1929 Model A Custom Hot Rod drops jaws everywhere it goes!

See how this 1929 Model A Custom Hot Rod went from a pile of parts to a show-stopping custom! It’s so unique – even Model A guys can’t figure it out!

It’s the quintessential hot rod at first glance; the fenderless highboy sits powerfully at attention, wherever you park it. The slight forward rake pushes the Model A hot rod’s grille menacingly low to the asphalt, tucked comfortably between the modified frame rails. You couldn’t tell by looking at it, but nearly every inch of this hot rod has been massaged, cut, chopped, and modified.

Why can’t you tell?

Lucky Nehez is an expert fabricator, that’s why. He’s owned more hot rods than you could name off the top of your head, and stocks enough tooling (between his garage and shop) to do almost anything he wants. Certainly, there are some things he can’t do (or just won’t do), but his master metal-crafting is second to none. As you can probably tell, this isn’t his first rodeo!

He was nice enough to spend about 40 minutes on the phone with me, graciously allowing me to pick his brain about this insane hot rod! He’s really the nicest guy in the world; his jolly demeanor and forthcoming nature are truly disarming.

One thing you’d never know about Lucky by talking to him – he’s a shark.

See, Lucky is an old-timer, and he’s seen a thing or two in his day. He’s got the buying/selling cycle of hot rods down to such a fine-tuned art – you could set your circadian rhythm to it. He’s not so much a snake, as he is an opportunist. So naturally, I had to know what his secret was to the acquisition of so many hot rods. (He’s had a lot!) “So, what’s your buying strategy?” I ask him over the phone.

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“Well, you’ll get these guys that’ll go buy a frame; find a body, buy engines, suspensions, and transmissions; they build this perfect hot rod in their minds. Then, when they go to put it all together, they realize they don’t have a clue what they’re doing.”

Then it becomes a waiting game.

“I see it happen all the time,” he says. “After they realize they’re way over their heads, they sit on it for 10 years, because they don’t want to lose a bunch of money.”

And that’s when Lucky strikes.

When he found this ’29 Model A, sitting in a barn under a pile of “spare parts,” the unfortunate cycle was coming to a close; the owner was ready to sell.

Lucky struck.

This is where Lucky expertly enlists the skillsets of a network of friends. He knows frame specialists, restoration experts, brake and suspension guys…all hot rodders, and all masters of their own craft. His first step was to take it to his frame specialist for a dose of the “Ohio Look.”

“Small front tires, a solid color…and a bitchin’ rake,” is the official description of the “Ohio Look,” apparently.

(As Lucky proceeded to rattle off names of hot rods that he’d sent through their collective shops, I was astounded at the sheer number of them he’d actually had over the years!)

The decision was made to fabricate the ’29 into a fenderless “highboy.” (A “highboy,” in this context, is in reference to the body’s mounting configuration on the frame. A “highboy” rides on top of the frame, not tucked around it, or channeled.)

Reciprocating saws whirred to life and grinders dug into excess metal; the ‘29 Model A slowly began to take shape. And this is where Lucky truly shines!

“Everything on this car is 100% custom,” Lucky told me. “I’m really big on detail. There are things on there that, unless you’re familiar with these cars, you’d never see.”

Boy, how right he was!

The frame rails are from a ’32, fitted to the ‘29 body. Lucky subtly added 3” to the frame, while deducting another three from the roofline. A modified visor was added. Aviation-style lightening holes cut. Door handles shaved. Lucky used a custom door lock setup that releases the latch without having to touch the car! How he did this is top-secret, of course.

He chose a ’66 small-block 327cid to muscle the car around, and it’s loud! Double-hump heads are modified with a custom breather system that he engineered himself. A trio of Rochester carburetors nest along the intake manifold, their custom inlets reaching skyward. “I made them myself because I didn’t like the way any of the other ones looked,” he told me.

If Lucky can’t find what he likes, he’ll usually fabricate it! (He fabricates a lot of parts.)

The Sanderson Limefire headers direct hot combustion gasses, from the stock internals, straight out into the atmosphere. The car sounds just as mean as it looks, and drives even meaner.

At idle, it just trembles with anticipation, imploring you to mash the accelerator into the floor at any possible opportunity. The car is a work of art – both in motion and at rest.

You’d think something like this would be tucked away in his garage, warm and safe, but that was never to be. The car caught the attention of a local police chief, almost immediately after he finished building it.

“It’s not for sale,” Lucky informed him. “Name your price,” the chief persisted. Lucky denied him again, and again. But the chief was not to be told no.

“Name your price.”

Now, in a situation like this, when somebody tells you those three words, you have only two options; reject the infinite possibilities – or throw a number so ridiculous into the air, half of you hopes it doesn’t stick (but the other half would be okay with it, if it did). What would your price be?

Lucky took the bait. (I didn’t even bother to ask him what his price was, nor did he tell me.)

The very next day the money was in his account – the highboy, gone. But the next project was already in the works; another Model A (which would actually be purchased off him shortly after completion, much like this one).

Next. BMW is ruining their iconic Twin Kidney Grille. dark

Lucky’s favorite part of his highboy was his custom dashboard, “because nobody can ever guess what it’s from.” When prodded, he revealed its origins: a ’57 Chevy truck grille!

Check out pictures of the hot rod here on the Hot Rod Network.

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