Technical Model A Hot Rod for the strip... and street!

Many of you know that I built the cage, suspension, headers etc. for David Freiburger's 1931 Model A coupe known as the F-Rod. With a 950hp BBC, it runs 8.50's at 155mph. I have made many passes in it at the drags. It’s so much fun that I have decided to build a similar car for myself, and document the build right here on the HAMB, on this very same thread.

Now driving a 94-year-old car with that much power is incredible. The burnout is good. You can spin the tires out about as far as you’d care to go… then you back up… stage… get up on the trans brake and let go of the button when the last amber is nice and bright. The car then pins you in the seat like nothing you’ve ever been in. Most of the time it goes straight. But sometimes, it doesn’t. I have the suspension figured out now, so straight is usually on the agenda. It’s just that first pass after we switch drivers from David to me, or me to David that it may go wrong. It usually goes sideways if I don’t scale the rear and add a specific amount of pre-load to the one side. It just darts left, or right, depending on who drove it last. Maybe I need to lose 40 pounds, so we don’t have to change the suspension. Haha. Back to the acceleration. This thing pins you in the seat, you just have to “feel” that it’s going straight, stay in it… watch the tach and shift at 7200rpm. Right after the 1-2 shift, things really start to whiz by. I hold my left hand on the wheel, and my right hand then goes down on the chute lever. The visor starts vibrating, I can see the finish line, and dump the chute as I go through the lights. A rush of adrenaline comes over me as I feel the chute grab and the car start to rock back and forth, side to side at the top. It’s a little unnerving at first, but after as many passes as I’ve made in the car, I now expect it. Once I slow down, I usually do a few fist pumps and yell out “Yes! Yes! Yea! Yeah BABY!!” It’s that good.



Anyway, this thing is soooooo much fun to drive. A real adrenalin rush. So, about three years ago, I started collecting parts to build my own. I have a body, original '32 frame, front suspension and grille shell. Small parts like real '39 Ford taillights, original King Bee headlights, Covico steering wheel, moon gauges, and magnesium American 5 spokes.

Then, in this very traditional chopped Model A coupe on '32 rails I will be building a cage that will cert to 7.49 seconds. I will then be installing a 582 BBC that I just finished building and that Steve Brule dyno tuned to 1000hp... and, get this... a four speed. Yes, I will be banging gears in this baby. How fast will it go? Not exactly sure, but I am assuming mid to low 8's at 160mph. We’ll see so stay TUNED!

Some pics of David's car...


Wes Allison Photos:

 

Love it. Looking forward to build thread.

 

F-Rod is a bad mofo. While it might not pass the hard core traditional sniff test, it is traditional enough for me. You guys set the bar pretty high for that one and if you are gonna do something similar, the only thing that would be cooler is if you are grabbing gears. The 4 speed is a whole 'nuther chassis wild card as I'm sure you already know...

Post lots of picks.

-Abone.

 

Heck yeah

 

looking forward to it!

 

Love this! A chop top on a brick of a model A should help the aero.

when the stick shifts of the the southeast gassers launch it’s maximum violence…

 

I'm in let's go

 

Right on, I'm all in for a fast quarter mile in an old car build, put the HOT in hot rod !

 

Curious and Yes,,, I will be watching,,
Build then Hopefully Non track passes,
@ least 1/8 mile 110-130 mph
What Brand & Type 4,5,6 speed are you plaining to Use that going to hold
5,000 ish RPMs drop with around 600 plus Torque ,
I have my thoughts on what I would use .

I wonder Why , Dave did Not stick a
""Clutch Turbo "" Glide or 3 in
F -Rod & drive on Street instead of Converter & Brake,
Could of been made in way to ACCESS the Can/ Bell to make adjustments to Clutch pack as Needed ,

 

WOW! Watching this with great interest.

 

This is going to be a wild ride.

 

That is great news Sam. You all know I am in. This is going to be fantastic!

 

Driving a unchopped "brick" at speed is always interesting to say the least. Several years ago I drove my slightly modified small block Chevy powered 32' at the yearly Lorring Timming Assn. meet to 128 mph. At the end of the runway it was an experience to say the least, but worth scaring the shit out of me.

 

Love the F Bomb, but you're doing a 4 Speed. C'mon down!!!!!

 

Thanks for posting the build thread on here, I look forward to following along.

 

This will be fun!

 

The definition of overkill- in a good way.

 

Why are there no pics yet?!

 

Viva la 4 speedo!

 

Probably my favorite of all of Freiburger’s cars. I’d be happy with a copy of it with a small block!

 

Another @SamIyam build.... Hell yes ! Thanks for sharing with us heathens.

 

Just opened this thread and WOW! Good for you Sam! Subscribed!!

