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Words / Pics - Paul Beck

Chassis Pics - Charlie Sant / KNGR Media

Summernats 35 featured no less than 24 new car unveils and one of those was Brett Hewerdine’s stunning 1949 Ford Coupe. Affectionately known as a ‘single spinner’, the ’49 is a popular choice amongst Ford faithful, but none however have been just as wild as Brett’s. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen this car on many different occasions and at one stage, there was an injected Hemi taking up most of the space in the engine bay. Brett however is a blower guy and with Pro Flo Performance handling the build, there was never any chance that the 600-cube big block Chev was ever going to be fed by just one carby! In fact, forget about a regular street blower too, this big cube Chev has been topped with one of Littlefield’s big dawgs, a 14/71 supercharger and polished injector hat. In an era where black seems to the flavour of the month(s) for newly built engines, it’s refreshing to see Brett’s pumped 600-cuber with a highly polished top end! Internally, Paul has used only the best components available, which will not only produce lots of horsepower (around 1300 conservatively), but also test out the might of the TH400 box that backs the engine.

When your previous ride broke the Internet upon its release, how do you back up that sort of notoriety? Simple, build an even tougher ride! Could Brett even top his black, blown and tubbed ‘1FATHT’ HT GTS Monaro? Oh, yeah…

Brett had been to the shop and fired up the blown Chevy for the first time and couldn’t get the smile off his face.

The underside of the ’49 has seen more work than most of Hollywood’s A-listers, showcasing the fabrication skills that Pro Flo Performance have become well-known for. Ditching any signs of the late 40’s technology, the chassis now features a fabricated independent front end with tube a-arms, Mittler Bros hydrashocks and rack and pinion steering. The ride height is adjustable and normally, you’d use airbags to get your ride this low and then back up again for regular driving. But Brett was a little wary of the airbags capabilities when dealing with the blown Chev’s power, so he located a quartet of Mittler Bros Hydrashock’s that are lifted and dropped hydraulically and actually ride on a coil-spring. Very clever! Down the back, the narrowed rails have a four-link to located the sheet-metal diff housing. There’s also a set of wheel tubs to house the 22x12-inch Schott Billet wheels (with 20x6-inch on the nose) that do their best to hide the Wilwood discs on each corner.

Whilst the body appears to be restored, there’s lots of little tricks added to make you wonder why it looks like it does. From the engine bay to the bonnet latch panel and onto the floor, it’s all about being smooth. And after the body shaping had been completed, the new colour was added, aptly called Hellbent Red. It comes as no surprise to learn that father and son duo, Andrew and Marty Ash at AA Panelcraft handled the body and paint duties. Their work is flawless.

Moving inside, it too has had a complete makeover thanks to the team at Stitched Up Custom Trim. The interior is a lifetime away from what the Ford engineers had dreamed up all those years ago. Gone are the lifeless bench seats, boring door trims and a dash that offered only the basic information. The low back buckets and reshaped rear bench have been covered in a stylish mix of Bentley Tan leather with metallic Charcoal inserts whilst the multi-layered door trims continue the theme. A custom centre console has been added to house the shifter and window switches etc. From the driver’s position, Brett has complete view of the reworked dash (fabbed in house at Pro-Flo) that now has all the info he needs in the one cluster. Sitting below the billet tilt steering column are the foot-operated handbrake, and the drag racing inspired ‘go’ pedal! The interior is all class, complimented by the brown/tan combination German squareweave carpet underfoot. Interestingly, the ’49 has had some technology added to the trim, with a few 3D printed items making their way into the build.

Brett told me that he has been made a pretty good offer on the car and may well part ways with it, but when I arrived at Pro Flo to get some extra pics, the boys told me that Brett had been to the shop and fired up the blown Chevy for the first time and couldn’t get the smile off his face. Does this mean it will be in the Hewerdine garage for a little longer? I hope so…

And after the body shaping had been completed, the new colour was added, aptly called Hellbent Red.