By:BRIAN BRENNAN
Reprint from Street Rodder Magazine, May 2006
Photography: Scott Killeen
or all of you, who are fascinated by what can be built with imagination and talent, wait until you turn these pages! The most recent street rod project to come from POSIES is the continuing evolution of “statements” that POSIES has been building since 1964. For decades, he has claimed that when building a street rod, he is making a statement. The bespectacled rod builder has made his most demonstrative statement to date with his latest ’35 Aeroliner Sport roadster.
“The rod was inspired by the French art deco sporting era of the 1930’s,” according to POSIES. While that sounds simple enough (or not!), to understand the basis for the Aeroliner Sport, we must go back to 2001 when POSIES picked up a Downs fiberglass ’35 Ford roadster body. It wasn’t until late 2004 that the project began in earnest—12 hours a day and 7 days a week—until it debuted in the Flowmaster booth at the 2005 SEMA show. Ironically, to bring the fiberglass body back to POSIES, it was cut in half to fit into the trailer. Once “glued” back together, the rear fenders were moved forward 9 inches and the body narrowed 6 inches. Afterward, it was channeled over a pair of Just-A-Hobby framerails connected through a combination of POSIES-installed crossmembers where the result is a 139-inch wheelbase.
The highly altered fiberglass Downs 1935 Ford roadster body features an aluminum, fabric-covered top and an aluminum hood with much of the metal fabrication hammered by POSIES himself, along with team members Bryce Meyers and Rich Lewis. Meanwhile, POSIES managed to find the time to make the grille that houses a stainless steel insert. The majority of the paint prep was performed by Wendell Veach, POSIES, and his staff. Covering the numerous hours of body work is PPG Sandalwood paint-sprayed by KC’s Custom
Paint.
Inside the two-seater you will find a pair of downsized Corvette buckets that were direct from Tea’s Design and covered in taype and maroon leather by Russ’s Trim and Ruf Interiors. Door panels come from the same material and craftsman, while the accompanying seatbelts are by way of Juliano’s. POSIES staff member Jamie Buss wired the Sony head unit, JL Audio amplifiers, and CO-AX speakers using a Painless Wiring kit. Other creature comfort items include the Vintage Air heating and air conditioning unit along with Haneline gauges built into the machined dash insert that rest in the POSIES-designed and built aluminum dashboard. The rearview mirror (both inside and out) come by way of Valley Auto. The center console/armrest is another POSIES-designed and built item.
The chassis is anchored at one end with a POSIES-built twin-tube axle, his own SuperSlide leaf springs, shocks, and an antiroll bar. Other front suspension appointments include Pete & Jake’s spindles, and a Borgeson-Siginaw ’57 Chevy box (605 model) working in conjunction with an ididit steering column topped with a Colorado Custom wheel. A complete Wilwood brake system is in place, beginning with the master cylinder, proportioning valve, 13-inche rotors, and six-piston calipers.
(left) The POSIES-designed/built aluminum dash with a machined insert is outfitted with Haneline gauges. Other interior appointments include a Sony stereo with JL amplifier and speakers, Vintage Air heating and air conditioning, ididit steering column with a Colorado Custom wheel, and a Valley AUto rearview mirror. (right) A Winters (banjo-style) limited-slip 3.73-equipped rearend has Dutchman axles, The Deuce Factory antiroll bar, a POSIES Panhard bar, SuperSlide leaf springs and shocks, and Wilwood four-piston calipers with 12-inch rotors.
The rear suspension is linked to a Winters mini-banjo housing with limited-slip 3.73 gears, Dutchman axles, The Deuce Factory antiroll bar, and a POSIES Panhard bar. The rear braking is, again, Wilwood , but this time 12-inch rotors are coupled with four-piston calipers, making a four-wheel disc brake system that doesn’t utilize a power booster. All the chassis stainless plumbing is courtesy of Earl’s Performance Plumbing. Other chassis highlights that can be found at the corners are the Colorado Custom wheels—18s in front and 20s in back—along with BFGoodrich g-Force T/A rubber.
The power for this unique street rod comes by way of Roush Performance, all 531 hp and 500-plus lb-ft of torque. In this application, a Roush 427R Dart V-8 is complete with aluminum heads, a Holley 750-cfm four-barrel., MSD ignition, and a POSIES/Roush
snorkel air intake. The HPC-coated exhaust system is a combination of 2-inch individual tube headers that dump into 2 1/2-inch exhaust pipes that flow through four (yep, four) Flowmaster Hushpower II mufflers.
