Maritim Rod & Custom - October 2020 (Vol. 1; Iss 4)

Maritime Canada’s Quarterly Rod & Custom Magazine - Vol #1: Issue #4 - oct2020

$5.95

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Vehicle Coverage from: - Nictaux, NS - Fall River, NS - St. Peter’s Bay, PEI - Neguac, NB - woodstock, NB - Riverview, Nb - Allison, NB - Dieppe, NB -

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Publisher: HiDefRods Photography Editor: Rodger Evans Art & Design Guru: T-Mac Travel Assistant: Abe MacEvans & Mr. P Staff Photographer(s):Me, Myself & I

Eleanor Casey (‘39 Dodge)

Advertising: Rodger Evans ©2020 by HiDefRods Photography All Rights Reserved - Printed in Canada (902) 678-4772 ; rodger.c.evans@gmail.com

This time last year I had just launched the website and Facebook page for the magazine, and was starting to get subscribers. I was excited, scared, overwhelmed and nervous that I could pull it off. One thing that struck me odd early on, and has stuck with me through 2020, is a comment on Facebook that said “I hope it’s not just going to be a bunch of friend’s cars...” or something to that effect. I was taken aback, mostly because that was never a consideration. I also soon realized that over the last eight years, most of my contacts in the car show world are friends.

So as I geared up for my final issue of 2020, and while driving 1900km through NB to photograph 19 different vehicles for this issue, as well as early 2021, it struck me that if not for those friends, none of this would have happened.

So rather than be worried about featuring friends, I decided that part of this final issue is not to pick a few of them because they’re my friends, but feature them because they also have awesome hot rods and customs. So where to start???

None of this would have happened if not for meeting Winnie and Woody Wood in 2012. They set me up on Winnie’s car show listing website and Facebook pages, and promoted the hell out of what I was doing. They ultimately lead to my gig with Radical Speed Sport, giving Greg Turner the thumbs up when he came calling for a new photographer. Radical Speed Sport is also where I met Joe Savoie and Bill Doherty. Joe decided to keep me on after Greg retired from the car show scene, and Bill was keen to get a new look for the Atlantic Nationals, in terms of material to promote the show, as well as souvenir products to provide the 100’s of entrants.

Last, but certainly not least, and although I don’t have one of their vehicles in this issue, I need to thank Terry and Patty Denomme for coming over to my trailer at the AtNats in 2017 and asking me to be an East Coast rep for Canadian Hot Rod and Bone Stock Muscle Car magazines. That opportunity allowed me to learn the sorts of images people wanted to see in magazines. It allowed me to do some “creative” writing, and it started a cascade of interactions that made me think, hey, maybe there’s room for a Maritime-based hot rod magazine in Canada.

Finally, thank you to the 125+ folks that took a chance on someone who has never published anything except scientific papers in journals no one ever reads, well at least not people in the car culture. I hope the numbers continue to grow, but the first folks in late 2019 definitely gave me hope. I’d also be remiss if I don’t give a HUGE shout out to my advertiser/sponsors. If not for your support the magazine wouldn’t be printed, and if not printed, it wouldn’t exist. I know 2020 was not “normal” but I hope your ads in the magazine brought some folks your way, and I hope that we can have long lasting relationships into the future. Stay safe, keep building cool stuff, and get ready for MR&C 2021!!!

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In this Issue...

Woody’s Kept Promise

to

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Winnie................ 6

Linda & Pat’s Passion For Drag Racing .... 16 Dave Garrett’s ‘39 Dodge Street Rod...... 26 Joe Savoie’s Custom Resto Mod Chevelle... 36 Cook Performance, Woodstock, NB...........44 Stu MacPherson’s Custom ‘40 Chev......... 54

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Bill Doherty’s Classic ‘31 Chev Coupe ...... 60 Louis Degrace’s ‘40 Ford Standard.......... 66

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Promis

Rarely does lightning strike twice, but for Sheri (Winnie) and Stacy (Woo Through two lottery wins and two diagnoses of cancer, the goal of a hot r 6

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se Kept

ody) Wood they’ve had the highest of highs and greatest of challenges. rod for Winnie was always a promise that was finally fulfilled.

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In the late summer of 2011 I had decided that I would look. In April a ’67 Camaro came up for sale on Kijiji. start going to local car shows to hone my skills, as well They went to see it, it was pretty rough, but Woody as determine the appetite for custom car photography. realized it had the bones, and they had the budget to The first show I was in Berwick, NS, and was likely the make it what they wanted. Several months later the best move I could have made. As I wandered up and Camaro was ready for its first show. down the aisles I came upon a beautiful, red, ’67 Camaro

Woody and Winnie decided that they would with an engine that you could eat off of. The owner take the Camaro to a show in Digby, NS. They found came over and we started to chat. Before I could give a babysitter for their two sons, hopped in the car, and him my sales pitch I noticed several magazines on the headed off. When they got to Digby, however, they were dash that featured the same Camaro. I gave him the pitch told that the show had been canceled the day before. This anyway, and rather than send me off, he introduced me was not the last time they were disappointed by a last to his wife, the brainchild behind Up-to-Date Car Show minute cancellation, so Winnie decided to use her web listings. The rest, as they say, is history… design experience to produce an on-line car show listing

Long before I met Winnie and Woody Wood in page that would keep folks “Up-to-date” on car shows Berwick, they had made a name for themselves in the throughout the Maritimes. It was incredibly popular, and Maritime Car Show scene. Winnie with her website, the go-to resource for the Maritime car show culture. and Woody with his ’67 Camaro. In early 2008 they had But, as it is with DND, Woody was reposted to Ottawa in decided to purchase a classic car to take to car shows.

2013. They packed up their Camaro, their kids, and left They had saved some money and thought it would be a the Maritimes. Winnie closed the website, but continued fun way to spend weekends and meet new friends. They to provide Maritime car show updates through her found an Oldsmobile Cutlass in Halifax and decided one Facebook page.

