It took a year and a half to pull it all together, but the finished product is exactly what Mark had in mind when it all began. The best part is that over time it's proven to be the perfect trip car. It has plenty of luggage space and the down-the-road driveability necessary to put hundreds of effortless, comfortable miles between point A and point B every day. Now that's what real rodding is all about.
Rod & Custom Feature Car
Mark Hummel
St. Charles, Missouri
1935 Ford Three-window Coupe
Chassis
The chassis is made up of a stock frame with a bit of reinforcement, a four-link system at the rear connected to a Danny Miller 3.50:1-geared 9-inch Ford rearend and Carrera coilover shocks. At the front there is a Heidts independent setup with another pair of Carreras. Steering is taken care of with a Heidts rack, and braking is a power assist drum in the rear and disc in the front.
Drivetrain
The drivetrain is a straightforward 350 Chevy engine with block-hugger headers, a Weiand intake and Edelbrock carb, and an MSD ignition. To give the engine that old-time look, a pair of Y-block-style rocker covers with hand-painted "Lincoln V Eight" script painted on them and a '50s Cadillac-style air cleaner were added. A B&M-equipped 350 Turbo built by "Red Tom" Terbrock in Catawissa, MO, directs the flow of power to the rear. It's a nice, bulletproof combination.
Wheels & Tires
The wheel/tire combination is relatively simple, consisting of orange-painted 15-inch steel wheels wrapped in Coker Classics (5.60-15 front and 9.00-15 rear). For accent, Mark added a set of stainless trim rings and small Ford button caps.
Body & Paint
Because the basic design is so nice, body modifications were kept to a minimum but a few subtle changes were made. The '35 bumpers were replaced with '39-40 Ford bumpers mounted on custom brackets. The bright horizontal trim strips were removed from the louvers on the hood sides, a series of louvers were added to the hood top, and a Hagan fuel door was added to the right rear fender. Unseen modifications included some reshaping of the wheel tub areas for necessary clearance. The taillights are '39 Ford and the running boards are solid steel. Mark redid all the body and paintwork on this car during this buildup.
Interior
One of the defining features of the interior is the handcrafted cut-down '50s Olds dash and the "one-off" instrument panel. Auto Meter instruments keep track of what's going on under the hood and Vintage Air climate controls track what's going on in the cabin. The combination of vinyl and tweed was stitched together by Nick Mayder and the folding rear seat was created by Mark using Lear Jet hardware. The column is ididit and the wheel is a leather-covered Billet Specialties item.