That Model A has sparked long dormant memories of a mate, Tony Phillips '28 Tudor back in the late 60's/early 70's. When he got it it was as stock as a rock and we had a ball riding around the Maroubra/Coogee area in the old thing. The side valve 4 cylinder engine was so slow, even by '60s standards that the back seat passengers had to get out and walk for the old car to climb the big Arden street hill adjacent to the Coogee Bay Hotel. Eventually Tony fitted the 272 Customline engine and Jaguar Moss 4 speed gearbox that had previously lived in the Mk II Ford Zephyr that the police had put off the road because it was so bloody dangerous. With a triple carbed Cusso engine the previously gutless but relatively stable old car became a powerful but almost undrivable death trap. Tony had fitted a Ford Transit 4:11 diff and 15" Tasman "mag" wheels and 39 Ford Hydraulic brakes but at anything over about 50kph the old car would shimmy and shake all over the place and would pull violently to the right when the brakes were applied. Thankfully for our lives it only stayed on the road in that form for a couple of months before he pulled it off the road and started a proper rebuild complete with 289/C4, disc brakes and a roadster body that would take another twenty years. His son still drives the old rod to this day While Tony owns a flathead powered A '32 roadster 'rat rod' and other cool cars including a '64 Pontiac GTO convertible.....however, I've strayed.
The model A shown here does wonders for my old boilermaker instincts. Some nice fabrication's gone into it. I love how the Cosworth's been disguised to look kind of period. Me personally, I'd have fitted the BDG to a Mk1 Cortina but I've got to respect our Finnish friends perspective on retro rodding. I once saw a photo of a fifties British bike (possibly a Velo) fitted with a tt500 Yamaha engine and you had to really look hard to see what was new and what was old. This bloke's achieved the same result on 4 wheels.