Saturday to go have a look. On their way there the owner

The Woods moved back to the Valley in 2016, called and said things had changed, and the car may bought their dream home, and decided that this would be sold to another buyer. Somewhat disappointed, but be Woody’s last posting. They settled back into the still interested in seeing the car, they decided to stop for Maritime car show scene, and with sponsorship from lunch and reconsider their plans. While sitting at lunch, Trent Steeves (then Steeves Insurance) started “Winnie’s Woody received a phone call from one of his coworkers List”, a car show resource website that serves all of at 14 Wing Greenwood, and was told their lotto pool Atlantic Canada. Everything seemed absolutely perfect, had just won a grand prize. A grand prize that would until Winnie was diagnosed with breast cancer. After pay each of them just under $100K. At that moment the many months battling her cancer, Cutlass became a distant memory, and they continued to Vol(1) Issue (4) Maritime Rod & Custom 8

Winnie came out the other side more driven than ever to since the restoration. They both knew they had found the live life to the fullest, and that meant she needed a hot perfect car for Winnie, so they paid the full asking price, rod. and had the car trailered back to Nova Scotia. Winnie Their second stroke of good luck came in Sept 2018 they and Woody had just finished building a new shop on struck it rich again, winning “Set for Life.” This was their property, and they were keen to put their spin on the all Woody needed to finalize his decision to retire early, car, as well as make it more drivable. But just as Woody and it provided a healthy budget for finally keeping the got started, lightning struck again in early 2019 when promise of getting a hot rod for Winnie. They had never he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After successful bought a hot rod for Winnie because DND only pays for surgery, Woody, like Winnie, has now put his cancer one vehicle when moving from posting to posting, and diagnosis behind him. the Camaro was always the vehicle they would have

Although, the restoration was very well done, moved. Although Winnie had always wanted a truck, Woody needed to make it their car, as well as increase and her all time favourite truck, Jeff Norwell’s Diamond the drivability. They really didn’t need to add anything Deuce was up for sale, they decided it wasn’t the right to the car as this Nomad, unlike many of its 6103 sibs in vehicle for the long hauls they would do through the 1957, came with a full set of factory amenities including Maritime car show circuit. Furthermore, one of their power steering, power brakes, power windows, and “bucket list” items was to drive Route 66 in a classic power front seats. The only option missing was the fuel vehicle. Their original plan being that they would trailer injection system on the original 283 motor. The only part the Camaro with a vintage truck as they wound along the of the car that wasn’t original was a Power Pack 327 that iconic highway.

Woody ran the numbers on, only to find out that it was

But everything changed when one of their out of a ’67 Camaro - go figure!!! The engine was a solid previous neighbours in Ontario posted a picture of a build and made enough power, but Woody felt it needed ’57 Nomad that was for sale in Ottawa. Although they to be dressed up with vintage fin-styled engine dressings. thought they couldn’t afford a Nomad, especially one in He also completely rebuilt the carb and added an electric this condition, they contacted the seller. They were gobchoke. However, when Woody was trying to set up the smacked at the relatively low asking price and decided electric choke, he soon realized that the carb on the 327 they needed to go see the car immediately and determine was the original carb that came on the Nomad’s 283 if it was another project, or the ultimate deal. What they from the factory. Woody surmises that the original 283, found was a fully restored, California car, that the owner when replaced by the 327, allowed the restorer to use seemed hesitant to drive because it was such a nice all the original accessories, and keep the car as stock as restoration. In fact, it had only been driven 3000 miles possible.

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To increase the drivability Woody added a sway bar to the front suspension and replaced the original two speed Power Glide trans with a 200R4 with overdrive.

He also added a full Vintage Air system, which in turn required him to install a larger aluminum radiator, Edelbrock water pump, and replace the factory generator with an alternator. He also changed the steering wheel and column to something a little more period specific to the car. The biggest change to the interior was replacing the blue carpeting with black that goes all the way into the back of the car. Finally, Woody being Woody, he

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hand polished all the interior stainless - remember he’s retired!!!

So now that the promise has been kept, they’re both on the downhill side of their battles with cancer, and the car is ready to roll, what’s next? Once Covid lifts and we get back to a new normal, the car needs to hit Moncton’s two biggest shows, Radical Speed Sport and the Atlantic Nationals. However, the ultimate goal is to fill the custom suitcases in the back with enough belongings to get them from here to California, along the iconic Route 66.

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Tech Sheet Deets Owner: winnie & woody wood

Chassis: stock w/ factory power steering & factory power brakes

Location: nictaux, NS

Rear Suspension: stock

Vehicle: 1957 chevy nomad Builders: full restoration in california; completed by woody in 2019 Body Mods: stock Engine: 327 w/ 325HP; carter 4bbl; factory dual exhaust Transmission: GM 200-4r w/ overdrive

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Front suspension: drop spindles; front disk conversion; cpp sway bar Wheels: budnik Interior: reupholstered to factory specs; woody added black carpet throughout; factory power windows & power seats; ididit steering column; custom auto sound stereo; budnik steering wheel

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The Art Of Hotrod Photography

Custom Collages Site Specific Shoots Show Boards

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https://hidefrods-photography.weebly.com/ rodger.c.evans@gmail.com Kentville, NSMaritime Rod902-678-4772 & Custom

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H After a long history of racing across the Maritimes, one 1/4 mile at a time, 16

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Her-story Linda and Pat Neal’s swan song is rebuilding a piece of drag racing history .

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Pat during his GP days

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The racing history of Pat and Linda Neal starts back in England. Pat raced 500 GP motorcycles at all the major tracks in Britain as a young man. At the same time a teenage Linda was riding a Sprint motorcycle that she would bring to Pat’s shop for repair, which started a long friendship.

After getting beaten up one too many times racing GP motorcycles, Pat decide that he would race top fuel drag motorcycles, which ultimately gave him an insight into drag racing that would help him in the years to come.

After a stint as the Head of Engineering at the workshops at Cambridge University, he accepted a job with the British Peace Corps and headed to the Philippines to help build a technical school. Pat stayed in the Philippines for three years, and even weathered the 1986 People Power Revolution.

While in the Philippines Linda would write Pat weekly. When Pat returned from the Philippines in June 1987 they went out on a few dates, Linda made sure Pat knew she wasn’t interested in kids, and the next thing you knew they were married in Jan 1988. In March 1988 they emigrated to Yarmouth, NS. After a year in Yarmouth they moved to Halifax as Pat had a position with Irving Ship Building. Linda had been self employed for several years, until she landed a government job.

Strangely enough, the love of racing was renewed for Linda the day Pat brought home a go-cart in 1991. Linda jumped in and “drove the wheels off of it.” Pat could see

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Linda was a natural, and so they decided that Linda would race go-carts as a hobby. Pat’s days of racing were long behind him, but he has an incredible passion for engineering, building parts, and several decades of experience in the racing world. Linda started out racing in a two-stroke go cart, won the Atlantic Canada Championship, much to the dismay of the male racers. Linda then graduated to a Tsunami Formula Ford. That lead to a larger, Toyota MR2 engine and wing which placed her in the Formula Ford 1600 series at Atlantic Motorsport Park in Shubenacadie. She placed sixth in the club championship in 1999, third in points in 2001, 2002 and 2003, and was the F2000 Champion in 2004.

After several serious accidents, one which left tire tracks from another open wheel race car on her helmet, Linda and Pat decided that open wheel racing was not for them any longer, and that they should try drag racing.

