My buddy and best friend Phil Ferrari and I have known each other since the fourth grade. While we both dug cars growing up, Phil had both the passion and hands-on talent to build something from scratch. Whether he was wrenching on a '67 GTO with three twos, or building a V-8 Vega, I was content and grateful for the time he took to shoot flames on just about every vehicle I owned and his unending help with installing some aftermarket doodads. Phil decided to turn his passion into his profession and opened Ferrari's Hot Rods in Rancho Cordova, California, to build traditional, high-performance hot rods.
In 1999, my mini-truck was on its last legs and I hated the idea of forking out over $20,000 for non-descript yet reliable transportation. I thought for that kind of money I could find a decent original car and have Phil swap in a small-block and automatic. After several months of searching, I found a solid '47 Ford Super Deluxe coupe, with its original drivetrain and decent updated paint and interior, advertised in my local paper. I didn't think too long before handing over $6,000 and driving the coupe home.
My original plan called for a dropped axle, small-block Chevy, and a Ford 9-inch rearend. Well, one thing lead to another and what was to be a simple motor and tranny swap by Phil turned out to be the hot rod education of a lifetime for me-one Saturday at a time. Most of the lessons started out with, "Wouldn't it be cool if ...?" Wouldn't it be cool if we put a Ford in a Ford? Wouldn't it be cool to have EFI? Wouldn't it be cool if we slammed it just a little? Maybe a little more? Wouldn't it be cool to have a Corvette IFS instead of a dropped axle? Wouldn't it be cool ... etc., etc., etc.
All of these lessons were done with Phil either at my side or watching over my shoulder. We worked very hard to make sure we got the ride and stance right and maintained all of the C4 suspension geometry. We tucked the Corvette cradle into the framerails up front and narrowed the '47's frame in the rear and fabbed our own brackets and mounts. We didn't want to narrow the C4 IRS and alter its geometry. The transverse leafs were dumped in favor of QA1 coilovers both front and rear. We also worked very hard to get a low center of gravity by getting the motor and tranny in as low and far back as possible while ensuring drivable ground clearance (speed bumps don't count).
When it came time to install the EFI-equipped 5.0L, we spent several Saturdays sitting on the floor with a schematic, harness wires stretched every which way, chasing color codes, adding tape tags for future reference, bundling, and twist tying. Once we mounted the computer and got the harness installed, it fired right off, but it could never find idle. We spent several more Saturdays verifying pin connections on the wiring harness, testing senders for correct resistance, and scratching our heads. Finally we determined that the oxygen sensors were reversed and it was confusing the computer. This was definitely a hands-on education as to how EFI works.
So after three years of some of the best Saturdays of my life, and approximately $17,000 later, I am the proud owner of a very sweet-riding, freeway-flying, daily driving, moderately priced hot rod.
Corey and Judy CummingsSacramento, CA1947 Ford SuperDeluxe Coupe