1934 Ford Phaeton Street Rod Brizio/Castelli

A Touch of Class for a Long Retired Drag Racer

When Blinkey Sullivan and three of his Southern California Reath Automotive AA/FA Fiat Dragster teammates posed for their photo in the November 1961 Issue of HOT ROD Magazine, never did he envision his future, especially after leaving drag racing to get married and start a family.

Roughly 20 years later a very successful Northern California Drag Racer named Steve Castelli thought it would be a good idea to cash in on the Street Rod craze by building high-end ’34 Ford Phaeton’s in concert with one of the bay area’s most reputable frame builders, Roy Brizio for a select few of his regular customers. Who knew that Blinkey's and Castelli's paths would cross outside of drag racing.

Of the 3 Phaetons built by Castelli’s renowned race shop, this Corvette Chrome Yellow example spoke volumes because his customer wanted it to be the best ’34 Ford Phaeton in existence and so he spared no expense. After all, Street Rodding was heating up and you were judged by the quality of your car not to mention Castelli had a reputation to uphold and not many shops were producing high-end cars in a T-Bucket world, at the time.

So, according to the seller, Caselli’s customer waited for his car, getting older as each day passed until Castelli delivered the shiny Tourer to his home one morning in 1983. The customer was so excited that upon taking delivery he promptly jumped in his new car drove it 9 miles, pulled into his garage, parked it, went inside his house sat down on his couch and promptly let the Lord take him. Not a bad way to go, actually!

Fast forward to a gorgeous sunny August morning, in 1995 at The Goodguys Street Rod Nationals in Pleasanton, California. Blinkey (now‘Sully’, leaving his wild drag racing days and reputation behind him) was walking along Main Street at the Alameda County Fairgrounds, spotted the Phaeton parked in the bright sunlight and fell in love. But wait, only 25 miles on the clock??? Turns out that the family left the car in that garage for 12 years after its proud owner’s passing because they just couldn’t bear to disturb his memory so aside from cleaning it up and putting gas in the tank, the family friend who offered to help sell it for the family did little more than replace the battery, put air in the tires, fire it up and drive it over to P-Town.

After making a deal, Sully and his wife Mary Lou proudly set off to trek home to So Cal in his virtually new dream car stopping 14 times along the way to deal with a clogged gas tank and fuel lines every so many miles. Upon return he promptly removed and boiled out the tank, replaced the front rubber, the Holley Carb and set out to put over 9,300 miles on the clock before handing the car over to HOT ROD Magazine Hall of Fame (“Best Upholster in History”) Eddie Martinez in Bellflower, CA to disassemble/ freshen up the entire car and stitch a new Hartz-Cloth top, Ultra Leather seats and install edge-bound Wilton Wool carpet for the then-dated interior.

The Chrome Yellow hue was softened a bit and the whole car re-sprayed by Eddie’s paint shop and what was delivered to Sully in 2005 was even more special than the original - so special that the car was photographed and published in the June 2007 issue of Street Rod Builder Magazine as a multi-page color feature car making it famous beyond the famous people who have touched the car since its re-birth as a street rod.

In concert with Eddie installing an appropriate sound system and new AutoMeter Vintage Series gauges Sully went through the rest of the car and made it new again so he could drive it anywhere if he wanted to and that is no problem since this Ford is as dependable as a new one, drives like a dream and hauls butt – so much so that his neighbor reeled at getting his Ferrari left in the dust after a friendly contest on one recent carb-adjustment Saturday afternoon.

This 4,212 mile (since the 2005 restoration), Gibbon-bodied, original titled 1934 Ford Phaeton rides on a Ford 8-inch 300:1 rear end, with coil overs, Super Bell front axle and Zenith Wires for a comfortable jaunt over hill and dale. The car runs great, drives like a dream and obviously commands attention wherever it goes. In 2015, Sully’s son-in-law freshened up the Chevy 350/TH350 combo with a COMP Thumper Cam, full roller Valve-Train, polished Edelbrock Intake and Valve Covers, Edelbrock 600 CFM/AFB-Style Carburetor, MSD Pro-Billet ignition and new 30-inch GlassPaks, and keeping the "Megs" exhaust tips in order to compliment the earlier updates, keep it dependable and give it little more rumble.

Presented for your consideration is Sully’s prized Tourer as he is getting on in years and his reaction times are not what they used to be so the time has come to let some lucky Hot Rodder continue the Phaeton’s legacy and bring as much joy to that person as it has to Sully and Mary Lou over the past 24 years. Sully's Son-in-Law Tom can answer questions - seven one four three five zero nine two zero zero.