autoevolution
 

Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster with a Miata 1.8L Engine?

No, this isn't the famous Bo Jones Modified. It's a tribute car inspired by it that's just as cool and packs a surprise under the hood. Roy Rockwell built this custom orange roadster back in 2008. It's so old that it almost fell off the Internet map, and we can't find any videos of it, so it probably doesn't come out to play.
Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine? 34 photos
Photo: hemmings.com
Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?Would You Buy a 1926 Ford Roadster With a Miata 1.8L Engine?
The project started out as a tub for the 1926 Ford Model T convertible. In racing hot rod fashion, the body was narrowed by eight and a half inches at the back and placed on top of a custom chassis made from square pipes.

It's also got a pretty sweet back end with a single light in the middle, red leaf spring rising top, wire spoked wheels, and a huge axle sticking out. The interior is cleanly dressed in brown with only three clocks.

However, the really sweet part is what hides under the cowling, as Roy chose to use the smallest engine he could get his hands on, a 1.8-liter Mazda BP-4W inline-four from the previous Miata. No, it hasn't got any fancy supercharger, so the total output is 133 horsepower.

But that's a lot more than you got on the original Model T, plus the Bo Jones Modified featured a Chevy 2.5-liter with 90 ponies. The engine connects to a Miata 5-speed manual and sends the goods through a red prop shaft to a 1940 Ford quick change rear end.

Unless we're mistaken, we saw this bad boy in a print version of Hot Rod or Road & Track magazine. Like we said, it dropped off the radar, but we found it for sale in Gilbert, Arizona, with an asking price of $52,500. She's a beauty, no doubt about it, but will she find a suitable owner who appreciates its originality?
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories