Throughout the winter months, ever since Players last year, I’d been trying to hook up with Kyle and his barbaric 1929 Ford Model A Pickup, nicknamed The Marauder.

Kyle was always working away and tinkering on his build, constantly adding new pieces to the vintage Ford. But most of the time was spent removing things or cutting holes. As you can see, this is not your run-of-the-mill Model A, but hey, who keeps these things standard nowadays?

The setting, the lighting, the car and the vibe of this shoot just all came together seamlessly. You could be mistaken for thinking it’s a location on Route 66, but it’s actually Coventry in the United Kingdom.

When I first met Kyle I was surprised by his automotive origins and how he has ended up building possibly one of the most badass hot rods on the planet.

Kyle’s first automotive love was the iconic Mk1 Audi TT. The car had countless engine modifications, upgraded brakes, a full race-spec roll cage and many other track-spec toys to boot. Soon after, Kyle’s love for American hot rods escalated and the TT was swiftly sold to fund his new passion.

After finding a shell and chassis on eBay, which had been built to a basic extent and left unloved in a dusty garage, Kyle took the plunge and got the Model A home.

He then (like we all should when buying somebody else’s project) started from the bottom, initially tearing everything apart so he knew he had a solid base. This meant completely separating the body from the chassis and removing the engine as well.

The goal was always an evil theme; Kyle knew the colour had to be black, ‘Raptor Black’ to be precise. He told me, “The vision was to be a mix of hot rod and rat rod, and I think it now sits nicely in the middle, something that looks good and well made, but you’re not afraid to get in and use it.”

After the sinister paint work it was time to focus on making the monster come to life with some more individual exterior features. Kyle added a set of Model A-style black rear lights, black motorbike mirrors, a Wizards of NOS nitrous oxide system, and a roof cutout with a fully custom roll back rag top.

The chassis is a full custom 4×2 setup with some amazing laser-cut brackets to hold it all together. It’s all been customised to run air ride suspension utilising the versatile Air Lift Performance 3P management system.

“I looked around at a lot of suspension options, but the Air Lift app made the decision easy for me as I knew the iPad had to be used in the build anyway,” Kyle says.

Hilariously, the ’29 Ford uses a Vauxhall Corsa power steering unit (limited edition of course) and a manual steering rack. The prop shaft is a custom piece, and there’s a heavy duty rear axle with LSD.

The guys over at OBP parts have played a huge part in the build of Kyle’s Model A. The car stops very well thanks to a plethora of OBP brake upgrades working in synchronisation with the full disc setup. There’s also a line-lock, but strangely this has not been tested yet.

The pickup gets along the tarmac on 15×6-inch front and 15×10-inch rear wheels.

Of course, The Marauder needed an evil heart, and that’s exactly what Kyle gave it. Being inspired by WelderUp and Steve Darnell’s D-Rod, it was always going to feature a huge compound turbo setup attached to a 5.9-litre 12V Cummins diesel. Pretty much everything on this engine is a custom work of art.

A custom 4-inch spike exhaust can’t be missed as it towers above the low-slung Model A cabin, and the Holset HX55 T6 and HX35 T3 turbos used in the build have all been polished up on the cold sides and the hot sides have had a hit of black.

Kyle has been building the Model A over a period of a few years, always tinkering and adding new bits and pieces. But he’s now got to the point where he wants a new project to start playing with again.

I know it’s always said that a project car is never complete, but Kyle may have got there with The Marauder. All that’s left to do now is for Kyle to take it out, enjoy it, and perhaps put the line lock to good use.

Matt Clifford
Instagram: im_ocayman

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