14 minute read
South Island Special
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
We’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
Having called in sick during the car’s sedan days, the Hemi was given the full works during a major rebuild. Bored out from the stock 330 to 345ci and stuffed with racing pistons, solid lifters, adjustable push rods and stainless steel valves, its cam was reground and its heads were ported and polished. The coup de grace was a rare dual quad De Soto inlet manifold sporting a pair of Edelbrock 500s, complemented by chrome De Soto valve covers and a polished generator
A careless artic driver very nearly totalled the car altogether – but the insurance money soon went on the purchase and build of a ’56 Chrysler Hemi
with a set of Vintique chrome reverse rims, while a set of custom nerf bars replaced the stock chrome bumpers.
Since first hot rodding the ’34, Johnny replaced the tired stock Flathead with a more streetable Ford V6 motor. And it was with this set-up that he was able to join the newly reformed Vintage Hot Rod Association and run at the first Pendine event in 2013 – setting a time in the late sixcylinder class of 86.70mph that would stand as a record for the next six years.
Prior to his assault on the sand, however, an unfortunate incident occurred, forcing Johnny to make yet another unplanned change to the sedan – the removal of the fenders and running boards, brought about by being cut up on the motorway by a careless articulated lorry driver who very nearly totalled the car altogether. Scary stuff indeed – though the weight saved by losing the heavy steel fenders must have helped the ’34 achieve its record on the beach!
Johnny went on to tell us that another benefit of this episode was the resulting insurance money – which soon went on the purchase and build of the ’56 Chrysler Hemi that saw duty in the sedan the following year. Ultimately, that engine went into the roadster you’re looking at here, too.
The engine swap to the Hemi was completed in time for the 2014 Pendine event, which now saw the sedan competing in the hotly contested L8/C (Late V8/Closed Car) class. Johnny hoped the bigger V8 would see him into the VHRA’s coveted 100mph club and he wasn’t disappointed. ‘It became the fastest 5-seater at Pendine that year!’ he told us.
The engine was later found to have some serious issues, leading to it being rebuilt in the specification which remains today. It also upped its recorded speed on the beach, as you’d expect.
In the meantime, Johnny and his wife Sarah made the decision to move from Leicestershire and buy a house on The South Island. Sounds exotic… think somewhere in the Pacific, or maybe the Caribbean, or New Zealand at the very least.
Now think the Isle of Wight. Less commonly associated with mojitos, but still exotic enough. Moving there meant Johnny would lose his workshop, but he figured that since he was basically retiring anyway, he could probably live without it.
If moving was the first major decision, though, the second was that having achieved his goal with the sedan, and no longer needing a ‘family’ sized rod, he would rebuild it into something he’d always wanted – a roadster. His plan was to remove the Tudor body and replace it with a lighter ’34 roadster body – something he could accomplish at his new home, even without the benefit of a workshop.
The result was this here ’34 – the South Island Special.
Much of the technical stuff remained from when the car was still a sedan. The chassis is the original stock ’34, though Johnny boxed it for strength and removed the rear frame horns in order to fit ’32 horns and a ’32 fuel tank.
The rear suspension, although retaining the original Ford set-up of a transverse spring and stock wishbone, has been upgraded to a Dana 44 live axle and Volvo shocks, with a Posies reverse eye spring replacing the stock item. Similarly, a Posies spring is used on the front, with a ’32 heavy axle which Johnny has dropped and drilled.
The front brakes now boast a Lincoln selfadjusting kit from Wilson Welding – a very effective set up without going too modern and upgrading to discs. Johnny already knew this as he had used the same stuff on
The ‘34 was first seen as a Flathead-powered hot rod at the 2011 Hayride, in what Johnny then decided was the wrong shade of yellow. Next thing you know, it was black, packing a Ford V6 and, running fenderless thanks to a coming together with an HGV, it set a class record at Pendine which stood for six years
his previous coupe. The steering, meanwhile, is a combination of a ’40 Ford column mated to a Borgeson/Vega set-up from Duksville, with a ’40 wheel on top.
Now, back to that poorly Hemi which almost didn’t make it back from Pendine in the sedan. It was treated to a full rebuild, including being bored out from the stock 330 to 345ci. Racing pistons were added and the cam reground, with the heads being ported and polished and a set of solid lifters, adjustable push rods, and stainless steel valves from US Hemi specialist Hot Heads being fitted. The built motor is fired by a Joe Hunt magneto, with the icing on the cake being a rare dual quad De Soto inlet manifold sporting a pair of Edelbrock 500s.
An interesting historical note here. This rare manifold was only offered new on the 1957 De Soto Adventurer – which, off the showroom floor with a stock displacement of 345ci, was the first production car to boast one brake horsepower per cubic inch. Safe to say Johnny’s can do that too.
What’s more, there aren’t many engines that are more impressive looking than a Chrysler Hemi V8. And this one is no exception. Johnny dressed it up with chrome De Soto valve covers and a polished generator, though the motor fills the ’34’s engine compartment so much that you really can’t see much more than that. He solved the tight squeeze between the carbs and the hood by fitting a pair of chrome Harley Davidson air filters mounted flat.
The headers and exhaust were another clearance challenge, which Johnny overcame by making up his own system.
Also under there somewhere is a GM TH350 auto with a ‘Saturday Night Special’ Torque Converter, shifted via a cool chrome Gennie Shifter stick.
As we’ve mentioned, all this cool stuff had already been done when Johnny made the decision to turn his ’34 sedan into a
Johnny’s wife Sarah got involved with the built at the trim stage, creating the cool black and white interior whose details just keep jumping out at you the more you look at it. If you’re reading this caption before going through the main text of the article, try guessing where that buttoned bench seat started its life. Clues include David Beckham, The Kinks and Stanley Holloway’s passport…
roadster. So job one was to part the body from the chassis and sell it (it’s already back on the road with its new owner) while he looked for a replacement.
What he found was a new and unused ’34 Corner roadster body that had been through the Rodline company but never sold. The quality fibreglass body was strengthened with oak bracing throughout, and a Speedway ’34 dash had been fitted in place of the Rodline item.
Before fitting the new body to the chassis, Johnny channeled it at the rear for a lower stance. He also applied the straight black paint, while his wife Sarah took care of the cool black and white themed interior trim which complements the understated looks and still features many neat details. Incidentally, the buttoned bench seat in the roadster originally saw many miles’ service on the London Victoria Line, as it was previously from a tube train.
Johnny completed the car’s transformation with every intention of entering it into the following year’s Pendine races. But that same year, the VHRA was compelled to introduce a new regulation requiring open cars to be fitted with a full safety roll bar and race harness. While completely understandable from a safety point of view, many racers, Johnny included, made the decision not to make these changes for what amounted to one weekend’s use a year – especially since no such rule existed to prevent him from running a 13.3-second quarter mile at a Santa Pod RWYB meet while keeping the looks and integrity of a finely finished traditional hot rod.
And on the subject of things that are finished, this article almost is. Though the story continues. We had been on the car’s case for a while by the time we took these pictures, and in that time Johnny had sold it on to new owner, Lenny Porter. Lenny loves the car, which is just as well as he bought it, and has changed nothing on it.
He was also most insistent that he should step back and have the story give full credit for the build to Johnny. And good for him. It might sound a bit obvious, but it’s not always the case when finished hot rods find new owners. Enjoy the car, Lenny – Johnny knows it’s in good hands.
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