Feature - Shane Snape

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Shane Snape comes from a hot rodding family - his Dad's 3-window was featured here. The Snapes are from the hot rodding hub of Toowoomba, and Shane has been immersed in the hobby from a young age. He and his pals make trips to the 'States, and keep right up with the movement both there and at home, and his interpretation of a street rod reflects his long involvement. The rows of louvres on the hood sides and trunk lid are part of Shane's appreciation of the finer points of street rod aesthetics, as the car looks 100% hot rod without being over done.

The Yamba rod run was an appropriate place for the coupe to debut, as Shane & his folks have been going there for years. A Deuce Customs body has rarely looked more striking than this highly reflective Mercedes silver paint scheme.

Here we see a Durant mono-leaf spring, bolted to a flat cross-member, with Pete & Jake's shock absorbers out in front. Stainless steel hairpins keep the 4" dropped Magnum I-beam in place. The drums are off an old Buick.

American Racing Torq Thrust II mags are used all around - the fronts are 15" x 5" with Michelin radials, for excellent road holding in the wet or dry. The top 'insert' is in Mercedes convertible top fabric.

Red vinyl provides a stark contrast to the AMG Mercedes silver paint, as you can see here.

The red trim was expertly fitted by R & R Upholsterers, Toowoomba. The CD player and stainless trim serve to break up the expanse of red wool carpet.

This view illustrates the cheese grater effect of the lovingly louvered 'lid. A Brookville Roadster outer skin was punched, straightened out, then grafted to the Deuce Customs inner lining. The gas tank is a stock '32 unit, as are the tail lamps.

This angle highlights the dropped headlight bar & large '32 headlights, while revealing another largely louvered location - the hood. Rootleib made the hood sides with plenty of cheese graters.

The rear of the chassis was stepped 3", bringing the rear down the same amount. The chassis rake is therefore not as pronounced as some. Stainless ladder bars retain a 9" Ford diff, and 16" x 9" American Racing wheels with bigish weenies.

The Lokar shifter operates the Powerglide, and Moon gauges occupy the dash. The stainless column was home made, and uses a Limeworks steering wheel. The windscreen frame was made by Fat Cat.

Shane's pal Darryl Kuhnemann of Street Rod Constructions had a big hand in the construction of the coupe, taking it from bare American Stamping chassis rails to a roller, then being involved in all aspects of the construction.

Other Toowoomba hot rod identities were involved too; Harry Caldwell did the louvres on the trunk lid and the hood top, and Bill Patterson made the under-dash transversely mounted Gemini brake master cylinder \booster pedal assembly.

The motor in this hot rod is a very healthy LT1 350 c.i. Chevy small block, with alloy heads, roller cam and other goodies, in front of a redoubtable Powerglide transmission.

The paint is AMG Mercedes silver, and sets the tone for the sparkling presentation that this car is.

Shane would like to particularly thank his parents, also Sue, and of course Darryl Kuhnemann.

The visible bits on the LT1 350 include a polished alloy GM 4 bbl manifold, a Demon 4 bbl carb, HEI distributor, Chev Performance crinkle black valve covers, tube block huggers, and an electric fan.

The end.

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