Shaded in his garage from the blistering Arizona sun, Junior pulled his Boling Brothers 12/5 frame, and within a few weeks, he had his roller. First, Junior tacked the rear on so he could set the pinion angle when the engine and transmission were laid down. Now he had his foundation, and he began searching for a decent body to do this tasty frame justice.
Well, cancer-free this body wasn’t. It was, on the other hand, very cheap. That price was reflected in the shoddy chop job, but undeterred, Junior found the optimism and energy to make the necessary changes to make ‘er pretty. From the get-go, he had the panels to clean up some of the cancer on the underbody, but that mangled chop would prove difficult to fix.
As he scratched his head over the botched haircut, he rolled the powertrain into the garage and set about mounting the motor to the frame. A Ford 302 matched to a saucy C-4 would provide the shove needed, though getting it running was tricky—and expensive—and required a custom water pump as well as a few special pulleys. Importantly, it looked and sounded the part, and fit snugly in the Ford’s body.
Getting the floor to fit around the transmission was easy, but squaring up a crushed tin can was not simple. Nevertheless, he managed well for a first-timer and, with the feeling of accomplishment that comes with weaving a high-end jungle gym inside a fragile collection of body panels, Junior piggybacked off his latest creation and built a complete cage.
When you’re as efficient as Junior, you grab what you can and find a purpose for it. In this instance, he snagged a few signs and bent them to fit the confines of the interior before setting his fuel cell on top of them. That tweaking was tough; Junior blitzed through a case of Miller on the way.
After pulling the firewall and sticking the Lokar shifter directly in the middle, he pulled out the ‘ol checkbook and continued picking up parts for the rear end. Included in the recent shopping spree was a Ford 9” and Trac-Loc 3.50 gears to make good use of the V8’s power. To keep that thrust under control, Junior tacked on a set of MT products/Boiling Brothers Lincoln-style brakes, which he covered with a set of 16” wheels from a ‘35 Ford. After plumbing those stoppers, he mounted the radiator, fitted the grill shell, finished the door skins, powder coated the wheels, and picked up some Ford lights and an HID kit. Now, Junior creation was no longer a collection of parts; quite a long way from the weathered body he grabbed a few years prior.
A set of bomber seats, some tasty headers, and a dose of fuel and spark, and Junior had a capable rat rod. Sure, the interior was spartan, but that’s all part of the appeal of a machine that can deafen and set off car alarms from the other side of town. Light, well-balanced, powerful, and happy to roast tires with any prod of the loud pedal, Junior had a tarnished gem on his hands, and would create plenty of havoc with it.