Our first pictures of Daniel come from 2016. It’s great to see how much the car stayed the same and how many little changes made it better. Same basic look, way cooler wheels (to be fair, gold wheels were a thing 15 years ago), better air cleaner, a more faded general appearance, plus many things we can’t see.
original gauges complemented by some Stewart Warners, a 22-inch Lokar shifter, custom seats out of a local stadium, ammo boxes hiding the electronics, and a Little Larry’s hidden four-way manual air valve system for the air ride. Everything was wired together with a Highway 15 kit from American Autowire. Daniel said that one of his favorite things about his rod was all the people he meets along the way. The old lady who wanted a ride in a car just like hers, the cop who loved the rod, and all the like-minded people you meet out on the streets. He did, however, have some advice for other young rodders, “If you think building a rod will get you dates, it probably won’t, just some old guy telling you, nice car.” Either way, it all sounds good to me and just remember, one day you’ll be the old guy telling a kid “nice car.”
Ford 9-inch with a four-link sitting on Firestone sleeve- style airbags and ’40 Ford brakes. A 406ci small-block Chevy was slipped between the rails and outfitted with a Comp Cams Big Muther Thumper, ProMaxx heads, a Mallory Unilite ignition with Petronix guts and a TH350 automatic. The chassis is rounded out with a set of ‘30s era wires in 16-inch up front and 17-inch out back. The chassis appeared fresh so it was rusted up using a proprietary Downs’ family mix to match it up with the already 4-inch chopped body before channel- ing the body 3 inches over the frame. The factory-style grille shell is filled with a grandma-designed, Daniel- built custom DD script insert. Model A headlights sit on custom stands, the taillights are from a ’49 Plymouth and the spare-mounted third brake light is off an old school bus. The spartan interior features the
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