1934 Ford Coupe

FOR about 31 years, this stunning 1934 Ford Coupe has been a part of Grant Malseed’s life.

When he was just 28, he spent the better part of four years creating this rod, working in the cramped confines of a double garage at home.

And in a testament to his skill and meticulousness, it was only last year that the car underwent a rebuild, and a pretty minor one at that.

Grant is the owner and director of Superformance, one of the country’s top performance stores that’s been in business for 41 years.

He took over the outfit in 2004, when he joined MTA Queensland, and has evolved the business into a true one-stop shop, handling every aspect of performance car builds and rebuilds.

The business’ workforce, which has expanded from three to 17 since 2004, does motors, gearboxes, diffs, paint and panel, fabrication . . . the whole box and dice. They specialise in Australian classics and muscles, and American classics, pickups, street machines and muscle cars, and have worked on cars from 1923 to 2000.

They’ve also further established their reputation as participants in two seasons of Rides Down Under Workshops Wars on the 7 Network nationally, with season three in the pipeline and looking likely to expand from a half-hour to hour format.

The show has also now been sold internationally, so Superformance is set to be exposed to a U.S. audience, among others, in the near future.

Like so many businesses, Superformance is a family affair with two sons involved; Todd, who runs the workshop, and Wade, who looks after stock control and ordering, and the website and eBay store, as well as wife Natalie, who takes care of the book-keeping and accounts.

While his ’34 Ford coupe was not the first car he’d created, it was, at the time, the best he’d done so he held on to it – and he readily admits it’s partly a sentimental thing.

“I started it when I was 28 and finished when I was 32,” says Grant. “I did it all single-handed in a double garage at home.

“I’d done four or five cars before it but it was the nicest I’d done and I think that’s why I hung on to it.

“In 2018 we did a rebuild – nothing huge, more a basic cosmetic project.

“We repainted the top half with the silver pinstripe and the green, plus swapped in a new engine.

“It also has new tyres and rims, basically all to bring it up to date.

“The car still has the original trim, transmission and diff. In fact, the black paint is original too.”

And it’s looking damn good for a 30-plus year old coat of paint.

The car now boasts a 347 Windsor V8 with a 671 supercharger on top. It’s running a GM Turbo 350 transmission with a Ford adapter kit that Grant made, a Ford 9” diff, has rear-wheel disc brakes and sits on an independent polished stainless steel frame.

It also has something you won’t see every day – Hurst Lightning Rods, multiple stick auto shifters that allow more control over the auto transmission and, Grant explained, are now somewhat of a collector’s item.

The car also has a dickey seat so can legally carry four.

Unlike many of the business’ project, which average 18 months but can be closer to two years depending on the individual build, this update was a quick affair, with the car off the road for less than four weeks.

Grant said the car had more than once played a role in illustrating why a top-quality build matters.

“We show it to customers to demonstrate that if you do a build right, and look after the vehicle, it can last for many, many years,” he says.

“It’s not a show car – the interior for example is still good but hey, its 28-plus years old – it’s a car to be driven, and while I haven’t been driving it as much as I’d like of late due to how busy we are with the business, it’s a car my wife Natalie and I use to go for a cruise, maybe to the Sunshine Coast, or on a club run.”

So what is it about these vehicles that keeps Grant interested and so obviously passionate about them?

“They’re so much fun to drive – although they’re not very comfortable so on long runs you probably need to get out and stretch about every two hours,” he says. “Tall guys usually only last about an hour.

“The feet position is not great, as the well tapers in so there’s not a lot of legroom and you get cramped up.

“But you don’t worry about that . . . it’s all about having a cool car and having fun with friends.”

Grant’s love affair for performance began when he was just 14, helping his uncle, who lived next door in hometown Mt Gambier in South Australia, on an American Ford Fairlane.

“We did a new engine, gearbox, swapped the swap, painted the car . . . the only thing I didn’t do myself was trim the car and I did that later with a mate when I was 21,” says Grant. “I still have that car too, although it is due for a rebuild.”

Like the ‘34 Coupe, a Superformance rebuild will undoubtedly mean that Fairlane won’t be reaching the end of the road any time soon.

Source: Motor Trader E-Magazine (May 2019 Edition)

14 May 2019