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1947 Ford Tudor - Tudor Extreme
Much More than Meets the Eye
By Kevin Lee
If at first you don't succeed,
try, try again. This motto might not have originated
referring to hot rods, but you can't build one without
falling back on it at least one. When Jeff East bought this
'47 Ford sedan back in the mid-'90s it was a typical '80s
redo. It had a front clip, Ford 302, and 15-inch Boyd
wheels. Jeff started by swapping on some dropped spindles
with larger front rotors and some other minor tweaks. Then
in 2003, he decided he wanted to go a little deeper and
rebuild it the way he really wanted. He learned about a shop
opening up run by the son of a friend of a friend and took
the sedan over for some work. After seven months past with
basically nothing being done, Jeff got impatient and started
investigating other alternatives. On the advice of another
friend, Jeff talked to Kevin Francis at KA Custom in
Huntington Beach, California, and asked him about taking
over the project. Kevin was packed at the time but he said
would see if he could juggle a few things and fit in the
sedan.
Once there was room, the '47 was dug out of the other
shop and brought over to KA Custom where Kevin could examine
the project and help come up with a plan. It was quickly
determined that by the time Jeff paid to have the
improvements made to the stock frame, he would be better off
spending a little more and stepping up to a new custom-built
MaxG chassis from Art Morrison, which would give him the
handling and ride qualities he really wanted. With the
foundation set, Kevin and his crew moved on to the
powerplant and dressed up a new Chevy small-block backed
with a 700-R4 trans.
Although the body looked decent, you never quite know
what is underneath, and Kevin didn't want to take a chance
with fresh paint. The sheetmetal was sent out to be
walnut-shell blasted and came back sans driprails. Jeff
wanted to retain most of the factory trim, and completely
smoothing the missing driprails wouldn't look right, so he
had Bill Hernandez weld in some new steel and blend it into
the roof to give it a smooth, almost factory look. While he
was cleaning up a few things, he also decided to remove the
vent windows and cowl vent. Bill, along with Elio Islas and
Tony Villasenor, took the rest of the body and worked the
metal back into shape. When it was ready, they sprayed the
PPG Mystic Emerald paint.
When it came time for the interior, Jeff and Kevin took a
little more liberty than they had with the basically stock
exterior sheetmetal. The dash retained the stock trim but
was upgraded with a Rod Tech insert with VDO gauges and an
ididit tilt with a Billet Specialties wheel. Vintage Air A/C
was added to keep the cabin temps down. The sedan was sent
over to Eddy and Son in Bellflower to have the Glide buckets
and custom rear seat and door panels covered in light cream
vinyl. They also built the center console, installed the
Wilton Wool carpet, and concealed a host of Infinity
speakers and Kenwood amps.
Although at times it looked like Jeff might not end up
with his sedan (he actually sold it during the buildup while
going through a divorce, but ended up buying it back), he
kept trying, and it's easy to see he got it right in the
end.
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