« View all StreetScene archives
Basement Gold (this one ain’t restored)
Ricky Potter started out in the ‘70 s rebuilding his grandfather’s old’53 Ford F100 and was then hooked fixin’ up old cars.
He went through a number of stockers over the years, but had always wanted a streetrod. When he found a ’36 Packard 120 hiding in a basement, he knew it would make a perfect rod and that his dad (Lloyd) would love to get involved in rodding the heck out of a ’36 Packard. Thus began another great father/son project. Their plan was to build a smoothed-out and classy resto rod with an emphasis on both the rodpart and the intrinsic luxury feel the Packard name implies. Once the rod was blown apart, the chassis was stripped bare and updated the Corvette way.
A forged-aluminum C4 IFS with coil-overs, massive disc brakes and a nice weight power rack and pinion was installed. The rear suspension of choice also came from a C4 Corvette, but in this case it was narrowed, had coil-overs installed and the finned aluminum brakes were retained. What was left of the stock frame was boxed, reinforced and welded to provide rigidity. Ricky and Lloyd’s friend Riley Kennedy donated the bitchin’ 427 ci big-block Chevrolet motorvator with an Edelbrock intake system, Hedman headers and aTurbo 350 for shifting. The power package turns17-inch Americans wrapped in Goodyear rubber.The flowing Art Deco lines of the Packard were retained, but Ricky and Lloyd also significantly updated the Packard package. The roof was filled,the headlights were updated to three-bar lights, swan neck mirrors were installed and smoothie running boards were fabricated.
They had sometrouble getting parts from restoration suppliers when they found out the car was to be a streetrod, but they just called back later and lied. Rickythen straightened everything out, got the suicide doors running perfectly with bear claws, and laid down the flawless Cortez silver-colored hues. Other than the basic (and we mean basic) dash shape, the interior is almost fully from the minds ofthe Potters and the fine folks at Alexander’s Upholstery. A center console was fabricated to match up with the original dash and filled with power window controls, billet A/C con-trols, a tach and the Lokar shifter. The dash was two-toned in red and silver while being filled with Haneline gauges, a push button start, and set up to hang a LeCarra topped stainless steering column. Alexander’s then took over and covered everything from the headliner to the kick panels in a richred leather. Lloyd then wired the cartogether with an EZ Wiring kit andthey took off down the road (if only it wasthat easy).We obviously think Ricky’s ride is rad, but we think Ricky will agree that the greatest part of the ride is all the time he got to spend with dad building the rod. It makes finishing the car unimportant, but makes the car truly priceless when it’s done. We should all think about getting someone we love involved in roddingand what next project of ours would be perfect for that purpose. Great job Ricky and we’ll beseeing you on the road.
