1940 Ford Downs - Bodied Hauler - Down Right Bad

Turn the key and feel the adrenaline rise as 825 blown horsepower rumbles to life. The joystick commanding the six-speed gearbox is nudged into first, the gas is mashed, and the clutch is dumped to produce a cloud of smoke trailing wildly off the 20-inch low-profile rear skins. The excitement doesn't end there as this pinned-in-your-seat driving feeling is experienced from a red leather-covered cockpit. A blazing inferno of painted hot licks surround the bug catcher blower scoop poking through the hood. Tunes flow from the Audiobahn stereo system and the go-pedal is moved swiftly towards the floorboard. Just about the time you look down at the Dakota Digital gauges to investigate the rate of travel, the sound of the alarm clock starts ringing and the dream is over.

For Bruce Suggs of Fayetteville, North Carolina, this low-rolling, pavement-shredding fantasy is actually a gear-grabbing reality filled with blower-ringing melodies produced from his '40 Ford Downs-bodied hauler. Bruce is a church pastor and spends his life serving the Lord both through his duties at the church and his role at Christ First Customs (CFC) where he builds hot rods.

Having previously owned a '36 Chevy, '32 Ford coupe, and a few '40 Ford convertibles, Bruce longed for a truck and after saying a few prayers and making a few phone calls ended up with a '40 Ford Downs-body cab and front clip and a Pro's Pick bed. After the body was delivered to CFC, Bruce needed a chassis to stick under it and began with a rack full of round tubing to construct the tube skeleton underneath the blown tire blazer. Mustang-II front spindles, Scott's Hot Rods stainless upper and lower tubular A-arms, and Air Ride Technologies shockwave air springs get the nose down to appropriate cruising altitude. B.A.D. Mauler billet wheels, sized 18-inches, are mounted with Falken P205/35ZR18 rubber under the front fenders. Wilwood binders slow the front billets when Bruce lays a little too hard on the fun pedal. In the rear the jaw-dropping show stance comes via a Pete & Jakes stainless parallel four-link and Firestone 2500 airbags hammering the rear fenders over 20x11-inch B.A.D. Maulers clothed scantily in P285/35ZR20 Nitto road shoes. The 825 horse-blown mouse-mill gulps go-juice from an 11-gallon fuel cell mounted under the bed.

In the power department Bruce knew that a carbureted small-block with a cam and some headers wasn't going to cut it. Enter Bledsoc Motorsports, where an innocent small-block was turned into a blown, fire-breathing mouse motor producing 825 asphalt-blistering horsepower. The mighty mouse mill received a .030 overbore and was stuffed with a full roller BDS camshaft with 288 duration and 620 lift. Nascar ported and polished heads and a BDS 6-71 blower are topped with a duet of Holley carbs. Spent fumes are shown the door through Street & Performance jet-hot coated headers linked to Flowmaster mufflers, which belt out the engine's vocal stylings with authority. An MSD electronic ignition gets the pulleys moving and brings the small-block beast to life.