Our Kind of Hot Rod

Ferris fabricated his own grille out of 1/4-inch-round tubing and used motorcycle park/turn lights up front. To improve airflow to the Flex-a-lite fan, an ammo can was cut in half and mounted to the framerail to house the Ramsey solenoid pack.

An AGR steering box for a Scout connects to the ’73 Bronco drag link and tie rod. Rancho RS 9000s damp the TJ coils in Bronco buckets and the Blazer leaf springs in the rear.

Besides the injected 460, the engine compartment houses an onboard welder, an AGR steering pump, and a Lincoln four-wheel disc brake master cylinder. The stock A/C compressor was converted for onboard air and connects to a tank with chucks along the body.

The custom bed, top, roll pan, taillights, and tire mounts just begin to give you an idea of what went into building this thing. With near-vertical approach and departure angles and no fenders to get in the way of obstacles, it’s a design whose time has come.

Inside, Corbeau seats with JAZ harnesses flank the B&M Z-gate shifter. Blocking the view of the Auto Meter gauges is the removable circle-track steering wheel. An Afco quick-release coupler was mounted on a 3/4-inch Borgeson shaft and makes ingress and egress easier.

The trail rod sports 4.56s in the front Dana 44 and 5.13s in the rear 9-inch to compensate for the 38x12.50 and 42x15 big ’n’ little Swampers. The wheels are 15x8 and 15x10 MRT bead locks.

Underneath, Tom Wood’s driveshafts clear the custom 3-inch exhaust and dual Exide gel-cell batteries in circle track boxes. Tucked up high and safe are fans and coolers for the ATF and power steering fluid.

We’re always bitching and whining for something different. We like to see creations that we’ve never seen before. We dig rigs that employ alternative schools of thought and that (forgive the business lingo) think outside the box. Therefore, it should be little wonder that we almost soiled ourselves when we came across Ferris McCollum’s conglomeration of parts thrown together in hot rod style with circle track flavor.

Ferris had a bunch of parts lying around and a whole lot of imagination, so he did what any real gearhead would do: He built something out of them. Granted, not everyone has a steel reproduction ’30 Ford Model A pickup body kicking around, but the frame is a mundane ’73 Bronco unit, as are the front Dana 44 and coil buckets. Some of the other spare parts included a 460 from a ’73 Lincoln, a ’78 C6 tranny and 205 ’case, TJ front coils, and Chevy Blazer rear leaf springs. The rest was built or bought.

Starting from the front and working back, the Dana 44 was rebuilt with 4.56s, a Detroit, Warn shafts, and ’78 Ford disc brakes. The front radius arms were extended for better articulation and were connected to the frame with ¾-inch rod ends. A pair of Teraflex 2-inch lift coils for TJs were hung in the factory buckets up front, and Chevy Blazer rear springs were hung out back. For the rear end, Ferris knew he wanted to full-float and disc-brake the 9-inch, but after doing some investigating, it turned out it was cheaper and easier to contact the circle track guys at Schreiner Enterprises in Elva, Wisconsin. They sold him a 9-inch housing with protected drain plug, 3-inch tubes fitted for full-float axles, axleshafts, rotors, and caliper brackets for under $900. Ferris just had to add his centersection with 5.13s, a Detroit, and Eldorado calipers.

Powerwise, the 460 was built for 9:1 compression, the heads were mildly ported, and a General Kinetics 0.479/0.504-inch lift cam was installed. A Weiand intake was topped with a Howell 670-cfm fuel injection system. The tranny and transfer case were also rebuilt and the whole assembly was laid into the frame. The Brookfield Roadsters reproduction body was reinforced, tied to the frame, and filled with a monster 3/16-inch wall rollcage and aluminum paneling coated with polyurethane lining. The interior appointments were installed and a bed was fabricated to hold the spare tire, tools, and parts. When all was finished, the panels were slathered in DuPont Pink.

The result is an off-roading, hot-rod-loving-fool’s dream. For less than the price of a new Bug, Ferris has himself a custom-built trail rod that looks almost as good as it works. That’s what hot rodding is all about.