Meet The Players

This 1932 Ford Roadster was brought to me by a pretty well known engine builder named Rick King. Rick builds all kinds of high performance engines but is best known for his efforts in the world of boat racing. His engines have powered many championship winning drag boast and flat bottoms dating back 3 decades. If you want to build a blown alcohol or blown fuel boat Rick King is the man to see. He is also a very talented builder of all things automotive, and has been since way before I was born. He's forgotten more than I know today, so it was very flattering when he asked me to help him on this build. It was even more flattering when I learned this roadster was being built for his 85 year old father.

 The car is based on a Brookville steel body on a TCI frame. It is powered by a 406 cubic inch small block Chevy with a 6-71 roots blower. Although it's not pictured here, the blower is topped with an incredibly rare Autolite inline 4 barrel carburetor that flows about 1300 CFM. Rick has been at this long enough that he has a few of these carbs and enough new old stock parts to keep them all running well.

My job will be to make headway on the build in general, for now I'll be adding stock '32 rear frame extensions and a stock style gas tank, finishing the firewall/floors and installing the steering. Here's how it looked when it rolled in.

Pretty basic stuff, Brookville '32 Roadster body and TCI frame. The motor is what will set this one apart.

A roots style blower is always an impressive sight and the level of quality here is very high. Rick built the blower drive from scratch.

For some reason the rear frame rails were bobbed (cut off) for use with a roll pan and a fuel tank mounted in the trunk. They want to use a stock '32 tank so I will have to add rear frame horns and then bolt the tank in place.

This is an 8-71 blown big block Chevy in one of Rick's flat bottom boats. This one he built as a "rat" boat, using all old stuff he had laying around. It makes 900-1000 horsepower on gasoline.

He's Rick King, bitch!