HOT RODS THAT AIN’T FORDS OR CHEVYS. . . SORT OF

Words: John Gunnell      Photos: Christa Haley

When we saw the woodie at the Oldsmobile Club of Wisconsin’s annual car show at Lynch Truck Center in Waterford, Wis., we thought we had another car for the “Hot Rods That Ain’t Fords or Chevys” series. Then, we noticed the car looked very Ford-like. What was it doing at an Olds show?

It turns out that the car has a Ford Model T grille, but the engine is a Rocket V-8 out of an Oldsmobile. In addition, we’d say that 90 percent of the car is custom built, like the tube frame and the chopped woodie body. So it really is as much Olds as it is Ford or anything else.

Oh, the front end setup is a modified Ford deal, but it has an open General Motors rear end, super fade drum brakes, a “slush box” automatic transmission, Karl’s Kustom custom-bent stainless steel headers and big and little whitewall tires. Karl’s Kustom of Waterford and North Cape also squirted the Wild Rasberry custom paint.

The owner of this hot rod says it has a “Ha-Ha” muffler, which probably means it sounded pretty loud rumbling into the Oldsmobile show. The owner claims that his best elapsed time to the beach with the car was 39 seconds. He calls the car’s interior trim “Tijuana tuck and roll.”

The woodie body has a station wagon look to it, although it isn’t a huckster kit or anything like that. It is totally handcrafted with a chopped roof look and a funky wooden sun visor up front. The insert panels are dark wood and the framing is a lighter color. Lots of chrome goodies atop the Oldsmobile Rocket motor set off the engine bay.