LIHU‘E — Howard Costa lives in Lihu‘e and has an impressive collection of man-toys. He owns a 1957 street and strip BelAir Chevy, a 1978 drag racing Chevy Malibu, a “Sunny-day” 1985 Bronco II, a 1968 pro-stock racing Chevy Camaro,
LIHU‘E — Howard Costa lives in Lihu‘e and has an impressive collection of man-toys. He owns a 1957 street and strip BelAir Chevy, a 1978 drag racing Chevy Malibu, a “Sunny-day” 1985 Bronco II, a 1968 pro-stock racing Chevy Camaro, a 1989 “Sunny-day” Harley Davidson, a 1979 El Camino in storage, a twin to the Chevy Malibu that is strictly for street use.
The last item on the man-toy list is a 1923 Ford T bucket hot rod. Like the previously mentioned “Sunny-days” cars, this little powerhouse is only taken out on sunny days too.
When Costa was younger he worked at the Shell gas station in Kalaheo and was smitten by a 1923 Ford “T-bucket” roadster that had won a few prizes in a few local car shows.
The car was owned by a Kalaheo resident named Jeffrey who built it from a Performance car kit back in 1990. Eventually the owner got tired of driving his hot rod around and stored it in a Matson container.
Nine years passed and Jeffrey decided to put his street rod up for sale. He contacted Costa who had previously showed an interest in buying it. Unfortunately, Costa had just purchased a cherried-out 1957 Chevy and wasn’t ready to lay out another chunk of change so soon for this new ride.
So the T-bucket remained in a for sale status until the day of the phone call. Costa was on vacation in Las Vegas with his wife when he received a call from Jeffrey who made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Costa returned to Kaua‘i and after checking out the condition of the nine year recluse ride, immediately dropped down a deposit.
After making the final payment on his new car, Costa turned to his friend Paul Silva to rebuild and tune the Holley carburetors while Alan Perreira provided the expert pin striping and Costa added lots and lots of chrome to bring a Hollywood sparkle to this Kalaheo street rod.
Costa chose to name his hot rod “Half Breed” because it has the appearance of a Ford but runs a Chevy engine and transmission with a Ford differential. Half-Breed is a “show” car and great for running around town, but the engine is way too powerful for racing in a light fiberglass body.
“The 350 nickel block Chevy motor was custom made on Oahu and if dropped in a performance race car could probably run 9 seconds or better,” Costa said. Based on a fuel check after a run from Lihu‘e to Koloa the beefed up hot rod, “gets between 12 to 15 miles to the gallon,” said Costa. As a rule Costa only drives it on sunny days to the bank or for short in-town errands, making it the ultimate “fun on the run” car.
An interesting feature on this T-bucket is a massive “blower” above the carburetor with three air vents painted with the letters Y, E and S. The answer to question of why the letters are painted Y-E-S is, “When you drive this car, it’s feeling of, …YES!!,” Costa said with huge grin.
Anyone wishing to share their classic auto may find out more information by calling Richard Aki at 482-0688 or Harvey Maeda at 651-2813 or e-mail: harveyskoi@juno.com
To view a short video of Howard Costa’s 1923 T-bucket, click on the “TGI video” link at kauaiworld.com.
Watch video footage online
of this classic 1923 Ford “T-Bucket” in action as part of The Garden Island’s recurring series on Kaua‘i’s Classic Car Club and check back each week for a new classic.
