Fay Butler Metal Fabrication: Fay's Best Metal Award

Fay Butler Fab/Metal Shaping

Fay's Best Metal Award - Autorama 2016

	Fay Butler - Best Metal at Autorama 2016 went to Al Grooms from Miamisburg, Ohio. It is a 1950 Ford F1 Roadster with Ford 292 Y-Block engine. Al started the build by laying two frame rails on the barn floor. To keep the car wheelbase short, he chose to put the engine in the rear. This required turning it around. A three speed Borg Wagner overdrive manual transmission was used, using a manual toggle switch for actuating the “kick down” shifting. A chain drive transmitted the power to the drive shaft, keeping the car low. Rack and pinion steering was used to compensate for bump-steer, so the car can cruse at 55-60 MPH having around 1000 miles logged. Al started the body with two 1950 Ford truck hoods, as he told me on a phone interview “…he could not afford a body…” Al is 46 years old, and previously worked in the auto body industry before being hired in a steel mill working with molten steel crucibles making alloys. Terry Stellar picked and presented my award along with assistant from Pete Gluklick this year. Terry is from Ann Arbor and is general manager at Special Projects Inc., Plymouth, MI, a company specializing in building concept vehicles and design development properties for the transportation industry. Congratulations to Al Grooms for his innovative ideas and performing all the work himself.