Egeo Barci's 1934 Ford

An overhead shot of Egeo and his hot rod. Photo courtesy of Street Customs

Photo courtesy of Street Customs

Photo courtesy of Street Customs

Photo courtesy of Street Customs

The engine was a 272 Y-Block V8 from a Ford F-100 truck, that Egeo bought from a friend. It had been prepared for a race boat, so Egeo had to de-marinize it before he could use it. Photo courtesy of Street Customs

The dash featured black "sports" type instruments with white lettering, and a Fury steering wheel by Banefra. The Fury was a copy of steering wheels found on the Ford Mustangs and other sports cars, and it featured chromed and drilled spokes, and a riveted wood rim. Photo courtesy of Street Customs.

The headers were handmade. Photo courtesy of Street Customs.

The front axle, shock absorbers, springs, alternator, starter, valve caps, horns and many other details were chromed. Photo courtesy of Street Customs.

. Hydraulic brakes from the F-100 truck was installed along with two Chrome Wagner Lockheed master cylinders. Photo courtesy of Street Customs.

The interior was upholstered by Redcar, a company specializing in upholstery and customization. It was done in cream with burgundy piping tp match the color on the car. Photo courtesy of Street Customs.

The clutch and brake pedals were similar to those on a 1963 Ford Thunderbird. The accelerator pedal had the shape of a bare foot. Photo courtesy of Street Customs.

The Banefra Hot Rod at an indoor automobile show in São Paulo in 1966. Photo courtesy of Opasgarage.

1934 Ford roadster owned by Egeo Barci of São Paulo, Brazil. Egeo's hot rod was completed in 1966, and it might have been the first hot rod of Brazil. Egeo's father ran a company called Banefra, that produced steering wheels for cars. In 1965 Egeo expanded the production line in the company, and he began producing sport accessories as well. Egeo also grew the company staff by hiring two new employees, his cousin Germano Franzoni and João Neves Filho. After expanding the production line and the company, Egeo and his two new employees decided that they wanted to build a hot rod. They wanted to base their build on a 1931 - 1934 Ford, and they started to look for a decent project. Finding a 1931 - 1934 Ford in a good condition was not an easy task in Brazil back then, and it took some months before they were able to locate the roadster. They found the car in their neighborhood in April of 1966. It belonged to a butcher named Aclimação. Egeo and Germano went over to check out the old car. It required some repair, and the negotiation turned out to be though, but after a lot discussion the old roadster swapped hands for $ 850,000.00 Cr. A new VW Beetle at the time costed Cr $ 5,939,000.00.

After the deal was made, their first problem was to get the car back to Banefra, as it rained and the car had no top or brakes. Back at the shop, the trio began the disassemble of the car the same night. They worked on the car at Banefra, and the work had to be done at night, not during business hours. Many sleepless nights followed before they had disassembled the roadster. The bottom of the body turned out to be very rotten. And it required a lot of work. During the restoration, between 4 and 5 inches were replaced on the bottom off the body. The worn out flathead V8 engine, transmission and rear axle were sold off to a junkyard.Originally, Egeo wanted to use a BA8 engine from a 1953 Ford Customline in the ca, a very common car and engine in Brazil at the time. They consulted Camillo Christófaro, an experienced Carreteras race car driver, and he advised them to go with a 283 Chevrolet Corvette engine and four speed manual transmission from a Jaguar XK 120 instead. They liked the idea, but as the cost of such a set up would be around Cr $ 5 million they decided to go for another power plant for their car. Egeo had a friend that owned a Ford 272 Y-Block V8 engine from a F-100 truck that he had prepared for a race boat, and the trio decided to make an offer on that engine instead. They got the engine for Cr $ 1.5 million, but as it had been marinized for a boat, they had to modify the engine before they could install it in the roadster. A three-speed manual transmission was bought and connected to the engine before thy began the chassis fabrication. The old frame was broken, bent and rusted, and it had also received some bad repair work in the past. After grease, dust and old paint had been removed, the frame was straightened and boxed for additional strength. The hot rod trio decided to use the rear end from the truck that the engine came from on the roadster. They could not use the semi-elliptic springs from the truck, so they tried to make a new rear end suspension using the rear spring of a 1953 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. This attempt failed, and they ended up ordering a special spring made exclusively for the roadster. They kept and restored the stock front suspension. A steering box from a 1939 Ford was installed along with a hydraulic clutch from a Simca Esplanada. Egeo and his crew did also install an electric ignition by the French brand Ducellier. Hydraulic brakes from the F-100 truck was installed along with two Chrome Wagner Lockheed master cylinders. The wheels were chrome plated and fit with blackwall bias ply tires. Once the bodywork was done, the car was painted metallic burgundy. The trio bought and installed two Willys Interlagos seats. The seats and interior were then upholstered by Redcar, a company specializing in upholstery and customization. The interior was upholstered in cream with burgundy piping. The clutch and brake pedals were similar to those on a 1963 Ford Thunderbird. The accelerator pedal had the shape of a bare foot. The dash featured black "sports" type instruments with white lettering, and a Fury steering wheel by Banefra. The Fury was a copy of steering wheels found on the Ford Mustangs and other sports cars, and it featured chromed and drilled spokes, and a riveted wood rim. A Monza type exterior mirror, also commonly used on sports cars of the time was installed on the driver side. The stock fenders were scrapped, so Egeo and his team fabricated new rear fenders that were molded to the body. Up front, motorcycle type fenders were installed. The headers were hand made. The engine was painted red, while the front axle, shock absorbers, springs, alternator, starter, valve caps, horns and many other details were chromed. The build was completed late 1966 or early 1967. It is not known what happened to the car, and In 2012 the whereabouts of what might have been the first hot rod of Brazil were unknown.