Scott Shaffer’s Gasser “A” Coupe

Story & Photos by Chadly Johnson

Model A Fords are a cornerstone in the world of hot rodding and it seems they have been built every way imaginable. I’ve had the honor of photographing a ton of them over the years and one of my all time favorites is Pat Hampton’s coupe that was featured in TRK #41. While doing a little social media browsing, I caught a peek at a Model A coupe “gasser” that Pat had just laid down some fresh panel paint work on, and I was intrigued to say the least. After a quick email I found out the coupe belonged to Scott Shaffer, a good friend of Pat’s, and that the coupe was slotted to attend the upcoming Meltdown Drags which I planned to attend…the stars were aligning. I continued to monitor the coupe’s progress as the Drags drew closer and I was thrilled to get it in front of my lens on the legendary Byron Dragway during a very short window between rounds of racing.

In speaking with Scott I found out that he came into the coupe on accident. Scott was searching for an engine for his Model A roadster, when he came across a very nice sedan for sale. It was so clean and priced so well that Scott grabbed it and set it aside for a future build. Upon hearing of the purchase, Pat suggested that Scott build a gasser out of it as that is a version of an A build that you don’t come across very often. Scott agreed that it would be a cool direction to take the project, but as fate would have it, he was once again searching classified ads when he came across a young hot rodder looking to trade a clean Model A coupe body for a clean sedan body (which he had). A deal was struck and Scott now had a coupe in his possession.

Read the rest of this article in Issue # 45