 

I'm looking forward to following along!

 

Glad there's interest in this project! Let's start at the beginning... the very beginning...

This Model A coupe hot rod project is intertwined with several of the Model A's that I (or my dad) have bought, sold, and rebought over the past 51 years. I think the most interesting thing about any hot rod... whether it's your '48 Plymouth sedan, or your '32 3 window... is the car's HISTORY! When I think about these cars, and try to imagine them on the assembly line, then on a train and then a truck... getting dropped off at the dealership way back in the 30's. Some salesman laying it on thick to that new family, or that rich kid... or maybe the working stiff who can barely afford the payment. These cars were repo'd, wrecked, parked in garages and forgotten, junked for their steel engines and frames for the War effort, used on farms, driven by clergy, by pimps, teachers, bank robbers, your grandparents, great-grandparents and maybe even your great-great-great-grandparents. Through it all, they somehow miraculously made it to 2024, relatively unscathed.

Our first Strube Family Model A was bought in 1973 and restored by my dad.

That's me, age 3, with the mouth wide open. Nothing has changed.

Me again, age 4, standing on the running board.

My grandpa Strube, who grew up and lived in Kansas, bought this car to have my dad restore it.

Here it is back in Kansas...


In 1987, grandpa got too old to drive, and gave his Model A to my dad.

With two ’30 Model A Coupes that were virtually the same, dad sold our family car.

When my dad passed away in 1995, we had been looking for a Model A Coupe for me to build into a Hot Rod. My mom gave me my grandpa’s Model A, (now my dad’s) for my 25th birthday. I spent the next four years building my grandpa’s Model A into a hot rod. My dad is smiling down on me, my grandpa’s rolling over in his grave.


Halibrands I bought in 1995 from Dennis McPhail... when Halibrand was in Kansas.

Then in 2005, I found my dad’s original Model A (our family car) for sale on e-Bay. I was looking for a Model A for my friend Steve, so he could build a hot rod out of one. The auction ended early, and a local guy bought it. It took me a year to track it down and convince the guy who bought it to sell it to me. Sadly, I had to sell my grandpa’s Model A (my hot rod) in order to afford it. The day I sold it...

I sold my hot rod to a real car guy who had purchased a stock Model A to build a hot rod out of. He said “It would take me a lot of money and time to turn this stocker into a hot rod like yours! He gave me cash, and his stocker for my hot rod. This is the stocker I got, along with 20k, for my hot rod:

Our original family Model A was now home where it belongs... all the way from Bentonville Arkansas. It was like sending your kid off to summer camp and him coming back home with face paint on. Blach.

I then sold the body off of the stocker to Steve, who is still working on it. And I kept the chassis and built THE UGLIEST speedster I had ever seen. I don’t know what they hell I was thinking.

I drove the speedster to Jay Ward’s Asphalt Invitational (July 15th, Swiss Park) where I met a guy who had a stock Model A in pieces, with a rusty TCI chassis that sat outside for a decade. Whoever took the car apart was meticulous, tagging every single part. He traded me my speedster straight across for his project car. It’s a super nice original car, with one paint job over it’s stock black paint. (this is the car that will become the Model A Hot Rod for the Street and Strip…

I then sold this project to my coworker in August of 2006.

In 2010, I blew the original four banger to smithereens in the family Model A

I then spent the next few years building up a resto rod chassis for it.


By chance I ran into the guy who bought my grandpas Model A in 2020. He called me in late 2021 to say he was ready to sell it back to me. In January of 2022, I bought my hot rod back.

Also in 2021, March to be exact, I made a deal to buy the green Model A back. This is the Coupe that I had traded the ugly speedster for.

I sold the chassis out from under it, and the body has pretty much sat, until now, on my side yard. This will be the car that you will see made into an 8 second screamer for the street.

Incidentally, a year ago I did some trading with my son Cal, so he could end up with my grandpa’s (my hot rod) Model A. He’s the fourth generation of Strube’s to own this car. Since the car sat for 17 years, and only driven about 100 miles, Cal pulled the engine out, painted it up, put new gaskets on it, and we spent a week this past July getting it going again.

 

Patiently waiting while I build a frame jig... posts on that real soon!

 

Quite the story Sam, can't wait to see it ! BTW thanks for the tip on the 12 spokes, they will be the crowning touch.

 

Of course! I love seeing the updates!

 

Your red primered A with the Chevvie engine is the reason my '40 coupe has a pair of deep Halibrands on the back.

Cool history on all the Strube family cars, even the ugly blue one.

-Abone.

 

This thread was already a day old when I found it. Subscribed.

I'll never have anything with that much power or be able to go that quick/fast, but I'll be living vicariously through this one.