Rick Novak just might own the sweetest ’36 Ford in the west and that’s quite a compliment considering what he started with.
     The Beaumont, AB resident was looking for a cabriolet when a friend car hunting in Northern Manitoba found the ’36 Ford. “I bought it sight unseen,” says Novak. “It was in terrible shape and the body had to be almost totally rebuilt by hand forming a lot of the body panels.” The end result was worth it.
     The car took three years to build and was completed in 2006. I saw it at the ’07 Brandon, MB Super Run and knew right away it was a feature car.
     Despite its ratty beginnings, it remains an all-steel Henry Ford body with all frame, body panels, engine work, design and assembly attributed mostly to the owner. Don McLean did a lot of body work and Darcy Holowaychuck in Edmonton gets credit for the final prep and laying on of the classy factory Ford Expedition Fire-Red/red pearl exterior colour. The carmel leather and suede interior and Hartz cloth top are by Floyd at Complete Street Upholstery in Edmonton. The cabriolet’s cabin also sports a Billet Specialties banjo wheel, Vintage Air, heat and defrost, hidden audio, CD and radio.
     While the body might be all 1936 Henry Ford, the suspension includes a narrowed Mustang II front end with tubular A-arms and a Ford 9” with 3:70 gears and a Detroit Locker. TheBF Goodrich radials shod Edelbrock 426 wheels  are tastefully accented with a set of knock-offs.
     But don’t get the idea this car is too pretty to go fast. There’s a 502 Ramjet stuffed under this Blue Oval’s hood. “The 502 ended up in there as a lark,” says Novak. “I was thinking about a small block with fuel injection when a friend stopped over and said he had the perfect motor.” That perfect motor was a dyno motor that they were trying to use to run an oilfield pump. Trying led to blowing up the big block so Novak got it for free and rebuilt it. “Other friends said it wouldn’t fit so well and that’s all it took to get me to stuff it under the hood without cutting it up.” The 502 has a Comp Cam’s hydraulic cam and breathes through a set of ported and polished heads and  Hedman Hedders with 3” exhuast anf Flowmaster mufflers. A 800 Demon carburetor mixes fuel and air and a MSD ignition makes sure there’s a healthy spark to get thing’s going.
     It’s obvious from the quality of the build that this isn’t Novak’s first kick at the car, so to speak. Twenty years ago he had a 1936 Flatback sedan and his wife and daughters cried when it was sold to finish their new house. His first hotrod was back in 1967, a ’34 Ford coupe with a flathead. “I was hooked and since then have built about 20 street rods,” says Novak. The Novaks presently have three finished and on the road, including his daughter’s everyday driver ’49 Ford pickup and a 1931 Ford Victoria with more than 100,000 miles on the odometer since its restoration.