1955 Ford Mini-Ford, built from a Club Car golf cart chassis, wi…

nu Wumwu m. r. to course," Winter said. He says the scaledaovm, albmetal 1955 Ford is basically a toy .c9m entertain Check out a turn heads at photo gallery at car shows. Kansascom. Its a true rubber-neck- er. People actually stop in their tracks to look at it, he said. You may remember Winter from an April 2007 Wheels feature on his collection of 1955 and 56 Ford Crown . Victorias. Those cars still draw 1 plenty of looks, but Winter says the downsized 55 Ford never fails to attract more than its share of attention. He was inspired to build it after seeing a similar car built bya friend, Bob Haas, who te hails from Michigan. He (and - y another friend, Curtis Johnson) came down and f M gave me three days to help in e roughing it in, Winter said. , . Using spare vintage sheet ' metal, bumpers and a grille, off the trio began cutting things down to size. Everything is chopped down, the cowl, the gnlle, the bumpers, the gravel guards, the whole 9 yards. The fenders 1 had in stock. We shrunk it that he uses to grandkids and Jim Winter is a collector and restorer of alert all-steel homebuilt 1955 Mini-Ford gets mor down from about 19 feet to 9 feet, 9 inches," he said. One of the hardest things was taking a saw, drill or grinding wheel to perfectly good restoration parts, Winter said. He confessed that the Mini Ford is based on a Club Car golf cart chassis, but that's where any connection to golf ends. The little Ford, which can't be licensed as a street; legal machine because it does nt have 4wheel brakes, rode on 9-inch wheels. Winter mod- ied a set of junkyard 13inch wheels to t, giving the car a more comfortable ride and boosting top speed from 12 mph to a blinding 17 mph. The y/Ylw wmma Eagle , but says his ze cavsi original lrcylnii. . plus and rum engine and singlEAPN ii nuns on w .in around. mission remain in use. Just as the hood, bumpers and deck lid were narrowed, the factory 55 Ford dashboard had to be cut down, with the round radio and heater con- trols eliminated from the cen ter section. Winter retained Pmple don't realize the work that goes into one of these, Winter said. it took 10 months to build and there's just about as much to do on this as an a fullvsized car, he said. People who have asked him to build them a mini-car the f ll-sizecl Ford steering quickly drop the ideawhen Wheel, speedometer and origi- they learn just how much it nal dash knobs and bezels. would cost. Bill Armbrister sewed up the So for now, if you see a put white Vinyl upholstery, while Robbies Hobbies handled chrome plating the bumpers and Lustercraft Plastics provid- ed the mini-wraparound windshield. Carl Fry helped rewire ' " ' "W ple and white halfAscale Ford tooling up and down the aisles at a car show, it's a safe bet itll be Jim Winter at the wheel. lt's just absolute hm," he said. l am very, very happy with c it"