Like most gear heads in his age group, Butch Hill notes that while growing up, he took a particular liking to hot rods as a result of the influence from his father, Don. He was known as the Hill-Boys Race Team in the dirt/asphalt racing circuit.
Although his involvement with hot rods came from his father. His mother, Marilyn, was one of his biggest fans and supporters.
Butch made frequent trips to the drag strips to check out what was running. The “look and power” of those cars was something that intrigued him. Needless to say, he was always on the hunt for cool hot rods.
In 1978 Butch was driving through a local neighborhood and noticed a 1939 Ford Coupe in a driveway. He decided to stop and ask if the car was for sale. The owner answered the door and agreed to sell it to him. After a quick look-over, the deal was done .
He dove into his new purchase with a tune up on the 396 big block Chevy motor with a 4-speed transmission and a Pontiac rear-end. He removed the Pontiac rear-end and replaced it with a Ford 9” that he narrowed down 2 inches. He left the car this way for about a year until he made a connection with Mickey Thompson Tires who were coming out with their new size 33x21.5x15 tire which was way bigger than the McCreary tires of the time.
Because this was one of the very first cars in the country to run such a large tire all tucked up under the fenders, they sent him a pair of tires. The problem was that he did not have wheels wide enough to fit those new monster tires. Weld Wheels wanted to get on the band wagon, and they sent a set of wheels called Pro Stars which again, at that time, were some of the coolest wheels on the market.
Butch ran the coupe this way well into the mid 1990's , when he spotted a new Crower Fuel Injection Intake at a swap meet .
Luckily for Butch, he had connections with a company called Speed-Pro.
You might know them today as FAST.
After buying this intake, it was time to figure out how he could make the coupe run on the street and/or the drag strip. Luckily for Butch, he had connections with a company called Speed-Pro. You might know them today as FAST. Between Butch, Speed-Pro and BDS Blower Drive Service, they were embarking on the first ever multi-port EFI computer system for the aftermarket. After many months of work, they managed to figure out how to make it happen.
After all these years, the coupe is still running the first aftermarket EFI computer system. The motor is now 100 cubic inches larger making it a 496 , and it's transferring the power through a Turbo 400. Bigger injectors were also added to help feed the go juice making it produce around 780 horse power.
"Newstalgia" has won many drag racing events around the country. The car is very consistent with its quickest ¼ mile time of 9.73 .
Butch Hill in his office, at the controls of his stunning 1939 Ford Coupe.He is getting ready for another sub ten second pass.
Photo's and story courtesy of Butch Hill. 2020
Check out the story on Butch's 1953 Studebaker
located on it's own page.
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