Collaborative Cabin – A Trimmer Collective Comes Together to Craft a Custom Interior for the Goodguys 2026 Grand Prize Giveaway 1940 Ford
Some of the best hot rod projects are those that are built with friends. Collaborating on ideas, effort, energy, and workload not only helps a car or truck come together more quickly, but it also allows for more creative ideas than a lone builder might generate on their own. The Goodguys Grand Prize Giveaway 1940 Ford coupe coming together at Roseville Rod & Custom has already benefitted from some significant collaboration, with a chassis coming from Total Cost Involved and an engine built by Ross Racing Engines. That collaborative spirit ratcheted up on the interior as a talented group of top-notch trimmers came together to create a first-rate cabin for the coupe.
Danny Williams at DJ Designs led the charge for this portion of the build. He and some of his fellow upholsterer friends had long wanted to collaborate on a project, so they devised a plan for dividing and tackling the interior work on the ’40 Ford. The coalition of trimmers included Danny at DJ Designs, Ricky Howard at Built by Ricky, Dave Vos from Customs by Vos, and Tracy Weaver from Recovery Room. To make things even more interesting, all these talented trimmers are in different parts of the country, which made the logistics a bit more challenging.
As we showed you in the last installment, the Roseville Rod & Custom team began the process by installing DEI sound deadener and insulation on the floor and throughout the coupe’s cabin, in addition to assembling the dash. They also ran the wiring for the Kicker audio system and cleaned up the ’40 Ford seat frame, adding a wood lower base and back braces. The car then went to DJ Designs in Minden, Nevada.
Meanwhile. Tracy at Recovery Room had made the headliner and sun visors and shipped them to DJ Designs for installation. Built by Ricky made the folding wood rear jump seats and the bourbon racks for the trunk (more on those in a minute). Ricky then flew out to DJ Designs to assist in final interior work and assembly, which included building the door and interior side panels, installing the carpet, headliner, visors, and rear jump seats, and making the vintage amplifier box that was mounted in the rear and filled with Kicker speakers.
All the oxblood-colored leather for the interior came from Eureka Leather. The front bench seat was shipped to Customs by Vos in Indiana, where Dave Vos cut and shaped the foam and stitched and installed the leather upholstery. The Roseville Rod & Custom team stopped to pick up and install the seat on their way to Columbus where the car debuted at the Summit Racing Nationals in July.
We’ve discussed from the beginning of this project how the coupe was envisioned in the style of an old moonshine runner from the 1950s. That concept really comes to life inside the trunk. The team at York Speed Shop built a hidden wood subfloor with compartments for moonshine-style mason jars. One of these compartments was used for the Kicker amp and audio gear, and another for the Optima yellow-top battery. The lids for these compartments were branded with Goodguys and Roseville Rod & Custom logos. The wood sub-floor structure is concealed with a rubber mat, with a whisky crate on the right side covering the battery.
To add extra sauce to the mix, so to speak, Ethos Craft Brewing, an Alabama-based venture by Jesse Greening of Greening Auto Company, donated half a barrel of whiskey to the project. This was bottled with Goodguys labeling and each supporting partner in the giveaway project will receive a bottle later this year. Built by Ricky crafted custom wood racks for the whiskey bottles, which sit atop the hidden floor compartments and are concealed by an era-appropriate burlap cover. How cool is that!
As you can see, this collaborative effort by our coalition of trimmers resulted in a clean, clever, and creative cabin for this ’40 Ford coupe. It’s cool to see a plan like this come together, and we look forward to showing more of it to you in the car’s finished feature next month.
Did you miss part of the build process of the Goodguys 2026 Grand Prize Giveaway 1940 Ford? Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 or Part 7 of the 1940 Ford Build.
Photos: Goodguys, Roseville Rod & Custom, DJ Designs, Built by Ricky
