Handsome even in standard body configurations, Lincoln’s new-for-1932 KB models also offered an array of coachbuilt bodies from firms like Murphy, Brunn, Judkins and Dietrich. Four body styles were offered by Dietrich, including the Custom Stationary Coupe, of which just 17 were built. Three are known to survive today, and on Friday, March 13, a 1932 Lincoln KB Custom Stationary Coupe crossed the auction stage at Amelia Island, where it sold for a fee-inclusive price of $836,000.

In addition to a nine-inch-longer wheelbase (145 inches, versus the KA’s 136 inches), KB models also came with a 12-cylinder L-head engine that soon became renowned for its durability. The engine displaced 447.9-cu.in. and its installed weight was said to top 1,000 pounds. Its design called for a forged-steel crankshaft carried in seven main bearings. Output was a sound 150 horsepower and 292 pound-feet of torque, though given the KB’s curb weight of over two and a half tons, the Lincoln was not a sports car.

Chassis KB 816, the car sold at Amelia Island, was believed to be one of five Custom Stationary Coupes built by Dietrich for the auto show circuit. All auto show cars were finished in Seagate Blue, this car’s original color, and KB 816 was thought to be the car shown at the 1932 Los Angeles Auto Salon. Its immediate post-show history is unknown, though in 1934, the car was sold to a used car dealer in San Francisco who specialized in used luxury cars from the Southern California market. The Lincoln reportedly caught the eye of a Swedish citizen living in the San Francisco area, and he became the owner of record until the late 1940s.

Its next owner was tea and spice heir Carl Schilling, who spent the postwar years acquiring an impressive collection of custom-bodied Lincolns and spare parts. Under his ownership, the car was restored for the first time, and its worn engine swapped with a low-mileage example from a 1933 KB. Schilling owned the car until his death in 1954, at which time it was bequeathed to friend and fellow Lincoln enthusiast Toni Porta, along with a stockpile of spare parts.

In 1968, the Lincoln was sold to Jim Weston, who funded a complete restoration, with the intention of campaigning the car on the show circuit. After over four years of work, chassis KB 816 made its debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, where it took third in its class. Weston reportedly used the car on a regular basis, as the stately Lincoln coupe was a frequent sight at Northern California CCCA gatherings.

Since Weston’s ownership, KB 816 has passed through the collections of three additional owners, including the consignor, who shipped it off for a no-expense-spared restoration with Stephen Babinsky of Lebanon, New Jersey. Fittingly, the car again made a second post-restoration debut at Pebble Beach in 2012, this time earning second in class and collecting The Lincoln Trophy from Edsel B. Ford II. According to Gooding & Company, the car has been “selectively displayed” in the years since, and was offered for public sale for the first time (since the 1930s, anyway) at Amelia Island.
Article courtesy of Hemmings Daily, written by Kurt Ernst.

There are a lot of ways for a farmer to have some fun but receiving the recognition as the 2015 America's Most Beautiful Roadster at the 66th Grand National Roadster Show is a great start. Larry Olson of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is no stranger to hot rods. He's had them all his life and he's had all years and makes but his latest definitely separates himself from the rodding crowd, and this roadster is one-of-a-kind within his own collection. Having already teamed up with Bobby Alloway of Alloway's Hot Rods out of Louisville, Tennessee, on several previous occasions this current ride represents the epitome of what can be accomplished. Construction took two years, which in the rodding world is barely a fortnight.

Upon first and maybe second glance, this 1933 Ford roadster looks stock—but it isn't. There are both subtle as well as dramatic changes that lead to the striking appearance. The changes are much more significant than anyone taking a casual view would catch, which makes the subtle changes even more dramatic and appealing.

We mentioned all this beauty is resting on an Alloway chassis but we didn't mention the particulars. Johnson's Hot Rod/Perfection Hot Rod Parts supplied the 5-inch drop and drilled billet axle, Super Bell spindles, Pete & Jake's shocks, and held in position by PHRP billet wishbones with a Posies front spring. Steering is the hot rodding staple—Vega box linked to an ididit steering column. Braking is more from PHRP in the form of Kinmont-style drum covers over Stainless Steel Brake Corporation calipers; the master cylinder is a Wilwood product. Operation of the custom brake package falls to a Kugel Komponents underdash swing pedal assembly. Braking in the rear is something many hot rodders are familiar with—Ford 9-inch drums now resting within the PHRP Kinmont-style brake covers.

Since we mentioned the rear braking we should also point out the basis for the rear suspension is centered on a Winters V-8 quick-change, PHRP drilled billet ladder bars, a Posies buggy spring, Pete & Jake's shocks, the aforementioned Kinmont-style brakes, while all of the brightwork throughout the car was handled by Dan's Polishing.

