- So, this is everything squeezed in here.
- Whoa, that is packed in there.
Had you driven anything like this before you got this one?
- Yeah, I like to have weird (beep)
(upbeat music)
(engine revving)
- Whoo! (laughing)
- This is a 1931 Ford Model A
or, well, this was a 1931 Ford Model A.
Now it's a rat rod with F1 inspired looks
and about one half of a Japanese sports car underneath.
This car was the unfinished dream project
of a builder out West,
but a car like this belongs in a place like Miami,
and it belongs with a person like Ricky Boada.
A weird car enthusiast and tuner
who has devoted himself to taking this Instagram render
and making it a real car.
- No way!
- What do you think, dude?
- I honestly thought...I've seen this on the internet
but I thought that this was just one of those wild renders.
You know, those guys always make photo shops.
- Well it started as a render.
- Oh, did it really?
- Yeah!
- Okay then.
- It started as a render F 132 from Beck's customs,
and then somebody actually made it.
- Okay. So what is it?
- So, it's a 1930 Ford Model A,
just chopped and made crazy.
- That part, not that part.
- All this is actually the original metal.
Most importantly has a transplant of a motor, right?
So, it has a S2000 motor.
- Really?
And then S 2000 transmission adress.
- S 2000 motor transmission, rear end,
sub frame, rear brakes.
- So, it's kind of JDM, too?
- Yeah, it's an S two thousandish.
- Yeah.
- So pretty much the car was undrivable when I got it.
Like, it looked cool and it came off the truck,
and I could drive it from the truck into the garage.
But besides that, there was nothing else
that I could do with it. Like I drive it around the block,
and then like get out of it
and be like, I don't even wanna see
that thing again, you know?
- Yeah. Yeah.
So I had to make it good enough
to where I could drive it around.
So I had to pretty much go through the entire car
piece by piece, and you know everything it takes.
With these cars: breaks, the clutch, everything.
Go through the entire car
and just kind of redo the entire project
of what they had in mind.
They had this vision,
but I had to execute it.
- What is your dream to have it do?
- For it to drive good enough
where I can drive it almost every day.
But yeah, I mean the whole point
is so just enjoy it, drive it,
have a good time.
You'll see! As soon as you get in it,
you're gonna be smiling.
You'll flow it, hear all the cool turbo noises.
Not only turbo noises,
but also like metal rubbing against metal,
and just like (cruching noises).
Nothing's perfect. And it's part of the fun.
It adds some character.
It's really enjoyable.
- Oh, I love seeing suspension articulate like that.
- And then, of course, the e-brake doesn't work
just 'cause one of those things.
- Uh-huh. That's so sick.
- So and the rear is just stock 2000 suspension.
Slam the whole way.
- Oh, no way.
- Yeah, and it still sits pretty high
because of the tires.
I mean these are 31... yeah 31 inches tall
Talking Jeep sizes.
- Yeah.
- By 16 and a half.
- Awesome!
Oh, you have ABS?
You have the wheel sensors.
- Yeah, so it's got the wheel sensors, ABS.
Pretty much that whole entire rear end...
- Yeah.
- Is stock S 2000.
All right, so here we go.
- That's sick.
Okay. It goes that way.
- Yeah. And then it's just some metal rubbing
against other metal
and it's kind of dirty there, but what, you know
- Super functional.
- It works.
- Yeah.
- Yeah. So we have the gas tank here, radiators back here
stock has S 2000 suspension under right.
Everything just kind of works.
- All right.
So I see the car, but I also see the world we're in
which is definitely not the world I'm used to.
What's it like having this car in Miami?
- So there's a lot of means
and a lot of things, that say Miami is not even Florida.
we're like its own little space.
Its own world. Right.
Miami is like a melting pot of people from all over
which brings a lot of culture
and then brings a lot of car culture.
So I'm appreciative of having the car
and then being able to share that passion
with a lot of people, you know,
because cars bring people together.
- Absolutely.
- So this is everything squeezed in here.
- Whoa. That is packed in there.
- Yeah. Barely fits.
If you look here, the pulleys are, I don't know.
- Come over here.
- A quarter of an inch from the inner cooler
And then a quarter of an inch from the suspension.
So everything kind of just fits in there.
It was extremely hard to find a cord this thin too.
- Yeah. That was thicker.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
That looks like it should be bulging.
Outward. Yeah.
And it fits.
Had you driven anything this before you got this one?
- Yeah. I like to have weird...
- First impression. What do you think?
- It's such a cool unique experience.
I feel like those rat rod deals
like
- You gotta drive like this.
- It's got its own weird quirk,
but it's also still like very predictable.
- Yeah.
- Okay. I know what I got.
- Even that's a thousand.
- Yeah. Right, right, right.
- I thought there'd be way more wind. Like hitting my face.
- It's not terrible. Right?
- It's not bad.
if we wanted to we could close it, you know?
- Yeah.
You can't be bored driving this thing.
- No, man.
It's fun.
(engine revving)
All right.
Pretty much.
This is my happy over here.
It's like the wild wild west.
Yeah. Pretty much wild wild East
everyone here comes from all over the world
just to hop on these cruises
but also in the car world, dude, anything flies.
So you can modify your car as much as you want.
No, one's gonna stop you.
No, one's gonna do anything like
or if anything even police officers they'll admire your car.
- That's awesome.
- Yeah, man.
So like something like this
as long as it just turns on works
you can take it to the tech agency register it.
- Yeah.
- No one's gonna ask you questions, you know
slap a tag on it and go have some fun.
Are there some sick roads
around Miami that you know like
are like known for like having some fun on? (indistinct)
No curvy roads in Miami.
It's one of those that's the only downfall
that something that Miami gets criticized for
is a lack of curvy road.
- Yeah.
- Hey, bro.
Thank you man.
(upbeat music)
- Oh, that sounds so good. - Yeah.
- Tuning a car isn't always about making it go fast.
It's about doing something that makes you happy.
Maybe that is going fast
or maybe that's building something that gets attention
and makes everyone who sees it smile.
For Ricky that's clearly his passion.
- Well, you know, I'd rather be in this than like
a Lamborghini or Ferrari I think.
You want attention,
you get it with this, that's for sure.
And it it's the right type of attention too.
Like people love it.
Dude whenever I go out in this
people are like smiling, you know?
- Yeah.
- Dude, that is...
- Tell me.
- One unique ride.
Oh my God.
I love it.
I absolutely love it.
- It's got a lot of character.
- Yeah.
- So much so that every single person
in Miami that we drove by.
- Yeah.
- phones and you know I thought, you know,
you go to south beach
you go here, you take a, a Lambo to get all the attention.
- Well there's so many Lambos and Ferrari
and all the the exotic cars here in Miami
that something like this
I think gets more attention than that.
- Yeah.
- You know, I'll tell you what though.
I'm gonna be broke more broke
than I am now after all these episodes
because I want each of these cars, like I fall in love
with the unique personality of each of them.
Each of those
like worlds that I can get the honor to experience.
Oh man, it makes me want that.