'37 Ford Slantback Tudor - 50's Style

[Bernard Kron]

50’s style ’37 Ford Slantback Street Rod

The ’37 Ford truly is the quintessential Billet Era street rod. Even today, if you go to local rod shows there’s a good chance you’ll see ’37 Ford Slantback Tudor that’s a throwback to the height of the Billet Rod craze of the 80’s and 90’s. Oh, the owner may have changed out the rolling to more traditional steelies and wide whites. If the owner is serious about “updating” it to today’s traditional style it might have been repainted in red or black. And maybe the small block mill has even been converted to triple Strombergs. But a peak at the interior will give away its roots because all that milled aluminum and tweed is just too costly to replace.

In 1987 Monogram celebrated this period icon with its 1/4th scale ’37 Ford Sedan Street Rod kit. It’s Billet Era through and through with Boyd style billet wheels, Mustang IFS clip, Corvette IRS, and a 4-barrel SBC with an automatic tranny and billet accessories. It’s a well-engineered kit with finely detailed parts, and a nicely rendered body. It goes together well and rewards the builder with a classic 90’s street rod.

I was looking through my stash for a slump buster and realized that I had avoided this kit for more than a decade. You see, Billet is just not my thing. Period correct 50’s is more what gloats my boat. Looking at it yet again, I realized that with just some detail changes it could be made to represent the typical mild street hot rod that used to grace the Little Pages back in the day. It’s a solid kit that would provide just the sort of simple project I was looking for if I stuck closely to the concept of back-dating it.

So what you see here is a pretty simple project. The suspension and rolling stock were lifted directly from a 10 year old stillborn AMT/Revell ’40 Ford Tudor hybrid I never finished. The front and rear axles and rear suspension have been swapped out for bits from a Revell ’40 Ford Coupe street rod, the wide white tires are Modelhaus 120A’s mounted on AMT steelies and covered with Moon Discs from Parts by Parks. The only non-kit parts are the ,’58 ‘Vette style dual 4-barrel intake on the kit small block. They’re from a Revell Chevy 283 Parts Pak, and despite the scale mismatch they fit perfectly. Oh yeah, and the taillights are AMT ’36 Ford bits.

Otherwise it’s straight out of the box. I ditched the kit headrests on the seats, deleted the stereo speakers on the package shelf and just made sure the colors were right for the 50’s machine I was modeling. The paint is Tamiya AS-5 Light Blue Luftwaffe, a matte military color that is meant to represent the tinted primer paint jobs that graced many a budget-conscious street machine in the 50’s I neglected to photograph the assembled interior, at least partially because of the way it goes together in this kit, so I’ve include a summary picture of the motor and the interior parts along with a side view showing the slightly raked stance that the deep-drop Revell beam axle gives the car. I added a ’40 Ford steering wheel and column during final assembly.

The project had the desired effect. A simple build with a minimum of fabrication and parts swapping that takes advantage of a well-conceived classic kit, even if it isn’t one that would normally appeal to me.

Thanks for lookin’,
B.

[espo]

I have to agree with you on the look, much better this way. Very clean looking build with a good looking interior. I like the full wheel Moon Discs, haven't seen those in a while. 

[Spottedlaurel]

I like what you've done with it, looks really effective.

[TooOld]

Really love the look you achieved on this one Bernard , the subtle amount of weathering gives it a "Driver" look that's not abused and neglected like most . Very very nicely done ! 

Edited August 3, 2020 by TooOld

[Paul Payne]

Anything is better than billet- you have nailed the 50’s driver look.

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks to you all. I'm pleased the period look came across. The "slightly weathered" look was the result of applying a small amount of black wash to the .hood louvers and side vents so they would show up. I suppose the wash reside complements the dull paint finish to give it the "daily driver" vibe. I'm glad you all dig it! Thanx!

[PappyD340]

Looks great!

[ChrisR]

Cool!

[Bernard Kron]

Thanks again guys. It did its job as a slump buster both because I managed to keep it simple and because it actually came out like I intended, LOL.

[slusher]

Ver nice build, sir!