(^70) themotorhood.com
I GENERALLY DON’T LET MY CARS
GET LONG. THEY STAY AT 103
INCHES, A MODEL A WHEELBASE
COUPE
T
he ’28 Model A coupe was the first of these
three cars to be built, and the fact that its
proportions — extreme, bordering on wacky
— work so well is no accident.
“I bought the body off Bob Edgecumbe, and I sorta
just mocked it up in that fashion there — I knew
what I wanted it to look like,” Neil recalls.
What he planned was a cartoonish stance with
plenty of attitude. As simple as that sounds, Neil’s
hyperactive mind was working overtime to arrive
at a plan in which all of his requirements could
be packaged.
“I generally don’t let my cars get long. They stay
at 103 inches, a Model A wheelbase,” Neil explains
of the packaging limits. “The further you push
your seat back in a Model A, the more you gotta
bring the steering wheel back, but then you can’t
fit between the steering wheel and the door pillar.
So it’s got suicide doors, so you can kinda back in
and step out of the car. Also, because it’s on such
a rake, if I had the doors the other way, they would
slam open, and that would piss me off. When you
open the doors now, they sorta hang.”
With a plan set in motion, Neil began fabricating a
chassis to suit his vision.
“I tried to use as many old parts as possible.
Sometimes, you can go too crazy with things,
and it looks like a science project. I just try to use
what’s available,” he says. “A lot of guys use ’32
[Ford] rails, but I didn’t want that. You don’t see the
chassis, only the front horns, which is the look I
was going for.”
As the front rails disappear from sight, giving the
illusion of a massive channel, the chassis actually
drops in a hefty ‘Z’ and widens to run within the
sills. The result of this engineering trickery is the
exaggerated stance that Neil wanted, as well as a
surprisingly roomy cabin — although the exercise
wasn’t as simple as a few sentences may make it
sound. To achieve it, Neil had to perform plenty
of metal surgery, much of which could pass
unnoticed. The floor and chassis are all custom,
and you might notice the recessed firewall, which
retains the factory outer edge. It’s also received the
requisite roof chop.
“Probably three inches, I’m guessing — I usually
forget what I’ve done the week after I’ve done it!”
Neil laughs. “All the roof above the doors, and the
gutters — I made those. I made the window frame,
made the boot lid and boot skin.”
It isn’t all wild custom work. Neil knows how to
frankie
(Frankie)
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