Skip Readio's 1934 Ford 4 door

Owner
Skip

Description
Purchased in July 1964, running with a hemi in August, legally registered and on the road in Feb 1965.

Current Configuration:
8" channel
Widened and flared, all steel, 1934 coupe fenders on rear.
Frame lengthened 8"
Magnum 1948 Ford front axle and spring
Front hubs re-drilled for late Ford 4.5" bolt circle
1968 Plymouth GTX 9 3/4" 3.54:1 Dana rear end
1963 Dodge Ramcharger master-leaves w/1968 GTX springs
15x7.5 E-T IV fronts
Dunlop Qualifier P235/60 SR 15
15x8.5 E-T IV rears
Dunlop CT Qualifier P275/60 SR 15
1963 Chevrolet (Borg Warner) T-10
53 gallon (U.S.) stainless steel fuel tank (Jim Koehler, welder)
Dual voltage electrical system
6 volt (dome light, back-up ignition, fuel pump, instruments, instrument lights, horn) (The original dome light bulb that was in this car in 1964 still works)
12 volt (lights, stereo, c.b., radar detector, Halogen back-up light electronic ignition)
1932 radiator (3" Griffin)
1978 Corvette seats, brown
Black, coarse-grain vinyl button-tuft upholstery and headliner
Hurst Competition-plus shifter
Stewart Warner instruments
Blaupunkt Heidleberg receiver/CD
Uniden Grant XL 40 Chan. w/sideband
Whistler 1290 radar detector
Accel 300+ racing ignition
Rostra Ultracruise cruise control

Engine: Built in 1964, rebuilt in '76 & '93
1953 Chrysler
1954 heads
Specifications:
354 c.i.d. (+0.125" overbore of 331 c.i.d. motor)
12.5:1 M/T pistons
Crower roller tappet camshaft ("Imperial" cam with roller journals)
Lifter bore oil supply holes restricted to .052"
Cam bearings grooved for oil supply to rocker arms.
Rocker arm oil supply passages restricted to .050"
Weber aluminum flywheel
Centerforce Clutch & pressure plate
Cragar (open plenum) 4 carb manifold
Stromberg 97 Carburetors (4)
K & N air filter elements
Cagle vacuum controlled fuel pressure regulator
Sanderson DD3 Block Hugger headers, HPC coated
Exhaust by Jay's Custom Exhaust, Lowell, Mass.
Milodon "Mouse-trap" rev kit
Chrome (done in 1964) by National Metal Finishing, West Springfield, Mass
O'Brien Truckers finned rocker covers
O'Brien Truckers finned valley cover
Kendall GT-1 SAE-50 Racing Oil
Balanced by Precision Balancing, Hudson, New Hampshire


Paint:
Kandy Apple Tangerine over Cinnamon Firemist and gold "flip-flop" pearl over 1972 Ford white.
Ribbon of opaqued Kandy Apple greens, blues, reds, oranges, purples and yellows over the pearl white base.
Caricatures and scenes on the ribbon and on the rear of body

Paint Theme:
"Ribbon of time" starts on the front door with a pair of period caricatures from 1934 in the form of Laurel & Hardy and W.C. Fields to correspond to the date of manufacture of the vehicle.
On the rear door, corresponding to the owner / builder's date of birth, is a depiction of 1945's atom bomb explosion on Hiroshima, Japan.
Over the rear fender and a surfer riding the crest of the ribbon and a young couple silhouetted against the sunset as seen on contemporary greeting cards popular at the time of the paint scheme's application in 1972.
On the rear of the vehicle is a version of John Petre's painting entitled "Overpopulation".
Both sides of the car are identical to within 1/4 inch.


Richard "Smiley" Spencer of West Springfield applied the paint, Mass in late 1972. The gas tank was designed by myself and fabricated by Jim Koehler at
Western Mass Welding in 1974. Walt Bannish & I boxed the frame in 1965.

I bought the car in June of '64 and previous drive trains/options included:

1939 tranny and rear (replaced in 1966)
1956 Ford gas tank (replaced with current tank in 1974)
1963 Plymouth rear w/ traction bars toward the rear and a 1939 rear spring. That was great for the strip but poor on the street (replaced in 1973)
1952 Saratoga block that was damaged in an accident in 1966 on US 20 at the Westfield/ West Springfield line when a young kid and seven of his buddies made a U-turn into my right front wheel and broke off the oil filter.
I finally got sick of the oil consumption and, in 1976, bored out a 1953 Imperial block and swapped all the innards out of the 1952 block into the 1953 block. That block, with over 100,000 miles on it, was replaced in 1993 with another 1953 block when two roller tappets wore out on the way home from NSRA nationals in Louisville, KY. Pistons and cam are originals, still. The billet cam was welded and re-ground by Crower. Valve spring pressure was dropped from 170lbs/410lbs to 100lbs/330lbs (closed/open)
1968 GTO seats (replaced in early 1980s)
Black lacquer paint in 1965 re-painted in 1972 to current condition stock 1932 radiator, replaced w/ Walker in 1973
3" Walker - Kept leaking so he replaced it in 1979
4" Walker - Kept leaking so I replaced it in 1996 with a Griffin
Stromberg 4bbl for a while, changed to the Holley in 1972, machined stock intake to match Holley R-3310 throttle bores, replaced with 4 Stromberg 97 carbs on a Weiand WC245 in 1994
Replaced the Weiand WC245 intake in 2000
1955 DeSoto "Wonder Bar" radio
1968 Plymouth AM & 8 Track
Holley's then Concord rear tires
Protrac fronts
Replaced the stock 1948 Lincoln axle with a Magnum in 1997
Replaced the 23 Channel Cobra 132 sideband CB in 1999 with Uniden
Replaced the Concord HPL350 AM / FM stereo, cassette in 2000 with CD/receiver

This is my ride, and I'd like to edit it.