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Meet MSD President Russell Stephens
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Meet MSD President Russell Stephens
Todd Veney
04/13/2018
10 min read
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Meet MSD President Russell Stephens
Todd Veney
04/13/2018
10 min read
MSD
Video
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(2)
MSD President Russell Stephens' car is the hot rod he always wanted, a 5-window '32 Ford coupe like the one actor Paul LeMat drove in the classic 1973 movie
American Graffiti
. Built from the ground up at MSD engineering headquarters in 2014 and unveiled early the following year, it's a showcase for
MSD
ignition products at events like Power Tour and the SEMA Show and a blast to drive in general. "It's no trailer queen," said Stephens, who's put about 5,000 miles on it in a little over three years. "It gets driven. I'll take it to dinner Friday nights, take it to church on Sundays, take it to car shows on the weekend. As a kid growing up in the '60s and '70s, I always loved those cars. To me, that's a hot rod, so when I got one, it had to be a 5-window. I wanted it to be a little different from some of the ones you see, so it's got the door handles on outside, the traditional buggy spring, and a solid front axle but with a modern-day drivetrain." The drivetrain is as modern as it gets, an LS3 with a GM hot cam and, naturally, a boatload of MSD products under the hood. The 377 cubic-inch powerplant is cranked to life with a
DynaForce starter
, fueled by an
Atomic LS EFI
system, fired by MSD multi-spark
coils
and
Super Conductor spark plug wires
, and relieved by a sanded-smooth
Hooker exhaust manifold
. Stephens went with a 4L65-E transmission that's monitored by an
Atomic Transmission Controller
and hooked to a Ford 9-inch rear end with 4.11:1 gears. Old-school Rocket Racing Ignitor wheels ride on Coker BFGoodrich rubber. Pete & Jake's Hot Rod Parts built the chassis, POSIES Rods and Customs helped the MSD guys assemble the rolling chassis and running gear, New Age Motorsports supplied the all-fiberglass body, and Brookville Roadster built the grille and grille shell. The immaculate paint was applied by Squeeg's Kustoms using their own custom color, Hot Rod Red. "We had a lot of products coming out when we were building this car, and it was a perfect way to show them off," said Stephens, 55, who has worked at MSD for 37 years. "It's a lot of power in a small package, and the thing gets 20 miles per gallon despite being about as aerodynamic as a brick."
author
Todd Veney
464 Posts
An Article About
MSD
Video
Show all
(2)
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