Photo: Hemmings Southern California
There are restomods, there are sleepers, and then there's stuff somewhere in between. This 1929 Ford Model A customized with hardware far newer and more powerful than anything Henry Ford ever dreamt of meets the in between criteria.
We found this one-of-a-kind rig courtesy of the Hemmings Auctions classifieds out of Southern California. Back in its day, the Ford Model A, in its many, many different forms, left the factory sporting a 201-cubic inch (3.3 L) four-cylinder engine and an unsynchronized three-speed manual transmission. This may have gotten the old chariot up to 60 mph, but not much higher than that.
To change this less-than-acceptable performance required nothing short of a complete body-off-frame restoration and the removal of any antiquated chassis and suspension components. That's outside of the obvious and very well-welcomed engine swap that went into this build as well. The engine in question is a 4.6-liter, dual-overhead-cam, 32-valve Cobra variant of Ford's venerable Modular V8.
In its standard two-valve-per-cylinder form, the Modular V8 wasn't an awful engine, but not all that peppy either. The Cobra variant, on the other hand, was a complete hot cake. One with 320 horsepower from the factory in the fourth generation SVT Cobra. But we have it on good authority the Cobra motor can handle in excess of 640 horsepower with tweaks like pulley swaps and forced induction.
Oh, did we mention the engine is mounted in the middle? That seems like something you ought to know. Nowadays, the configuration of this Model A Ford from almost a century ago resembles a modern supercar underneath than it does an old jalopy. Power is fed from the engine to a ZF five-speed manual transmission from a DeTomaso Pantera as if to drive the point home that this build is a supercar masquerading as a late 20s Ford pickup truck.
All the beefy engine hardware is backed by a custom-fabricated performance chassis made from strong, welded tube steel. The vehicle's engine compartment is revealed via a switch inside the cockpit, which pneumatically lifts the body off the frame for maintenance and showing off at shows. With power disk brakes at all four corners, this rig stops and steers just as well as it accelerates. Custom billet aluminum wheels ensure.
Rarely is a custom car this beautiful on the inside, outside, and even underneath the body. But what can you inspect when a colossal 3,500 man-hours went into every nut, bolt, and piece of polished metal and plush interior leather? Speaking of the interior, a period-correct-looking stick-shift is flanked by custom gauges and tan leather that matches this build's exterior beautifully.
It's tough to gauge how much a build like this cost to build. Or better yet, how much it's worth at auction? If you ask us, this is a high six-figure custom build any day of the week. But a price of $140,000 is perfectly fair to us. It goes towards a restomod we only wish was in our garage. If you're a muscle car fan that can't help but appreciate the odd Ferrari or two, this is far and away the custom build for you.
To change this less-than-acceptable performance required nothing short of a complete body-off-frame restoration and the removal of any antiquated chassis and suspension components. That's outside of the obvious and very well-welcomed engine swap that went into this build as well. The engine in question is a 4.6-liter, dual-overhead-cam, 32-valve Cobra variant of Ford's venerable Modular V8.
In its standard two-valve-per-cylinder form, the Modular V8 wasn't an awful engine, but not all that peppy either. The Cobra variant, on the other hand, was a complete hot cake. One with 320 horsepower from the factory in the fourth generation SVT Cobra. But we have it on good authority the Cobra motor can handle in excess of 640 horsepower with tweaks like pulley swaps and forced induction.
Oh, did we mention the engine is mounted in the middle? That seems like something you ought to know. Nowadays, the configuration of this Model A Ford from almost a century ago resembles a modern supercar underneath than it does an old jalopy. Power is fed from the engine to a ZF five-speed manual transmission from a DeTomaso Pantera as if to drive the point home that this build is a supercar masquerading as a late 20s Ford pickup truck.
All the beefy engine hardware is backed by a custom-fabricated performance chassis made from strong, welded tube steel. The vehicle's engine compartment is revealed via a switch inside the cockpit, which pneumatically lifts the body off the frame for maintenance and showing off at shows. With power disk brakes at all four corners, this rig stops and steers just as well as it accelerates. Custom billet aluminum wheels ensure.
Rarely is a custom car this beautiful on the inside, outside, and even underneath the body. But what can you inspect when a colossal 3,500 man-hours went into every nut, bolt, and piece of polished metal and plush interior leather? Speaking of the interior, a period-correct-looking stick-shift is flanked by custom gauges and tan leather that matches this build's exterior beautifully.
It's tough to gauge how much a build like this cost to build. Or better yet, how much it's worth at auction? If you ask us, this is a high six-figure custom build any day of the week. But a price of $140,000 is perfectly fair to us. It goes towards a restomod we only wish was in our garage. If you're a muscle car fan that can't help but appreciate the odd Ferrari or two, this is far and away the custom build for you.
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