Who says kids don’t have an appreciation for the old-school? Clearly, Alex Morris gets it. The 23-year-old horticulture worker from NSW has hit the finals of Milwaukee Young Street Machine of the Year 2023 with his sweet hot rod.
“I’ve been hanging around the hot rod scene with my family since I was born, however it wasn’t until I was about 11 when we found this car’s quarters and deck lid at a local swap meet that my interest in hot rods was really piqued.
This was heightened by the following year when my dad, a bunch of hotrodders and myself road tripped to Chopped in Victoria. I’d never seen so many traditional 40s, 50s and 60s-styled hot rods before, let alone ripping it up on the dirt drags. From that moment on I knew I was destined to follow this path and build my own interpretation of a traditional hot rod.
Whilst working two jobs and still having a social life throughout high school, I managed to collect enough parts to start piecing something together. By the time I was 18, I had barely spent any time on the car, however with the help of dad and some mates we had the chassis rolling and body roughly steeled out.
By this point I was sick of not having it on the road, so I started spending every weekend and most nights in the shed just chipping away at the build for the next 18 months. It then got displayed at the Nostalgia Lane 2021 as a mostly finished roadster, minus a running motor. I had it registered and on the road before Rattletrap 2022.
Essentially it’s an original ’28 roadster body on ’32 rails. The windscreen is chopped 5.5-inches with leaned-back posts, the dash is ’50 Pontiac, with an XK falcon wheel, ’39 taillights and split wishbones, ’36 radius rods and headlights, ’32 grille and dropped axle, Customline diff, and T5 Falcon gearbox adapted to a hot 272 Y-block with a nice cam and plenty of head work. It also features six 97 Stromberg carbies, headers that I made out of two different rolled bends and flathead oil canisters as the collectors.
As all hot rod builds go, you have to make and modify everything from the brakes to seat frames to floors and tunnels. Throughout the build I had a tonne of help from my dad and a bunch of his mates who are now my mates too, as well as advice from any passing hotrodders at local events.
Since finishing the roadster, I’ve found my greatest group of friends amongst the Misled Youth, which is a bunch of like-minded guys and gals who all have interests in this niche category of hot rodding.
The fun hasn’t ended with this little car; between my passion and work in horticulture and travelling around attending events in the roadster, I’ve begun work on my next project which is a ’59 Ford Ranchero. My dad’s also got a few projects that I help him with, and my girlfriend is piecing together a ’27 roadster of her own.
So far this car has driven in the rain and sun all around NSW, up to QLD and down to VIC. It rarely misses a beat and is the most fun I’ve ever experienced! Hot rodding is the best.”
Instagram @model_a_alex
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