Slippery Sedan

Greg Harris has been a car enthusiast for years and has built a number of muscle machines and classic trucks. He has had loads of fun with late-model cars, but he couldn’t shake the fact that he really had the yearning to build a street rod some day. His friends knew about his longtime goal, so when one of them found a partially completed early sedan for sale, he told Harris about the car. Harris went to take a look, and as it turned out, the car was a half-finished all-steel ’33 Ford two-door sedan powered by a 427 Chevy engine. He immediately knew he had to buy the sedan—it was just what he was looking for. He made a deal with Clark and Bridgett Short, the folks who started the project, and brought the ’33 home.

After Harris owned the ’33, he looked at its heritage. Historically, the ’33 Ford was supposed to be the first model to use the new Flathead V-8 engine, but because of low sales, Henry Ford pushed the introduction ahead and it was featured in the ’32 Ford with mixed results. The ’33 Ford was a big step forward from the Model A and the Deuce and was the first Ford that was actually channeled over the frame. By eliminating the splash apron, and in the Deuce’s case by having the frame showing, the ’33 had extremely smooth lines and a new 112-inch wheelbase. More care was also taken in designing the aerodynamic shape of the ’33, making the body extremely graceful. The ’33 featured two engine selections, a 75hp V-8 and a four-cylinder that was similar but more powerful than the base engine in the Model A. In 1933, the V-8-powered models were far more popular and the two-door sedan was the favorite. Ford sold 106,387 V-8-powered standard two-door sedans and 48,233 V-8-powered deluxe two-door sedans. The four-cylinder models didn’t do as well because 2,911 four-cylinder standard sedans were sold and only 85 deluxe two-doors were produced. The total two-door sedan production was 157,616 units sold, which was a large percentage of the 334,969 sales total for all models.

After the ’33 was secure in Harris’ garage, the Knoxville, Tennessee, resident was almost neighbors with one of the ultimate street rod builders, Bobby Alloway, who just happens to specialize in ’33-’34 Fords. The first course of action was to build a new frame. Alloway began with the stock frame and stretched the wheelbase to 113 inches. That was done because when you lower the front of a street rod, the wheel seems to sit too far back in the front wheel well. By moving the suspension forward 1 inch, it looks better. The front suspension was set up traditionally and features a dropped Super Bell tube axle with Pete & Jake’s four-bar radius rods, shocks and spindles. A Posies reversed eye spring was used for a soft ride. A Pete & Jake’s disc brake kit was also installed, and it features polished aluminum Wilwood calipers. A Mullins steering box points the sedan in the correct direction. A Ford 9-inch differential was used in the rear and was set up with a Pete & Jake’s four-link arrangement and coilover springs. The differential was outfitted with Wilwood brakes. Rolling stock consists of 15×6-inch Torq-Thrust wheels up front running BFGoodrich 195/50R15 front tires and 17×8-inch wheels on the rear with BFGoodrich 255/60R17 tires.

The sedan was already equipped with a ’67 Chevy 427 engine, so it was upgraded with some new high-performance parts. The engine features 10:1-compression TRW pistons, TRW rings and the stock high-performance rods. The heads were replaced by Edelbrock aluminum heads that were polished for a nice appearance. The large valves are activated by a Crane hydraulic roller cam with matched valvetrain components. The heads were topped with a polished aluminum Edelbrock intake manifold running a 750cfm Holley carburetor. The ignition is handled by an MSD distributor, and exhaust flows through Sanderson mufflers. Miller Racing Engines in Maryville, Tennessee, did all the engine work. The engine was finished off with a highly polished smooth oval air cleaner and smooth polished valve covers. The healthy big block hooks up to a Chevy Turbo 350 automatic transmission that was rebuilt by B&M that features a B&M Hole Shot torque converter with a 3,000 stall speed. Shifting is handled by a Lokar unit.

The body also received some attention at Alloway’s Hot Rod Shop. The crew chopped the top 3 inches and leaned the doorpost forward. The crew also filled the roof for a smoother appearance. Along with all the modifications, the small problems were also repaired and then the body was prepped for paint. When the body was perfect, it was delivered to T.R. Loveday and Rusty Troutme in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the final sanding was done, and then it was painted a special purple mix of PPG basecoat/clearcoat. The car was reassembled after it was painted, and it features ’33 commercial headlights and stock ’33 taillights. While the car was being assembled, Glen Shahbas installed the wiring system.

After the sedan was assembled, it was delivered to Pro Auto for the fantastic black leather interior. The stock seats were replaced with custom Griffey bucket seats and were stitched in a rolled-and-pleated design. The dash was also smoothed off at the Alloway shop, and it features a custom billet gauge cluster running VDO gauges. The interior also features a tilt steering column topped by a Boyd steering wheel. Other interior features include a Vintage Air climate-control system and a Mitsubishi CD/stereo receiver with Rockford Fosgate speakers.

Since the car has been completed, Harris has been having a ball driving it to a variety of rod runs in his area. The rod has been well received by the rodding community and has won its share of accolades at the events it has attended.