The power is run through a Ford Deltrans-prepped C6 trans (complete with converter) that’s matched up to a Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive that turns the three-speed automatic into a fully functioning six-speed. Of particular interest is the shift mechanism that was developed by Gear Vendors and Lokar Performance. The Gear Vendors’ AutoShift Sequencer and Lokar’s shifter and new knob adapter allow versatile control of the six forward gears offered by the Ford C6 transmission and the Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive. The common Lokar shifter has a button in the middle of the knob that, when depressed, allows the shifter to move into Reverse and Park. Since the Aeroliner Sport is running a Gear Vendors Under/Overdrive, which is controlled electrically with a button in the shifter, a new product from Lokar was created—the Lokar Knob Adapter. The Knob Adapter moves the reverse lockout mechanism to actuate by pushing down on the entire knob instead of
a button with the knob. This allowed the Gear Vendors billet knob with button to be used.
Well, there you have it. A statement made by one of the street rodding’s longest-running builders and manufacturer. Whether you like the car or not, you have to appreciate the workmanship and the fact that POSIES has placed himself “out there,” daring to be different. We say, “Nice going.” SR
POSEIS twin tube front axle, shocks, SuperSlide springs, and antiroll bar are used with Pete & Jake’s spindles and Wilwood 13-inch rotors with six-piston calipers. The wheels are Colorado Custom, and rubber is BFG g-Force T/A along with a Borgeson-Saginaw power steering.
Page Five
F A C T S & F I G U R E S | |
POSIES Hummelstown, Pennsylvania 1935 Aeroliner Sport | |
C H A S S I S | |
Frame/Manufacturer | Just-A-Hobby (Cleveland,OH) |
Wheelbase | 139″ |
Modifications | fabricated crossmembers by POSIES (Hummelstown, PA) |
Chassis plumbing | Earl’s Performance Plumbing (Blowling Green, KY) stainless steel |
Rearend / Ratio | Winters, banjo-style (York, PA) / 3.73 limited-slip |
Rear suspension | POSIES SuperSlide springs & shocks, Panhard bar, The Deuce Factory (Santa Ana, CA) antiroll bar |
Rear brakes | Wilwood (Camarillo, CA) 12′ rotors, four-piston calipers |
Front Suspension | twin-tube POSIES |
Front brakes | Wilwood 13″ rotos, six-piston calipers |
Master cylinder | Wilwood |
Steering box | Borgeson-Saginaw (Torrington, CT) |
Front wheel make | Colorado Custom (Ft. Collins, CO) |
Rear wheel make | Colorado Custom |
Front tire make | BFG g-Force |
Rear tire make | BFG g-Force |
E N G I N E | |
Make | Roush-Ford (Livonia, MI) |
Displacement | 347R cubes |
Machining / Assembly | Roush |
Heads | Aluminum |
Valve covers | Roush |
Manifold / Induction | Roush / Holley 750-cfm |
Radiator | Walker Radiator (Memphis, TN) |
Ignition / Wires | MSD (El Paso, TX) |
Headers | POSIES 2″ individual tube (HPC-coated) |
Exhaust / Mufflers | HPC-coated 1 2/1″ tube / Flowmaster Hushpower II (four mufflers) |
T R A N S M I S S I O N | |
Make | Ford C6 |
Converter | Deltrans |
Under/Overdrive | Gear Vendors (El Cajon, CA) |
Shifter | Lokar & Gear Vendors (Knoxville, TN) |
B O D Y | |
Body sytle / Material | 1935 Ford roadster / fiberglass |
Body manufacturer | Downs Manufacturing (Lawton, MI) |
Body mods | custom body |
Hood | aluminum POSIES |
Grille | POSIES |
Bodywork | POSIES & Wendall Veach |
Paint type / Color | PPG / custom mix Sandalwood |
Painter | KC’s Custom Paint (Elizabethtown, PA) |
Headlight / Taillights | swap meet |
Outside mirror | Valley Auto |
I N T E R I O R | |
Dashboard | aluminum POSIES |
Insert / Gauges | aluminum POSIES / Haneline (Morongo Valley, CA) |
Stereo / Speakers | Sony / JL Audio |
Air conditioning | Vintage Air (San Antonio, TX) |
Wiring | Painless Wiring (Ft. Worth, TX) |
Steering wheel | Colorado Custom |
Steering column | ididit inc. (Tecumseh, MI) |
Interior mirror | Valley Auto |
Seats | Downsized Corvette from Tea’s Design (Rochester, MN) |
Upholsterer | Russ’s Trim & Ruf Interiors (High Point, NC) |
Material / Color | leather / taupe &maroon |
Seatbelts | Jualiano’s (Vernon, CT) |