Judges Information Sheet

Updates to Dustin Cooper’s 23 T-Bucket 

“Enginuity” for the 2025 Show Season

While on display at the 2024 Detroit Auto Rama I requested that the judging team who judges the Ridler contenders to go over “Enginuity” and tell me what they could find on the car that needed to be corrected. 

*The team of 7 judges and one apprentice found a total of seven items.

Updates to “Enginuity”

· Car disassembled over the summer of 2024 for cleaning, detailing and additional updating that included a full re-sand and buff of the body.

· Carburetor base plates disassembled and polished as recommended *.

· Backsides of the rear wheels have been refinished in show chrome and added additional detail as recommended *.

· Minor flaws in the paint have been corrected as recommended *.

· Front wheels have been completely refinished as recommended *.

· Re-plated the master cylinder as recommended *. 

· Re-plated the steering box and column as recommended *.

· Refinished all hiem joints on the suspension and steering as recommended *. 

· Gold-plated tool kit added.

· Gold-plated rear springs on the shocks.

· Gold-plated brake calipers.

· Refinished the inside of the rear pickup bed.

· Added a gold-plated fire extinguisher

· Modified the floor carpet and addressed overall interior panel fit.

Thanks for taking the time to look at my car!

Dustin

Judges Information Sheet for “Enginuity” 

Hand-built 1923 T-Bucket Hot Rod

Current Owner and “rebuilder-restorer”- Dustin Cooper

This car was originally built by Chuck Otter, Indianapolis between the years of 1969-1971. Chuck stated he had spent just over $5,000.00 on the total build at the time which would be the equivalent of $41,000.00 in 2024. That doesn’t begin to cover the chrome and gold plating for this restoration.  It was shown on the ISCA circuit as “Enginuity” beginning in 1972 and then put on the street in the mid-seventies. My father owned the car during the 90’s. I vividly remember riding around in the car as a kid. Dad then sold the car. I found the car for sale on Facebook Marketplace in a horrible state of disrepair in 2018. A decision was made to completely dismantled the car and rebuilt everything over the last 5+ years. Except for the body work, paint and chrome, all of the rest of this build was done in the garage at home. During the restoration, every effort was made to keep the integrity and old school style intact as it was built new back in the day. Hence, the removal of all added Aluminum Billet and 1-800 catalog parts that made its way onto the car over the years. 

I had the car on display at the 2024 Detroit Autorama. While there I requested that the Ridler team of judges give the car a good look over and tell me what they saw wrong with the car. The team found only 6 areas to improve upon.

 As a result over the summer, the car was about 60% dismantled to correct the anomalies found in Detroit by the Ridler team.

Paint / Body/Interior:

· Candy Brandywine over a silver base, as well as flames and airbrush work was Applied by Dustin Cooper at Cooper Paint and Body. Avon, IN

· Fiberglass body reworked/repaired/body-worked/primed and blocked top and bottom sides by Dustin Cooper

· Entire underside of the body is molded and finished where it meets the frame.

· Bottom side of the floor is finished like the body.

· Gold Variegated Leaf, Eagle, Lettering and Pinstripes. Applied by LiL’ Bill. Indianapolis, IN

· Upholstery by “Stitch” Indianapolis, IN.

· One-off CNC machined boots for the shifter, brake pedal and steering column.

· Instruments from Classic Industries with a GPS speedometer

· The body of this car is believed to have started life as a “Bird Manufactured” body as seen advertised in various hot rod quarter magazines in the mid to late 60’s.

· The cowl on this body has been pie cut (2” shorter at the top) so the firewall is exactly parallel with the radiator and windshield.

· The original Model T windshield mounts have also been modified to stand the windshield straight to compensate for the rake of the body.

· Firewall, dash, floor, and tailgate are ¾” thick oak.

· Door and door frame are reinforced oak as well.

· The firewall was polished and then sent to the chrome plater for finishing.

Drive Line:

· 430 HP 355 Cu. In. small block Chevrolet. Built by Dustin Cooper / Vito Giulitto Avon, IN.

The engine features a Weiand tunnel ram w/ twin, fully functional and tuned gold-plated carburetors. The engine block has been fully ground and polished smooth removing all the casting qualifying lugs as well as removing all unused bolt holes including the stock fuel pump mount. All unused holes were filled, and candy painted to match the body. The heads are early Chevy Fuel Injection Doubled hump heads. The humps have been shaved off and are chrome plated.

· 1967 turbo 400 fully polished and chrome plated, with a B and M shift kit. Built by Avon Transmission. Avon, IN.

· A recent, fully polished brass hand-built radiator has been built for this chassis. by Brass works. California. 

· The highly detailed drive shaft includes 24-carat gold plated U-joints, as well as gold plated coil over shock springs

· Hidden ignition coil and old school chrome plated Mallory dual point distributor.

Chassis: 

· This chassis is not a kit car frame.

· 1 1/2” by 3” Custom Steel frame with adjustments for the radiator and the spring perch were made to compensate for the rake in the car. 

· Front cross member is made from a heavy truck driveshaft.

· Custom made Engine Mounts, Transmission Crossmember and Drive Shaft Safety Loop.

· The headlights are Saxton aftermarket commercials from the 1920’s 

· The automatic shifter is cut down from a 1967 Shelby GT shifter.

· The rear-end housing is a 1957 Oldsmobile that has been narrowed 3”.

· The hog-head has been ground and polished smooth and painted to match the engine block.

· Both engine mounts are hand fabricated.

· The rear spring is an original Model “T” rear-spring.

· The rear wheels are 15 x10 NOS J. C. Penny Chrome slots with M/T 3 Bar knockoff’s from my Mom’s 68 Camaro she had back in high school. These wheels only had flash chrome on their back sides, after Detroit, I sent out these out to have the back sides done in show chrome,.

· The front spring is a handmade 4-leaf traverse spring.

· MAS dropped front tube axle.

· Front brakes are 24 carat gold plated Hurst / AirHeart disc brakes.

· Front brake lines are routed inside the frame.

· The brake pedal is a modified Hurst/ INDY 4 speed shifter.

· Master cylinder is early Willys/ Jeep.

· Fully restored 16” HallCraft wire wheels.

· The front tires are NOS Dunlop tires (since new tires of this pattern and size are not available).

· All wiring for the engine, headlights, gages and taillights runs inside the frame.

· All 4 Hairpin radius rods are hand built.

· ROSS steering box w/ V.W. column and original Model “T” steering wheel.

·  

This project has been a full exercise in Attention to Detail:

· Some additional examples of this detail may be found in the proper indexing of all fasteners.

· Indexing of the valve stems during display.

· Notice that you do not see much of any fuel line on this car. The fuel line is hidden within the body from the gas tank to the firewall via a ½” one-piece fuel line run through the inside of the body.

· The radiator to frame mounts are tapered so the radiator sits as needed to complement the overall rake of the car and allows the radiator to remain parallel to the cowl and firewall and windshield.

· Note the mounting of the front spring into the front spring perch mount. The u-bolts are hidden

· 24-carat gold plated sparkplugs

· Mounting of the Sparkplug wire looms is not a kit.

· Carburetor throttle and return spring setup.

· Hose clamps

· Transmission cooler

· All hardware is polished socket-head Allen fasteners.

· 24 carat gold plated hiem joints, front and back

· Note the detail on the rear drum brakes. (Yes, both sides are detailed the same)

· Custom fabricated and polished stainless fuel tank and battery box lid. All attached to body mounts thru the frame.