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The native Southern California crew from Total Cost Engineering packed their bags and hit the road to head out to the 2013 NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, Kentucky. Of course the crew had their sights set on all of the amazing rides sporting TCI Engineering chassis and performance suspension components, but one in particular caught their attention right away.
One of the first TCI equipped debut build’s they came across was Fern and Cecil Taylor’s ’32 coupe pictured above. When the couple bought this all original steel ’32 Coupe some 30 years ago they weren’t anticipating that they would build this masterpiece from the ground up or that it would take almost three decades to do so. Cecil ordered a complete show package chassis from TCI Engineering over 25 years ago, but like with many long term projects, life or business can sometimes get in the way.
However, this car is a true testament to those devoted individuals who just keep at it and see it through to the end. Cecil owns Hercules Motor Car Company in Tampa, Florida and their claim to fame is a custom fiberglass bodied Woody. For Cecil and Fern the business always came first, so their own personal builds took the back seat (pun intended). In February of 2013 Fern made it clear to Cecil that she wanted something “extra special” for their 40th Wedding Anniversary.
As you can gather, Fern isn’t the typical gal and didn’t want a ‘Ruby’ per say, which happens to be the traditional symbol of the 40th Anniversary. Rather, she wanted nothing more than her ’32 to be finished in time to show it off in the Builder’s Showcase at this year’s NSRA Street Rod Nationals. This “hint” gave them less than 6 months to finish the build.
With no time to waste they enlisted Premier Auto body to paint the car in a 1957 Mercedes Maroon color (closely resembling a Ruby Red). The color really pops whether it is under a fluorescent light or out in direct sunlight. To complement the darker exterior color they chose a tan interior using a one piece roof insert that was done by Peyton Mobile Upholstery.
The car is motivated by a traditional Chevrolet Performance 325 Horsepower 350 SBC backed by a Dave Lozette built TH350. It rides on Billet Specialties Vintec wheels and the complimenting custom interior by Peyton Mobile Upholstery.
Cecil and Fern are no strangers to building top tier vehicles and having them in the Street Rod Nationals Builder’s Showcase. In fact, just last year they were featured with another build they had their hand built for “Car Fix” for the 2012 Street Rod Nats.
Paul and Sharon Puleo’s Hercules built ’37 Ford also riding on a TCI Chassis and Ridetech shockwaves.
Because rubies are thought to possess an eternal inner flame which is a symbol that the passion in a marriage is still very alive and strong after 40 years together.
If you were to replace the word ‘Rubies’ in the above description with ‘1932 Ford’, or any hot rod for that matter it would still make sense. After all, you must have that inner flame for all things hot rod to build/drive/own a car such as this. Let alone keep it in the family for 25+ years. Heart warming stories like this really show the bond and proves, “families that hot rod together, stay together.”
