Hot Rods Keith Hill's “CARHARTT COUPE” Wins Hot Rod Of The Year Award

Did you watch the video in Post #3 ?

Keith (& his better half, Jody) DRIVE their HOT RODs all over the country!

Last summer they drove their '33 Vicky:

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. . . from Windsor, CO to Pleasanton, CA and back . . . a 14 day and 3,400+ mile trip through several states including Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, California, Nevada, & Utah.

A few years ago, Keith ran his '33 Roadster (with full-race flatty):

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. . . at the Hot Rod Hill Climb event in Central City, Colorado.

They've also criss-crossed the country in their 2015 HROTY "Federale Coupe":

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^^^^^ those cars aren't this car^^^^^^ everyone is entitled to their own opinion .

 

Non believers just need to try to boost their own ego. Pinkees is well known for building high mileage cars. Maybe Gene and 2old can try to keep up with this coupe on some trips this summer.

 

Yes, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts.

 

Has a "Speed-Sport Oil" 32 5w detailed build been posted?

 

Thanks HEMI32, I for one enjoy your posts that allow us to keep track of who owns what, looks like Keith & Jody have a fine collection. I remember the wiring in the Federale Coupe, finest installation I've ever seen. If asked to to pick the finest car in that collection that is the one. Bob

 

Here's the press release from :

GOODGUYS 2024 TANKS, INC. HOT ROD OF THE YEAR – KEITH AND JODY HILL’S ’33 FORD COUPE
May 20, 2024
by Damon @Nomad Lee ... with photos by Marc Gewertz & John @NotStockPhoto Jackson

When it comes to hot rods, it’s normal for things to get out of hand. Engines get built with more power than intended. Tops get chopped more severely than planned. Creature comforts get tossed out the window in the name of performance. It’s easy to pick up speed on the slippery slope toward overkill, which is exactly what Keith and Jody Hill learned during the building of their ’33 Ford coupe that was just named the Goodguys 2024 Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year.






The Hills had previously teamed up with builder Eric Peratt at Pinkee’s Rod Shop to build another standout ’33 Ford, a Hemi-powered three window dubbed the Federale Coupe that claimed the Hot Rod of the Year title back in 2015. A few years after that, Keith started building this five-window that was intended to be a little more basic. “This was supposed to be a ‘build me a quickie chassis so I can put a primered body on it’ project,” Eric says, “and it got out of hand.”



The project began as intended, with the team at Pinkee’s building a back-to-basics hot rod chassis using a boxed frame with custom crossmembers, a 4-inch dropped front beam axle, split wishbones, Vega-style steering, and ’40 Lincoln drum brakes. It was initially fitted with a 9-inch rearend riding on a transverse leaf spring. It was all pretty straightforward hot rod stuff

The chopped five-window coupe body Keith had acquired ultimately needed a little more work than he anticipated. “He said, ‘I need you to massage the body a little bit,’” Eric recalls. So, the body was sent to Pinkee’s for metalwork and, at some point, an Eric Black illustration entered the equation – a rendering of a heavily chopped coupe with much more curve in the window openings than you normally get by simply lowering the lid on a Model 40. To achieve the desired shapes and contours, the Pinkee’s team would not only need to re-do the car’s chop, but would essentially need to scratch build all the top panels from the beltline up. Keith loved the idea, and the slippery slope just continued.



As metalwork commenced to create the new chop and many other subtle slices and mods were made to the body to achieve the desired profile, Eric and Keith bounced ideas back and forth on how to make the car an even bigger standout. A distinctive engine is never wrong in a hot rod, so they located a ’54-vintage 331c.i. Cadillac V8 – a choice that Keith says he might not make again. “The Caddy engine was the biggest challenge,” he says. “It almost kicked our butt.”



Challenge or not, the vintage Cad is a key ingredient to this hot rod’s appeal and proved its performance during the Reliability Run and drag strip passes at the BASF Nashville Nationals. Internal upgrades include an Isky high-lift cam, roller lifters, and Studebaker rocker arms, while a smooth dual-carb intake fitted with Autotrend EFI units and a custom air cleaner top things off. Custom stainless open headers were built to enhance the hot rod attitude and were fitted with motorcycle baffles to keep the noise in check. A Speed Gems adapter mates the engine with a Tremec TKO five-speed transmission, which sends power to a Winters quick-change rearend that replaced the previous 9-inch. The chassis eventually got rolling on one-off 16×4- and 16×8-inch pin-drive knockoff wheels machined at Pinkee’s and shod with Firestone 4.50 bias plies in front and 8.90 dirt track tires in back.



Besides the top chop and leaned-back windshield, the body was treated to lots of louvers in the filled top and across the deck lid. A custom-radius fuel tank and curved rear spreader bar were also built to achieve a just-right shape. Despite all the complex metalwork, Eric and Keith agree that color selection was one of the hardest tasks of the build, as they wanted to keep the car distinct from the fleet of other ’33-’34 highboy coupes that have debuted recently. “Color was very important,” Keith says. “Every color in the rainbow was considered. We got our hands on a Ditzler paint sample book from the 1920s and ’30s. It was called their Bird Series. Woodcock Brown became our choice after Pinkee’s spent countless hours mixing to land on the present color.”





While the paint hue was named after a bird, most people associate it with something sweeter. “If you put a butterscotch candy on the car, you can’t find it,” Eric says with a laugh. No matter what you call the color, though, there’s no denying it has an appropriate period look that perfectly suits this traditional-style hot rod.



