The Secrecy of Ridler Contenders

The cars are debuted at the big show, and for the most part they are built under a shroud of secrecy, lest someone discover the concept and execute some or all of the ideas on other cars. For, you see, it’s not just great design and execution that matters, but originality of design. And so, quietly, methodically and with a concerted effort to avoid attention, future Ridler contenders are under construction in shops all across this country as we speak to be put on the big floor in Detroit over the next few years. These are not cars that are built in six months—most take years in their planning and construction.

This is the story of one Ridler winner and the 2-1/2-year journey to completion.

Craftsmanship and Dedication

The craftsmanship required to capture a Ridler has now gone well past simply modifying a car—it has escalated to full-blown coach-building exercises. While this 2006 Ridler winner is based on the basic style of a ’35 Ford, it is really based on a drawing penned by Roger Burman. To build this car from an original ’35 Ford roadster would have required so many modifications that it was deemed unrealistic. Instead, a complete new body would be hand-formed in the tradition of the great coachbuilders of the ’30s. And so the concept drawing was sent to Marcel’s Custom Metal in Corona, California…but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Beyond a brilliant concept, what is needed is complete dedication to perfection by a team of craftsmen, and then an owner with an equal zeal for such a project, as building street rods at this level is not a poor man’s game. If the mantra of racing is “speed costs money—how fast do you want to go?”, street rodding could borrow from that: “Perfection and fabrication cost money—how far do you want to go?”

Putting together a team that answers “as far as we can” is essential for making a serious run at the Ridler. To that end, the key player in this whole process is Kevin Alstott for his vision, determination and dedication to having a great car built to the highest standards and providing the funds to see that the effort, as agreed, is completed. Second, we have Roger Burman, owner of Lakeside Rods & Rides in Rockwell City, Iowa. A string of great cars have rolled out of the Burman shop, but this would be his first attempt at building an indoor car show winner of this caliber. And make no mistake about it—there are different things to consider when building a true show car versus a street rod winner.

The team at Lakeside Rods & Rides includes Roger Burman, Marshall Starrett, Chris Mernka, Chad Walker and Dean Fowler. Marcel’s Custom Metal formed the body, with Marcel Delay, Luc Delay and Mark Delay plying their metalworking magic on the body. Art Homan at Sherm’s Custom Plating understands the high level of plating required, while Kirk Bowman handled the polishing of all non-plated alloys on the car. Curt Bacon handled the graphics, and Jeff and Becky Bertrand laid down the gold leaf. The stainless steel exhaust was formed by Al Bass, and Dennis Burkart built custom pedals. The interior was handled by Tracy Weaver and Jim Peters at the Recovery Room. Bill Woods handled the engine building. As you can see, this is a team of experts who worked on very precise areas of the car. The thinking is this simple: if there is someone out there who can do a specific task on the car better than you can, hire him. It proved to be a formidable team.

The Road to the 2006 Ridler

The road to the 2006 Ridler began with the Burman concept drawing. It seems Kevin Alstott saw the drawing and decided he’d like to build the car in a quest for the Ridler award. A full-size-scale line drawing was sent to Marcel’s Custom Metal and a perimeter frame for a ’35 Ford was ordered from SAC, one of the better frame constructors, which builds many “private label” frames for top builders. It was October 2003 and the project was officially under way.

The SAC chassis was delivered to Lakeside Rods & Rides, where Indy-style front and rear suspension was adapted to the chassis. This suspension employs a full independent design that includes some trick cantilever shock mounts that place the coilover shocks on top of the crossmember. This style of suspension leaves just the control arms visible up front—at first glance there appears to be no shocks or springs. It’s a very clean look and has as an added benefit the ability to be adjusted for true high-performance driving.

The attention to detail installing this suspension included polishing or plating every piece on the suspension. The shocks are from QA1 and the Boyd’s spindles mount Wilwood four-piston calipers and drilled rotors. A Dodge Omni rack-and-pinion handles the steering chores, while the thirdmember in the car is a mixture of Indy-style suspension and C4 Corvette parts. After the fabrication was completed on the chassis, hours turned to days and days to months as the frame was detailed to perfection. Welds were smoothed, brackets were trimmed and tube crossmembers were designed for strength and good looks. Acorn nuts were used throughout the chassis wherever possible and the amount of chromeplating is dazzling.

