Words: Tommy Parry

It’s hard to fault the classic lines of a Model A. Moreover, it’s a car that lends itself to customization, since the surfaces are broad and plentiful. Aesthetically pleasing or geared towards no-frills performance, the classic Ford is a proven template for any aspiring hot-rodder. This particular build took both of those approaches and yielded a masterpiece of a Model A, and showed that a young man, even if he does things the hard way, can still know class when he sees it.

After a mockup, the car went under the knife and into the painting booth. First, the undercarriage was sprayed with Nasons black through a cheap HVLP gun – though the finished product looks quite professional. Then the backing plates were bolted on. Next, the brakes were tacked on and the drums torqued down with enough force to turn the world backwards. With stainless perches and shackles added on, the rear end was beginning to take form and turn heads in the process.

After a bit of chroming, on went the trailing arms. To be as pretty as this is, the bolts on the rear end bells had to be given a solid polishing. Moving on towards the engine bay, the air filters were given a re-screening and the Cadillac engine polished, painted gold, and given a set of custom headers that exit right before the cabin.

Then came the body itself. With a bit of a hiccup turning the original mix to more of a purple than the intended midnight blue, the mixture was augmented to get a sultry, soothing look. It took a while to get that vintage look, however, and plenty of carbon black toner was added to get a thick, lacquer finish. As the buffing and painting were all done by the owner, an ambitious 25-year-old, it’s certain his arms felt a bit heavy afterwards.

With a set of Packard wheels adorning each corner, whitewall tires, a bit of compounding and a few commercial-sized tubs of wax, the car looks absolutely magnificent. Decorating the rear end is a set of taillights from a ’37 Chrysler Airflow, which catch the eye but don’t steal the spotlight from the overall package.

With a Walker 4-Core Radiator and a ’32 grille shell, covered in a thin glaze coat, cut 2 1/2″ and dropped the same length, the front end started to look the part – but not before the grille, headlights, dash, and decklid were all treated with some stellar pinstriping to accentuate the gold accents of the car.

And of course, the attention to the interior is worth a thread of its own. The wood is just plywood, but with a classy laminate and a metal skeleton holding it in place, it looks absolutely copacetic. Black and white leather line the doors, and a chromed Ford wheel draws the viewer’s eye in.

Considering all this was created by one unmarried, childless man under the age of thirty, it gives hope to those who want to recreate a Model A with some style and class. The choice of color, subtle accents, unobtrusive trim and perfect amount of chrome allow this car to form the complete aesthetic package. For those who find these sorts of projects nigh-impossible to comprehend, just remember that this was a labor of love, with an emphasis on “labor.” All the fabricating, painting, polishing and assembling, excluding the interior and chrome, was done by one young man, whose forearms now probably rival Schwarzenegger’s.