Free Jaguar? Don Shirer couldn’t resist the tempting offer, even if it meant just for the prized suspension lurking beneath. This XJ6 boasted the coveted independent rear suspension and A-frame front, perfect for his vision of a smoother-riding ’55 Chevy pickup. Follow along as Shirer masterfully tackles the swap, using readily available tools and his own ingenuity to bridge the gap between classic and modern.
Tom Lawson was attending the Goodguys West Coast Nationals with his family and friends when a friend of his father-in-law, Bill, also a street rodder, walked up and started talking to everyone in the group.
We always find it amusing when a bench racing session turns to building street rods. It seems there is a huge contingency of rodders and observers of street rodding who believe that every car in the fairgrounds area was built by a professional shop. We’re not about to argue the point that a lot of people now pay to have work done on their cars, whether it’s chassis work, bodywork or upholstery. However, there is still a large group of people who spend evenings and weekends out in the garage forming brackets, repairing rust, blocking panels and wiring hot rods. In short, they are building cars the old-fashioned way—at home with the help of a few friends.
Jack Fuller has been at this hot rod game for a long time, and while he builds hot rods for a living, make no mistake—this is a man who loves his work. As a matter of fact, the mantra of the garage is, “When the fun stops, the doors close for good.” It’s pretty simple stuff, and oddly enough, that seems to be the specialty of the house—basic hot rods that look cool and work well. Jump in a Jack Fuller hot rod, and you’ll know it was designed to be driven. Jack’s own ’32 cabriolet has seen untold miles over the years, as have most of the other hot rods he has built.
The showroom is what every auto parts store dreams of being: diced in checkerboard black and yellow tile with a heap of pegboard. Up front, the sales counter is the hub of business, fueled by eager customers that keep the phone ringing off the hook. Bob, Sam and Robin deal one-on-one with customers, keeping all 50 states Moon-equipped.
There are many reasons why the icon cars have achieved the lofty status they now enjoy, but one of the more obvious reasons is the simple fact that they were finished. Their existence and subsequent high-level exposure have inspired many a young lad to undertake similar projects, and for every famous car built in the early years, probably two others were started in an attempt to either copy or outdo it, but they never saw the light of day.
For every hot rod shop that has a show on TV, there are countless smaller shops that will never get mainstream TV exposure or clothing lines sold at Wal-Mart. But all across the country, it’s these smaller shops that turn out the majority of the street and super rods that you and I enjoy, and that we see at shows. And even though these little guys may not have big reputations yet, they churn out consistent and excellent work—and, that is precisely how some of these smaller shops will eventually become bigger shops with even more prestige.
“Real hot rods have axles,” or so they say. That was our story, and we stuck to it fondly for more than 10 years. The ’47 Ford sedan delivery we drive came to us with a new Super Bell dropped axle and four-bar linkage professionally installed by Dick Jones’ shop in Campbell, California. It wasn’t really a hot rod; more like a primered beater with no interior, very little glass and enough rattles that a radio was a waste of time. It was a project car for another magazine for several years, and as such was the subject of many tech articles, updating it with all manner of great stuff. But it was still a primered beater, so the axle suited it just fine, and we got many miles of enjoyment out of this setup. Oh, it could have had a nice, new IRS more than once, but it just wasn’t that kind of car.
If you have spent any amount of time working on street machines, you are well aware that “bolt-on” parts do not always bolt right on. Still, it’s often a lot easier to modify those parts than to fabricate your own. The same holds true for such items as rollcages. Nobody pretends that a prefab cage is going to drop right into place without having to trim a single tube. That’s mainly because the economies of scale dictate that manufacturers make a single design fit as many cars as possible. Unfortunately, a cage that fits many cars probably fits no car perfectly.
