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My First Roadster
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distance between the tranny and rear end. I thought I could machine up something if I got a short transmission. Using an Offenhauser X-Shift Transmission was the answer, since it was aluminum, it saved weight and was very short, so I machined an adapter to mount the trans to a early Ford torque tube that was only 8 inches long.
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I bought a fiberglass 23' T body, picked up a 283 Chevy motor and early Ford rear end from the junkyard and laid everything out in the garage. I could build a chassis, but had no means to bend tubing, so I had a chassis builder bend up the rails for me. I picked up the basic rails with bends to clear the rear end and proceded to add a perch for transversal front spring. Using short coil springs from a helper spring set, the rear end was mounted with very short split wishbones about 13" long. Little shocks from a Nash Metropolitan were added to dampen the rear suspension. I built a straight tube front axle with tube wishbones and friction shocks for the front, cut down Ford spindles to lighten them, there was no front brakes.
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After mounting the motor, the body was the next task. Since you sat behind the rear axle, I had to lengthen the body 8" to allow for a reclining sitting position. I molded a recessed section on the rear for tail and brake lights and designed and molded a custom fibreglass dash. I wanted a low profile windshield, but could not find one, so I bent one out of Plexiglas and mounted that. A small Crosley steering box and long drag link finished the chassis.
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I molded a recessed section on the rear for tail and brake lights.
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designed and molded a custom fibreglass dash.
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I was working at Tyree Header Company in Fullerton, Ca., so I brought home parts and built headers and custom baffles to slide in the long collectors. The stock 283 Chevy motor had a steel crank, so I decided to run a 6.71 blower with two four barrel carbs. I ported and polished the heads, added bigger exhaust valves and installed a Potvin cam, springs and retainers. The drive train was completed with a Schieffer Clutch and Wedge Bellhousing.
Next was the blower setup, money was scarce so I had to be creative. I had been working at Mickey Thompson's for a while, so I bought castings for a blower drive setup, took them to the college machine shop and built my own blower drive. Now I visited Potvin, who was the blower king at the time, and he gave me enough parts to build my own blower. The
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paddles had the stub shafts ripped out, so I machined spacers and shrunk fit the stub shafts back in. I did buy a rear blower plate and steel ringed the front bearings. Next I fabricated a plate to mount two four barrel carbs and adapted a Scott blower scoop to fit the carbs.
In late 64" I raced the car at local drag strips with Leon Fitzgerald driving, we usually won our class, C Modified Roadster. I was now ready to drive the car on the street, so I did the upholstery, painted and pinstriped the car, registered it as a 23' Ford Model T, and started driving it to work. Glenn McCulloch, ace mechanic of the MuCulloch and Brown AA Gas Dragster, was always available when I
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need a tune up. I continued racing the car for years, breaking the record many times and besting 140 mph in the low tens, not bad for a street legal car. I had problems with the old Ford tapered axles breaking, so had Henry's Machine Shop redo the rear end with 50' Merc axles and brakes, much better. In early 1965, it was the only car I had, driving it daily to Hooker Headers, where I worked. Luckily I did piece work, so if it was raining, I stayed home.
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I did the upholstery, painted and pinstriped the car, registered it as a 23' Ford Model T, and started driving it to work.
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The car rode nice and handled great, I drove everywhere, even took a trip to Sequoia National Park for a week. In 1965, Tom McMullen and I lived together, and we loved to cruise, either in his 32' Highboy or my roadster. We often went street racing in southwest L.A., I remember no one wanted to race me, but one night they gave me $25 to make a single run. Wow, appearance money on the street. The car was light, weighing about 1480 pounds, and with two people in the seat, it was very easy to do a wheelie. One of my favorite things was to cruise Harvey's Broiler, in Downey, Ca., on Saturday night and carry the wheels through the lot.
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Some fun things about the car, I used it as a push car for "Pure Heaven", an injected small block Chevy fuel altered, driven by Leon Fitzgerald. I was also thrilled when an article came out about the car in the August 1965 issue of "Popular Hot Rodding". I can also remember suffering the wrath of C.J. Hart, when doing wheelies in the staging area and on the return road, at Long Beach Drags.
When I started my first business in 1966, Brackett Speed Products, I used the car to help promote my work building hot rods and headers. Sadly, I was drafted in the Army in January of 1967 and had to close my business and sell the car. What a great time in my life, but I will always remember driving a modified roadster on the street.
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