There’s plenty of beauty and downright majestic hot rod building on display every year at the SEMA show and the 2018 version of the event was no let down in that regard. Humans have this weird ability to get better at stuff the more they do it and that holds true for hot rod builders as well. Jason Graham hot rods built the amazing 1934 Ford truck you will see below and rather than fall into the same normal traps and methods as everyone else, they went right outside the box to create a truck that was good enough to make the top picks for the vaunted Battle of the Builders judging and stop anyone that walked by in their tracks.
There’s innovation, trickery, and downright brilliant car building on display here. From the billet machines grill to the one off wheels, to the vintage blue paint that is as deep as the ocean, we were in love at first sight. Then the engine caught our eye. It is a 347ci small block Ford stroker which is not that exotic but the stack style fuel injection coupled with the valve cover trick that Graham pulled had people talking. By fabricating valve covers into effective side covers for the engine and running the plug wires through them, the mill had the outward appearance of a horizontally opposed eight cylinder engine. Yeah, that got people talking. It was slight of hand but brilliantly executed.
The real magic of this thing is in the bed though. To get the stance right and to do it differently than we had ever seen before, Graham has the rear suspension above the best floor. It is amazing. He did not want to bring the bed floor up really high and kind of wreck the looks of that part of the truck so this was his chosen method and he killed it.
Quarter elliptical springs provide the cushion. Those are adjustable. The machined wishbone is controlling a beautifully turned out quick change rear axle, which was done that way because it became a stylistic element of the truck as soon as it emerged from the bed floor. There’s a nice little pocket below the center section to allow for travel without contact.
I was in love with this truck from the moment I saw it. What do you think?
Check out the photos of this awesome 1934 Ford truck by Jason Graham Hot Rods –
Congrats !
Love that little truck! I got to see it when it was a great 8 Ridler finalist in Detroit. I also got to see it cruising around the Columbus Goodguys show.
Quote: “Then the engine caught our eye. It is a 347ci small block Ford stroker which is not that exotic but the stack style fuel injection coupled with the valve cover trick that Graham pulled had people talking. By fabricating valve covers into effective side covers for the engine and running the plug wires through them, the mill had the outward appearance of a horizontally opposed eight cylinder engine. Yeah, that got people talking. It was slight of hand but brilliantly executed.”
And yet not a single clear shot of said engine or valve covers:(:(