Derby-Miller Racing Car, Brooklands, 1935

Gwenda Stewart (nee Hawkes) with the Derby-Miller front wheel drive racing car. Like other marques of the period, Derby involved themselves in motor sport, with driver Douglas Hawkes's front wheel drive Miller with Derby parts (dubbed a Derby-Miller) acting as a testbed and promotional tool; that it was driven by Gwenda Stewart did not hurt publicity either. He had bought into the Derby factory in 1930, helped by his then father-in-law Charles Kinisson.

Although Stewart had been known to say that she preferred record-breaking to racing as it required less effort, she was nevertheless a quick and skillful racer; she raced at Montlhéry, taking a Land Speed Racing 1.5 litre class record at in 1930, with a standing mile at 118.13mph. She also raced at Brooklands, and twice at the Le Mans 24 Hours, in 1934 and 1935. She was partnered by Louis Bonne and Charles Worth respectively, but retired early both times.

1934 Ford DeLuxe Roadster - Almost Original

The pictures of this car could have conceivably been taken in the late 1930's, but it hails from 2014; such are the authenticity of the backdrop and the modifications to this Model 40.
A 59A flathead and '39 gearbox, hydraulic brakes from a '40 Ford, a chopped top and lowering with lower-profile tyres basically round out the mods on this 1934 Ford DeLuxe Roadster. And thats the thing; all of these modifications were being carried out on Model 40s in the late '30s, when they were just becoming affordable to the car guys at the very genesis of the hot rodding scene in the USA. This particular car was restored in the 1970's, so has the advantage of being a little fresher than an original, and to me is the acceptable face of patina: earned not forced and not blatantly obvious. I'd give this car a place in my garage in a heartbeat.
Read more here.

- Amazosan

Ricky Bobby's One Nite Stand

Words: Amazosan
Pics: Ricky Brown/Just A Car Guy

Don't worry; this isn't a portent for some kind of NSFW 'art' film starring Will Ferrell; The Ricky Bobby in question is Ricky Bobby's Rod Shop and the One Nite (sic) Stand is this low-slung '28 Model A.

Ricky “Ricky Bobby” Brown, owner of Ricky Bobby’s Rod Shop has been building rods for over 10 years and is well-known for building attention-grabbing custom rods that are unique; his rods have been featured in Ol Skool, Gauge and Amusing Cruising magazines. One Nite Stand is an typical example of his atypical approach; starting with the custom frame, it features a 12" kick up at the front and a whopping 22" (twenty two inches!) at the rear. Drilled to within an inch if it's life at the front and fully gusseted and boxed throughout, it serves as the basis for the drilled '39 Lincoln Zephyr front axle (wider track than a Model A) and drilled split wishbones, reworked at the stub axles to get it lower, with a standard Model A transverse leaf spring and short dampers doing the bouncy-bouncy duties.

Out rear, thats an 8.8 inch axle out of a 2009 Mustang, with coilovers, three links and a Panhard rod, sitting right where folk would have been back in 1928. Not much info on the wheels, but they are 18" steels up front and 20" at the rear, with custom made disc covers and hubcaps to emulate the prewar look; damn tricky. Again, not much seems to be known outside of Ricky Bobby's shop about that small block Chevy, other than it's running Edelbrock rocker covers, a Holley 650cfm double pumper carb and some sweet 'Limefire'-style exhausts.

Now to the body; bought as a beaten up shell with tons of filler, courtesy of a poorly-done 4" roof chop. Ricky rectified this by whacking out another 5" from the A's roofline; if in doubt, cut it out! Another 4" were taken out of the rear quarters to shorten it, while the body was channeled over that new frame to ensure a pan-dragging stance. The wood and fabric roof have been retained, while the interior features seats made from WWII backpacks and a dash with achingly cool gauges from a speedboat, while the low height has of course meant the propshaft runs inside the car, in a 'floating' transmission tunnel; yeah, its that low. A custom-fabbed 12 gallon fuel tank was made; just enough to hop between petrol stations, no doubt. And the whereabouts of the radiator? behind that louvered panel in the tail, keeping the fuel tank and radiator company; that small tank occupying the empty space in the grill shell is the expansion tank.

Although it was painted for practical reasons (the condition of the shell), I kinda like the fact that it is; the bare metal look has been done a wee bit too often and the black gives this car some menace. And unlike some of the rat rods populating rod runs that seem just a little too unfinished, One Nite Stand treads a fine line between raw and just plain uncooked.

- Amazosan

And some great buildup pics:

Fuel tank: