THE ONE-DAY COUPE, PART 2

Here’s what Troy Ladd, the owner of Hollywood Hot Rods, does on his one day off per week.

Tony Thacker

❱The last time we dropped in on Troy Ladd, he had just started work on his One-Day Coupe. Not a hot rod built in a day—that would be nigh-on impossible—but rather a car built on the one day a week he has off from running Hollywood Hot Rods in Burbank, California.

Inspired to build something that was quick, simple, and inexpensive, Troy dug through his abandoned pile of parts and came up with a chopped ’31 coupe body and a Brookville Roadster Lakester chassis that had been ordered for a customer whose build went in a different direction. The engine is an old Chrysler 392 Hemi block he had in storage for years. “It was enough to make a good start,” said Troy.

During that first visit, Troy assembled the rolling chassis using mostly So-Cal Speed Shop parts up front, including a transverse leaf spring and a traditional dropped-and-drilled I-beam axle located by split wishbones. Out back was a quick-change axle that had been a Speedway Engineering display piece, suspended on a Model A spring and located with So-Cal ladder bars. Tube shocks were used front and rear. It was all simple, tried-and-true parts.

This time around, Troy worked on the front brakes and the driveshaft loop. The front brakes are very traditional ’56 Buick items of the kind used by hot rodders for years. Some people have even reengineered them to accept a disc brake while retaining the classic Buick finned drum. Troy’s original drums were found in the parts pile, and he soon had them machined to fit the Ford spindles and backing plates.

Once the front brakes were resolved, Troy moved on to the driveshaft safety loop, using a $23.99 kit from Summit Racing. “You can’t make the parts for $24,” said Troy. “It’s so much quicker, easier, and cheaper to just order them.”

Unfortunately for Troy, because the shop was so busy his own project had been pushed outside, half in the sun. However, he’s a fast worker who makes quick decisions, so progress is therefore equally quick.

02 These early Lincoln backing plates are designed to fit the 1937-41 round-style early Ford spindles. The Lincoln brakes are easy to adjust, simple to service, and have 2-inch-wide shoes.

03 The Buick backing-plate assemblies are very similar to the Ford parts but have a small hole for the Buick spindle assembly, hence the Lincoln backing plates.

04 The stock ’56 Buick brake shoes are wider than the early Ford shoes, at 2¼ inches compared to the Ford 1¾-inch shoes. This affords a considerable increase in effective lining area.

05 Troy brushed some Dykem on the leading edge of the backing plate before installing the drum and snugging it up.

06 After installing the Buick drum, Troy spun it up to ascertain where the drum was interfering with the backing plate. You will be able to hear it if it touches, and it will show witness marks when the drum is removed.

07 You can just see the blue Dykem that Troy applied to the aluminum drum behind the sleeve. When the drum is installed on the spindle and turned, any interference will rub the Dykem off.

08 The drum was put into Troy’s Bridgeport milling machine so that the aluminum part behind the sleeve could be milled back to accommodate the early Ford backing plate.

09 With the drums machined, Troy reinstalled them onto the spindles and spun them again just to verify he had milled away enough material from the drum.

10 Shown here is a before drum on the left and a machined drum on the right. You can see that the aluminum behind the sleeve has been machined down to accommodate the early Ford backing plate.

11 The driveshaft, laying across the car, was custom-made by Inland Empire Driveline Services.

12 Although Troy had previously torched out the floorpans, the edges still had to be removed by drilling and grinding the rivets.

13 Here, Troy lifts out the edge of the floorpan that is riveted into the crossbraces of the body. Gloves would be a good idea here as those edges are sharp.

14 Behind the transmission tailshaft, Troy added a brace to tie the two legs of the X-member together. The center of this brace would have to be removed to accommodate the driveshaft safety loop.

15 Troy purchased the driveshaft safety loop from Summit Racing for just $23.99. Here, he’s holding it in position to see how much needed to be removed from the brace.

16 Troy used a cutoff wheel to remove the center of the crossbrace. Note that he covered the trans with a fireproof blanket so as not to cause any damage.

17 Once the center of the crossbrace had been removed, Troy trial fit the driveshaft to make sure there was enough clearance between it and the body crossbrace.

18 The body brace may eventually have to be removed to increase driveshaft clearance, but for now Troy felt it was enough just to remove the front and rear flanges.

19 You can clearly see where the front and rear flanges of the body crossbrace have been removed to gauge clearance of the driveshaft. The top might have to go later.

20 With the driveshaft in position, the driveshaft safety loop could be positioned and marks scribed where it needed to be cut.

21 Once the driveshaft safety loop had been marked for cutting, Troy sliced the ends off in the bandsaw.

22 With the legs of the driveshaft safety loop removed, Troy positioned the loop on the crossbrace, and tack welded it into position.

23 Once the top of the safety loop was tacked and checked for squareness, the bottom half was held up for positioning and to make sure that the driveshaft can be easily removed.

24 After making sure that the driveshaft could be easily removed and installed with the driveshaft safety loop in position the top half was finish welded, then the bottom half was fit welded in place as well.

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