It's an all steel 38 Ford Standard Businessman's Coupe. The car took 7 years to build. Originally a two-seater, a custom rear seat for parades and convertible cruising was added. The top was removed and replaced with a Carson Style top to keep out the hot Arizona sun and the cool air conditioning inside. A full supporting "birdcage" inside the car was fabricated to support the suicide doors and the quarter panels before the roof was cut away. This car is no trailer queen, it is driven with over 18,000 miles on the odometer currently.

The engine is a four bolt main, 350 Chevy that was pulled from a badly smoking, 1976 one ton potato chip delivery truck! I got the block for free, then proceeded to overhaul it. During the rebuilding, the largest hydraulic cam possible was added, then it was rebored to 355 cubic inches with high compression pistons and rocker rollers. The heads are from a Chevy 400 engine, and the carburetor (650 cfm) and intake are Edelbrock. The engine components were balanced. Estimated horsepower is 400. The exterior of the engine has all polished aluminum accessories including valve covers, air filter, carb, intake manifold, headers, spark wire looms, air conditioner compressor, alternator. The block, transmission, and driveline are painted Ford truck Navy blue.

The transmission is a Chevy 350 turbo rebuilt for the strip and the rear end is a Ford 9"(3.23), from a 1957 Ford Ranchero. The front suspension is a junk yard Mustang II with rack and pinion manual steering.

Front brakes are disc, with rear drums. The frame is original, but has been boxed and painted gloss black. The rear suspension is leaf spring with front and rear sway bars from Chassis Engineering.

The car had a badly cut up firewall when purchased. It turned out to be an old road sign from the "NEHI SODA" company! It was replaced with big block firewall, but it killed all the room under the dash! The Air conditioner had to fit in the trunk and the cooling/heating hoses had to come from the rear of the car. This was done by fabricating a steel center console that also hides the joy sticks for the 6 way power seats, the heat / air controls and the emergency brake handle. All other switches and controls are hidden under the BITCHIN dash on a two inch steel panel that is upholstered and out of sight.

The front floor, transmission tunnel and dash were also replaced as they had been torched in a 1960's attempt to hotrod the car with a torch!

The interior features are suicide style, electric remote doors, Specialty power windows, and a PIONEER 300 watt 12 stack CD/Cassette/AM/FM stereo system. Eight BOSTON ACOUSTIC speakers are hidden behind the upholstery, including the two 10-inch woofers that hide in the trunk and fire through the rear seats from custom made, "boom boxes". A false firewall in the trunk hides the battery, air conditioner, two boom boxes, and the stereo amplifier in an 18" deep compartment while still allowing plenty of trunk space for luggage, folding chairs, cleaning supplies and tools. Stereo system installation by owner and brother, Len Armijo of Len's Custom Stereo Systems in Danville, California.

The exterior: The bright white paint is early Chevy, PPG Arctic white with a Navy blue Mercedes Benz cloth top.

The tail lights are 39 Ford Blue dots, but since these don't work well in the bright Arizona sun, a custom light bar was attached under the rear roll pan displaying a double row of LED lights styled from a late model Cadillac trunk. These lights provide much better visibility with brighter running lights, turn signals, and stop lights. The two front turn signals are from a Harley Motorcycle and are mounted inside the glass lenses of the headlights.

The wheels and matched steering wheel, are BILLET SPECIALTIES. The running boards are new steel and painted smooth to make the car look lower. The hood tilts forward like the early Corvettes and Thunderbirds. It is counter balanced to rest on its own weight for shows, then locks down with two cable controlled latches. Bob Turner of R.T. Streetrods in Glendale Az. Engineered and fabricated the custom hood assembly and performed his magic on the overall metal fit and finish before applying the paint. Mary Turner of R.T. Streetrods perfected the body work, body smoothing and completed thepaint preparation.

TIME TO BUILD.....7 YEARS

NAME OF CAR....."FABULUS"

Manufacturer.....ALL STEEL 1938 Ford Standard Businessman's Coupe.

Wheel base 112"

Suspension..... Front Suspension 1973 Mustang II X-member

Rear Suspension.....Chassis Engineering leaf and sway bar set.

Chassis plumbing.....Custom steel lines by owner

ENGINE

Year and make..... 1976 Chevrolet Truck (1 Ton Step Van).

Displacement.....355 cubic inch w/ 4 bolt main

Camshaft.....Competition cams Special Performance

HYD. CS 292H-10 (400 Chevy Heads)

Induction.....Edelbrock Performer HPC coated & polished. (Yearwood)

Edelbrock 600 CFM Carburetor (Summit Racing)

B&M Dual Element Air Cleaner (Yearwood)

Ignition / wires.....Stock HEI / Taylor Bluewires

Headers.....HPC coated Hedman Blockhuggers

Exhaust ..... FlowMaster 3 chamber mufflers. (Summit Racing)

Engine Rebuild Parts.....PAW (Performance Automotive Warehouse)

Water pump .....Trickflow (Summit Racing)

Cooling fan.....Single 16" Electric 2600 CFM Spal fan (So-cal Speed Shop)

Transmission.....Chevy 350 turbo .

Converter.....Hughes Performance (3000 stall)

Rear end / Ratio.....1957 Ford 9" / 3.23:1

Front Brakes.....Disc brakes/Chevy 5 bolt rotors ( A-1 Racing)

Rear Brakes..... Drums (1957 Ford Ranchero Truck)

Master Cylinder.....ECI Power booster

Body Mods.....Suicide doors, modified 38 grille, SMOOTHIE running boards.

Custom tilt hood, Radiused wheel wells, third brake light,

Custom rear roll pan & fenders, Carson Top, shaved doors, hood, trunk.

Steering column.....IDIT painted steel

Steering box.....Manual Mustang II rack (NAPA) Radiator.....Walker

Front Wheel make/size Billet Specialties 14x6 Chevy

Rear Wheel make/size Billet Specialties 15x8 Ford.

Front tire make/size.....Michelin P195-R70-14

Rear tire make/size ..... Gillette P255-R70-15

Headlights.....Original 38 Ford modified to quartz halogen

Taillights.....39 blue dots / Frenched third brake light on rear deck.

Custom tail light display..... Owner fabricated (Lambert Enterprises LED)

Alternator.....100 amp

Dashboard.....Bitchin products Brushed aluminum

Gauges.....Dakota Digital (blue numbers-center display)

Power Windows.....Specialty Power Windows

Gas tank.....14 gallon poly by "Tanks Inc".

Hagan fuel door (Tear drop style)

Air Conditioner.....Vintage Air

Custom AC Center Console..Bob Turner R.T. Streetrods

Stereo System..... .Pro series Pioneer 300 watt amp.

Boston Acoustic Speakers

Pioneer 12 stack CD changer.

Custom Audio Danville, California. (Len Armijo)

Wiring.....Ron Francis Wire Works

Body work..... Mary Turner RT Street Rods Glendale AZ.

Painter.....Bob Turner

Paint.....PPG Arctic White

Custom Tilt Hood ..... Bob Turner

Upholstery.....Ron Mangus (Custom Auto Interiors-Bloomington California)

Carson top.....Ron Mangus

Front seats.....1985 Ford T-Bird 6 way power seats.

Rear seat..... Ron Mangus custom

Material .....Blue leather & cloth

Carpet.....Blue w/leather trim

Steering wheel.....Blue leather trimmed Billet Specialties matched with wheels.

Mirrors outside.....Californian Mirrors (Riverside Automotive)

Mirror inside......Billet Specialties polished aluminum.