There is little debate over what name was the most significant in the history of hot rods in the 20s and 30s.
Ford dominated the field by sheer numbers and the appeal of affordable V-8 power so the 1934 Ford was one of many extremely popular platforms for performance on a budget.
Lance Williams was motivated to build a ’34 Ford for a different reason.
The story began decades ago as Lance explained, “Dad met my mom back in 1957 and he was driving a ’34 Ford at the time”. That made a ’34 Ford part of the family tree so the next part of the equation was logical for Lance as he admitted, “I wanted a 34 Ford my whole life”.
The tribute car began with a game plan, “This is an Outlaw body and the chassis build was started in Hawaii then it went to Vegas now it has a Mustang II front end.It was a lot of work for sure because my wife said she was sure I spent more time with the car than her.One of the reasons was that I lost track of time when I was working on it. I’m a cabinet maker by trade so this was a learning curve but a lot of it transfers from one trade to another”.
The process took time like it does with virtually every car project, “It took four years before I had it painted but I did all the mechanicals on the car”. The results are a spectacular-this car drew a crowd the minute it rolled in late at a summer car show.
This car is done with all the right stuff as Lance outlined, “It’s got a 383 stroker, Ford 9″ narrowed rear end and a 700 transmission. The seats are out of a ’67 Camaro and I did all the wood myself too-it’s all Hawaiian wood because I wanted to keep the Hawaii theme going because that’s where it began for this car”.
The car was a labor of love for sure but the key to success was the end game on this ’34 Ford. Lance built this car to be a driver just like his dad’s car back in the fifties and the mission was clearly accomplished as Lance recalled, “I built it to drive it“.
Lance is very happy with the end results, “This car drives great and handles great”. Clearly the long hours paid off but the car still has a few tweaks left to be considered “finished” in any sense of the term.
Lance explained, “There are a few things left like the brakes. It’s got discs on the front and drums on the rear so I’d like to go to all discs over the winter plus I’d like to take the body off and powder coat the frame”.
The very existence of the hot rod is steeped heavily in the past because rods are a tribute to the vision of the pioneers in the hobby who just wanted affordable performance in their rides.
That’s the basis of every build but Lance’s ’34 Ford takes history to a far more personal level.
A family history level.
Jerry Sutherland
