Anybody who has ever walked around in public wearing a car magazine staff shirt is familiar with the most frequently asked question: How do we select the cars that appear in magazines and that win awards?
At the heart of that question is a more basic question: What makes a great street rod? The answer is a combination of objective stuff like build quality and attention to detail, and subjective things like personal taste. Great street rods and custom cars are the ones that combine the traditional elements that we all love with imaginative elements that set the car apart from the rest.
“We love getting creative,” Brad Starks says, owner of Brad Starks Rod & Custom (BSR&C). The cars that come out of Starks’ shop in Paducah, Kentucky, are prime examples of the kind of car described above. They appear in magazines and win awards. They’re great street rods.
This 1935 Ford tin woodie was a collaboration between Brad Starks, a couple visionary designers, numerous contributors, and car owner Doug Hoppe of Sioux Center, Iowa. Doug and his wife, Flo, have owned many great street rods that have earned magazine features and awards. This one was their first project with BSR&C.
The look of the car had been developed by Doug and designer/illustrator Eric Brockmeyer. They envisioned a phantom woodie with a tapered curves rather than boxy angles. The exterior wood would be dark, used as an accent, the same way as a contrasting color. Even the modern components—like the seats, engine, and wheels—were designed with that style in mind.
Starks’ job was to build the body to look like the rendering. The all-original 1935 two-door sedan that served as the starting point was in very rough condition (you can see the raw car and build photos on the BSR&C Facebook page) and the entire body from the doors back was scratchbuilt from 18-gauge steel, following Brockmeyer’s interpretation of a coachbuilt 1935 tin woodie. The 2-inch chop and 1-1/2 inch wedge channel, combined with the reshaped doors, the design of the molding, and the omission of handles and side mirrors, emphasizes the look of forward motion. Starks calls it “elegant aggression.”
In addition to working from Brockmeyer’s renderings, Starks used concept illustrations from Brian Stupski at Problem Child Kustoms for various elements, including the openings on the custom aluminum hood. Modified stock headlights were frenched; Jesse Greening at Greening Auto Company machined the trim rings. The Alumicraft grille was shortened an inch. Legens Hot Rods created the clean replacement bumpers front and rear. Advanced Plating supplied the chrome plating and worked with Starks on the custom brass trim pieces.
Mychal Rogers and Brad Claussen helped with the bodywork and Tim Strange pitched in with cutting and rubbing the paint. Starks sprayed the wagon using R-M materials. The gray metallic paint is accented with pearl and low-key metalflake. All the woodgrain was hand-painted by Starks. Mercedes convertible top material was used for the roof insert.
Brockmeyer and Stupski both contributed design concepts for the unique artillery-style wheels, specially constructed by Jesse Greening. The custom chrome V-8 center caps complete the look, and the 18- and 20-inch size is perfectly proportioned to the large body. The wheels are paired with 295- and 245-series Nitto radial tires.
Doug’s redone wagon rides on a Total Cost Involved mild Pro Street chassis. The wheelbase is stretched 2 inches longer than stock, and the rear ’rails are narrowed 2 inches on each side. The frontend includes a Mustang II–style setup, with 2-inch drop spindles to add to the wagon’s aggressive stance.
The 9-inch rear is located by triangulated four-bars and runs 3.70:1 gears with a Currie limited-slip differential. QA1 coilovers and an antiroll bar at both ends add to the quality of the ride. A Flaming River power rack handles the steering shores, and Wilwood discs with a Scott’s Hot Rods pedal assembly provide reliable braking.
The interior is contemporary but was designed with the same “elegant aggression” feeling and art deco flavor that covers the rest of the car. Tracy Weaver at Recovery Room Hot Rod Interiors used deep tan leather to give modern Lexus bucket seats the look of the big leather chairs from gentlemen’s social clubs way back when. As you’d expect, the leather extends throughout the cargo area, and the headliner is finished with matching stained wood slats. Square-weave carpet covers the floor. The aluminum dash was fabricated at BSR&C and features a deco-style insert machined by Corey Crowley of LSK Inc. Classic Instruments custom gauges look vintage, but have up-to-date workings. The interior ambience is enhanced by Vintage Air A/C and a Sony audio system. The cool vintage boat steering wheel was modified with leather on the ring and a one-off woodgrain horn button built by Starks.
Power is provided in the form of a Roush Performance 408-inch Ford small-block engine. Rated at just under 500 hp, the wagon’s potent powerplant is aspirated by a Holley four-barrel on an aluminum intake manifold. BSR&C modified the looks of the engine with a custom-built air cleaner and woodgrain-painted valve covers. An MSD ignition fires the charge and exhaust is routed out via Sanderson headers and a custom 2-1/2-inch exhaust with Flowmaster mufflers. A Brice Thomas aluminum radiator, Cooling Components fan, and Vintage Air water pump keep things cool. A Lokar-shifted Gearstar 4R70W transmission and the driveshaft from Wiles Racing Driveshafts make sure the 408’s 485 lb-ft of torque finds its way to the rear tires.
Whether you consider Doug’s 1935 Ford tin woodie elegantly aggressive or aggressively elegant, you’ve got to agree that everything about it fits the definition of a great street rod. Classic Instruments agreed when they selected the phantom wagon for their annual calendar and STREET RODDER agreed when we picked the car as a Painless Performance Products/STREET RODDER Top 100 winner at Hot August Nights.
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