Powering the Phantom Roadster

Power for the phantom roadster comes in the form of a 408ci small-block Chevrolet engine built by Bill Woods at Woody’s Automotive. The block is filled with JE pistons wrapped with Speed-Pro rings. Eagle rods connect the JE pistons to an Eagle billet crankshaft, and a Jesel belt connects the crank to the cam. Dart heads cap the block, producing a final compression ratio of 11.8:1, while MSD makes the super-hot spark and Sanderson headers exit the exhaust. A Demon carburetor tops the engine.

The Body Takes Shape

As the months of chassis fabrication came to an end, the body was taking shape at Marcel’s. Loosely based on a ’35 Ford roadster, the body now has doors that are much longer. In the process, the quarter panels are shortened and the hood panel now extends back to the door line. By configuring the doors in this fashion, the door opening provides the only seams on the entire side of the car; it makes for a very long, powerful profile. The TR-6 windshield is set on a rakish angle that accentuates the feeling of forward motion, and that theme continues with a radically laid-back grille.

The long hood completely changes the look of this roadster. Whereas the original ’35 Ford had a rather short snout, this futuristic rendition of the ’35 roadster has a long, sweeping hood that once again provides a feeling of power to the overall design. Out back, the body reveals and decklid shape have a direct connection to a ’35 Ford, but once again the rounded shape is smoother than any ’35 Ford Henry ever built. With a body this sleek and graceful, the challenge was to wrap a set of steel fenders around the body.

Sculpted Fenders and Custom Styling

The front fenders carry the defining center peak of a ’35 Ford, but that’s where the similarity ends. The side skirts on the front fenders sweep back to the leading edge of the door, and the wheel opening is huge, allowing for the big billet wheels that measure 17×7 up front. The crown of the fender now is almost in line with the top of the hood, whereas the ’35 Ford had tall hood sides that rose up above the fender line. From the front, the fenders flow down to meet the modified Tucci grille.

Connecting the front fenders with the rear fenders are sculpted smoothie running boards. The rear fenders pick up the radius of the rear quarter panels and follow that line downward, ending flush with the rear pan. This gives the rear of the car a single lower line for a clean look. The recessed taillights are mounted and angled to match the centerline of the fenders. The side view of the rear fenders shows a fender that is skirted behind the wheel, and the skirted portion and actual wheel opening has borrowed lines from a ’35 Chevrolet fender, but without losing the basic feeling that this is all Ford-based.

Paint and Finishing Touches

As a package, the body is a flowing rendition with roots firmly planted in the spirit of a ’35 Ford. The body is well beyond smooth, with no need for side trim, scoops, louvers or latches of any sort. The complete lack of trim on the car meant it was up to the final paint scheme to shape the car.

It was decided early on that a two-tone treatment would be in order on such a contemporary hot rod. The color break between the custom-mixed colors follows the single body reveal just below the top of the door. The copper-over-platinum split helps define the overall shape of the roadster, and the rather difficult task of making a clean color break on a car with no trim was handled by having the upper color follow down the grille shell in the front, while in the rear the decklid determines the color break. It is a highly effective paint scheme, with the upper body color being carried to the interior of the roadster.

The Interior: A Study in Craftsmanship

Speaking of the interior, a combination of Lakeside Rods & Rides fabricating and the Recovery Room in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, handling the upholstery and upholstery fabrication turned out an interior that is nothing short of stunning. The color of the leather is Adobe with mixed leather-weave inserts. Add ovals that are filled with a stainless mesh or the aforementioned weave and you have a striking design that is surpassed only by the meticulous craftsmanship.

The seats are from Interior Supply Service (ISS), and the Classic Instruments gauges connect to the Painless Performance wiring system.

A Roadster for the Ages

The car is a roadster in every sense of the word, with no windows and no top—hence the lack of air conditioning. It’s a car that has a long, powerful profile and a look that is ready to breeze down a country road or to a country club. It’s a roadster with a contemporary elegance that reflects the heritage of the ’30s while making no excuses for being thoroughly modern in design. It is also the latest in a collection of great hot rods for Kevin Alstott, a hot rodder who never seems to tire of the challenge of building great automobiles.

Breaking the Ridler Code

And that’s what makes this car stand out in a very elite crowd of eight. And maybe—just maybe—this is what it takes to win the Ridler: an original concept, a body formed rather than modified, and a team of world-class craftsmen working for untold hours to create a hot rod the likes of which have never before been seen.

Is it still possible to win the big award with a production-based body? We’d like to think so, but it had better be incredibly well done with original touches throughout. Really breaking the Ridler code is mysterious and elusive, and possibly that is what makes the pursuit of this simple trophy such an obsession. No doubt the next winner of the Ridler will be like those that have preceded it—impossible to predict and hard to describe, but you’ll know it when you see it.