happened, bits and pieces of what really was fall through the cracks in the floor, never to be heard from again.

We only know about things from the '40s by what we read, what is on the newsreels, or by what our fathers and grandfathers have told us. But, you can't always believe what you read (work by your present writer included); the newsreels show only what they're supposed to show; and granddad's memory sometimes isn't so good!

When it comes to hot rods from that time frame, only a few people know the true story because they lived it. Eldon, "Sy," Sidebotham is one of those guys and his experiences in hot rodding could fill a book. In fact, Sidebotham's name appears frequently in the well-written and well-documented Cool Cars Square Roll Bars book (written by Arnie and Bernie Shuman) recalling the early days of rodding on the East Coast.

Sidebotham, who is 66 years old and currently living in Bedford, New Hampshire, has seemingly done it all. An internal need for speed has driven Sy for more than five decades--he started with a '41 Ford convertible that he picked up when he was 14 in 1950. His buddies were all into cars and by 1957 Sidebotham and friends had become completely immersed in hot rodding and drag racing (It was in 1957 that Sidebotham and his buddies started the Orientals car club). It was at about this time that he got a call about a Deuce roadster parked in a barn in Nashua, New Hampshire. When he got there to check it out, it was covered in debris, but was complete, so he bought it for $750. Interestingly enough, what he bought was the Wentworth and Hoyt roadster--a veteran of the Bonneville Speed Trails from 1951, where it ran 129 miles per hour in the C/Roadster class! Sidebotham didn't know the car for its history, and didn't purchase the roadster from Wentworth or Hoyt (they were partners in a wrecking yard in Peabody, MA). But as a child, Arthur "Pinkee" Begin remembers seeing the roadster going together at Wentworth's wrecking yard. He said he used to "just drool" over that roadster. He watched as the frame was sandblasted, the assembly was completed, and as the car recieved its chrome. He loved watching it blast down Route 1 when it was finished. He never got to go for a ride in it (something he regrets), and remembers when Wentworth died in a car accident in the '50s (which may explain how Sidebotham had come to find the roadster in a state of disrepair in a barn).

After Sy got the roadster he went completely through it, dressing it up with chrome as he went. The chassis is an original Ford item, Z'd 7 inches in the rear, with a Model A front crossmember. The '40 Ford rearend (3.78:1) has had '32 spring hangers added along with chromed axle housings. The dropped front I-beam axle, spring, and split '32 'bones have all been chrome plated, too. Houdaille shocks and '40 Ford brakes are located at each corner and for rollers, the '32 uses 15x5 steelies (wrapped in Goodyear 5.60-15 bias-ply tires) and 18x4 Kelsey Hayes wheels (shod in 8.20-18 Firestone dirt trackers). The gas tank, a custom unit, is now located in the trunk.

The engine is a '46 flattie, punched and stroked to 296 cubes (with a 4-inch Merc crank, 21-A Ford rods, and 3-7/16ths Jahns pistons) by Fran and Ralph Bannister. An Isky 400 JR cam is used in conjunction with a pair of Edelbrock heads. Four Stromberg 97s (topped with a quartet of chromed Stelling & Hellings air cleaners) feed gas into an Edelbrock manifold, with spent gasses exiting through custom chromed headers (complete with cutouts and block-off plates) and Smitty headers. Extra chrome wasn't found on a lot of hot rods in the early-'50s, but Sidebotham chromed even the oil pan on his. The transmission is a '39 Ford, fitted with an Auburn clutch and 26-tooth Zephyr gears.

Bodywork on the roadster is minimal, but the cowl vent and decklid handle were filled, and the stock Deuce grille shell was filled and peaked. Kingbee headlights mount to a stock '32 headlight bar, while '50 Pontiac taillights are used out back. Though it was black when he got it, Sidebotham had some of his buddies in the Orientals car club, Bob Sabaker and his dad, repaint the car at their shop in Reading.

Inside, the wooden dash follows the shape of the original '32 dash, but is filled with six (now vintage) Stewart-Warner gauges. The '40 Ford steering wheel is mounted to a chromed column, which is attached to the dash with a '46 Ford connecting rod. The roadster's top was made from conduit and fabric, and is still with the car, though in rough shape. When Sidebotham showed the roadster, it had a beige interior with red fur carpet.

The roadster was featured in the Nov. '59 issue of Rod & Custom (and later in the Apr. '60 issue of Rodding & Restyling), but by that time Sidebotham had gotten more and more interested in drag racing. He raced at Orange in 1956, got more serious with a '30 A roadster in 1958, and then with a gas dragster in 1959, which became the fastest dragster on the East Coast (at 161 mph). And, though Sy had little time for the roadster, his mom sure did! "Ma" Sidebotham was just as visible in the hot rodding scene as her son, and found the time to take her friends out in the roadster whenever she could (Sidebotham has said she was the only one driving it the last two years that he owned it!). By the early-'60s Sy was racing up and down the right coast and, after an engine exploded during a race in Florida against Don Gartlits, decided to build a Top Fuel dragster (which eventually ran 187 mph). Sidebotham's racing career continued (he was part of the group that founded the New England Dragway in 1966) but, by 1965, it took so much of his time that he decided to sell the roadster to Dick Manley.

The '32 then changed hands a couple of times, from Manley to Paul Lashua in 1969, who started a '70s-era rebuild by adding a small-block Olds. Lashua kept it until 1994, when the '32 again came back up for sale. The look had changed some (it now had Cragar S/S mags!), but it wasn't so far gone that someone who knew how to restore it to its former glory couldn't get it done. Sidebotham heard it was for sale, but felt the asking price was too high. Dave Simard, who rodders will know from frequent articles in The Rodder's Journal, hot rod restoration projects, and as being the builder of Ken Gross' period-perfect, S.Co.T.-blown, black highboy roadster a few years ago, also thought the price too high.

But, the owner called Dave several months later, a new price was discussed, and a deal was struck. Dave knows his way around vintage tin and also has an uncanny ability to find the right parts for the right cars. He definitely had luck with Simard in this case, too. Though fitted with the Oldsmobile motor, Simard knew where the roadster's original Flathead was--the same place it was when it was pulled out of the car more than 20 years earlier! After Simard bought the car and got the old engine he, with some help from friends in the Ty-Rods club, got it up and running in about four weeks. It debuted at Old-Timer's Night (the Ty-Rods' annual get together) in 1994. With all of the projects Dave has been involved with over the past couple of years, he hasn't been able to devote as much time to restoring the Sidebotham roadster (as it will always be known) to its former glory.

But, as anybody who knows Simard's work will tell you, if there is anybody in the United States that should be restoring old hot rods, it's Dave Simard. He's got enough projects to keep him busy for the next 20 years, should he decide to work that long. But for now, he's happy with his acquisition, and can add another sliver of rodding history to his already incredible collection.