417 Motorsports is known for a lot of builds in the Missouri area – it’s most famous being the “Crusty Nova” of Shane McClelland’s that is seen on Drag Week year after year.
Owner Blake Hughes bought an all-original 1935 Ford two years ago out of California with the flat head that even featured wooden floors. Yes, we know what you’re thinking — that’s going to be a street cruiser to take and drive to town in and such, right? Well, sort of. Hughes and team have plans for the truck to be 100% streetable, even featuring air conditioning and power windows!
With a 23.3 chassis, four link brackets and a torque arm, this pickup truck is far from ordinary. Using multiple modern parts including C6 Corvette spindles with custom upper and lower a-arms built in house at 417 Motorsports and Strange brakes on all four corners. The bed of the truck was completely remodeled from aluminum with formed aluminum wheel tubs to tuck the 315 Drag Radials neatly in the Ford rear fender wells. The firewall was replaced along with the floor pans, both custom composed in-house out of metal.
Hughes’ initial plan was to build a custom single turbocharged LSX but that wasn’t enough for 417 and their team. So, what’s the new plan, you ask? A 500-plus cubic inch Big Block with twin BorgWarner billet S488 V2 turbochargers with Tial wastegates. The engine will get his demands from a Holley Dominator EFI system and monitored by a complete Racepak data logger with an IQ3 digital dash piece.
Extensive modifications have been made to the grill shell and other sheet metal but the factory wheelbase has been kept for the trick Ford pickup. One of the main stipulations for Blake and the team at 417 was that the entire truck be formed from metal, not just ordering fiberglass parts to build a cool street rod. We’re looking forward to following more of their progress and hope to see Blake and 417 Motorsports making some noise and rumbling the streets of Missouri soon.