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| Rich Weston, Bob Drake’s R&D wizard and master-builder, welds custom caps onto the wishbones. |
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Shannon Fain, publications director for Bob Drake Reproductions Inc., dreamed up Project ’35 to demonstrate that a cool old-school rod doesn’t have to cost a mint. The Project is literally saving a 1935 Ford 5-window coupe from ruin. The car’s body was going to be cut into sections for patterns used in reproducing sheet metal parts. Fain pled his case to owner Bob Drake: “This car is so straight. It’s beautifully weathered. It’s a natural work of art and should be on the road.”
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| The frame is coming together: suspension, axles, front disk brakes, modified
X-member |
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Fain and Rich Weston, head of Drake’s R&D Department and Shannon’s partner on the Bob Drake Design Team, have two goals. First, the coupe must be ready to drive cross-country to be displayed the first week of August at the 2007 National Street Rod Association show in Louisville, Kentucky. And second, the price cap on Project ’35 is $25,000
.The car definitely won’t be shiny. The field-weathered body is being left as-is, topped off with a retractable roof slider and upholstered with Pendleton Indian blanket material. While there will be new glass, Weston and Fain are keeping the “character-aged” quarter windows. Underneath that aged shell will be a performer—a really nice driver that should easily run in the low teens in the quarter.
Weston is doing the lion’s share of the chassis build, modifying the ’35 frame’s X-member to house an exposed 345-horse Ford Racing 302 engine and A.O.D. tranny engaging an 8" Ford rear end with 370 gears. Front brakes are Magnum disc. The plans call for a TCI shock kit, rear leaf springs and sway bar. The wheels will be 15" Ford solids in cream, with Bob Drake chrome beauty rings and hubcaps—accented with a thin burgundy ring. Meeting the road will be 195/60 tires on the front and 255/70s on the rear, setting up a very cool stance with the dropped 4" I-beam front axle. Crawl under the rear end and you’ll see Bob Drake’s new extra capacity 15½ gallon stainless steel Forever Gas Tank™.
cont'd....next column |
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Chassis Engineering supplied the proper motor mounts and their installation went right by the numbers.
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| The beefy, custom-made lower X-member support adds needed strength. |
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That means that a sound car is based on a strong and straight frame. In squaring up the frame and analyzing its condition, Rich determined that the car had been hit on the passenger side right in back of the B pillar, or right behind the door, pushing the body and frame in about ½". The first step in renovating the car was to correct that slight bend in the frame. (Later on, when Rich fabricates floorboard patches, the body will fit to the restored floorboard, and in the process that will correct the bend in the body.)
Changing the frame’s X-member to accommodate the engine-tranny was another matter entirely. “After doing it,” Rich said, “I understand why nobody makes a kit for the modification. It’s because you have to remove so much material from the X member. It’s a whole lot of measure and cut, fit and adjust.
First, the original X member tunnel section was removed and a new lower plate was fabricated from scratch. It was beefed up using our TI-2325 Trans Mount & Wishbone Split Kit. Rich modified the kit's top plate by recessing the front tunnel lip about 2" and used the inner tunnel support as-is.
Oh yeah, the new engine didn’t fit into the firewall. But with the dummy engine and the actual tranny finally fit into the frame, Rich lowered the body back on and took measurements for the proper recess area. The required recess was about 2", so there was a choice to be made: install an after-market firewall, or do some sculpting on the original.
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New fabricated
X-member top |
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Next up were major alterations to the frame to make room for the bigger 302 engine and A.O.D. transmission.
(The original engine for the car was an 85 HP flathead with a 3-speed tranny.) |
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Since the engine compartment will be exposed through the sides, plans are being made for a uniquely patterned checkerboard firewall paint job, perhaps to match the cream and burgundy wheels. After all, underneath the rusted exterior of this ’35 will lurk a prowling hot rod! |
