By John “Gunner” Gunnell
This all-steel 1934 Ford three-window coupe participated in the Bonneville Speed Week Trials in August 2005. It turned in a 106.672-mph run and holds a record for the Blown Fuel Vintage Flathead Competition Class. The car was built by Logan Davis and is part of the RVM Classics collection today.
Logan Davis has been building hot rods for decades. He owns Milestone Hot Rod’s in Castaic, Calif. One of his latest builds is a very cool ‘31 Ford Model A roadster, also constructed with Bonneville competition in mind. This silver blue car can be seen at http://luckybdesign.blogspot.com/2010/06/milestone-hot-rods.html. Davis belongs to The Reelers, a Southern California hot rod club with members who have built some really great Bonneville racing cars.
The body and frame of the RVM Classics coupe are vintage1934; from that point the fun begins. The car’s nose was hand fabricated out of aluminum and carries a chrome plated Curtis grille. The top has been chopped five inches and the windshield was laid back at a rakish angle. The body is channeled six inches over the frame rails, and the interior carries a ‘31 Caddy dashboard with custom gauge inserts. As for the steering wheel, ‘37 Lincoln-Zephyr was used.
The three-quarter full-race Ford flathead V-8 under the car’s hood has been fitted with a set of Jahn’s Pistons. It has a stroked ’51 Mercury crankshaft, a special intake carrying three Stromberg 97 carburetors and an Edelbrock fuel log.Attached to the engine is a 1936 Buick three-speed manual transmission that features a scattershield incorporated with a transmission adapter. The car has an “old school” torque tube drive setup that hooks up with a rare Halibrand quick-change rear end fitted with gears that give it a 3.27:1 final drive ratio.
The coupe was exhibited at the 15th Annual Glenmoor Gathering of Significant Automobiles in Canton, Ohio, in 2010. More and more concours events such as the Glenmoor Gathering are now starting to recognize the historical significance of hot rods that competed at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
