Nick’s Model A Roadster
It’s hard to build a car from the ground up. Ask anyone who’s done it and they’ll tell you all about late nights, early mornings, and sacrifices made to see their vision through to the end. It’s even harder to build a hot rod in the home garage while juggling work and family. It’s downright remarkable when that homebuilt hot rod ends up with a killer look and is capable of daily driving, cross country interstate runs, and brutal dragstrip passes.
Nick Hoesing (and his friend Jason Holland) take their definition of what a hot rod should be from a different era. Their Model A’s were built to drive, and drive them they do. Both cars make epic cross-country runs on a regular basis. Both are driven to the dragstrip, make hard passes, then driven home. Nick’s roadster has been 11.90’s, Jason’s coupe has gone 10’s. And the only time you’ll see either of them on a trailer is when something is broken from a merciless clutch drop or missed shift. You can hear them talk about all this on the What Moves You podcast episode that we recorded with them.
You might already know Nick. He’s been active on the HAMB for a long time and is semi-famous in the traditional hot rod and custom scene for being an all-around good guy. One of those guys who’s always genuinely happy to see you and will politely listen to you ramble about your project. He’ll probably even offer to help you finish it. When we first met him, he was driving a cool, slammed ’62 Galaxie with a ‘flaked roof. He always wanted a hot rod, but thought that they were out of the reach of a normal young guy without a trust fund. But, through some resourcefulness, patience, good friends, and a ridiculous amount of hard work, he was able to put together the slick roadster you see pictured here.
Nick’s roadster was built in the one-car garage attached to his house and started out as a stripped body and a pile of parts. The ’32 chassis features Rolling Bones-style pinched rails and spring-behind Deuce heavy axle in the front. The rear is held up by a neat quarter-elliptic 4-link setup and as you can see from these pictures, he totally nailed the stance. Nick’s a Ford guy through and through, so the car had to have Ford power. The first version of the car featured a stock 5.0 take out. In the quest for more power and better timeslips, he upgraded to the 400 horse 347 that’s in the car now. It spins a T-5 transmission and 9-inch rear. This car was always meant to be a driver, so all the moving parts were selected to be bulletproof.
Inside, the ’32 Ford dash with a custom insert designed by Nick and CNC machined by TJ Zessin perfectly fits the understated but totally unique nature of this car. It looks right at home at a hot rod show, on the salt at Bonneville, or at the local no-prep races lined up against a late-model Mustang.
Nick drives this car. A lot. He guesses that he has around 50,000 miles on it, with no intention of slowing down. It's been a long road, but Nick finally has a cool hot rod that he can drive anywhere. Who knows how many miles will have passed under it when he's all done, but one thing's for sure, Nick will have been smiling from behind the wheel for every one of them.
