Tearing apart our 1937 Ford Coupe race car | Redline Update - Hagerty Media
It’s a matchup for the ages as Tom Cotter takes a break from hunting roadside treasures and helps Davin tear down the ’37 Ford racer in the Redline Garage. If there were ever a perfect project for Tom, it’s this one—for a multitude of reasons.
First off, Tom was the one who found this particular car. Years ago, as Tom was traversing the countryside prepping to write his book about barn finds, Tom stumbled upon the property of Snowball Bishop. The grounds were packed with a seemingly endless supply of interesting cars, but something about this particular race car piqued Tom’s interest. It never really left his mind, and when he returned with the Barn Find Hunter camera crew, Tom made sure to discuss the vintage racer.
A second reason is the smorgasbord of parts which comprise the car. While we call it a ’37 Ford, that is a bit misleading. The chassis is from a 1955 Chevrolet, the solid front axle is from a Ford, and there is a smattering of race-car-specific parts throughout the chassis. The “wide-five” front brakes from Franklin, for example, are not a factory piece for anything.
Which is where Davin enters the scene. Over the last 20 years, Davin honed his racing skills behind the wheel of a dirt modified race car on tracks across the Midwest. Tom is no slouch as a racing driver—he holds his SVRA racing license—but dirt tracks are new territory for him. Davin plans to leverage both his and Tom’s knowledge to create a car that does more than just look the part—it also can tear up some dirt.
With a Chrysler 440 V-8 under the hood, the racer certainly won’t be lacking for horsepower. Davin also notes that viewers have asked for a car with a slick paint job, and that wish is about to be fulfilled. The Redline Garage hasn’t had something shiny on its lifts in awhile, and it time for that to change.
Tom and Davin get the car stripped down to its most basic components; next, the heavy lifting will begin. While it doesn’t seem like there could be much left hiding on the body and chassis, Davin is sorting out a way to blast off the remaining corrosion and paint so he can complete some reinforcement and re-engineering. To see this racer return to the track, be sure to subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel to receive updates with each new Redline Update that goes live.
