“Who wouldn’t want to jump into a bubble top Rota and burn rubber on it until the smoke billows?” – that’s about what Aaron Grote once said. There’s just one problem: most of Daddy Roth’s cars are in museums and private collections, not to mention such a small detail that many of his shows weren’t designed to drive at all. So what needs to be done? That’s right, build your own, so that you can ride on it.
“I switched to a very lousy four-door Plymouth Savoy 59th and really didn’t really know what to do with it. And the more I looked at him, the more he looked like a good donor for my bubble top. The fins were the right size, not too flashy, and the stainless molding would have been a good detail, which Roth’s machines had never had.”
And first of all, the Plymouth’s fins were cut off and joined together using a roof cut from an Oldsmobile ’54, hood parts from a Chevrolet ’59 pickup truck, and just metal, which was shaped manually on an English wheel. The radiator grille was made of 157 chrome cabinet handles. “They cost two bucks apiece, and I had to drill a hole in each of them to attach them to the grid,” explains Aaron. The headlights are another of the few parts left over from the original Plymouth, and custom racks have been made for them. The taillights were taken from a 51-year-old Ford.
“My friend’s friend spent a small fortune on this 392, and then realized it wouldn’t fit in his car. I couldn’t pass by a fresh monster ready to ride, so I handed over a fat wad of money and took it home. I spent another small fortune dressing him in everything shiny that I could find,” is how Comrade Grote describes the installation of the car’s power unit. Hemi 392 from Chrysler ’58, spent and balanced in Opel Engineering, as well as provided with new Arias 10 pistons:1. The candle channels on the chrome valve caps mimic the 426, red wires run from the MSD Ignition, and a real crown of eight Holley 94 carburettors crowns it all. And yes, comrades, they all work. Then Aaron created an exhaust manifold out of two-inch ribbed pipes, Dave Lamb from Wisconsin assembled the TH400 automatic transmission and connected it to the engine using a Hot Heads adapter, and Acme Decatur produced and balanced a custom drive shaft.
The suspension is also completely chrome-plated and polished, but the first thing that catches your eye are the shock absorbers, which were installed sideways, “just to be a little different from the others.” QA1 coilovers are installed in the back instead of such frills. Of the interesting details, you can also note the steering column from the Corvair, and the brake discs (Wilwood in front and Ford in the rear), which are hidden under the Buick-style drums. Moreover, the drums for the front and rear brakes were made in different companies, and, as it seems to me, they came out more authentic on the rear pair of wheels. Separately, we can mention the 57-liter gas tank, which was a separate project. It had to be designed in such a way that it would not interfere with the car’s air conditioning system (which, as we know, is an extremely important detail of any bubble top). The air conditioner itself was purchased from Vintage Air, a company founded by rodders for other rodders. Of their entire range, only the smallest evaporator could fit into the car, located exactly under the dashboard (which does not have any instruments).
An important part of such a project are the wheels, and to capture the spirit of the 60s, Aaron chose a set of fifteen-inch Astro Supreme discs from Truespoke with bullet-shaped hoods, and placed them in rubber with a wide white sidewall. Pay special attention to the absolutely smooth slicks mounted on the rear pair of wheels.
The interior was designed by Dave Martinez from Indiana. Custom seats, door panels, floor mats are all his work. He also repainted the steering wheel in red to match the interior of the car. Aaron made instrument racks out of the taillights of a Pontiac ’36. The center console behind the gearshift lever hides the bubble top actuator. Speaking of bubble tops. All Aaron says about him is the following quote: “I was able to find a bubble from an army goods dealer on a top secret black market. It seems like this bubble was somehow used in the Soviet space program.” I bet you didn’t expect this turn of events.
What’s left to tell? The painting was done in the colors of the famous House Of Kolor – red candy and white mother-of-pearl. The master of graphics and pinstripe was Dave Shaten. And our story ends with the fact that in 2010 Atomic Punk, which is the name of the car, was sold to a certain Rob Benigar, in whose possession, after some incident, the car caught fire. However, in January 2011, the car was put up for auction in perfect condition, so it can be assumed that it still drives on the roads and/or conquers various auto shows.
Source: https://www.hotrod.com/articles/0901rc-aaron-grotes-atomic-punk / (November 5th, 2008)
