Words: Avery Finnivan Credit and Photos: Kustomrama
In 1965, Egeo Barci hired two new employees for his father’s steering wheel and car sport accessory company in Brazil, Germano Franzoni and João Neves Filho. While working together to expand the company, the three car enthusiasts decided they wanted to build a hot rod.
They already had a model in mind – an early ’30s Ford – but ran into difficulty locating such a car in good condition. Fords from that era weren’t common in Brazil at the time. In fact, it wasn’t until 1966 that they were able to acquire a car that fit the bill: a 1934 roadster belonging to a nearby butcher.
The three had waited long enough to find the car, and saw no use in delaying the build any more than necessary, so they began work on the same night they purchased the car. Since they worked full time during the day, they could only work on the Ford at night. One can imagine they lost more than a little sleep over the following weeks!
The bottom of the Ford was rotten, and over the course of the restoration Barci and his friends had to replace four or five inches there. For the engine, Barci bought a Ford 272 Y-Block V8 engine, originally in an F-100 truck, from a friend who had been planning to use it in a race boat. The friend had already modified the engine for boat use, so the trio had to modify it back to its original, car-appropriate form. A three-speed manual transmission was mated to the restored engine.
The Ford’s frame was in rough shape, so the three rodders cleaned it, straightened it and then boxed it for extra strength. The stock front suspension was salvagable, but for the rear end they had to combine a custom spring with the rear end from the F-100 from which they’d gotten the engine. That same truck supplied hydraulic brakes. The steering box was taken from a ’39 Ford, the hydraulic clutch from a Simca Esplanada. The crew also installed an electric ignition by Ducellier and two Chrome Wagner Lockheed master cylinders.
They painted the exterior a rich metallic burgundy and chrome plated the wheels, fitting them with blackwall bias ply tires. The Willys Interlagos seats, which the trio had purchased and installed themselves, were upholstered by Redcar in cream with burgundy piping. Banefra, Barci’s father’s company, supplied the Fury steering wheel; it was a magnificent piece with chromed and drilled spokes and a riveted wood rim. The team fabricated their own motorcycle type fenders to replace the stock ones.
Not sparing any effort on the details, Barci and his friends hand made the headers and then chromed quite a lot of the car’s parts. They painted the engine itself red. Finally, in 1967, they completed the build of what may have been Brazil’s very first hot rod.
