D oug and Carol Kasel out of Golden, Colorado, loved cruising in their ’34 Ford sedan, but by 2007 they had three kids and there is no way to fit two adults and three car seats in a Tudor sedan (let alone any luggage) and Carol wanted to raise her kids in the back of a rod like she was. The couple needed something that had enough space and anything pre- war that’s got three rows of seats is pretty industrial, but they realized a Woodie could fit three across in the back, still have room for most of the luggage, and it slotted in well with Doug’s field of knowledge as he is a custom furniture maker (now retired). In 2008, they sold the ’34 to fund the build and three years later they had finished their ’40 Ford Deluxe Woodie and
headed to the 2011 Street Rod Nationals. The kids have grown since then, the couple has retired, and I’ve seen them cruising their ’40 all over the country. They not only planned on driving their ’40 all over, but they also planned on running down the road with three kids, so the chassis had to be spot on. They called up FatMan and had a complete ’40 frame built for the Woodie that’s fully boxed with a tubular center crossmember. The front suspension is a Mustang II IFS running stainless tubular A-arms, big GM brakes, and power rack and pinion steering. The rear suspension is a Ford 9-inch bouncing on parallel leafs, Pete and Jake’s shocks, and Cadillac disc brakes. An LS6 from a Z06 Corvette keeps the couple
66 JUNE 2026
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