Words: Tommy Parry

At the tender age of 18, Drew tried his hand at rebuilding a classic Ford ‘29 pickup. However, life interrupted and forced the boy to sell his creation. 40 years later, with more experience and some more bread in his pocket, Drew resolved to give it another stab. He found his donor ‘29, cleaned some of the debris out of the cabin and began writing up an ambitious build-up sheet.

Included on that sheet was independent suspension at all four corners! Borrowing the hardware from a Merkur XR4TI — the American sibling of the famed Ford Sierra Cosworth — this ‘29 would inherit a little more cornering prowess from its svelte grandson.

Thus far, the build hadn’t cost much. The suspension was grabbed for a mere $300, and Drew found a rusting ‘29 shell for just $1,500. Predictably, the shell was without engine and transmission, so he opted for a 2.3-liter four with a five-speed transmission. That package came from the same model of car which donated the suspension, which meant it came with a fairly large turbocharger.

Thankfully, the track width of the ‘29 matched the Merkur, and notching on the suspension took minimal fabrication, whereas the drivetrain required a shortening of the driveshaft — but that’s not too much. Drew then boxed the main frame, added a short section to the rear to support the rear differential mount and threw in a couple of crossmembers.

To keep things from caving in, Drew added a connector between the two strut towers; he designed the upper mount (location-wise) to accept a headlight bar. That way, it still appeared factory from the outside, but the towers were tied together by the hidden headlight bar. And with a minimum of effort, Drew had a roller. Having built one of these bad boys four decades before probably had something to do with his speediness. Then, with the footwork figured out, Drew turned his attentions to the propulsion department. Drew fitted a four-barrel carb to the 2.3-liter motor, ported the runners, milled the flanges and decided to run a blow-thru carburetor setup, because he “didn’t trust a 30-year-old carb.” With the T5 ‘box in place, the whole package looked at home in the cramped bay.

He wanted to have the functioning innards of a modern sports car, but the weathered exterior of a genuine rat rod. Therefore, the fuel cell in the bed needed to be roughed up to match the weathered bed.

Finally, a set of disc brakes gave this featherweight the stopping power it would need to decelerate like a sports car. Independent suspension, a lightweight chassis, capable brakes and a weathered exterior give this car poise and presence. Having some slime green wheels and some turbo chatter probably helps too. And with that, Drew had a creation of which his 18-year-old self would approve.