Prescott, Arizona
1946 Ford CoupeBack in the ’50s, if you wanted a fast car, chances were you built it yourself! Jerry Stevens was a 21-year-old from Compton, California, and built this ’46 coupe between 1957 and 1959. Working as a millwright at Bethlehem Steel, he did all his own engine machining and building, fabricating an intake manifold to adapt a S.Co.T. blower to the 331ci Olds engine, a 303 that he bored 3/16-inch over. Jahns pistons, an Engle 95 cam, and four Stromberg 97s went into that mill, which had the center exhaust divider removed, the center exhaust port opened up, and a divider silver soldered in place to make a true four-port exhaust. Cadillac flathead intake valves were modified for use, while the heads were O-ringed to hold the 12:1 compression.
Jerry installed a ’52 Pontiac rearend, with 4.10:1 gears, on the stock transverse spring, using long traction bars formed from large diameter heavy wall tubing, and built the engine and trans mounts, the latter supporting a ’37 Caddy LaSalle trans with a Schiefer racing clutch. He ran the car at Lions dragstrip in Long Beach, California, and turned 99 mph at 13.9 seconds using street tires, eventually with a 346-inch motor and six 97s. He ran in the C-Gas Supercharged class and raced Doug “Cookie” Cook several times. Jerry is presently retired in Prescott, Arizona, where he is now building an aluminum small-block-powered Porsche 911.
Ingleside On The Bay, Texas
1940 FordHal Stockton was 17 years old when this picture of him with his ’40 was taken in 1960, at a car club photo shoot. Later that year he joined the Gear Grinders, apparently the oldest club in Texas. Still an active member, along with his son, Hal’s most recent project, a ’41 Willys is shown here at Carco, fellow club member and high school friend, Kit Carlisle’s Hot Rod Shop.
Butte, Montana
1951 Chevy | Bill Maunder bought this ’51 Chevy when he was 21 and lived in Los Angeles in 1954. It was lowered and ran a 270ci GMC truck engine with a full race cam and five carburetors. Later he blocked three of those carbs off and ran it on two before driving it back to Montana.
Richfield, MaiNe
1940 Ford DeLuxe
As a junior in high school, Phil Kope purchased his ’40 DeLuxe Tudor from an old lady in 1952 for the sum of $100, saved from part-time jobs. By the time he sold it for $425 in the spring of 1953 it had a ’48 Merc Flathead, Columbia rear and Lincoln gears, as well as a Smitty dual exhaust. In Phil’s own words, “I drive an STS now but it’s sure not as much fun as the ’40 was!”
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