Powering Brown Sugar is a 348-cube, Chevy W-series engine – Chevrolet’s first big-block.“ Around this era, rods were built with Olds, Caddy, flathead and lots of other V8s,” says Richard. “I wanted something different. In 1960, the W was only two years old and with its uniquely-scalloped rocker covers it was very cutting edge.” Crowning the W are six perfect-reproduction Stromberg 97s that cost around $600 each! These are bolted atop a genuine (and rare) 1960s Edelbrock manifold.
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Thanks to the Ronco Vertex magneto and iridescent-red, Moon Eyes plug leads (void of any radio-noise suppression), running any kind of audio system is out of the question. Some rodders go out of their way to give their classic machines modern dynamics. Not so Brown Sugar; with its transverse front spring and dropped Super Bell front axle, it drives like a traditional hot rod.
“I didn’t want to build a Boydster style of rod,” says Richard. “I like them too, but my Tudor wouldn’t have looked right if I sacrificed form over function.”
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One area where Richard deviated from this theology was in the braking department. Inside what looks like highly-polished front brake drums is a modern disc brake set-up, which combines with a Falcon master cylinder and Mitsubishi L300 pedal box. Speaking of boxes, “I would have liked to have run a manual,” says Richard, “but my feet are so big there was nowhere for the pedals to go.” He compromised with a two-speed Powerglide, which is still period correct, as it’s one of GM’s very early automatic transmissions.
One of the least planned aspects of the build was the interior. While Richard had some rough ideas, he basically told his trimmer, Glenn French, to go nuts. A rough sketch was made and things just kept getting wilder and wilder from there.
“It’s 60s nutso show car theme in there,” says Richard. “It’s got everything; over-the-top color combination, diamond pleat, tuck ’n’ roll, the whole box ’n’ dice.” To make that gold and white interior pop just that little bit more, the window openings were filled with yellow-tinted Perspex. When it came to deciding on a dash, Richard knew exactly what he wanted. “Oldsmobile have some of the coolest dashes around,” says Richard. “This one is out of a ’56.”
In its raw form, the Olds dash is about 10 inches too wide, so Richard had to cut the ends off as well as ditch the original center section. To re-join the two ends, he had a one-off, finned center panel especially cast, which was then machined to accommodate the three accessory gauges. If you didn’t know better, you’d swear it was factory. To create the phenomenal hue, good mate and House of Kolor brand ambassador Mat Egan first laid on a base of custom-mixed HOK Galaxy Grey and HOK Black. Next up was the Shimrin2 Pale Gold Metajuls (course metal flake), followed by the sumptuous HOK Root Beer Kandy. To make it all shimmer, Carmine De Maria from C.A.D Customs flow-coated the whole lot in HOK USC01 Show Clear.
To contrast with this, the chassis, undercarriage and driveline was painted off-white. While on the inside, Mat took some HOK Shimrin2 F16 Light Gold Flake and color-matched it to the vinyl. As a tribute to the glory days of the 60s, Brown Sugar is a stunning success. It’s also a stunning piece of automotive machinery in its own right.
Richard Dabbs certainly nailed with his wild 1930 Tudor, Brown Sugar. No wonder it’s one of the most talked about machines on the motor shows.
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