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Ron Hassel's Muroc II Roadster (from May 2003)
Palm City, Florida resident Ron Hassel was involved in NHRA drag racing for 25+ years, and owns All-Midwest Sales, a company that has represented many of the major performance parts manufacturers for the last 35 years. Lately though, has put together a string of jaw-dropping cars over recent years, with his latest being this wild 1932 Ford styled Muroc II Roadster. The names behind the design and execution of this exclusive all metal Muroc II Roadster includes many of the industries talented heavy hitters. It all started with a vision by Jerry Kugel to make a unique 1932 Ford style Hiboy Roadster, with the hand-formed one-off body to be crafted by Marcell and Sons. However, when Kugel got the estimate on how much it would cost it made him think of another angle. He commissioned Marcel to build 10 Muroc bodies, so the relative price for each one would be lower. Kugel would keep one for his own dream car, and sell the others. With design input from Chip Foose and Thom Taylor, Kugel started with a fiberglass Zipper body, which he radically altered until he had the profile he liked. It was then brought to Marcel, who rendered the actual bodies out of steel based on the cobbled together prototype, with a matching aluminum hood. The grille shell is about half as wide as an original, and was fitted with a custom Dan Fink Metal Works grille. The windshield is also a custom unit, styled like a DuVall, but with different lines, a thinner frame work, and curved glass. Kugel also collaborated with Foose on the chassis design. It started with SAC frame rails, Kugel’s own cross members, and of course it has the beautiful and highly functional Kugel independent front and rear suspension systems. The custom stainless steel front end also has stainless steel A-arms, coil over shocks, Borgeson rack and pinion steering, and 11-inch Wilwood disc brakes. Out back the Kugel independent rear end utilizes a 9-inch Ford with 4.56:1 gears, with stainless steel A-arms, polished coil over shocks, and inboard mounted disc brakes. The cars were sold as rollers, and after the initial 10 were gone the idea of the Muroc II came around. It has and even longer and lower hand-formed body than the first Muroc Hiboys, plus the addition of steel fenders and running boards. Once again only 10 were produced, one of which was purchased by Ron Hassel and delivered to Blewett’s Rod Shop in Venice, Florida for completion. Ron choose to power the Muroc II with a 2002 Corvette LS6, which displaces 350 cubic inches and puts out 450 horses. It was treated to many chromed and polished parts, and a set of Street & Performance headers that exit into an exhaust fabricated by Blewett’s. Shifting chores are handled by a reprogrammed Jet Performance 4L60E automatic manipulated via a Lokar shifter. The body was massaged to perfection by Mike Blewett, who incorporated his own headlight and taillight designs, then painted it PPG Prowler Yellow. A set of one-off custom Boyds billet wheels were used, measuring 17x8 inches in the front, and 20x11 out back. For the interior the car was taken to Paul Atkins, who installed one of his own seats, and covered everything in tan leather. The steering wheel is a one-off Boyds unit, which sits atop a Flaming River steering column. The neat thing about Ron’s Muroc II Roadster is how it is decisively different, yet immediately recognizable as a ‘32. An impact that is not lost on the people who see it, and are drawn in for a closer look. CN |
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