Like I mentioned in the first part of the Black Tar story, a good hot rod really is the sum of its parts. And I had started collecting the stuff I really wanted for this car as soon as I found that T body at Tardel’s place. One idea that I’d been kicking around for awhile was using a set of Ford N-series tractor radius rods. I had grown up with these tractors that had been built from the late Thirties through early Fifties. My dad restores them and I knew that the I-beam bones from a 9N with the retainer cups from an 8N would match the dropped axle really well:
The whole idea of giving a name to a car probably has something to do with becoming attached to it, right? I’ve had more than a few cars over the years and while I haven’t given names to all of them, they each had personalities of their own and certainly deserved a name as I’d talk to them while pulling their motors or coaxing them by pure will and mere vapors to the gas station lights I could see up ahead. Hey, we’ve all been there, right?A few years ago, I got the hot rod bug and that pang hit me (you know that feeling when you see a car you just know you’re gonna drag home sooner or later?) when I saw a Model T coupe body at Keith Tardel’s shop. I ended up with that body and Keith helped me start collecting parts – which, I have to say, is one of the best things about building a hot rod compared to a custom: you build it from the ground up with exactly the parts you want. And I think that process just naturally attaches you to a hot rod more than other types of car builds – you have to think about each and every inch of the car and make a decision about them or it won’t be a complete, self-powered animal. Pretty neat process to put yourself through and I think everyone should do it at least once. (more…)
