Building a cool rod using traditional parts on a reasonable budget these days is getting harder and harder to do. But if you think it's not easy here in the U.S., try doing it overseas. Kent Olsson not only accomplished it by building his '31 Ford for a little over 10,000 euros (about $13,000), but did so in only 12 months.
"I already have a '33 Chevy sedan with independent suspension, which is almost too comfortable to drive, so it struck me that I used it less and less. It didn't take me long to figure out that I wanted a nostalgic roadster with solid axles and 16-inch wheels. I wanted to have fun with an 'uncomfortable' open rod!"
So Kent bought an old project that had already been started but was sitting in a local club's, the Videdal Vrlers, garage. What he got was a '31 Model A frame with a roadster body, but not much else. The members of Videdal Vrlers are into nostalgic stuff, so naturally their garage environment made an impression on Kent.
When Christer "The Bubble Gum King" Persson learned that Kent had bought the old project, he didn't miss a chance to spread the nostalgia rod gospel. After being brainwashed by the The Bubble Gum King, Kent discussed his game plan with multitalented Videdal Vrlers member Ulf Larsson. Uffe, as his friends call him, built most of Christer Persson's '32 Ford cabriolet (R&C, August '04).
Kent started looking for the right traditional parts, but soon found that the trickiest part was trying to persuade guys to sell the hard-to-get pieces, even if they had a few. "Might come in handy some day," he was told on several occasions. He finally got his hands on a '40 Ford steering wheel with column and steering box, '46 Ford hydraulic brakes, '58 Buick aluminum brake drums, '35 Ford 16-inch wire wheels with hub caps, '32 Ford split wishbone, and '31 Ford headlights.
Kent wanted a reliable engine that would fit his tight budget so he got a hold of a Chevy 283ci in parts and put it together himself after MMR Racing Engines in Malm machined the block. "My goal was to get the car certified by the Swedish Vehicle Inspection as a 'modified stock vehicle' using the original title, so it had to be a fairly lame engine," he explains.
While on holiday in Southern California, Kent found Cal Custom valve covers and a Cadillac air cleaner at the Pomona Swap Meet. "It gives the engine the right look and carries the Bubble Gum King's sign of approval," Kent says. "I used a fairly large 12-volt generator for the visual effect. The distributor is not exactly era correct, so Uffe came up with the idea of fitting a cover that makes people think it's a Scintilla magneto on the engine. We had to make a small notch in the air cleaner to make it fit."
Another Uffe and Kent creation is the stainless steel windshield frame. It's made out of sheetmetal welded together and then polished. The combination of a cool-looking piece and an unbeatable price is not bad if you are building a rod on a tight budget.
Even if Kent wanted to have fun in a cool, uncomfortable nostalgia rod, that did not mean he wanted to freeze while enjoying himself. Swedish summer evenings can be pretty cold and "liquid sunshine" is not uncommon. A heater from under the back seat of an old VW four-seat pickup fit just perfectly under the dash.
Kent drove his roadster to the Swedish Vehicle Inspection in August 2003 to get their verdict and was a little bit concerned when the inspectors told him he had to take it for a short testdrive. When he returned with a big grin on his face five minutes later, Kent knew the roadster had passed.
Kent Olsson
Malm, Sweden
'31 Ford Roadster
Drivetrain
A mild Chevy 283ci small-block topped with an Edelbrock Performer intake and carb is backed with an '87 Camaro five-speed to provide plenty of get-up-and-go while still managing decent mileage.
Chassis
The boxed stock chassis consists of CSI 4-inch dropped I-beam with '39 spindles and '46 Ford brakes with Buick drums, '32 split wishbone, and Pete & Jake's shocks. A four-link with Koni coilovers supports the Ford 8-inch rearend with 4.11:1 gears.
Wheels & Tires
Sixteen-inch '35 Ford wires were bathed in black and wrapped in Firestone 6.00 and 7.00 whitewalls.
Body & Paint
The original '31 body has been channeled 4 inches and had its decklid and custom rear roll pan punched full of louvers. The fenders are Triumph motorcycle units up front and bobbed originals out back. Deciding what color to paint a project can be an ordeal for many rodders, but not for Kent. He had decided to paint the original '31 roadster a '58 Mercedes Benz Moss Green metallic before he even started the project. The graphics and the pinstriping was done by an American in exile, Ray Hill. Kent calls his creation The Green Devil, so he just had to have a devil cartoon on the driver side.
Interior
Being a professional carpenter, Kent had no problem making the wood seat support. Atelje Mbelservice in Malm stitched the black leather, but Kent did the rest of the interior job himself. The seat is very low and the back of the seat is slightly further back than stock, so a 6-foot-2-inch Viking would fit. The result is a comfy driving position-at least for a Model A. Sticking with his budget, Kent went to a junkyard and found cool-looking gauges in a '60s International ambulance for 20 euros and then built, with some help from Uffe, a stainless instrument panel.