Green. First, it’s a color, but today it is also a buzzword. Everyone is talking about global warming, pollution and alternative energy. Innovative people all over the planet are working, researching, dreaming and sometimes scheming about alternative energy. There is little doubt about one thing: this is a time of great potential change, and innovative minds will discover alternative energy sources. Since hot rodders are by definition innovators, it could very well be some “backyard tinkerer” thinking outside the box who makes a major
breakthrough in the field.

Enter Carl Casper, a man best known for building custom cars and promoting his huge custom car show every year in Louisville, Kentucky. Casper has long been a self-thinker and innovator with plenty of experience under his belt, and he was intrigued with the concept of alternative fuels, hydrogen in particular. During our conversation with Casper, he summed it when he said, “I feel many of the solutions will come out of the car guys. I want the mechanical wizards who have taken street rodding and auto racing to the highest levels imaginable to start putting their creativity into alternative-energy systems. I’m putting my money on them. Everyone seems to be waiting for the big corporations to pull us out of this energy crisis, and they tend to forget that from the very beginning of time it’s often the little guy with a shop behind his house who creates the next great idea or invention of our time.”

We tend to agree, and lest you think the backyard inventors were only around during the days of Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone, think again. Small backyard inventions continue to revolutionize the world; we need look no further than most of the giant computer companies to see the fruits of garage-start companies. As it turns out, generating hydrogen from water is a very simple process, but be warned: hydrogen is an odorless, colorless gas that is toxic and highly explosive, so be extremely careful when around hydrogen. There is an abundance of information about this subject on the Internet, but like so many things in cyberspace, be aware that not all the claims and information are true or reliable—and no, you can’t run your car on water.

And so Casper set about to do two things, in this order. First, he was determined to build one of the first hybrid hot rods, and doing this would kick-start the second goal, that being to inspire others to build even better hybrid hot rods. We decided to help the cause when Casper told us about his project a couple of years ago, and today we present it on these very pages. It’s a great-looking hot rod that, externally, looks similar to so many other Deuce roadsters. But under the hood you’ll find a pair of Casper’s experimental hydrogen generators feeding hydrogen gas into the carburetor for improved power and efficiency.

Casper wasn’t trying to reinvent the hot rod cosmetically, so the Deuce highboy follows many roadsters before it, employing quality parts, good workmanship and a bright candy paint job to make an iconic hot rod statement.

The body and chassis came from Downs Manufacturing. The body was treated to all-molded seams and a rolled rear pan. The three-piece hood keeps things clean, and the Deuce grille shell has been filled and fitted with a custom Loviska aluminum grille with a unique center bar for a subtle yet distinctive departure. Since this drop-top is designed to be used, Downs built the doors to accept windows, and power windows at that, and the power accessory list goes on to include power trunk and door openers.

The body was modified to accept custom LED taillights, while up front, Headwinds 7-inch headlights light the way. Billet side-view and rearview mirrors blend in well with the stainless windshield posts, while a stainless front spreader bar holds the front turn signals. After plenty of block sanding and panel fitting, Carl Casper donned the respirator and paint suit himself and laid down yet another flawless candy paint job. The color of choice was Extreme Green from the DuPont Hot Hues palette.

The chassis consists of a Downs frame and crossmember assembly suspended via a Heidts Superide independent rear suspension with Wilwood disc brakes. The front suspension is also fully independent from Heidts, and once again, a set of big and beautiful Wilwood brakes is found. Steering comes from a Flaming River rack-and-pinion connected to a polished stainless steel steering column, also from Flaming River. Lokar components activate the parking brake.

Of course, the powerplant is the big news on this candy green roadster. Under the hood is your basic 350ci Chevrolet crate engine that produces 290 hp at 5,100 rpm and 326 lb-ft of torque at 3,750 rpm. It’s a four-bolt-main motor filled with PM steel rods and cast-aluminum pistons and topped with an Edelbrock 600cfm carburetor. Behind this 350 Chevy you’ll find a 700R4 transmission controlled by a Lokar shifter. Lokar cables control throttle input, and a custom air intake plenum that was designed by Carl Casper and built by Pat Keating feed the engine air in high style. The air is filtered by Spectre air filters. All of this is pretty standard fare on any good hot rod today, but it’s those two canisters mounted to the firewall that make all the news.

The hydrogen generation system on the Deuce was designed and developed by Carl Casper, and he calls it his Hybrid Hydrogen Enhancement System. It’s an experimental prototype (and no, he’s not selling them) HHO Hydrogen power boost system. Simply put, a pair of electrodes is submerged in the water tank and then low voltage is applied to them. With one anode and one cathode, the electric current breaks down the water, releasing hydrogen, basically taking H₂O and converting it to HHO. The hydrogen gas produced is then ducted directly into the intake, where it passes through the carburetor, where it dramatically adds to the combustion for a clean and more efficient burn of the carbon fossil fuel, in this case gasoline.

A complete Painless Wiring system was installed to handle all the electrical needs, and the dash was filled with Auto Meter Platinum gauges mounted in a Lokar dash insert. The seat is a custom-made bench seat by Carl Casper and Steve Davidson. Green leather was cut out in a Casper design and stitched in place. The door panels were done in a matching sculpted design. Lokar door handles, shifter and pedals round out the interior.

So Carl Casper could well lay claim to the world’s first Hybrid Hot Rod with his Deuce roadster, and while we have no before-and-after mileage data, Casper continues to tinker with the system. One of the problems seems to lie in the inconsistent response from car to car. Some cars respond very well to the HHO, while others experience very minimal gains. As Casper told us, “The good news is carbureted cars seem to respond best to the system, and while it shows promise, our results are still not consistent enough to endorse the system. However, our confidence is growing, and we may soon spend the money for some serious lab work. This is a technology that is definitely in its fledgling stages, but maybe it’s more important that systems are being developed that might make a real difference and maybe someone reading this will take it to the next level.”