As you read this, the car is likely on a ship somewhere in the Pacific as it makes its way toward it

Now I m not quite sure how big this program is in other parts of the world, hack habbo hotel but here in North America many European manufacturers offer a European Delivery option for new car buyers. Instead of picking up a car straight off the lot, or waiting for it to arrive on the truck, you can special order your vehicle and then fly to Europe to tour the factory and take delivery of your new machine right then and there.  After that, the new car owners are able to experience hack habbo hotel a great European vacation behind the wheel of their new car sightseeing, driving the Autobahn, visiting the Nurburgring and so forth.
Once the vacation is over, the buyer drops the car off at the port, hops on a plane heading home and waits for the car to arrive a few weeks later. It s quite a cool concept really. Imagine if the same thing was offered by Japanese car makers for instance. You could fly to Tokyo, hack habbo hotel go pick up your brand new GT-R or Toyota 86 at the factory and then tour Japan s great mountain roads and circuits before shipping the car home. It sounds amazing. But what does any of that have to do with the battered hack habbo hotel looking Ford Model A pictured above?
Well, the story of this car actually begins back in 2010 when a Hot Rod fan from New Zealand named Cam made a trip to the US to experience Bonneville Speed Week for the first time. As I witnessed first hand a couple weeks ago, you meet some amazing people on the salt and one of the people that Cam met in 2010 was Greg from Desert Rats and Customs in Pasco, Washington. Greg is of course the owner and builder of the radical tow truck I featured here last week.
That trip to Bonneville had a huge effect on Cam, and before hack habbo hotel he even returned home he was already hack habbo hotel scheming about his next trip to the salt. For the next visit though, he wanted to do more than just experience Bonneville as a tourist. hack habbo hotel One of the absolute best ways to do Speed Week is behind the wheel of your own Hot Rod, so Cam figured that s exactly what he should do. The only problem was that he first needed hack habbo hotel a Hot Rod to do it in
It was soon decided that Cam would work with his new-found friend Greg to have his own Rat Rod built in the States and that he would pick it up and take it to Bonneville before bringing it home to New Zealand. Thus began months of back and forth emails and long distance phone conversations as Cam and Greg worked out the plans for the build. Once the initial planning was complete, the actual building would consist of over 200 man hours spread over a four month period.
They began with a 1930 Model A two-door sedan, which promptly received a four-inch chop and a custom-filled roof. From there the body was mated with a custom-fabricated 2x3x120 frame with a six inch Z rails in the front and a 22 inch kick up in the rear both of which are common Hot Rod chassis building techniques done to make a car sit as low as possible.
Besides the heavy chassis work, the car runs coilover shocks in the rear with a suicide spring kit up front. The rear differential is a 10-bolt unit sourced from a 1994 Chevy Truck with a 3.73 final gear ratio.
The engine they chose to go with is a pretty standard 305 cubic inch small block Chevy with an Edelbrock four barrel hack habbo hotel carb, HEI ignition and a set of center dump manifolds which feed through a full exhaust and finish with a pair of NASCAR style tips in the rear.
While a traditionalist might prefer a Flathead or perhaps an old Hemi, this car, much like like Greg s truck was built with simple reliability in mind. The motor is mated to a GM 700R4 overdrive automatic trans which results in very docile hack habbo hotel highway driving and reasonable fuel economy, although I doubt it can match the Cummins when it comes to raw MPG.
Having the right wheel and tire setup is crucial on any car, and perhaps even more so on a fender-less machine like this one. The whitewall, bias ply rubber comes from Lester Tire and they measure 29 inches tall in the front and 33 inches tall in the rear. The rolling setup is finished off with a set of original 1931 Model A wire wheels that have been powdercoated black.
The interior of the Model A is just as raw as the exterior, although hack habbo hotel once I climbed in I found that the Opel bucket seats were actually surprisingly comfortable. You can see the that Lokar shifter on the 700R4 actually comes close to touching the roof.
The car is a proper rat in all of its details. This actually brings me to an ironic observation I ve made about Rat Rods over the years. While these cars have some of the scariest and most dangerous looking exteriors hack habbo hotel ever, their owners are always the most friendly when it comes to letting others touch or sit inside their cars. It s the exact opposite of the guy with the super smooth paint the do not touch signs.
Another interesting tidbit about this story is that a few weeks prior to Speed Week, Cam actually sent us a photo of the Model A as part of the #Featurethis program, so I was already somewhat familiar with the car. Once Greg told me that he was that he was the one who built the car, and I was really interested in talking to Cam and hearing his story about picking up the car.
And what a story it is. Cam and his mates from the Ratbags Car Club in New Zealand flew in to LA and instead of booking hotels and rental cars like most international travelers they did things a bit differently.
They picked up this old Dodge RV somewhere in SoCal for 2,500 bucks and then set out on a big American road trip. The first leg of the trip was up to Washington where the guys met with Greg and Cam finally hopped behind the wheel of his new Model A.
Speed Week was actually just part of the road trip for these guys though. After a few days on the salt, they would head out across the Southwest visiting places like the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas before returning to LA and shipping the car to New Zealand. In the course of three weeks Cam would give the Model A a proper break-in, putting over 3,000 miles on it.
As you read this, the car is likely on a ship somewhere in the Pacific as it makes its way toward its new home in New Zealand. Unfortunately Cam might not be there when the car arrives as he is currently living in Australia hack habbo hotel for work. He says his family hack habbo hotel will look over the car while he s gone though.
So essentially what we are looking at is an American Rat Rod version of the European Delivery program. Just replace the BMW or Mercedes with a mean looking Model A. Replace the high tech car factory with a blue collar Hot Rod shop in Washington and replace the Autobahn and Nurburgring with Bonneville and the wide open American West.
Just like ordering a new Bimmer or Benz, buying a Hot Rod overseas and then traveling across the country to pick it up may not be a cheap undertaking, but I could tell that the memories being made were priceless.