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Welcome to SpeedMaven.com. This site is the online garage for my `57 Ford Custom. I will periodically post updates on the car's construction, photos, resources for hard to find parts, and other snippets of information. This site will also be referred to in the `57 Fords International monthly newsletter, in the section entitled In The Shop, made for the buildup of this Custom.

This Custom will be a street car like my last one, but with a twist: Boost, and lots of it. Stroker `57 Ford was powered by a naturally aspirated 427 inch Windsor. The Evil Twin will be much different . . .

This `57 is actually in pretty decent shape, especially for a 50 year old car. The majority of the very little rust is in the driver side front floor pan. The rear suspension is being left pretty stock, with the exception of a pair of Cal Trac traction bars. The original leaf springs are in in pretty good shape, but will be rebuilt with new bushings and anti-rattle pads. The front suspension will be rebuilt with Granada disk brakes, new bushings, ball joints, and new steering parts. I will cut about a coil and a half from the original coils to bring the front end to a more respectable level.

Note the fit of the wheels above. These are 15X8 Cragar Super Slot II wheels, produced from about 1984 to 1986 or so. They have a 4.5 inch backspacing, and wear 255-70-15 rubber, which is a nice tall tire, with a good footprint.

The front wheels are 15X4 Cragar Super Slot IIs with 165-80-15 tires. A lot of people will say not to run the little front tires, as it makes them handle badly. I can say from my own experience, I have run 15X3.5 or 4 wheels on my last 5 hotrods, and have never had any issues. You can't expect to handle like a Corvette, but it drives fine for what I do.

My `57 was originally was powered by a 272 and three speed manual. I have bought a 292, a set of B9TE heads ( same as factory supercharged heads),and steel crank. I will be using a toploader 4 speed, to handle the stress of being force fed 16 psi from the twin Garrett T04B's. To get the car up and around under its own power, I will use a `57 292 with "G" heads and 4V intake. It will have enough cam to make it sound good, but otherwise be like it was back in `57. To the right is not my 292, but a nicely detailed 292 picture I grabbed from the net to give an idea what I am aiming for.

This is the last `57 I owned. This was the day before we loaded it up to take to Hot Rod weekend at the Gulfport Dragstrip. This `57 had the stroker 351 W, 427 inches, with TFS HiPorts, custom headers, solid roller cam, and PA C4 with 4800 stall convertor. With 10 inch slicks, on pump gas, through the mufflers, it went 11.31 at 120, best of 123 mph, best 60 ft of 1.61. It never hooked, slicks were about shot, but it went fast for a 3600 lb boat, and drove like a new car. This one will be better, faster, quicker, and all around meaner looking. Paint will not be yellow as originally planned, but will be original Flame Red with old style Cragar Super Slots.

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Page Updated May 25, 2008