That was the summer of 1964, but as soon as snow was coming the Hemi was pulled and built for performance with a Crower Solid Imperial Cam, M/T high compression pistons, and the four- barrel intake from a ’54 New Yorker topped with an OEM Stromberg carb. It was love at first firing. The rebuilt engine was in and running great before the snow melted, but it was still mated to the ’39 Ford drivetrain.
Unfortunately, the ’39 trans wouldn’t hold second gear without a hand on the shifter, the rear was starting to quickly show its age, and Skip was a young man with a Hemi. Later that year Skip ripped back into the ’34 in his backyard “shop.” The tree made a great engine hoist, the frame was squared up in the dirt, and the neighbor was kind enough to let his friend Waly plug in the welder behind her stove. Skip found a great deal on a T10 with an adapter, a ’63 Mopar 8 3/4 rear was sourced, the rod tore down, and the rear was installed on the Ford transverse leaf spring with reversed traction bars. The frame was completely boxed, fish plated to stiffen up the chassis extension and given a quick coat of paint. The body was slipped on and then coated with multiple coats of black lacquer. A hole saw was employed on the completely smoothed over dash to mount an array of Stewart Warner gauges that were upgraded to SW Greenline gauges. Skip slipped in a ’55 DeSoto Wonder Bar radio to enjoy the tunes, ground out the intake to fit a Carter AFB carb, and finally got to enjoy riding in the now respectable hot rod for a couple of months until the accident!
JUNE 2025 35
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