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I often wonder, What was the inspiration to build that car? I have a pretty good idea as to how much work goes into building a car, building a few hot rods myself, but not one from scratch. Frame, drive train, body fabrication, upholstery, paint and everything in-between was built and installed by Randy Northius in his home shop, and all in only a year and a half.

The inspiration, as Randy explains it, came from a trip to a local wrecking yard. “I saw a Buick Regal with the supercharged motor and started wondering if something could be done with the drive train. I’ve always been fascinated with mid engine cars, and suddenly everything clicked.” There you have it, the Inspiration.

Not a stranger to home built cars, this one makes five, and now retired from a life time of fixing and maintaining facilities. This self taught car guy jumped into retirement with both feet, probably explains why the car only took 18 months to build.

Randy grabbed some 2 x 4 tubing and started building a frame, not out back, but in front of the motor. Finishing off the front end is a set home fabricated A-arms and coil over set up tied together with a Dodge Omni manual rack. 1971 Mustang spindles and brakes were used to mount the Coddington 18’’ Junk Yard Dogs.

The rear suspension consists of the Buicks original lower A-arms with the uppers fabricated to mount coil-overs, instead of the original struts. This time matching 20" Coddingtons set off the chassis with a perfect rake angle.

Upfront, where you would normally find a motor in a roadster pickup, resides the gas tank, Model A style, the battery and a radiator that came out of a Mitsubishi fork truck. Just to be sure the motor stays cool a second rad, this one from a VW Jetta, was added behind the engine and hooked up in series with the front.

So what does a guy who has gone this far do for a body. Trying to modify a car body to fit would be out of the question, so why not make one. The entire body was coach built, which in layman’s terms is, hand built from scratch out of 18 and 20 gauge cold rolled steel. Once complete, all of that craftsmanship was covered in 2007 Corvette Red.

A Camaro donated a rear seat which fit perfectly and an 89 Olds gave up its steering column. The shifter was hand made and those great looking gauges are from Haneline.
After all of that fabricating, why stop there. The top was home made out of 1’’ electrical conduit and angle iron and constructed so as to either foldaway or be completely removable. Once the bending and fitting was done the top was covered in Tan convertible top fabric sewn by, you guessed it, Randy himself.

The fit, finish and small details that are everywhere prove that a scratch built, home built, innovative use of various car parts can turn out to be a real nice Hot Rod that Randy is sure to drive the tires off of.

So if you are sitting there wondering just what car will be your next, or even you first project, why not just grab some tubing and a sheet of 18 gauge and get right to it.