Turbo Tudor – Robbie Martin’s Maniacal Model A

Robbie’s Turbo Tudor doesn’t seem like anything new, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat. In Robbie Martin’s case he’s chopped his right hand drive ‘29 Ford Model A Sedan 5 inches, channeled it six, and tossed a couple turbos into the mix.

The flat black paint is sharply contrasted with the ‘35 Ford wire wheels which have been powder coated blue by Robbie’s friends over at Killer Koatings. It’s a bold look with a bit of a candy sparkle if you catch them in the right light.

From a three-quarter angle you’ll see that the whitewalls play nicely with the color-less pinstriping around the car but beyond that it’s a wild mashup up rare parts and proven solutions.

From the front, both of these characteristics are readily apparent. Headlight experts, any guess on what these came from? They’re super rare and no one at meets or shows seems to know where they actually belong. That’s no matter, because from now on this pair is living life on the front of the Sedan!

As for a proven solution, the Chevy front end allowed Robbie to achieve the stance he wanted, getting the hot rod nice and low. From the outside it’s got a presence that demands your attention, especially when it looks like no one is in the driver’s seat.

Robbie said his favorite part of the Turbo Tudor is when he and his wife are cruising down the freeway and everyone expects her to be driving but instead she’s usually talking with no hands in the air! It’s a cool touch that makes this twin-turbo hot rod stand out even more.

Peeking between the slat wood roof of the Turbo Tudor you’ve got Iron Ace hot rod seats and the racy lightning-hole theme is continued along the transmission tunnel. Further up you’ve got a nice, long shift lever; all it needs is the right knob to finish the look. Rather than stick something generic on the car Robbie is waiting for the perfect knob to pop up, which could mean anything! A Norm Grabowski skull would look killer (hint, hint).

While Robbie points out the gauges are a bit mixed and matched at the moment this car is a cruiser and making sure the motor is happy is a lot more important than getting everything period correct for now. Again, you need the right parts to come along to really complete the look; we all know that cars like this are often evolving the more they’re driven.

And about that motor. While Robbie could go with some bigger turbos, the smaller hairdryers spool up super quick and are still good for 420 horsepower to the wheels. With the dropped axle, rear coilovers, and posi ten-bolt delivering the torque to skinny bias ply tires, that’s plenty of power for a good time. To match the power, Robbie’s fitted the low-down sedan with the front brake setup from a Caprice. Who knew?

With a Holley Quick Fuel blow through carb sitting atop the motor it’s a simple, reliable setup and certainly something different. With the turbos tucked in behind the big headlights the Sedan has a unique, sinister look.

Rob picked up the sedan nearly two years ago and started working on the car the day he got his hands on it. It was really raw when he first started tearing into it and the car has come a long, long way.

Now a fun cruiser, Rob even uses this Turbo Tudor to tow. With old-school Ford hot rods all over, it’s always refreshing to see a young guy bring a totally outside the box build to the table.