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The body transformation started in 2005 and the key modification was lengthening the doors by 5” and sectioning them by 2”. It was something Digby really felt needed to be done to make the Sport Coupe more attractive. This required a bunch of other modifications, including the construction of a new 2-piece B-pillar which was also moved back 5”.

Next came the top. “I knew that in order to get the windows to seal decently, I could not do a folding convertible top, so I opted for a Carson style lift off top,” he says.
First, some tubing was bent to resemble the roof bows and the window opening frame was designed. “Many hours were spent setting the bows and then stretching bed sheets across them to resemble the roof line,” explains Digby. “The car was rolled outside to check the profile, and then the process was repeated until the current look was achieved.” Wooden bows and supports were then made and the framework was skinned with ‘bending plywood.
Hot rodders are nothing if not resourceful and Digby is the epitome of that mindset. “I enjoy the challenge of being creative and making little things that make my cars a little unique and distinctively mine,” says Digby. “Sometimes I get an idea of something I want, and if it’s not available, or too expensive, I’ll see if I can make it.” On this car that includes the mini swan neck mirror arms, the bezels on the seat backs, the hood sides, the grill insert, and the roof.

The Sport Coupe’s hood sides were conceived after painting a friend’s 1935 Chevy. “Instead of the standard configuration of hot rod hood louvers I opted for the longer, horizontal Chevy type,” says Digby. “After not being able to find anything to modify for this purpose, I made a set of wooden bucks with a router and hammered the louvers into a sheet of aluminum. Much the same with the hood. To get the profiles I wanted, the hood needed to be longer and on more of a forward slant, so I made patterns and rolled out the hood with the help of my son.

“I have made the grille insert for all of my cars, but this one needed to be a little different again,” says Digby. “I wanted the lead edge of the grille bars to have a radiused lead edge. I could have had one custom made commercially, but the cost estimate of $4,000 was beyond my reach. I was unable to find the stainless material with the radiussed edge, so I took 3/16" stainless tubing and had it flattened to 1/8". Each bar was bent, then file fit to the perimeter ring, and finally sanded and polished before being welded into place.”

The car was finished in 2013 and only months after its maiden voyage the crash occurred on the way back from the Goodguys Pacific Northwest Nationals held each July in Puyallup, WA. The good thing was Digby and his passenger had only minor injuries. The car was not so lucky, taking a hit from a Dodge pickup that basically rolled over the hood.
Digby had just spent the better part of 8 years building the car and some people might have just thrown in the towel, taken the insurance money and bought something finished. Not his style. “As much as I hate to redo things, I couldn’t wait to get into it,” he says. "The insurance company wouldn’t let me touch it for a couple of weeks and that just irritated the heck out of me that I couldn’t rip it apart and get all the ugly stuff off the car and make it dissappear and start to do it again.”

He saw the rebuild as an opportunity to improve on the car, which had already received awards, including one at the Goodguys show he was returning from when the crash happened. “There was a number of little things that irritated me about the original build that you don’t always see until the thing is all together. Because I was dealing with pretty well all original Model A parts they were pretty old I had one back fender that sat maybe .5” lower than the other one and I didn’t notice that until the car was done the first time.”

Digby didn’t cut corners on the repair. He repainted everything on the car because “that’s just the way I wanted to do it.” He used the same PPG Vanilla Shake he did the first time around with burgundy accents and pinstriping by Aspin Graphics of Chemainus, BC.

The car was completed, for the second time, in June of 2015 and Digby is already racking up the miles on the car, which is what he built it for despite its ability to win trophies and make jaws drop wherever it goes.
“This car is not a show car, it's a driver,” he says emphatically. “Being a driver calls for certain modifications to the traditional hot rod to make it functional and comfortable. That includes things like IFS, windows, an adjustable suspension (air ride) to get over those parking lot speed bumps and get onto ferries , and air conditioning.”

While he calls it a drive he knows he’s got something pretty sweet parked in his garage. “I got carried away early in the build and I could see that it was going to turn into something really unique.”
While he’s had other neat cars, maybe he considers this one to be twice as nice.
Who could blame him?

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