Tolck Spirit

In 1949, John Votta’s grandfather started NAUTICAR – a family ran business that has supported boaters and caravaners in Switzerland for well over half a century. Put simply, the man was a pioneer… So when it came time for John to name his model-a coupe, his grandfather was at the tip of his tongue.

“Tolck Spirit,” soon surfaced and stuck.

John actually bought the car out of Milwaukee in 2012. It was an older restoration, but John quickly fixed that by dropping in a flathead V8 and lowering the stance – retaining both the original model-a tranny/rear combo as well as the mechanical brakes.

After putting a few miles on her, a chop (3.5″) was ordered and the fenders were tossed. That was enough to wet the beak for a while, but by 2016 John decided to tear it apart for a full build. He stepped the rear of the model-a chassis, added his own x-member with ’39 pedals, dropped in a quick change, added juice brakes and an F1 box, and just basically hot rodded the shit out of the little car.

The result is what you see here. The perfect model-a coupe pictured against the perfect Swiss background.

I’m glad ultra slick, incredibly finished traditional hot rods are out there and being built, but ultimately – this is my kind of car fellas… This is where I find my inspiration and my passion. This is what traditional hot rodding is all about for me: