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Editor's note: This is part of a series at KSL.com featuring some of Utah's coolest cars. If you own a customized vehicle — from sports cars to semitrucks — email fjolley@ksl.com with a photo of the vehicle and a brief description for consideration.SALT LAKE CITY — While lots of hot-rod car owners modernize their rides to the point of not being nostalgic anymore, this 1950s hot rod connects its owner with the past and his WWII-veteran father.
A lot of people like the feeling of nostalgia they get from hot rods. Mark Brough is keeping it as real as he can, driving a rolling history lesson.
His ride started as a 1927 Ford Roadster pickup. Someone in California turned it into a "hot rod" between 1948 and the early 1950s, and it hasn’t gotten much more modern from there. That’s how Brough likes it.
The body got a 1932 chassis (the grille also came with the remodel), and a 1948 flathead Ford engine ended up behind that. Details about further bodywork get kind of hazy after that and then the car was discovered again in the 1970s.
Fortunately, no one did any '70s renovations like replacing steel panels with fiberglass to it, and a collector in Pasadena had some work done to restore it, some of it by Hollywood Hot Rods. Brough bought the vehicle from the Pasadena collector in 2013 and got to work on the details to finish it up.
During his renovations, Brough had custom artwork and striping done by Andy Kawahara in Pleasant Grove. He also wanted an original-style hand pump for the racing fuel tank up front. It took him three years to find one, and he said he paid $1,600 for it when he finally did.
He’s never had it tested on a dynamometer, and for him, it’s not worth the curiosity/bragging to have it tested and risk engine problems. He doesn’t know its drag times, either. He did mention a rumor that the car has been driven 110 miles per hour, and whoever was driving it when that rumored event took place probably felt that was fast enough with steering from the 1930s.
Brough has restored plenty of cars throughout the years, but this one makes him think of the World War II vets returning home in the late 1940s. With some engineering training, they used to build hot rods like this one. His dad, Alfred Kyle Brough, was a paratrooper who had engineering training and taught his son to rebuild cars. His father would have been 100 years old on Thursday.
Brian Champagne has reported on cars for more than nine years. He holds a master's degree in communications from the University of the Pacific and teaches at Utah State University. Contact him at iaabfl@yahoo.com.
