Teen's 1929 Ford Model A Hot Rod Hits Bonneville

An 18-year-old recently completed his 1929 Ford Model A hot rod and drove it to Bonneville Speed Week 2025. Blaine West and his father traveled from Carlton, Oregon, to the Utah salt flats in the coupe, which West built himself over several years.

West first spotted the car for sale on an Instagram account his father followed. He and his dad made a seven-hour drive to Bow, Washington, to see it. The body had been converted into a pickup, leaving the quarter panels in poor condition. West, who was 14 at the time, used his first paycheck from his first job to buy it. He told Hagerty he "immediately fell for the car" and felt it was "meant to be."

Progress stalled for two years due to budget constraints. The project reignited when West found a chassis on Facebook Marketplace. After bringing it home, he refreshed the original engine and serviced the transmission. He built the entire front suspension himself, using a 1934 Ford drop axle. To achieve a lower stance, he reverse-eyed the main front spring, dropping the car another two inches. He and his father also fabricated a new rear subframe to replace the rusted original.

Engine Mods and Performance

The engine is a modified Ford four-cylinder. West built a custom intake manifold for a Holley 94 two-barrel carburetor and fitted a Winfield high-compression head. He joked that "high compression's about six to one" for this engine. The car has not been on a dynamometer, but West is pleased with the power gains. He noted the Model A's electric start was a major upgrade, though a hand crank provision remains.

The car's nickname, "Toad,"is painted on the quarter panel."It was green, it was short, it was snotty-looking, it croaked," he explained. He used some of his mother's paint to add the name in time for a dirt track event organized by a local high school teacher.

Support and Future Plans

West credits his father, his boss, and his coworkers at the diesel mechanic shop where he is an apprentice for encouraging the build. "I've been very fortunate to be connected to a tight group of people that are all into the same stuff,"he said. Currently a roofless sport coupe, West plans to build a standard coupe roof to return the car to a more traditional look."I want it to look like a kid in 1941 or 1940 had a Model A sport coupe... And it was his daily driver that he could go out and race on the weekends,"West said. He has no plans for a small-block V-8 swap, preferring to keep the four-cylinder."My dream is to have a really, really nasty little four-cylinder in it," he stated. While he has considered a Ford flathead V-8, he feels the car itself tells him to "keep the banger in it."

1929 Model A Body Styles

The source included a trivia section detailing the two-door body styles available for the 1929 Ford Model A beyond the standard roadster.

West's Toad currently uses the sport coupe body style, albeit without its roof.