Saving the best for last: Any hot rod, especially one that is to represent America's Most Beautiful Roadster, should have lots of thunder underhood. Couple this with Alloway's reputation for copious amounts of horsepower and you truly have a hot rod! The rumble from within comes out of a 1955 Dodge 241-inch Red Ram Hemi built by Keasler Racing. It really does take a sharp eye to "see" that all of the vintage go-fast parts we have come to admire are really there for show and a little for go. The "go" is hidden and hidden very well, as this Hemi is as modern in its operation as any mod motor but looks the part of a vintage V-8.

There is no mistaking a pair of Hemi valve covers but in this case these didn't come by way of Detroit—no these came from O'Brien Truckers. Did we mention they're polished to a mirror-like finish by Dan's Polishing? There is a stunning amount of brightwork within the engine compartment and it is easy to become caught up in the mirror finish and not pay attention to the mechanics. The polished Weiand Drag Star intake is topped with six, yes six, Stromberg 97 carbs and decked with OTB Gear air cleaners. But that's where their function stops. No fuel passes through these chrome-plated vintage two-barrel carbs; air is all that passes through these venturis. The baby Hemi was converted to electronic fuel injection, utilizing Big Stuff computer and harness. Keasler Racing hid the EFI components within the heads and under the billet valley plate. Exiting the spent gases goes by way of the custom headers and exhaust system from Barrillaro Speed Emporium run through Porter mufflers. Other engine appointments include the MSD ignition and Taylor primary wires, Powermaster alternator, and a copper/brass radiator by Steve Long.


It's never easy and it's never unanimous but having your roadster selected as America's Most Beautiful Roadster at any Grand National Roadster Show is an overwhelming honor. The way we see it Larry will have to limber the legs on this roadster come the summer rodding season to prove to one and all it deserves the accolades.

Article courtesy of Hotrod Network, written by Brian Brennan.

While researching our recent story on the 50th anniversary of the Mark IV big-block Chevrolet V-8, we came across something odd, something we’d never seen before – and it appears not many other people had seen it before either. Two photos in the GM Media database that showed two experimental big-blocks that very well could have set the American high-performance scene on its ear, had they been developed: one of a single overhead-camshaft hemi-headed 427, another of a fuel-injected hemi-headed big-block with pushrods.

Neither of the photos appear in any of our searches, and a few days of searching led only to vague mentions here and there about Zora Arkus-Duntov and Chevrolet taking a crack at single overhead-camshaft, double overhead-camshaft, and hemi-headed versions of both the big-block and small-block in the mid- to late 1960s. No photos, no links to direct sources, just mentions of old magazine articles.

GM itself wasn’t able to provide much more information. Corvette historian and author Ken Kaiser shed a little more light on the engines in the photos; according to Ken, they depict 1966-1967 vintage big-blocks, and the work order number stamped into the hemi-headed engine – 28451-20-A – denotes the first (and likely only) engine of its kind. The blockoff plate on the single overhead-camshaft engine above suggests it was meant to carry a fuel injection system of some sort, possibly the same or similar to the one we see on the hemi-headed engine below.

The triple-row timing chain above looks rather stout (and not nearly as long as the Ford SOHC 427′s seven-foot timing chain) and appears as though it would have resided under a cover that encompassed the entire front of the engine, though we don’t see in the photo any direct connection between the crankshaft and the camshafts, and we’d have to wonder whether the cover and the chain would interfere with the water pump. The shaft-mounted valvetrain appears fairly straightforward and those huge intake ports look like a direct shot into the combustion chamber.

UPDATE: McGean pointed out that there is a direct connection between the crankshaft and camshaft – it’s just really hard to see those dark gears sunk into the front of the engine. He also points out that the entire plate behind the timing chain appears to bolt to the existing holes for the regular (OHV) Mark IV timing chain cover, which would indicate that this whole unit was designed to bolt on to an unmodified Mark IV block.

This shot of the pushrod-activated hemi-headed design appears to show a somewhat complicated setup with the intake valves actuated directly by the camshaft, but the exhaust valves actuated by a set of intermediary pushrods. Where we’d expect to see holes for the spark plugs in the middle of the cylinder head, as on a Chrysler Hemi (and it looks like they’d have enough space there), we see only what appears to be untapped bosses of some sort. For that matter, we don’t see any place in the single overhead-camshaft heads for spark plugs either. That mechanical fuel-injection system looks pretty killer, though.

This was about the same time Oldsmobile was experimenting with its W-43 and OW-43 hemi-headed V-8s, and those experimental engines look remarkably similar to these two. Undoubtedly, Chevrolet in particular – and GM’s engineers as a whole – were feeling some pressure from Chrysler’s Hemi 426, introduced in 1964, and Ford’s FE-series 427s, including the SOHC, which was introduced in 1965. Whether these Mark IV big-blocks were meant to compete with Ford and Chrysler on the street or just on the race track, we can only speculate.

As for their ultimate fates and why Chevrolet decided not to go down this particular road, nobody we’ve spoken with seems to know.


Article courtesy of Hemmings Daily, written by Daniel Strohl.