Street Rodder Road Tour leader Jerry Dixey is heading the 2018 event in a true classic: A 1932 Ford truck.
“The past few years, I’ve been driving cars from the ‘50s and ‘60s, so it’s been great to go back to the classic idea of a hot rodder for this tour,” Dixey said in a news release.
The Ford is highly customized. The body was created by United Pacific Industries, one of the sponsors of the tour. It is a Ford-licensed exact replica of the original 1932 truck, but a long list of modern amenities have been added. The truck has Wildwood disc brakes, Vintage Air, Flaming River steering components, a Ford Performance engine, Roadster Shop framing and a lot of other tweaks.
“We’re really excited to be sponsoring the Street Rodder Road Tour this year, and all of us at United Pacific are proud to see how enthusiastically this ’32 Ford truck has been received by rodders across America,” Jai Baek, marketing director for United Pacific Industries, said in the release. “Our company has deep roots in developing classic car parts with a modern edge.
More than 30 companies sponsored the Ford and contributed products. It was built by Hot Rods by Dean in Phoenix.
“These custom, hand-built street rods are so different from modern vehicles,” Dixey said. “The suspension is unlike any other suspension on the roads today, so that brings some adjustments on my part every time I get behind the wheel of a tour vehicle. I absolutely trust the vehicles because they’re handcrafted by the best in the business and are state-of-the-art.”
The car will be featured in an upcoming edition of Street Rodder Magazine.
The tour began in June and will conclude in late October at the NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion. Dixey will be posting updates on the magazine’s Facebook page.
Wildwood brakes?
Wilwood. Sorry for the typo. Or maybe it was spellcheck! (I had to correct this manually because spellcheck changed Wilwood to Wilword! Arrrgh!