Hey there My name is Corey Cummings, and I am a 47 year old Sacramento, California native. Im married to a wonderful woman who doesnt give me a ration of **** about wrench on the rod or going on runs or to shows. Our kids are grown and out of the nest. I have a 47 Ford with a 5.0 Liter w/EFI, AOD Trans and C-4 corvette front and rear suspension. My car has been selected to be on the ballot for Rod and Customs 2005 Ego-rama. It was on the ballot last year, but I didnt make the final cut. While I have always dug Hot Rods, I really didnt get into it until about five years ago. My buddy and best friend Phil Ferrari and I have known each other since the fourth grade. While we both dug cars growing up, Phil had both the passion and hands-on talent to build something from scratch. Whether he was wrenching on a screaming 67 GTO with 3-2s, or building a primo V-8 Vega magazine cover car, I was content and grateful for the time he took to shoot flames on just about every vehicle I owned and his unending help with installing some aftermarket wheels or do-dads. Several years ago, Phil decided to turn his passion into his profession and decided to venture out on his own and opened Ferraris Hot Rods to build traditional high performance hot rods. About four years ago, my mini-truck was on its last legs and I was hating the Idea forking out over $20,000 for non-descript yet reliable transportation. I thought for that kind of money, I could find a decent original car and have Phi swap in a small block and automatic. So began the search for a project car. After several months I found a solid 1947 Ford Super Deluxe Coupe, with its original drive train and decent updated paint and interior and $6,000 and I parted ways. Well one thing lead to another and what was to be a simple motor and tranny swap by Phil turned out to be the hot rod education of a lifetime for me, one Saturday at a time. Most of the lessons started out with Wouldnt it be cool if ..? Wouldnt it be cool if we put a ford in a ford? Wouldnt it be cool to have EFI? Wouldnt it be cool if we slammed it just a little? Maybe a little more? Wouldnt it be cool to have to have C-4 suspension instead of a dropped axle? Wouldnt be cool to have C-4 suspension all around? Wouldnt it be cool to keep an original looking dash? Wouldnt it be cool to use the original shifter to work the AOD? Wouldnt it be cool to tuck the air cleaner in the wheel well? Wouldnt it be cool .etc. etc. etc. All of these lessons were done either side-by-side or with an over the shoulder with Phil. We worked very hard to make sure that we got the ride and stance right and maintain all of the C-4 suspension geometry. We tucked the corvette cradle into the frame rails up front and narrowed the 47s frame in the rear and fabbed our own brackets and mounts. Because the c-4 suspension is so wide, we spent a lot of time evaluating wheels to get the right look with the off-set we needed. The transverse leafs were dumped in favor of coil overs front and rear. We also worked very hard to get a low center of gravity by getting the motor and tranny in as low and far back as possible while ensuring driveable ground clearance. Paring down an original wiring harness to the basic necessities for the EFI was a challenge in and of itself, but it sure makes the engine compartment tidy. It only took us three or four weekends to figure out that the computer couldnt find its idle because we crossed the wiring for the left and right oxygen sensors. So after three years of some of the best Saturdays of my life and approximately $17,000 later, I am the proud owner of a very sweet riding, freeway flying, daily driving, moderately costing, hot rod.
The Jalopy Journal