Speaking of well-suited, the coupe’s interior nicely complements the rest of the build. The dash is fitted with custom-machined panels for the glove box, switches, and Classic Instruments gauges, with a column-mounted tach visible behind the custom four-spoke, leather-wrapped steering wheel. Sid Chavers stitched the custom seat with brown leather and diamond-stitched inserts, wrapped the door and side panels in a clean and smooth style, and covered the floor with square-weave carpet. There are plenty of custom-machined parts to add thoughtful finishing touches, all of which are designed with a vintage style to maintain the car’s cohesive theme.









Finished in time to debut at the Grand National Roadster Show this year, the coupe had more than 500 shakedown miles on it by the time it arrived in Tennessee for the Goodguys 18th BASF Nashville Nationals. It did all the things a hot rod should do throughout the event weekend – it made noise, was driven hard, did burnouts, made dragstrip passes, and looked mean and angry the whole time. It’s a fitting and worthy recipient for the 2024 Tanks, Inc. Hot Rod of the Year title, and we congratulate Keith and Jody Hill and the team at Pinkee’s Rod Shop for taking home the honor this year.

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I assume these are to roll the window up and down, then you lock in place by cranking the knobs tight?

 

Just an FYI for those in the Lincoln Nebraska area . . .

@Keith Hill and Ashley (@ash) & Cory (@CTaulbert) Taulbert's 5wd Coupes are both at the Museum Of America Speed this weekend for the "Wheel Hub Live" show:

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I've got a collection of personally worn out Carhart jackets, is there a connection, or just a color look a like?

 

Better decide if you want it up or down before you get moving if it takes two hands to do so.

 

It's the same owner with a car built by the same shop as the owner's 2015 HROTY winner. What makes you think this yellow coupe won't be driven like their other (numerous) hot rods?

Are you purposefully daft?

 

I love 5 window model 40s and this one is a beauty. Sure there are a couple of details one might disagree with but it's a stunner. Kudos to the vision shared by the owner and builder. I do wonder how in creation a quickie build ends up with bespoke pin drive wheels etc. That is quite a slope.
I want to hear every detail of the Caddy engine build and the challenges therein.

 

I’m sure it’s a nice car, but those black wheels do absolutely nothing for me.

 

It's got three pedals, what's not to like!

 

I really don't care all that much , to say one car is wonderful because x has built a great car in the past is pure supposition as are opinions! You build enough things over a long period of time & you'll turn out a dud sooner or later . If you enjoy contests & ranking things, thats great ,
I find myself more concerned with staying alive , and other really important things .

 

How can such a simple presentation of (obviously) a car that has been deemed above average (far above)...........go so F#@King SIDEWAYS!!!
Take a hundred different features of (any) car and present them to the masses and there will be opinions, but for cripes sake, go beat someone elses DEAD HORSE!

 

Thanks Denny!

 

SOB!!!! Wow......no shit!!!!! Thank you @DDDenny!!! Thank you for posting @HEMI32!

 

Amen

 

It's a mean looking hot rod. I'd give a body part to own and drive that car.

 

If you have seen the car up close what are the wheels? They look like 1940 Ford wheels to me with a star custom made center cap. Like the chromed door hinges and matching header to cowl bottom. Lots of detail time that really stands out.

 

I got to see this and many other great cars at Wheel Hub Live this Friday and Saturday at Speedway Motors in Lincoln Nebraska. Went on a 140 mile road trip yesterday with many of the featured cars making the drive .

 

I believe the wheels are one piece with a knock off center nut. What you’re seeing further out are the wheel pins. I think they must be a 5x5.5 pattern because I’ve seen the car with different wheels on it.

things got TONS of cool tricky shit on it that you don’t even notice. Looked at the headers at least 3 times before I noticed something tricky going on and then it took some thinking and snooping into construction photos to even figure out how they did it. Lol.

 

Here's a few "Under Construction" pics of the car from the Pinkee's Rod Shop Facebook & pinkeesrodshop Instagram pages:

January 22nd 2021



February 19th 2021

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July 15th 2021




April 15th 2022



April 21st 2022




June 30th 2022



August 21st 2022



October 13th 2022



January 21st 2023



September 12th 2023



November 14th 2023 ​

 

Thank you HEMI32! Nice looking shop, has the '32 with the blown ARDUN been finished? Bob

 

This thing to bad to the bone! To some, it may seem to be "Just another...." But it's the details. The little tiny ones. Some that many people won't even notice.
And those window risers....great idea, and I've never seen it done that way before. Kind of a refinement on the Hemi Dart of 1968 that had straps to raise and lower the windows.
And personally, I love the engine choice. It's certainly not "just another....."

 

I love the look of it and the top level in every aspect workmanship. On the other hand I don't see it as a road burner for the long roads where you run down the highways for days on end going from one side of the country to the other for events, I see it as being hauled in an enclosed trailer to be displayed and played with when you get there. Far more show car/race car than long road car. Running down the road with big yellow or Camo ear muffs from Shooters supply looks rather silly and takes away from a lot of the cool factor when people drive past you on the road because the exhaust beats you to death after 50 miles.

 

Cool Hot Rod, I am not thrilled with the wheels but each to his own. I too would like to hear about the special challenges of the Cad, I have done these engines in the past and they diden't present any more problems than most other vintage American OHV V8, not as easy as the SBC but not really any big deal.

 

Thanks for posting! Very cool hot rod!