Riverside Roadster

AMBR CONTENDER BUILT IN A STORAGE SHED

- John Gilbert

There’s a simple self-administered test one can take to determine if they’re going to be a street rodder for life. A fellow has to ask himself if he remembers what year it was when he saw his first hot rod, and where he saw it. For Jim Grant of Boise, Idaho, the year was 1955, and it was in his hometown of Riverside, California. Jim’s folks owned Grant’s Dutch Boy paint store on Magnolia in Riverside, and it was there Jim spotted a ’40 Ford two-door sedan and a ’32 Ford two-door sedan. A little older than Jim, the owners were Freddie Edsel with the ’32 and Jim DeLorenzo with a ’40. The three became lifelong friends.

It was 1958 when Jim bought the ’29 Model A roadster gracing this feature. A genuine barn find, the car was covered in broken hay bales and had chickens walking around it. Jim paid the Rubidoux, California, farmer $200 and hauled the roadster home. For power, Jim dropped in a 287-inch ’55 Pontiac V-8 with a B&M hydro and Olds rearend. Jim custom painted the ’29 himself and cruised the streets of Riverside in a potent little stoplight brawler.

In 1963, Jim along with his friend John McMannus cofounded the Riverside Roadsters Car Club. Around the same year Jim built a ’23 T-bucket Tom McMullen and Tex Smith used on a regular basis in magazine tech articles. Not to be excluded, Jim’s ’29 roadster won its share of custom car shows and was found featured on the pages of numerous custom car magazines.