November 2011 Readers' Rods

The Yesterday’s Young Guns archives are a constant surprise; just look what Jack Parker sent in a while back! He writes, “I have been going through my old photos, especially those of my first cars from 1965-72. My first was a ’53 Studebaker with a Chevy motor, fenderwell headers, and a ’64 Ford Thunderbolt hood scoop. Next was a ’34 Fordor I bought and redid in 1967 and again in 1970 with the fuel injection system from a Corvette. This car fell off the trailer on the way to the Santa Rosa car show in 1968.

"The '34 and my '32 three-window were some of the first cars with Corvette rearends, and I put the same IRS and Corvette motor in my '33 sedan delivery too.

"I purchased the '32 from a friend in 1971. It had been featured in Hot Rod magazine in November 1968. In 1974 I bought another ex-feature car, this time a '32 roadster that had been in STREET RODDER magazine in 1972. It was an original L.A. Roadsters car owned by Bill Stroppe. The two '34 Victorias were owned in 1970 and the green one was in Rod & Custom in the same year, shown in the San Mateo car show report. I traded the '23 T-bucket for my '34 Fordor. After I sold it, the new owner was killed in it in a head-on wreck."

I don’t know about you, but I’m amazed at the number of hot rods Jack owned in such a short period of time. Thanks for sharing them with us, Jack.

We showed you George Schneider’s '34 coupe in this column in 2009, when he mentioned he was following it up with a '32 roadster. The '34 was put together in a year, and George clearly doesn’t waste time when building cars, as the roadster has been finished for over a year already, with a build time of just eight months, after two years collecting parts. George jokes that he should nickname the roadster “The eBay Special” as with the exception of the seat, tires, glass, and some miscellaneous parts from the local auto parts store, the entire car was put together with parts bought online.

The project started with a good deal on a vintage Westcott body, found in Baltimore, to which George added steel reinforcement where there was none from the factory, under the dash, and behind the seat.

The body, including the steel grille shell and hood, the frame, and suspension were all painted in his driveway using John Deere Blitz Black, before George installed the mid seat from a Dodge Caravan, covered with an upholstery kit from EZ Boy Rod Interiors. Stewart-Warner gauges, a vintage Signal Stat, and a repro steering wheel finish the cockpit. Now that this one’s done, George tells us he’s fitting a '55 Olds 324 V-8 in a '40 coupe. Guess we can look forward to another email from New York in a couple of months.

Jeff Ghiglia writes that this ’45 International Metro Van was an extremely fun project that was tackled at Superglo Auto Body in Reno, Nevada. He says it “sure gets the looks”, and we don’t doubt that. Built over an ’03 Chevy S-10 chassis with a Vortec V-6, it’s been airbagged to get it on the ground (though we suspect a little channeling of the body was involved) and rolls on 20x10 and 18x8 five-spokes.

With a van this size and a frame that narrow, wheels of that width were needed to increase the track to reach the body sides! A custom dash, seating, steering wheel, and tach mount were fabricated, though the body was left stock, in its “as-found” patina. That must have been a relief for the guys at the bodyshop!

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Rod & Custom Magazine
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Irvine, CA 92606

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