Remember, Pat had raced top fuel drag bikes back in Britain. Although they had made a pact to take a year off of racing, before starting into drag racing, that really only lasted four days when they caught wind of a rail dragster for sale…

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Pat , Linda & the Rail

at & early drag bike

Linda and Pat went to see the rail, which was in pretty rough shape, and when the owner started up the V8, Linda looked at Pat and said “yep, we’ll buy it.” The rail, named “The Bones” was Linda’s first stint into drag racing as well as her first time racing in a straight line. After Pat spent a great deal of time rebuilding the rail, their first race was at the Greenfield Drag Strip in Nova Scotia. No one knew who they were, but they soon took notice when Linda took the rail down the track and ran in the 8.00’s.

They raced the rail around the Maritimes for four or five years, going from the 454 that came in the rail, up through a 502, to an alcohol burning 540 CID motor that produced in excess of 1000 HP. After too many passes (283 passes in the 8s and 67 in the 7s), on too old a chassis, they decided to sell the rail and look for a funny car chassis.

One of their drag racing friends, Jeff Kempton, had purchased the fifth incarnation of one of Ken Veney’s BB/

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FC Veney’s Vegas and preserved it in his basement for 23 years before selling the car to Pat and his wife Linda.

Many had offered to buy the car from Jeff, but he didn’t want to sell to someone that would cut it up. This car was the last of the Veney’s Vegas, and by all accounts the fastest. With this particular car, Ken Veney won the 1976 Spring Nationals, Summer Nationals, the Winter Nationals, and Gator Nationals. Ken sold it in 1976 and it was raced by several others before being put in storage.

Jeff only agreed to sell to Linda and Pat because they knew the history of the car, and Pat had offered to restore the car for Jeff, before they discussed Linda and Pat purchasing the car. Linda and Pat are the sixth owners of the chassis and body, and have taken eight years to complete the restoration, all the time having some fun at the drag strip with the chassis!

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Historic Veney Vega Burnout

Histor

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The first incarnation of the funny car chassis (“The Bones II”) was as an Altered that Linda raced in the Maritimes for three or four years. Pat started the rebuild in 2012 by altering the chassis to fit Linda.

Pat has engineered, built, or had built almost all the components that make up the chassis. If there’s something that he doesn’t know how to build, and that’s probably not very much, he knows exactly who to go to for the proper parts.

Once the chase was complete, Pat rebuilt a Ken Cox full floater rear end sporting a Ford 9” centre and a one piece single axle. This was married to a Strange aluminum third member with 4:11 pro gears. The rear end joins to the motor through a Lencoglide (a Lenco with a torque converter) transmission that originally was in the rail and set up to handle up to 2200 bhp with the big 1 3/8” shafts. This car doesn’t produce that much horsepower, but with the ability to run in the 7:00’s, will repeat all day.

The motor, also out of the rail, ran 7.80 seconds at 68 mph with a 1.09 second sixty foot time. It’s an

all-aluminum Brodix BBC with dry sump, raised cam with Ford Nascar-style roller cam bearings, and an all Lunati rotating assembly. They traded the Enderle stack injection system for a tunnel ram/bird catcher to give a better look with the body down. Veney’s original race car had a Keith Black MK3 Hemi, but such an engine isn’t in the budget at the moment.

The Veney’s Vega chassis mated to an altered body made its debut at the Greenfield Drag strip in August 2013. As it happens, I was there that day and captured some images of the car in the pits, as well as making a few passes. The next time I saw the car was in 2016, it was still an altered, but sadly it was the last time it and Linda would race. During one of the time trials the car veered off the right side of the track and rolled a few times. The driver was fine, but the car was bent, the body destroyed. Not deterred, Linda jumped in friend Glen Walker’s rail and cranked out a 9.2!!! Pat, having just finished a battle with stomach and esophageal cancer, including their removal and 29 bouts of chemo, decided that this was a sign that their collective racing careers were done.

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ric Veney Vega shot

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Everyone’s all smiles during first practice runs 2013

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2016

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The exclamation point came when doctors later discovered Linda had detached retinas, from several significant crashes, and strongly advised that not race again.

However, not racing didn’t mean they couldn’t complete the task of restoring Veney’s Vega. With this in mind Pat set off to rebuild the chassis one last time, in order to place it under the fibreglass Ken Cox Vega body they had purchased from Jeff. With much help from Devon Whynot in Nine Mile River, NS, they converted the shell back to a Vega (had been modified into a Tempo by a previous owner/racer), fixed all the damaged fibreglass, added a layer of gel coat, and applied several coats of authentic red colour that they had scanned from a chip they found under the wing. Pat applied the stripes and sourced as many original decals Vol(1) Issue (4)

as he could. So now, after eight years, including one for Pat’s cancer treatments, the restoration is complete.

Sadly it will likely never make a pass down the track, at least not with Linda behind the wheel, but it truly is a piece of history, and the perfect bookend for a couple’s career of racing together and chasing the next dose of speed-induced adrenaline. A career that had them inducted into the Maritime Motor Sports Hall of Fame in 2015 in the Competitor Drag Car and Motorcycle Categories.

In case you’re worried about what the couple does in “retirement”, Linda still works for the government, finding adrenaline rushes by cave diving in the Caribbean, and Pat continues to build bad ass drag bikes and custom motors for anyone that needs his decades expertise to take their build to the next level.

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Dave and Dennis Garrett have spent the last few decades wrench to restore their mint ‘39 Dodge Businessman Coupe. After Dave sa table, and its future as a street rod was put in motion... Vol(1) Issue (4) Maritime Rod & Custom 26

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hing, restoring, and flipping cars , but never seemed to find time aw a couple of Joe Casey’s recent builds, restoration was off the Vol(1) Issue (4)

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Dave Garrett met Joe Casey at the 41st Annual PEI Street Rod Association meeting in Brudenell in 2019. Dave was very impressed with what Joe had done with the ’50 Chev panel that Dave had sold Norm Gallant for a street rod project Norm had commissioned Joe to build. Unlike the starting point for the ’50 Chev panel (see Jan 2020 issue), Dave’s ’39 Dodge was all original, and in substantially better condition. Although Dave and his son Dennis had restored and built their fair share of vehicles over the past few decades, they wanted to give Joe carte blanche to build them a street rod in his style.

The story with the Dodge starts in about 2006 when Dave and Dennis bought a ’37 Chev and the ’39 Dodge from a gentleman in Cape Breton, NS. They’ve sold the ’37 Chev since that time, but the ’39 Dodge has always sat waiting in their collection. The original plan was to restore the car, but they never found the time to get it done. So in 2019 they handed the car over to Joe and Eleanor Casey and asked them to build them a street rod. Their only non-negotiable request was that it needed to have air conditioning and a heater as their plan was to drive the car as much as possible.

