The Hood

Old School on Purpose:
Johnny Powell's 1930 Model A
by Jack Criswell
Model: Laura Oswalt
   Just in case there was still any confusion about the difference in old school rods and rat rods... this is Exhibit A. It was designed and built to be nothing but genuine ol' skool, not a “rat rod.” And it is even expressly badged that way.
   Johnny Powell says, "It's supposed to be just like the way guys built rods in the '50s - straight, clean, finished well, good riding, loud and powerful, but not expensive."
   Neither rat rods nor old school rods use billet. But rat rods tend to have more rough edges. Some of them seem to have rough edges merely for the sake of having rough edges, not as a secondary result of being inexpensive. Johnny wanted genuine ol' skool, and found this one at the Goodguys show in Nashville.
   It was built by Jason Graham of Portland, Tennessee, who has a passion for ol' skool.  Jason believes there is no such thing as going too far for authenticity, and found the body and doors in North Dakota, where it had sat for over 50 years. He brought it to Tennessee to let it thaw out while he fabricated its frame.
   Another distinction with this rod: the frame was designed on a CAD (computer-aided-drafting) machine, including tapered front horns like the original, and then it was laser cut from 2x4” rectangular tubing. That may not seem very ol' skool, but in a sense it is - rodders back then would use the day's best technique to make such elements as a frame that deserves structural and engineering attention. This is not the same as crafting a shift-knob out of carbon fiber, baked in an autoclave, just so you could say you'd spent more money on it than the next guy. Since Jason had a friend with a cool computer-cutting machine, he still did it inexpensively. Nobody said ol' skoolers had to refuse nice stuff.
   See more of this rod in OSR #23

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