1930 Model A Sedan Delivery

This is a 1930 Sedan Delivery that started life as a Tudor sedan.
The engine is a 392 cu.in. Hemi from a 1957 Chrysler New Yorker,
which has been bored .030" over for cleanup by Andy Baker
at Baker Machine in Tucson. It has 8:1 compression Ross pistons,
a Hot Heads flat tappet hydraulic cam and lifters,
and a 671 BDS blower with Edelbrock 650 cfm 1405 carburetors.

The frame was custom made by Jerry Keifer
at California Custom Roadsters in Chino, CA.
It is constructed from 2" X 4" X 3/16" steel and is approx. 10 inches
longer than stock. The size of the rails and the added length was
suggested by Jerry to accommodate the combination of
Hemi engine and 4 core Walker radiator with A/C condenser.
CCR also provided the custom length rod ends, the 4-bar links, panhard bars,
and other custom pieces too numerous to list.

The body has been chopped 3" and channeled 4". Because of this,
I needed a front axle that had less drop than the standard 4 or 5 inch ones
that are readily available. I was able to get a custom 2 1/2" dropped axle
from Joe Casto at Joe's Speed Shop in Ponca City, OK.

The power goes through a full manual, reverse pattern 700R4
from Bowtie Overdrive in Hemet, CA,
and the quick change rear end with 4:11 gears
is from Winters Performance.

The roof was hand made from 2 pieces of 1/4" 8 x 4 bending mahogany ply
and covered with 3 layers of fiberglass.
It took nearly a month of hand shaping to make it look as
if it had been an original piece.

I did all the chopping, channeling, body work, paint, graphics, upholstery, assembly,
welding, patch panels, fabricating, machanical, electrical, fuel lines,
A/C lines, testing, tuning and so on.

You can decide whether or not that was a mistake.

This is what the car looked like when I first received it from the previous owner in Minnesota

Now it has a new engine

With shiny carburetors

The original visor with big and little holes.

Notice the 1" fuel line coming out of the bottom of the tank. You can see on the left side that it goes up to the frame. Here it connects to a pipe that runs through the frame rail and ultimately connects to a 15 gallon tank under the center of the body. There is no other access to the 15 gallon tank so no need for a fuel door in the body. The rear tank is filled by gravity from the 2 gallon tank that you see here.

Here you see two vents coming out of the tank. One vents straight to the air under the front axle, the other connects directly to the vent in the rear 15 gallon tank. This ensures that there are no leaks or fumes inside the body of the car.

In the days before pre-fab recessed firewalls, to get a recess for the back of the engine one had to take out the original firewall and reverse it.

I wanted to keep with tradition and did just that. It turned out to be much harder than it looked because the sides are tapered the wrong way when you turn it around.

I wanted the doors to be "suicide", but I also wanted a stock look.

This meant that the doors had to overlay at the top, bottom and back.
Normally suicide doors are mounted inset because if you don't devise some tricky hinges
the stock mounted overlay doors try to dig into the body at the back when opened.

The door and window handles are stock reproductions to also maintain the
1930's look and operate as the originals did, with a slight twist.
Instead of cranking regulators, the window handles are actually switches
that operate electric motors to raise and lower the windows.
The door handles, both inside and out, have home made switches
that actuate electric solenoids that release the BearClaw latches.

Notice the false hinges that open with the door

Here are some pictures of the interior.