Roger and Nancy Ritzow are no strangers to award-winning hot rods. In 2007, their 1932 Ford roadster was named as one of Ford’s “75 Most Significant Roadsters,” in addition to being named as Goodguys’ 2004 Street Rod of the Year.
It’s no surprise that when the Ritzows decided they wanted to expand their brood of one-of-a-kind hot rods to include a larger car, they called on the man who brought their roadster dream to life—Troy Trepanier, the famed builder and owner of Rad Rides by Troy.
“We have the ’32 roadster and other hot rods but [were] always running short on trunk space or seats,” said Roger Ritzow. “We wanted a larger car that had trunk space, power and room for some friends. We decided it would be a 1950s car of some sort, and knew from the start it would be a Rad Rides car and would be Nancy’s.”
The Ritzows brought their request to Trepanier and let his creativity take over. Trepanier suggested that a 1956 Chrysler might fit the Ritzows’ styling requests, and after looking at photos, the couple agreed.
“We let Troy know the things we wanted in the car and then Troy’s talent and creativity, along with his incredible team, took over,” said Ritzow. “The outcome was ‘Passion.’”
A white 1956 Chrysler 300B was purchased for the project for about $11,000. Other than some minimal rust found on the lower quarter panel, the car was in great shape.
“The challenge was to give the appearance of a ’56 Chrysler with the workings of a star ship,” said Trepanier. “The challenge starts at the front bumper and ends at the rear bumper.”
Trepanier and his team went to work fabricating a hand-built chassis with front and rear suspension components from a 2007 Dodge Viper. The team narrowed it 4 inches, in addition to building a custom crossmember. A Viper steering rack was also installed, with a paddle shifter being built into the custom steering wheel.
The Ritzows had requested some power under the hood, so Trepanier replaced the car’s 354 Hemi engine with a 2008 Dodge Nextel Cup R5. To give it even more juice, 70mm precision twin turbos were mounted behind the inner fenders, along with a Rad Rides-designed intercooler built by Griffin Radiators.
Trepanier said that his favorite part of the entire build was “fabricating the engine combination with twin turbos in a way that they were hidden from view, yet [able to] reach the performance level that the owner requested. He asked for 1,000 horsepower and we made 1,080 at the rear wheels.”
A one-off custom Wilson intake manifold, a BigStuff III EFI system, an automatic 4L80E Bowler transmission, complete with a custom Rad Rides adaptor plate, and a slew of other custom parts round out the car’s powertrain.
Despite all of the custom parts under the hood, the first thing an admirer of the car will probably notice is its unique, three-toned paint scheme. Trepanier recruited renowned painter Charley Hutton to do the job, and together they created two one-of-a-kind colors for the car.
“During the body and paint work, a name for the [paint] colors was needed,” said Trepanier. “Charley Hutton was involved as body shop carbonator, and the owner’s wife’s name was Nancy, hence, ‘Nancy Rose’ and ‘Charley Brown’ became the paint colors.”
Brown pinstriping was added to the car by Tom Evans.
The builders wanted to keep the car’s color scheme consistent inside and out, in addition to keeping the interior as close to original as possible.
The car’s original seats were reshaped and reupholstered with beige leather and a recreation of the original rose-colored cloth upholstery from 1956 (complete with bird pattern). The interior was done by Jim Griffin of Griffin Interiors.
Rad Rides even customized a wheelchair for Nancy, matching its colors to the colors of her car.
“[The car has] all of the electronics found in a new OEM vehicle,” said Trepanier. In addition, it’s full of customized aftermarket gadgets to help along that “star ship” feel. This includes an ISIS body control module system installed by Jared Zimmerman, Vintage Air air conditioning, a Kenwood stereo system operated by the stock radio controls and custom gauges by Classic Instruments.
Zimmerman also created the car’s unique push-button, dash-mounted shifter module and reconfigured all of the dashboard controls.
Overall, Trepanier believes that “this is the best car [we’ve] built up until now. With each new vehicle, we strive to increase our level of coach-building.”
Coming from a man whose cars have won nearly every award known to hot rodding, it certainly says a lot about this car and the “Passion” behind it.
Stat Sheet:
Car: 1956 Chrysler 300B “Passion”
Owners: Roger and Nancy Ritzow
Location: Franklin, Wisconsin
Builders: Rad Rides by Troy, Manteno, Illinois
Interior: The car features its original seats, which have been reshaped and reupholstered in beige leather and a recreation of the original rose-colored bird cloth from 1956. The interior was done by Jim Griffin of Griffin Interiors of Bend, Oregon.
Powertrain: The car’s engine is a 2008 Dodge Nextel Cup R5 built by Jesel Racing and Bob Care. The powertrain also features a 4L80E transmission and is capable of being a true Flex E85-controlled system. The car’s engine combination is fabricated with two turbos that were mounted behind the inner fenders so they’re out of view. It also features a Rad Rides-designed custom intercooler built by Griffin Radiators that’s also hidden from view.
Body & Frame: The car features Viper suspension components on a hand-built chrome-moly steel chassis. The team created custom lower trim, as well as front headlight eyebrows that were made from steel and welded to the one-piece front clip.
Tires: BFG tires, 255 x 40 x 19 (front); 295 x 45 x 20 (rear)
Wheels: Custom one-off Dayton Wire Wheels, 19 x 8 (front), 20 x 10 (rear)
Paint: The body and paint team, which included Charley Hutton and Scott Schnedoth, created the car’s three-toned paint scheme using BASF and Glasurit paints in custom colors “Nancy Rose” and “Charley Brown,” as well as “Petal Pink.”
Other Features: “Passion” features all of the electronics that can be found on a new OEM vehicle, as well as a paddle shifter that was built into an in-house-designed steering wheel.
Awards: The car was awarded the 2010 Chip Foose Design Excellence Award at the 2010 Grand National Roadster Show. It also took home a slew of awards at the 2009 Detroit Autorama, including “1st Place—Best Full Hard Top,” “Casi Cup” and “Best Custom.”
Tags: Award Winners, Charlie Hutton, Chip Foose, Cool Cars, Featured Vehicle, Grand National Roadster Show, RadRides by Troy, Troy Trepanier
