This all-aluminum hot rod was custom-built in the style of a Ford Model A two-door highboy phaeton by Boyd Coddington Hot Rod Shop in La Habra, California, over the course of eight weeks in late 2003. The project was documented from start to completion across five episodes of Coddington’s Discovery Channel television series American Hot Rod that were aired in 2004, after which the car was sold to collector Ron Pratte in 2005. It remained in the Pratte collection for 10 years before being purchased by the seller in 2017. The car features hand-formed bare aluminum bodywork by Marcel’s Custom Metal atop a custom-fabricated aluminum tube-frame chassis and is powered by a 350ci Chevrolet V8 that breathes through three Demon Six Shooter carburetors. Additional features include a TH350 automatic transmission with a Mooneyes electronic shifter, an aluminum Winters quick-change rear end, custom-machined billet axle housings, cross-drilled disc brakes with aluminum calipers, a Mullins Vega-style aluminum steering box, five-spoke alloy wheels with a spindle-mount front setup, a lift-off roof panel, and silver Naugahyde interior upholstery. Named the “Alumatub,” this Boyd Coddington hot rod is now offered in Mill River, Massachusetts, with two spare sets of Goodyear RS-A tires, a photo album from the build, custom tools, and a clean New York title listing the car as a 1929 Ford.
After moving to California in the 1960s, Boyd Coddington began building hot rods as a side venture while working as a machinist at Disneyland before opening his own hot rod shop in the late 1970s and pioneering the use of billet wheels in the 1980s. Coddington and his shop served as the stars of the TV reality show American Hot Rod on the Discovery and Learning channels between 2004 and Coddington’s passing in early 2008. The “Alumatub” was the second project showcased on the program and was the third creation in a series of all-aluminum builds by Coddington, following the 1992 “Alumacoupe” and 2002 “Alumatruck.”
The 106”-wheelbase chassis was custom-fabricated in Coddington’s shop using 3/16th-wall 5052 aluminum formed into rectangular-tube frame rails joined at the front by a solid aluminum oval-drilled crossmember and round-tube center and rear crossmembers. Bare aluminum highboy coachwork was styled by Eric Brockmeyer and hand-formed by Marcel De Lay’s Marcel’s Custom Metal in Corona, California, in the style of a Ford Model A two-door phaeton. Features include rear-hinged doors free of handles, a side-hinged hood, a bare aluminum radiator shell carrying 7” headlights, a low-profile fixed windshield, and a lift-off bare aluminum top.
Coddington-designed five-spoke alloy front wheels measure 15×6” and are mounted on Deuce Factory stainless-steel spindles, while 17×8” rear wheels are secured to aluminum hubs via hexagonal knock-offs. Kuhmo Solus KH16 tires measure P215/65 up front and 255/60 at the rear. Hydraulic disc brakes incorporate 10¾” cross-drilled discs, aluminum calipers, and a Corvette master cylinder. Front suspension comprises a Pete & Jake’s oval-drilled I-beam drop axle, billet bat wings, and stylized aluminum wishbones, while rear suspension utilizes a billet triangulated four-link set-up with Carrera coilover shock absorbers. Custom wheel and gas cap removal tools are included in the sale.
The cockpit houses a single bench seat trimmed by Gabe’s Street Rod & Custom Interiors of Bloomington, California, in silver Naugahyde, with matching upholstery lining the inner surfaces of the top. Additional interior features include riveted bare aluminum door panels, gray wool carpeting, a tunnel-mounted Mooneyes electronic push-button shifter, and aluminum pedals with drilled linkages.
The four-spoke Pete & Jake’s steering wheel is wrapped in silver Naugahyde and sits on a Mullins steering column that directs input to a Mullins Vega-style aluminum steering box. Classic Instruments instrumentation housed in a bare aluminum dash panel includes a 140-mph speedometer and gauges monitoring fuel level and coolant temperature. The six-digit odometer does not work and shows less than one mile. An aluminum-housed LED screen mounted below the dash displays gear selection.
The 350ci Chevrolet small-block V8 features an aluminum block machined by the Schwartz Machine Company, aluminum Vortec cylinder heads, a COMP Cams hydraulic-roller camshaft, billet valve covers, and a Doug Upton’s Universal Machining aluminum oil pan and timing cover. Induction is through a Barry Grant Triple D Six Shooter intake manifold topped with three Demon Six Shooter carburetors and a billet air cleaner. Additional equipment includes Mallory ignition, an oil cooler mounted to the center crossmember, a Meziere remote water pump, a PRC aluminum radiator with a SPAL electric fan, a Mooneyes fuel-pressure gauge, and a 12-gallon aluminum fuel tank. A maintenance service was performed in April 2022.
Power is sent to the rear wheels via a TH350 Turbo Hydra-Matic automatic transmission, a Powertrain Industries aluminum driveshaft, and a Winters quick-change differential mated to custom-machined billet axle housings. Custom four-into-one exhaust headers lead to MagnaFlow mufflers and megaphone tailpipes. A louvered aluminum underbody panel can be seen fitted to the car in the photo gallery below. The seller notes that the car has mostly remained on static display and has been driven for maintenance purposes.