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Dave and Dennis dropped the Dodge off at Joe’s garage sometime in December, 2019. Joe and Eleanor started the build immediately as Joe had plans of entering the car in the 2020 Radical Speed Sport show in Moncton, NB - just four months away. Joe’s first task, after removing all the chrome and stainless steel body trim was to fill all the holes. The final product would have very little chrome/stainless trim, and any that was necessary (e.g. grill) would be painted in the body colour. Joe also did his patented smoothing of the firewall to remove all the unnecessary holes, and to provide the engine bay with a clean, uncluttered look.

The original taillights were removed and replaced with frenched, aftermarket, digital 1930’s Ford taillights.

There was also the addition of a frenched license plate below the trunk. The original fuel filler position in the driver side back fender was retained, but shaved and replaced by a pop-up motorcycle style cover that was painted body colour. The front headlights remained original, but the signal lights were shaved from the top of the fenders and a custom LED set were placed near the base of the grill. Other than those changes the body remained stock.

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Most of the major modifications followed a typical Joe and Eleanor Casey build. The original four cylinder Mopar flat head was removed and exchanged (avert your eyes now Mopar fans…) for a 5.3L Chev LS married to a 4L60 automatic transmission built

by Coughlin Transmissions in Summerside, PEI. The original frame was cleaned, painted and modified to accept a Heidt’s Mustang II front end with adjustable coil overs, as well as a four link, adjustable coil over system in the rear attached to a Ford 9” with 3:25 gears.

The brakes are power disks on all four corners, covered with 5 spoke Ridler wheels that are 20” in the rear, and 17” in the front. All of these changes giving the car the aggressive, but totally drivable stance that you see.

Joe and Eleanor are also well known for their custom interior work, and the Dodge is another example of their attention to detail. Everything was removed, and holes filled, before putting it back together. The original dash was used, but was completely smoothed over before holes were drilled for a custom set of Autometer gauges. A new chrome tilt steering column and custom wheel replaced the original. Power tinted windows

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and power seats were added, along with a complete Vintage Air air conditioning system. The rear tray was modified to accept speakers for a custom sound system.

All interior panels are done in tuck and roll grey leather, and the same grey leather is used on the custom seats, wraps the custom dash, as well as the custom console.

Speaking of the custom console, you’ll note that there are no buttons or knobs on the dash. That’s because all buttons and knobs are hidden in an “accessories tray” behind a sliding panel, giving the interior a super clean look.

I’m sure those amongst you keeping score will realize this is the third Joe Casey build from PEI to be featured in 2020. He and his wife Eleanor definitely have a system in place that turns out amazing, well built, meant to be driven, street rods in a relatively short period of time. Remember Joe’s self-inflicted deadline of taking the car to Radical Speed Sport 2020 this past April? Well Covid spoiled that surprise, but Dave and Dennis attest to the car being ready to go, had there been a show!

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Owner: dave garrett

Tech Sheet Deets

rear suspension: ford 9” w/ 3:25 gears; 4-link

Location: st. peter’s bay, PEI

w/ adjustable coil overs; disk brakes

Vehicle: 1939 dodge Business man coupe

front suspension: heidt’s mustang II; disk

builder: joe & eleanor casey

build duration: ~5 months (dec ‘19-APr ‘20)

body mods: original, all steel body; all chrome deleted and holes filled; firewall filled painter: joe casey

motor: 5.3L ls; stainless hugger headers; custom exhaust

transmission: 4l60 4spd auto (coughlin transmission)

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brakes

WHEELS: rider rims - 20”(r); 17” (F)

INTERIOR MODS: custom dash; vintage A/c;

power tinted windows; power door locks;

power seats; chrome tilt column; auto meter

gauges; custom package tray; custom console w/ hidden controls for interior knobs and ignition

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Showtime started as a typical ‘71 Chevelle that Joe us Today, it’s the car that gets the most attenti Maritime Rod & Custom

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sed to bridge his car show needs while he built his ‘56. ion in his ever growing collection of cool cars.

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Joe’s admittedly a relative late comer to the custom show car scene. Joe’s history with mechanical mayhem included a ’73 Corvette in college, several motorcycles, and helping his dad wrench on classic cars. In 2002 Joe’s father found a 1957 Pontiac Chieftain in Nova Scotia. Joe went to help him pick it up and on the drive back Joe drove the car from Moncton to Neguac. Joe instantly fell in love with classic car culture, and told his dad “the bike’s for sale, I’m getting one of these!!!”

Once the bike was sold, Joe went out and bought himself a ’56 Chev Belair to build as a custom street rod project. Purchased as a blocked and sanded, ready to paint car, Joe thought he had it made. Unfortunately, someone else’s idea of ready for paint, isn’t always everyone’s idea of ready to paint. Joe ended up taking the car back to bare metal and removing way too much body fill. Knowing that this build was likely going to take at least three years, and having just sold his bike, Joe realized that he needed a toy to bridge the gap until the ’56 was complete. That’s where the Chevelle comes into the story.

The Chevelle also required some much needed

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work. After driving it 3.5 hours from point of purchase, the next day he was told that one of the wheel bearings was about two more rotations from him ending up in a ditch at the side of the road. It was also sorely underpowered with its factory 307. All those things aside, Joe fixed it up and drove it for a couple of years, attending the odd local car show, becoming part of the car show culture, and just generally having fun.

By the time the ’56 was done and started making a name for Joe on the car show circuit, his wife Lee said that he couldn’t sell the Chevelle as she had become somewhat attached to it. However, the ’56 had put a dent in the car building budget and they now had two young daughters.

When Joe decided he was going to build the Chevelle he wanted, it was going to be custom, and in the newly coined “resto mod” style, and on a strict budget. It had been a while since Joe had touched the Chevelle, as it sat for a few years while they enjoyed the ’56. Part of the problem was that the ’56 was different, garnered a lot of attention, and was the jumping point for each of Joe’s builds to be different, better, and original than what other builders were

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doing at the time. With this in mind Joe decided that everything on the Chevelle was going to have some level of custom touch. It would still look like a ’71 Chevelle, but it would leave muscle car enthusiasts scratching their head as to how it was different from a stock ’71 Chevelle.

Joe spent part of 2011 and early 2012 looking at car magazines and design ideas on line before he really started to tear into the Chevelle. One idea that caught his attention early on was taking a modern interior and putting it in a classic car. Not just the seats, but the dash and as much of the interior as could be customized to fit. This is how he came up with the idea to take the dash and console from a 2010 Camaro and carefully customize it to fit where the ’71 dash once presided. The door panels and back interior quarter panels are also custom designed fibreglass panels from Fesler Built Products. The panels were wrapped in leather and adorned with billet handles.

