Old Smokey - Chuckles Garage's 1949 Ford F1. Credit: @TOYOTIRES
The car you can’t hate
Once every few years a car build comes along that is impossible to resist. A car that overcomes affiliation to an automotive subculture. A vehicle that hits in that same spot that makes a kid start collecting Hot Wheels, or pick up that first car magazine.
Chuckles Garage is a Speed Shop in Santa Rosa, northern California. The shop exists to produce style, not replicate trends. The shop puts it best.
“No rat rods, no junk rods, no billet clad fluff-mobiles, no themed bikes, just timeless rides with the looks and feel of the early forties to the mid-sixties.”
Credit: Super Street
The latest creation from Chuckles is this 1949 Ford F1, going by the name of Old Smokey.
Old Smokey will break necks, blow out eardrums and force the giggles. It is not a car that can be casually walked past. Built for drift, autocross, land speed records, dragging and bench bragging, Old Smokey is a uniting call to enthusiasts worldwide.
Just reading the numbers and specs on the car makes knees weak.
The motor makes 1,200 horsepower with 2,700 newton metres of torque from its insane compound turbo Cummins diesel. The 5.9-litre inline-six started life between the struts of a 2005 Freightliner, before it had its cage rattled by a 66mm turbo, feeding compressed air into a 91mm turbo.
Pushing just over 1.5 tonnes, Old Smokey runs lag-free, with twin Nitrous Express NXD375 bottles sitting ominously in the tube frame rear tray.
Credit: @chucklesgarage
For the sake of comparison the production car speed record is (contentiously) held by Bugatti’s Veyron 16.4 Supersport. That car has 1200 horsepower and 1,500 newton metres.
The Veyron has a wind tunnel-tuned aerodynamic package. Old Smokey has speed holes punched into the tail gate and a missing headlight.
If you have the same power as a Veyron and more torque than four Toyota LandCruiser 200s, you’re going to need some sticky rubber to put it to the ground. That’s where Toyo Tires comes in. Old Smokey is running Toyo Tires Proxes R888 in 255/35R18 fronts and 335/30R18 rear.
Credit: @chucklesgarage
It’s an incredible, unrivalled package that will dominate eyeballs and competition. We look forward to the F1’s SEMA debut and seeing Old Smokey live up to its namesake, no doubt with white and black smoke spewing from the rear quarters whenever Chuckles decides to light this candle.
Keep up with the build and Chuckles Garage at https://www.instagram.com/chucklesgarage/.
