It’s not often that the Best Ford In A Ford award goes to an import, so consider Doug & Annette Blakey’s 1933 Ford five-window coupe a rare pick. We don’t call it an “import” because it came to the Grand National Roadster Show from north of the border in British Columbia, but because it’s history starts south of about 11 borders, all the way to Argentina. The coupe was in good condition when it arrived at Doug’s Cars, Blakey’s shop in Lantzville, British Columbia. Early in the project, Blakey replaced the front and rear fenders and running boards. Then he “got a little carried away from the original plan,” as he put it and started adding custom touches, including the handmade stainless steel grille, power lift single-piece hood and trunk lid, remote control console top, custom air cleaner, and many more imaginative details. The headlights are from Headwinds, and take a good look at the custom taillights, featuring the famous Ford script logo, created in LED by Lambert Enterprises.
The coupe body rides on a TCI chassis with RideTech suspension components and Wilwood brakes. XXX Custom Rides in Courtenay, British Columbia, painted the chassis and body in House of Kolor candy red. Schott five-spoke Bullet wheels measure 17 inches at both ends, and are wrapped with 255/60R17 and 225/45R17 General tires.
Moving to the inside, a pair of Volvo bucket seats were narrowed 1 1/4 inches to fit into the coupe. Mark LaTrace at Miracle Upholstery in Black Creek covered the buckets in beautiful tan and black leather with white stitching. A Billet Specialties banjo steering wheel is mounted on a Flaming River column. The dash was modified to accommodate six gauges from Ford Racing. The glove box door was built to match the style. The custom console features a power roll top, which opens to reveal the controls for the Vintage Air A/C, Retro Sound audio system, and other functions. Click on the video to see that console door in action.
The point of the STREET RODDER Best Ford In A Ford award presented by Ford Performance is to recognize rodders who keeps their rides Ford flavored inside and out—and to encourage others to do the same. Blakey told us that he always puts Fords in his Fords, and chose a Ford Performance 351 to power his ’33 coupe. The 492-horsepower engine was stroked to 392 cubic inches and built for street duty by Aldridge Motorsports in Portland, Oregon. The four-barrel carburetor is covered by an art deco style air cleaner built by Blakey to blend a little Thirties style in with a very up-to-date Ford engine. A Ford AOD transmission delivers torque to a Ford 9-inch rearend with limited slip.
It’s hard to beat a Ford in a Ford, especially one as well-done as the Blakeys’ 1933 coupe. Congratulations to Doug and Annette for STREET RODDER’s and Ford Performance’s winner from the 68th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Grand National Roadster Show presented by Meguiar’s Premium Car Care Products.
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