MY PERSONAL RIDE
Being a designer I didn't want to build a "me too" belly button car. It had to be different.
I was raised on a ranch and learned to drive in a 1947 Dodge one ton truck. I'm a Mopar fan and when I saw this front half of a 1924 Dodge phaeton at the Portland Swap Meet my wheels started spinning. The body is a bit longer and wider than a Ford, so I knew I could build a comfortable driver from what was left of this Dodge tin. I loved the curved shapes of the cowl and dash. However, that was about all that was good about it. The cowl was crushed; the firewall was hacked up; the lower body had rotted away; one door was missing and it had 24 bullet holes of various calibar shot through it; but the price was right.
It's come a long way on its journey back from the dead. I formed entirely new sheet metal for the cowl; built two new doors from scratch; designed and built a new floor and tunnel with room for three pedals and big feet; cut down, reshaped and pie-cut a 1947 Dodge truck grill to make a track roadster nose; designed and fabricated new windshield stanchions; and built a gas tank that will look like a steamer trunk when the car is finished.
It's low slung frame carries a 1953 Dodge Red Ram Hemi with HotHeads internals that's backed up with a T5 trans and a champ quickchange from Dutchman Motorsports. It's an old school hot rod built with good ergonomics and handling in mind.
