Friday, January 29, 2010

1933 Ford 3wc Princessmobile

This car was completed in 2000 by Larry Maupin of Delton, Michigan. Larry owns a collision repair shop in Delton which explains why the body & paint was flawless. Chuck & Linda Shotwell acquired the car in September 2004 and have driven it over 4000 miles a year since. When Chuck bought his own hot rod in June of 2007, Linda, The Princess, started driving the '33 exclusively. She has a "Princess" pillow, a "Princess" sign and other "Princess" thingies....leaving no doubt who owns the car! In fact the license plate says HRZZZZ !! She is the pretty half of the "Twins" that attends over 65 car shows/cruises each year. She reminds me of the Jan & Dean song, "The little old lady from Pasadena" except she is from Stafford, VA. Some of the places she has driven to include; Columbus Good Guys, Hershey Good Guys, Bowling Green- KY NHRA, Myrtle Beach Run to the Sun, Charlotte Good Guys, Richmond NSRA and many events closer to home.

The car is built on a modified 1933 FoMoCo frame with a Downs fiberglass body except the front Wescott fenders. It has a Roottlieb hood and louvered side panels. The whole car is painted in Dupont Chromabase, Viper red over a white base. The Alumacraft grille nestles inside the painted grille shell and the headlights are '34 Ford Commercial, which are 10" dia. rather than the standard 7"dia. It has stock appearing taillights that have been converted to LED units with a third brake light under the rear window. The peep mirrors are from Sun Spec and the oval polished aluminum interior mirror is a day-night piece. The Pontiac Grand Am seats have been covered by Steve’s Upholstery in light beige leather as is the rest of the interior with detailed stitching and contrasting panels. The wiring is from Ron Francis with a Pioneer
sound system in the overhead console, Vintage Air & heat with VDO gauges and a LeCarra steering wheel on a ’72 Chevy van steering column. SPW Power windows, Downs trunk operator and electronic entry by Dakota Digital. The steel 14 gallon fuel tank is a new stock unit.

Power is from a Chevy pre-'87 "010" 350 4 bolt main block that displaces 355 inches. It has cast iron GM 487 heads that have been cut .020 with severe duty valves & seats and a CraneCams 274HO6 cam, Crane lifters & springs, under a Weiand Stealth intake and Edelbrock Thunder series 650 cfm 4 bbl topped off with a 4" tall large oval K&N air cleaner. The MSD Street fire HEI distributor with Taylor wires send spark to the Accel short plugs. The Griffin twin
row 1 1/4 tube radiator is assisted in cooling by a 16" Spall fan with Spal digital controller. A Weiand HV short water pump with Gates PowerGrip thermo formed hose clamps throughout. Lokar throttle & trans cables control the beast and it has Lokar dip sticks for the engine & trans. It has a mildly tweaked TH 400 trans with a PML finned pan and 16" Lokar shifter. The trans pan and dust cover have been powder coated in 'Red Baron Red'. It has a 12 plate transmission cooler mounted in the frame with AN fittings and stainless hose to the trans. The remote Fram racing oil filter is plumbed the same way under the left front fender. It has a 6 qt. Moroso oil pan and a Melling HV oil pump. Sanderson long tube headers and Robert's Custom Exhaust, 2 1/2 polished exhaust system with Reactiv polished mufflers exiting out the side through modified NASCAR tips. Robert's shop is in Stafford, VA and he has done all my exhaust system work for over 10 years. He did my '34 Nash and proved to me he can do anything in the world of custom exhaust work! The rear end is a large bearing 9" Ford with 3:50 Tru Trac gears, a Daytona pinion bearing support and Moser 31 spline axles. It has leaf springs in the rear with a Heidts tubular Mustang II front end and Chassis Engineering front & rear sway bars with ProShocks at all four corners. Disc brakes in front with drum in rear pressurized by a Corvette dual master cyl. It has Budnick wheels and Goodrich T/A tires.



The car is not blindingly fast…but then...it's just right for a Princess!