A Project Car is Born
by Frank Colgoni

At some point, it becomes time to move from hypothetical to actual. That time is now.

Up 'til now, we've dealt mostly in the abstract. That is, what we might do, what we should think about, what we should avoid and so on. As you know, we have already intimated that this will be a complete buildup - a brand new car.

The Project Vehicle
Some of our readers will intuitively know, or might guess, what we'd be interested in building. If you remember the cruise-night.com web site (the predecessor of Canadian Rodder), You might have seen a picture of myself in my youth holding the winning entry in model car contest. If not, click the icon below:

Sorry about the quality but the photo is a bit ancient. Were you able to identify the year and make? If not, the model was '32 Ford 5-window coupe. Unfortunately, the model is long gone but the love affair with the deuce lives on..

A few years ago, we began building a Deuce 3-window highboy but the project came to a screeching halt when Tom VanDerGeld offered us his '32 Roadster (see Canadian Rodder Archived Stuff, 2000, "Tom's Work"). The highboy coupe had to go but we had another '32 to shower our affection on (still do). However, it's time to re-light the torch.

So, what are we saying? Well, we're saying that the new project will be (drum roll but no surprise) another Deuce. We're going back to a 3-window coupe but this time with fenders. Over time, we'll introduce other details about the car but suffice to say that it will take styling cues from the past and present and will have a "contemporary" drivetrain and chassis.

The Project Builder
It's also no secret that we admire the work of the above mentioned Tom VanderGeld. Formerly of Horton Street Rod Products, Tom now runs his own shop - Lowdown Hot Rods in Cambridge, Ontario. Lowdown is capable of building complete hot rods and race cars as well as everything in between. Tom is ably assisted by Marc McCrae and Scott Forbes.

Take the time to visit Lowdown's website. The link below will open a new browser window. Have a good look around and then close the window to return to Canadian Rodder.

Blast Off
The project will begin with the fabrication of the frame which will be covered in the not too distant future.

In our next article, we'll talk about the body, the body manufacturer and will take you inside the body building process.