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:

Top Trumps Car Of The Day - Triumph-Engined 'Ultra Violet' Chopper

Got My Back

Sabb 95 Van - Delivered By Saunders

Andy Saunders, a man with a creative bent like few customisers this side of George Barris, Franco Sbarro or Darryl Starbird. The diversity of his car building portfolio seems to know no bounds: a stepside Escort pickup, a shortened Mini, a flattened Mini, a Citroën CX with a swoopy hand-made body, a road-going speedboat, a super-cool Volvo lowrider, a re-imagined Bentley Mulsanne, the Nissan Deltawing replica, the recreation of the Ford X-2000... the list is almost endless. But he is also pretty handy at straight restorations; the painstaking rebuild of the one-off Aurora Safety Car and concours restos of a Cord 810 and Mulliner Park Ward Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud are other highlights from a very prolific career. Well, this car is a bit of a red herring, as it wasn't actually restored by Andy, but he did add his own little touch to the car, as we will see. And why let the facts get in the way of a good intro?

A Saab van? Yes, you heard right; the Saab 95 2T delivery van was a special export version for a few markets, produced without rear seats and rear side windows. A few V4 versions survive in the UK, but this two-stroke version seems to be the only survivor of three imported by Saab GB in the Sixties, given to select dealers to run as service vehicles. 

After being in use from 1962 until the mid-80's, it was left outside behind the particular dealer it was assigned to (Saab of Slough, curiously enough); at one point it was partially dismantled and many of the outer panels were removed and stored inside the van. It was discovered after many years at the dealership in very sorry state by an enthusiast who bought it in 1991, intending to conduct a full restoration. After amassing a large stock of spares, the car was swapped for spares for a 1934 Vauxhall 12hp he was restoring and the new owner completely restored the 95 to show quality condition from 2000 to 2001 - something quite unexpected for a humble, if rare, service vehicle.

Andy Saunders acquired the van in 2004 and while it had already been restored, he added the original Saab livery to the doors, to bring it back to the exact look it had in a photo taken outside Saab of Slough’s main parts depot in 1962. Since restoration, it has been featured in print and was sold at auction in 2008.

- Mr Fabulous

The van in 'as found' condition, but with the panels re-attached:

Commercial Break: Hertz Shelby Mustang GT350H, 1966 (USA)

1957 Chevrolet Truck - Get N Down In Vegas

What plans do you have when you retire? Go down the allotment every day? Look after the grandkids? get under the wife's feet while she's doing the housework? Hand up anyone that said 'take on a car project'. Perfect time to do one really; no 9 to 5 job to worry about, so all the time in the world to spend in the workshop and the added bonus of not having the wife nag you to do DIY.
Fidel Gallegos had this beauty of a '57 Chevrolet Task Force pick up squirreled away, but didn't crack on with until he'd hung up his plasterers tools. It wasn't anywhere near as nice as it is now, but when you have the time, this is what you can achieve.
More here.

-Amazosan

Monaco Grand Prix, May 26, 1963

Willy Mairesse, driving the Ferrari 156. he would retire on lap 27 with gearbox failure, but would be classified 10th ; Graham Hill in the previous season's BRM P57 won the race. In typical BRM fashion, a new model was not prepared in time for the 1963 season, so to keep the P57 competitive, a new 6 speed gearbox was mounted to the engine, which also featured a new fuel injection system.