The last custom touch to the interior was to get electric, leather bucket seats from an ’09 Acura TL, that also ended up being the perfect donor car for back seat as well. The backrests were removed from the front seats, and the only modification required for the back seat

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was to cut the top half down a little as it was too tall to fit properly in the Chevelle. One word of caution that Joe wishes to pass on to folks that use donor electric seats from a newer car is “yellow.” Seems one of the yellow wires is meant for the seat’s side impact airbag, and when you’re trying different wires to make the seats functional, this is one wire to leave alone…

Although the car sits on the original frame, the suspension was upgraded to an airride system. The front received disk brakes, but the rear end has the original drum brakes. The rims are from Boss and measure 20x10 in the rear and 18x8 in the front.

The motor is a 6.0L LS motor out of a truck.

Originally Joe was going to put a big block in the car, but his friend Steve Wade talked him into the 6.0L LS motor. Big blocks are renowned for guzzling gas, and if not cooled properly have a tendency to overheat easily. Steve pointed out that Edelbrock had a carburetor kit for 6.0L LS motors, resulting in a high horsepower carbureted engine that is better on gas and doesn’t overheat. In the end the 6.0L LS also cost about half the price for building a big block engine with comparable power.

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Joe had some very specific ideas for customizing the Chevelle’s body, but first he needed to replace the rear quarters, the front clip, as well as get new doors and trunk lid from two donor cars. Once the body was sound, mods were numerous, but so subtle in some cases, they are easily overlooked. Starting from the top, the drip rails were shaved smooth. The door handles were removed and replaced with electronic door poppers. The pins on the hood were shaved and all the side markers were removed and filled. The most subtle, and maybe the modification that cause most people to scratch their head, is that rather than tucking the bumpers by cutting them into pieces and putting them back together, and possibly cutting the frame, the front fenders and rear quarter panels were extended into the bumpers with sheet metal. Not only does this refine the look of the car, it makes the car look longer than a standard Chevelle; a discussion Joe has had many times. Once all the modifications were complete, and the body was as smooth as possible, Joe had Ghislain Aubé spray House of Kolor’s “Blue Blood Red” over the entire body. At the time this particular colour was difficult to obtain as it used a pigment called Xirallic that adds shine to particular paints that aren’t metallic, but a solid colour. It just so

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happens that the only company producing the pigment was located in Onahama, Japan, a town devastated by the 2011 tsunami that also caused radiation to leak from the Fukushima reactor that wasn’t far from Onahama. After many months of persistence, Joe finally found the person at House of Kolor that knew where the quarts of Blue Blood Red were stored. The final “modification” to the body is not adding the double stripes on the hood and trunk. Although many questioned why Joe didn’t put the SS stripes on the car, I think everyone will agree that stripes would actually take away from the clean, looks like it’s moving while sitting still, styling that Joe had in mind when he started. After trying several different modifications to the exterior window trim Joe came across an article that he thought would be perfect for the Chevelle carbon fibre. Not a sticker, and obviously not real carbon fibre, but paint. The template for the pattern was rubber mesh that you would purchase to line a tool box, and the process involved sanding the stainless, adding one coat of primer, two coats of cast metal grey, covering the trim with the mesh and adding two coats of black, and finishing everything off with two coats of flat clear - voila, carbon fibre!!!

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Although the original plan was to unveil the build at the 2013 Radical Speed Sport, an issue with rear end gears delayed the Chevelle’s completion. When the car was finally complete, Joe first brought it out in public at the Atlantic Nationals in July 2013. While getting something to eat from the concessions, Brian Fuller, one of the show’s guest stars caught a glimpse of the car and made a bee line to see it. Winnie and Woody were sitting near the car and tried to get Joe to get back to the car so that Brian could ask him some questions.

Joe calls this his “builders validation” day. Awards are awesome to get at car shows, but when the award you receive comes from a top rank builder, you know you’ve done something right. Joe’s next validation for all of his hard work came when he entered the Vol(1) Issue (4)

Chevelle in 2014’s Radical Speed Sport. He was judged as one of the top six first time Canadian cars (Radical Speed Sports Hub City Six) and was a finalist for the much coveted Robertson Award.

At some point in 2014 Joe and his family came to the realization that custom car building was more than just a passing fad for Joe, and that his passion for car culture ran deep. In order to quench his new found thirst they made a deal with Greg Turner to purchase the Radical Speed Sport franchise and become the new faces of Atlantic Canada’s largest indoor car show.

Since then Joe has used his creative energy to take Radical Speed Sport to new heights. Does this mean he’s walked away from custom car building? Bite your tongue, and wait to see what 2021 brings…

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Owner: Joe Savoie

Tech Sheet Deets

Engine: 6.0L LS; 435HP; edelbrock carb

Location: Neguac, NB

Transmission: GM 700r4

Vehicle: 1971 Chevelle Builders: Joe savoie, Ghislain aube, steve wade, & Dale Hardy build time: 2008-2011 Body: shaved door handles, side markers, drip rails& hood pins;extended fenders & quarters; custom, carbon fibre paint on trim Painter: ghislain aube - house of kolor “hot blue blood red�

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rear Suspension: air ride; stock w drums Front suspension: Air ride; disk brakes Wheels & Tires: boss rims 20x10(r) 18x8 (f) Interior: 2010 camaro dash & console; fesler door panels; 2009 acura tl seats

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The saying “big things come in small packages” definitely describes the first few years of Cook Performance. But mark my words, I doubt they’re going to stay small for very long...

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Tucked in the back of Woodstock, New Brunswick’s industrial park is a relatively modest set of small buildings where big things are happening. Started in 2017, the year Brennan Cook graduated, Cook Performance has already garnered a trip across the Barrett Jackson stage on a Saturday Night (i.e. tv day!!!) with their wicked ’69 resto mod, pro touring Camaro. They also built a gorgeous 1952 Chev stepside pro touring pickup that produced a Hub City Six trophy, putting it in the running for the much coveted Robertson Award, at the 2019 Radical Speed Sport.

The idea of a performance speed shop began with Tim Cook (father) wanting to build a ’69 Camaro Pro Touring like no other he’d seen previously. Although

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the project got a little side-tracked, Tim hooked up with Scott Sharp and not only did they finish the ’69, but also a 1967 Camaro with a Pro-Charger punched big block. The ’69 is currently for sale in the USA, the ’67 is currently in one of the shop’s bays getting outfitted with a supercharged LT4, as well as repainted.

The shop started off fairly modestly. They started by doing several LS swaps for customers, but in late 2017, they decided they were going to build a pro touring style 1950’s Chev pickup. They debuted the company at the 2018 Radical Speed Sport with the rolling chassis for their ’52 Chev pickup build, along with Brennan’s personal truck, a Chev square body that he continues to work on today.

