Jalopnik: great 8

1933 Ford Cabriolet, A Noble Great Eight Contender

Ben Wojdyla — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 17:45:00 EDT

Mainly because we like rusty old rods with the propensity to kill you, we haven't paid much attention to the Great Eight Ridler contenders. But Chris Conly's 1933 Ford Cabriolet is clean and darn cool.

The Cabriolet borrows bits from several '30s era Ford products, the body is from the 1933 model while that nose came from a 1938 Ford truck — looks right at home if you ask us. The body has been massaged ever so gently for a cleaner look, and we're loving the sheetmetal detail at the bottom of the bonnet, pinned to the chassis with shiny rivets. Motivation comes via a clean 354 Hemi V8 mated to a 700R transmission. Again, this is one of those clean, simple hot rods evocative of the original era of hot rodding. Keep it simple, make it cool, and make sure it's fast. If we'd have been on the voting committee it would have been a hard choice between this car and Duecenberg.

1956 Chevrolet Handyman Wagon

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:15:00 EDT

Lots of wagons among this years Great 8, here's another and this one wearing a bowtie and a lot of orange. The fairly rare '56 Chevy Handyman Wagon has undergone extensive modifications, and it shows. The bodywork amounts to over 100 modifications nad 1300 handmade parts, that's love. Under that custom engine cover is a LS1 V8 and a 4L60E transaxle. The interior is completely one off with hand formed dash and leather bits where it counts. This is a very nicely done rod, even if a bit over-done for our tastes. Kudos to the builders at Rods and Restos for a job well done.

1967 GMC Pick Up

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:15:00 EDT

Excuse us if we didn't take much time to look into this GMC which was on the stands as a pick for the Ridler award at this years 2008 Detroit Autorama, it just didn't tickle our fancy. Sure it was built well, and everything seemed to have an appropriate level of hot roddery, but was just a little too... meh. Maybe it was the 80's era speedboat level of metal flake in the paint, perhaps the overdone front hinged hood, maybe it was just the clear lens LED tail lights, who knows. Regardless, this was one of those rods we respect for its craftsmanship, but would pass for some of the other offerings. There's just something fundamentally wrong with a truck that has the tailgate welded shut.

1941 Willys Coupe

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:45:00 EDT

Hot rodders best be careful, or the once lusted after 1941 Willys Coupe will be the next '32 Ford of the rodding world. We know they've got a nice stout shape and wear fat racing slicks with a certain style few other cars can, but as often as we see them, you'd think they never went out of production. This particular '41Coupe is under the stewardship of Joseph Mouton Jr. who hails from New Orleans. After overlooking the massively supercharged 502 V8 mill, the car has got some real nice details throughout.

Even though it's a fiberglass body, the execution is well played. The one off grille is flanked by custom headlights, and the custom "W" engraved hood stand are all pretty neat pieces. The interior is as red as an Arizona sunset and all of those wheels are deep enough to get lost in. Overall a very nice interpretation of the Willys form.

1932 Ford "Willet Special" Has Suprise Powerplant

Ben Wojdyla — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:20:00 EDT

Instead of going with a top ten list like everybody and his brother, the Detroit Autorama narrows things down to 8 finalists in the hunt for the prized Ridler Award. This group of fresh hot rods live in what's called "the Great 8". We've already seen the winner of this years Ridler Award, the Ferrambo, but we're going to take a tour through the other selections for this years Great 8. This is the 1932 Ford "Willet Special". Styled after the racers of the late forties which were bodied and modified for speed as "specials", the Willet Special has something under the hood those original racers could only dream of. Scoffing at the laws of physics, the builders of this speedster have managed to wedge a Viper V10 into the narrow frame and hood line of this handsome coupe.

With the power of 600 horses this Special is capable of over 200 mph, and with less heft than the Viper, will throw down 0-60 MPH times under 4 seconds. Not bad for a 76 year old chassis. Of course it's got all the goodies to back that up like a one off belly pan, rear splitter, Tremec 6 speed, roll hoops, a Willwood braking system and some swank satin polished vintage style kidney wheels. This is a baaaaad ride my friends.