Just over a decade ago, Johnny Best debuted a yellow ‘34 2-door sedan at the Hot Rod Hayride. It didn’t stay yellow for long… and since then it has turned into the roadster it was perhaps always destined to become Words and pics: Keith Harman
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e’ve all seen old hot rods celebrated as ‘survivor cars’. In case you’ve ever wondered what the term ‘survivor’ actually means in this context, it refers to a car that’s relatively unchanged from its original build – something of a rarity in the rodding world, since customised vehicles, and hot rods in particular, tend to evolve over the years from their first incarnation or build style. This can be because of several reasons. Changes of ownership, evolving trends in stye… or, worse, being neglected to the point of decay.
This ‘34 roadster isn’t any of these things. On the contrary, it’s a hot rod that has continually changed for the better – those changes having all been made by one man, Johnny Best. Johnny will be well known to long-term readers of CC, as we’ve previously featured two cars he built. Probably the best known was a traditionally styled ’34 coupe, also black and also with Johnny’s favourite choice of engine, a Chrysler Hemi. That was back in the 90s. And some years later, history was to repeat itself when Johnny acquired an original, steel ’34 2-door sedan, a car that had been floating
around the scene as a stocker. Wasting no time, he cracked on with the build, the car reappearing at the 2011 Hot Rod Hayride complete with a healthy chop, chrome 5-spokes, a ’57 Chevy dashboard and a bright yellow coat of paint. However, though looking cool, it didn’t last long in this guise. ‘It was the wrong shade of yellow,’ Johnny told us, so back into the paint booth it went, re-emerging in straight black. A change of wheels also saw the car
38 CUSTOM CAR WINTER 2023
4pp Lenny Porter '34 Roadster.indd 38
11/11/2022 20:41