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Around the same time they were finishing up the truck in late 2018, their first customer, John Doucet, came into the shop looking for someone to completely update his 1968 Corvette convertible. On first inspection the car looked like it needed a lot of TLC, and that’s exactly what Cook Performance provided. Nothing was left untouched. The suspension was completely swapped out with a Ride-Tech Strongarm coil over system in the rear, and QA1 coil overs and Energy Suspension control arm bushings up front. All four corners received drilled and slotted disk brakes with red powder-coated calipers.

Rims are custom BC Forged Monoblock Aluminum, measuring 18x10 in the rear and 17x8 up front. The rims are wrapped in Nitto NT555 G2 rubber.

The biggest upgrade happened under the hood.

Cook Performance installed a 500hp LS2 6.0L with Fi-Tech fuel system, married to a 4L70E Chevrolet

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Performance gear box. The exhaust is stainless, front to back, and exits through a custom, molded rear tail pan.

The final modifications happened in the interior, where nothing was left untouched. The seats are from TMI Interiors, the console is custom, and the collapsible steering column is courtesy Flaming River. Gauges are Dakota Digital and the sound system is Kenwood.

Although the fully functional convertible top was also replaced, a complete Vintage Air A/C system was also installed.

The final step was paint. Scott Sharp applied a custom metallic blue to the entire body, as well as the custom covers on the engine. Started in December 2018, John took delivery of his “brand new” ’68 Corvette Convertible in Oct 2019.

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The next customer, Dwight Fraser, came to Cook Performance looking to update his 1969 Plymouth Road Runner in May of 2019. Coming on the tail end of the Barrett Jackson build, Dwight’s request started out fairly simple, updated interior and paint.

The Cook’s did as Dwight asked, including putting the original 383 CID Mopar power plant back in the car.

Unfortunately the 383 had seen better days, and a few days before Dwight was to get the car back, the motor spun a rod bearing and started a cascade of changes that resulted in one of the nicest Road Runners in New Brunswick.

Now that the car needed a motor, the decision was to go with a 505HP, 6.4L, 392 crate motor and T56 Magnum 6 speed. The exhaust was also upgraded to a TTI 3” stainless system with an ‘H’ pipe.

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All of these changes cascaded into replacement of the original K-member with a Gerst GTS front K-member, including coil overs, Wilwood brakes, and powder coated Wilwood calipers. Out back the 8 ¾” rear end with 4:11 gears was hung from Hotchkis rear leaf springs, resulting the stance being lowered 2”.

Back brakes were updated with an All the Right Stuff disk brake conversion kit. The final touch was a set of American Racing’s Rodder series rims, measuring 20x10 and 18x8, all wrapped in Nitto’s NT555 G2’s.

Other than the new seat covers and carpet, requested in the initial build, the gauges were upgraded to Dakota Digital, tunes crank through a Retrosound radio, and passengers keep cool thanks to a complete Vintage Air A/C system.

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Dwight was so happy with the Road Runner’s progress, post engine failure, that he asked Cook Performance to take on the build of a 1938, four door, Buick Special Custom. Initially questioning how they might make such a big, heavy, audacious car cool, they decided to do it Pro Touring Style, with a completely updated power plant and suspension, but also with a luxurious interior with all the amenities.

The build started in December 2019, and if not for Covid-19 delays would have likely been completed for the 2020 Radical Speed Sport. One look at the car, even in its current 75% completed state, you get the sense that this isn’t your great grand dad’s Buick.

Although appearing very much “stock”, absolutely nothing has been left untouched.

Starting from the bottom, the original frame was completely dismantled before being boxed, having custom motor mounts added, as well as a custom tubular mounting bar for the rear coil over system. The rear end comprises a custom, Ride-Tech 4-link system with Heidt’s coilovers. The front suspension is also Ride-Tech, including tubular control arms, coilovers, and sway bar. Brakes are drilled and slotted disks with powder coated calipers. The rims are custom, modular units from BC Forged, 20x10 in the rear and 19x8.5 in the front, all wrapped in Nitto NT555 G2 rubber.

Big wheels and tires on an old car means big modifications to the body panels. The front and rear fenders were widened 3”. This resulted in the need for a custom pair of side steps. The rear roll pan is custom fabricated to allow them to eliminate the rear bumper. This in turn required the license plate to be frenched into the trunk lid.

The 500HP, 366CID motor once resided in a 2008 Pontiac G8.

That is until it met its demise and ended up in a local wrecking yard.

Luckily, the shop has a wiring whiz in Chris Morin. He was able to take the motor from the G8 and marry its wiring harness to the American Autowire harness they are using in the rest of the car. One aspect of the motor that really stands out to me is the completely custom cold air intake system fashioned to use the original vent system in the side panels of the Buick’s hood.

The interior, when complete is going to be luxurious to say the least. It has all the typical street rod goodies like an Ididit steering column and custom wheel, Vintage Air A/C system, and Dakota Digital Gauges. Where the interior goes to there next level is the custom Kenwood touch screen that will run everything in the interior, inset into a custom molded console, and surrounded, like other areas of the dash, with custom bird’s eye maple to give it a vintage 1930’s look. The seats are from TMI interiors, but the custom molded door panels, headliner and rear inner quarters are built by Scott Sharp. Yep, the same guy that painted the car…

Since 2017 they’ve built a few more buildings, much of which is required for much needed parts storage. What the future holds is anyone’s guess, but rolling a car across the stage at Barrett Jackson on a Saturday night, garnering some of the top awards in the Maritimes, and building custom ride-like-they’re-on-rails cars seems to be the perfect recipe for success for a not so little performance shop tucked away on a side street in Woodstock, NB.

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Stu’s Special D

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How do you repay someone for thanklessly Secretly invite one of the best pinstipers to apply the Maritime Rod & Custom

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Deluxe Sedan

giving of his time and expertise for years? e finishing touches to his personal custom creation!!!

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Stu has built quite a few hot rods, helped friends build hot rods, and is a go-to-guy for advice on body work and paint help in the Moncton area. Stu has never been much for car shows and such, primarily building his cars to drive. Past cars he’s built and owned typically come out in April and go back in storage in November. The ’40 is about 95% complete, just needing a few tweaks and a bit of finishing in the interior.

Building a ’40 Chev Special Deluxe wasn’t Stu’s first choice for a hotrod. Originally he was playing with the idea of building a ’32 Ford Coupe. However, the’40 came up for sale after the owner, looking to build a street rod himself, realized how much work there was to

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do, and how much a paint job would likely cost.

The car was just a body and frame, no running gear, and far from complete. Stu decided to put it away for a few years so that he could raise his family, finally bringing it out of storage in 2016.

