But re-creating a racecar verbatim for street use as Pat intended to do presented a few issues. First off, open-tube axles have no provision for a differential, transforming even simple turns into broadsliding exercises. While front brakes constitute unnecessary weight on a track car, they're sort of important on the street. A track car's simple in-out 'box provides only one gear (high), and lacks a conventional clutch and flywheel for normal operation. Furthermore, solo seating seriously limits a road car's social appeal.
So Pat took a few liberties. While he consulted with Bill and the late Wayne Horning (Wayne Manufacturing) to authenticate the car's overall feel, he departed where he said he felt he could improve the car's road-going properties. After a few years of collecting parts (both the most challenging and fun, he noted), Pat turned over his trove to Butch Bowers.
What Pat collected and Butch assembled took far longer than what it took Tom and Bill Spalding to do nearly 60 years ago. And while the Spaldings' car was a pretty expensive car for the class in its day, what Pat invested in collecting and assembling some of the most desirable parts in the historic hot rod world cost considerably more, even when balanced against inflation.
Was it worth it? Sure Pat could've saved himself considerable time and money; he could've bought a body out of a catalog, used a different engine, and even found a set of off-the-shelf wheels. But would the car have been the same?
It's not too often that a re-creation inherits some of the soul of its namesake, but we're going to go out on a limb here and say this one did. And the toil and trouble Pat went through in order to build such a car means it should keep that soul for a long, long time.
Rod & Custom Feature CarPat SwansonSumner, Washington'24 Ford Roadster
Chassis While the chassis Butch built for Pat is inauthentic per dirt-track rules of the day, it's absolutely faithful-in spirit at least-to the original. Why? Well the Spaldings' roadster's frame was technically-how can we say this-illegal. Instead of using an OEM frame as mandated by the class rules, the Spaldings commissioned a fab shop to form new sheet stock to look like a Willys frame. Butch, on the other hand, made Pat's car's frame out of 2x4-inch, .180-inch-wall tubing.
Rear SuspensionWhile Pat's car runs a real Culver City Halibrand centersection (the one out of Paul Knebel's full-show '28 roadster), his runs the standard-issue Ford bells, axles, and, most importantly, the differential. While he used '40 Ford rear radius rods rather than hairpins and a Model T spring instead of the torsion bars as the Spaldings did, he retained one of the original car's hallmark features-Holy Grails of the hot rod and roundy-round worlds alike-the English-made Rotoflo dampers.