By Dave Chapman, Staff Writer

A few years back, Brownstown Township resident Rich Flaishans had a decision to make: buy a new Camaro, or buy a street rod.

"When I went to look at the car, it cost a little more money than I wanted to spend at the time," Flaishans recalls. "My brother-in-law talked me into buying the ‘29 Ford. I am happy he did; the car is so much fun."

Flaishans and his brother-in-law, John Ivankovics, applied the bright yellow paint and flames to the all-steel body of the ‘29 Ford.

The interior of Flaishans’ ‘29 Ford is typical street rod fair with a set of VDO gauges used to monitor engine functions. A custom overhead console was built by Flaishans to house the car’s JVC sound system complete with CD player. He also added a compartment to the console to hold the CDs not being used.

After Flaishans’ children grew up and the backseat was no longer used, he removed so that he could move the front seat rearward for additional legroom.

Power for Flaishans’ car is a small block Chevy. A pair of Edelbrock carburetors that sit atop a dual tunnel ram Edelbrock manifold feed fuel to the engine. An electric fan is employed to keep the engine from melting down in heavy traffic. Exhaust exits the engine via a set of custom-build headers.

"When I built the headers I had to make sure that they weren’t too long, so that they wouldn’t hit the doors when they were opened," Flaishans said.

Power is transmitted to the 12-bolt Chevrolet rear end, which is fitted with a 3.55 gear by a 400-turbo transmission. To help the transmission in its work it was beefed up and a shift kit was added.

The last time the ’29 Ford ran the quarter-mile, it timed out in the low 12s. Nevertheless, Flaishans believes that with a little tweaking of the motor it could easily improve the times and break into the 11s.

A set of BF Goodrich tires mounted on a set of Torq-Thrust wheels put the rubber to the road.

Flaishans regularly drives the vehicle to car shows and cruise nights all over the country, including Minnesota and Ohio. He used to tow the car to shows that were out of state.

However, when he found out that the tow vehicle’s gas mileage was no better than what driving the car would be, he quit towing it and started driving it.

One other thing that Flaishans enjoys doing with his car is burnouts, and it has a few modifications that make it very good at that.

"I like doing burnouts, so I put a small water tank where the back seat was. I added a fuel pump I had laying around and hoses to put the water just in front of the rear tires," Flaishans said.

Helping the car even more is the line lock system, which engages the front brakes and lets the rear tires spin freely.

At this year’s Cruisin’ Downriver, when Flaishans isn’t cruising Fort Street he will be in the Kmart parking lot watching — and showing off the ’29 Ford that, a few years back, he almost didn’t buy.