Stu started with the frame, chopping the front off, back to the firewall, and sistering in a Fatman Fabrications front sub frame with QA-1 coil-overs and disk brakes. After that, he replaced the rear end with a Chassis Engineering Inc. rear spring kit that he mounted to a Camaro rear end with drum brakes. The chassis became a roller when he added 17” American Racing Torque Thrust wheels on 235/55/17 Falken Directional rubber.

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The body is very much custom, having all of the chrome and stainless removed and the panels nosed, decked and shaved. The door corners were rounded, and a custom roll pan was built for the rear. The most significant customization touch came when the car was almost ready for paint. One Saturday Stu looked at the car and thought to himself “it looks too top heavy.” The only way to cure that is to chop the top. So at 3:00PM he taped off 4” and after the first cut conceded that he was in for the long haul. The change was more than just removing the top heaviness of the car, it ultimately required the rear pillars to be modified to match the new top. In order for the roof to sit properly, but also alleviate a lot of extra metal work, Stu decided to lean the back window forward. This not only made the Vol(1) Issue (4)

front of the roof more in line with the back, but also gave the two door sedan more of a “coupe” look. All the modifications meant that the original glass would no longer fit, so Stu opted for a custom, flush mounted V-Butt windshield and custom, flush mounted rear window.

After the car was finally painted and cleared, several of Stu’s closest friends, many of whom have had input from Stu on bodywork and paint, got together and asked Charlie Decker if he would pinstripe the car as a surprise for Stu. Charlie jumped at the chance and pinstriped the car after his most recent visit to the Atlantic Nationals. After Charlie was done the car was cleared a second time in order for the pinstripes to be permanent.

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When it came time to think of the drive train, Stu wanted drivability above all else. His choice was a Chev small block with gear drive system. A four barrel Edelbrock Quadrajet carb to feed the motor, and a custom 2 ½” exhaust system with Flowmaster mufflers so that people know that he’s coming. The motor is mated to a Shepp’s 700R transmission with a Lokar shifter.

The Lokar shifter isn’t the only custom piece in the interior. Stop and go are controlled by a set of Lokar pedals, and the car is kept on the straight and narrow thanks to an ididit column and custom wood-trimmed steering wheel. The custom dash holds a set of Stuart

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Warner Wings gauges, as well as a Kenwood Audio & Backup Camera installed by Audio Crew. The console is custom fabricated and is home to the controls for a complete Vintage Air A/C system. All of the custom black and orange interior and trunk work is courtesy of Debbie Doherty.

Although it has taken longer than originally expected due to the Covid pandemic, Stu’s custom ’40 Chev is now inspected and licensed. Given the fact is was built to drive, and there are still several more nice cruising days before the weather turns to winter, you can bet you’ll likely see Stu driving around southern New Brunswick until at least early November.

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Tech Sheet Deets

Owner: Stuart macpherson Location: Riverview, NB Vehicle: 1940 Chev special deluxe Builder: stuart macpherson build time: 2016-2020 Body Mods: 4” chop; custom rear pan; rounded door corners; shaved handles; nosed; decked; shaved; FLUSH MOUNTED V-BUTT WINDSHIELD; FLUSH MOUNTED REAR GLASS Paint: Stuart macpherson; PINSTRIPING BY CHARLIE DECKER Engine: 350CID; edelbrock 4bbl quadrajet Transmission: shepp’s 700R; LOKAR SHIFTER Front suspension: Fatman front

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sub frame with QA-1 coil-overs; disk brakes rear Suspension: chassis engineering rear spring kit Wheels: 17” AMERICAN RACING TORQUE THRUST; FALKEN DIRECTIONAL TIRES - 235/55/17 Interior: STEWART WARNER GAUGES; LOKAR PEDALS AND TRIM; CUSTOM CONSOLE; CUSTOM BLACK AND ORANGE INTERIOR BY DEBBIE DOHERTY; PINSTRIPING BY CHARLIE DECKER; KENWOOD AUDIO AND BACKUP CAMERA; VINTAGE AIR A/C; IDIDIT TILT COLUMN

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Built for Fu

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Many builds and buys have come and gone since th but the 80,000+ miles on the odometer point to the f Maritime Rod & Custom

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un ‘31

he completion of the traditional 1931 Chevy Coupe, fact it’s the go to cruiser for Bill and Debbie Doherty Vol(1) Issue (4)

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Why a 1931 Chevrolet Independence 3 window Sport Coupe? Well…

In 1994 the Greater Moncton Street Rod Association hosted the Canadian Street Rod Nationals.

They knew Bill was good with numbers, having spent much of his life in the financial industry, so they asked him to be the Treasurer. The only catch was that he would have to join the car club; meaning that he could no longer be in the muscle car club to which he had belonged for several years. It also meant that he needed to dig a little deeper into the classic vehicle bag as all members had to have vehicles that were pre-1958.

He decided it was probably best to sell a couple of muscle cars to finance a hot rod build or purchase, and decided to sell his ’70 Chevelle and ’65 GTO. While searching for a car he came across a ’31 Chev that had been built in 1983 by Brian Harper, a well know builder in New Brunswick. Another friend, Ralph Simpkins, actually owned the car and one day while out for a drive with Bill looked at him and said “you should buy this car.” For Bill, the car checked a bunch of boxes. It was a hot rod, pre-1958, and a GM. Bill was always a hardcore GM follower since his father

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worked for Lawson Motors, a Pontiac Dealer no longer in business, so the family always owned GM vehicles.

Ralph sweetened the deal by quoting Bill a price that included a one colour paint job.

In the winter of 1995, after Bill purchased the ’31, he and Ralph stripped it, as well as Ralph’s new ’34 Ford Tudor sedan, and started the repainting process. The final colour choice, that you see under the flames and pin striping, was Ford’s sapphire blue.

Another well known pin striper and automotive artist, Brian Hansen, painted the Cadillac pearl white and custom blended flames and added the electric blue pin stripe around them. The blue pin striping on the rear deck, just below the trunk was also painted by Brian, but was actually done to cover up a scratch Bill put in the paint while putting a lawn chair in the trunk on his way to the car’s debut at the 1995 Speed Sport Show.

Brian added those lines as well as the etched rear glass in about 10 minutes while the Show was setting up on Thursday evening.. One often overlooked detail is that when the doors are open the flames continue into the doors, as well as the inner door frame. The larger pinstriping on the trunk lid was added by Charlie Decker a few years later.

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The first year the car was on the road Bill ran the Centerline wheels that originally came with the car.

Knowing he ultimately wanted wide whites and a more traditional hot rod style, he soon purchased Wheel Vintique steelies, 15” in the rear, 14” in the front, that were painted the same custom blended orange that is found in the tips of the faded flames, and wrapped them in BF Goodrich Silvertown Radials.

For the most part the body is completely original, other than the reversed front bumper, swan neck mirrors by Pete and Jakes, King Bee headlights and frenched third brake light to keep things safe. Bill also added a new reproduction of the original Chevrolet Eagle hood ornament/radiator cap. The chassis is a boxed original unit, massaged by well known fabricator, Brian Harper, using a trick coil spring rear set up from an early Chevelle with a custom built front set up employing tubular upper and lower control arms, Chevy Monza springs and shocks and a manual rack from a VW Jetta to get that proper rear steer set up for the car.

Motivation is provided by a GM Performance Parts 350/300 HP unit topped with an Edelbrock intake and carb. Exhaust is a custom system with Magnaflow Mufflers. The transmission is a Shepp’s 700R.

The nostalgic vibe laid down by the exterior is complemented by a trick fully custom upholstery job

by Bill’s wife and hot rodding partner, Debbie, who restored and upgraded the stock 1931 Chevy seat and added matching tuck and roll seat, door panels and yes,

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even the roof! Power windows and cruise control is provided by Dakota Digital and Vintage Air keeps Bill and Debbie cool on those long road trips as they groove to the tunes from the Rockford Fosgate/Kenwood stereo installed into a custom overhead console by Bentley and the boys at Audio Crew. Steering input provided by a chrome column from ididit, mated to polished shafts and joints from Borgeson. Pedals and dress up goodies from Lokar complete the look.

The car remains in pristine condition and is a legacy to a well thought out and executed build.

Originally conceived by Brian Hansen in 1983 and re-imagined and refreshed by the present owner in 1995 with only subtle updates since. One would almost think the car spent most of its life under wraps in a garage. Nothing could be further from the truth. Bill and Debbie have put almost 85,000 miles on the car since its purchase in 1995. The car’s been everywhere including eight laps at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a few trips to Florida, several to Tennessee and North Carolina, and too many times to count to Ontario and Quebec. Bill retired in 2009 and decided that his new phase in life would include continuing to chair the Atlantic Nationals, one of Canada’s largest Automotive Events, as well as building several very cool rides.

Although he now has a few to choose from, with some exciting additions nearing completion, he and his wife Debbie always find the time to enjoy their trusty and oh so reliable old flame ’31 Chevy.

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Owner: Bill & Debbie Doherty Location: Allison, NB

Tech Sheet Deets

Vehicle: 1931 Chev Independence 3 window coupe Builders: Brian Harper (1983);

Bill Doherty (1995) Body Mods: None - stock steel

Painters: Body By Ralph simpkins; Flames & Pinstripes by Brian Hanson Engine: GM Performance 350; 300HP

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Transmission: Shepp’s 700R Front suspension: Custom

rear Suspension: custom Wheels & Tires: Wheel Vintique Interior: Custom Tuck & roll (Debbie Doherty; ididit column; stewart warner gauges; vintage air; dakota digital cruise & pwr windows; custom kenwood stereo lokar pedals and accessories

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gangster style

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What happens when you win the Grand Prize giveaway car at the 2 Well, you sell it of course and go full Maritime Rod & Custom

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2019 Atlantic Nationals, but realize it ‘s not completely your style??? blown 1940 Tudor Ford Gangster!!!

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When Louis and his girlfriend Lucia first rolled up in the ’40, all I could think was Bonnie and Clyde ca.

2020, expecting to see a couple of Tommy guns in the backseat…

The ’40 is not Louis’ first hot rod, and likely won’t be his last. Louis has always been attracted to more nostalgic builds than highly modified customs that swap engines and dramatically change the original configuration of the car with new parts. Louis’ love for nostalgia was seriously tested in 2019 after winning the Atlantic Nationals Grand Prize Giveaway custom ’50 Ford. Although not seriously customized, the motor was GM, and much of the original car had been customized enough that Louis felt it wasn’t quite his style.

So after enjoying the car for the last few months of 2019’s summer, he found a buyer in Ohio. Louis also found a 1940 Ford Standard Tudor sedan for sale in Sarnia, ON. After a few phone calls, including to Louis’ car hauler friend, a meetup in Sarnia was organized for a two car exchange. Louis’ car hauler took the ’50 to Sarnia, unloaded it for the buyer from Ohio, and then loaded the ’40 bring back to Moncton - smoothest

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exchange ever, 10 minutes flat!!!

Once it was back in Moncton Louis was surprised to find that the car started and ran, having purchased it sight unseen except for the photos the owner sent via email. He quickly made a few minor changes including swapping the original transmission for a Ford F150 T170 4 speed with overdrive that he was able to bolt to the original bell housing. Louis also changed the 6 volt system to a 12 volt system. The car is typical of a 1950’s hot rod in terms of traditional style and stance.

The interior is original, but was reupholstered in period correct fabric at some point.

The stance was already set by a previous owner and included a Posie’s Superslide Parallel leaf springs mated to a ’53 F1200 rear axle with original brakes.

Posie’s Superslide leaf spring setup was also uses up front, along with a 4” drop axle.

Louis was quick to point out the main difference between a 1940 Ford Standard, his car, and a 1940 Ford Deluxe. The grille on the standard has less chrome, the bezels around the headlights are painted, and a radio wasn’t even an option, thus no antenna in the top centre of the windshield.

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The motor is a factory 59A flathead sporting a 221CID with a single 2 BBL Holley 94 carb that produces 85 HP. While Louis loves the traditional 50’s look of the car, and wants to keep the flathead motor, he finds it sorely underpowered. To fix this he has put in motion an engine rebuild that uses the same block (59A flat head), but it will sport a Mercury crank, be bored over +0.30, and have two 2BBL carbs sitting atop the intake. This setup should add about 40+ HP, but also give the car a more aggressive tone.

Louis is also excited about representing the Denver

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Deton8tors Car Club, a club that prides itself in nostalgic hot rods and customs. One of their members, who is a friend of Louis’ on Facebook, was discussing car club loyalty. Louis remarked “how cool it was to see their members proudly representing the D.D.C.C. every chance they had.” Louis then asked what does one have to do to be in their car club?

“For you??!!! Heck yeah!!” You definitely are welcome to represent us, we have guys representing us in other countries too here and there. Once his application is complete Louis will be their first member from north of the 49th parallel!

Tech Sheet Deets

Owner: Louis Degrace Location: dieppe, NB Vehicle:: 1940 FOrd standard Tudor Vehicle Body Mods: None - All Original Original Engine: 59AS Flathead; 12 volt conversion; Single Holley 94 2BBL Carb Vol(1) Issue (4)

Transmission: t170 Ford 4 Spd O.D. rear Suspension: Posie springs & ‘53 Ford f100 Front suspension: posie spring & 4” drop axle Interior: Stock

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