By Frank Colgoni
When people around Southern Ontario see the roadster at events and cruises, and how could you not "see" it, they sometimes ask "Is that the Horton car?" or "Is that Tom's car?" Well, the answer to both is yes. More definitively yes to the second. And, who is Tom? Tom is Tom VanDerGeld, now owner/operator of Lowdown Hot Rods of Cambridge, Ontario.

Originally conceived as a project car to showcase the talents of the staff at Horton's, the roadster became Tom's baby. This is not Tom's first "child" and won't be his last but he certainly has an affection for this one. Who can blame him.

After many months of frantic work, Tom debuted the car at Cobo Hall in Detroit in 1998. This was the first time we saw the car finished after tracking it's progress from chassis on up.

It's not hard to spot - even in the crowded Cobo with throngs of people milling and jockeying for position to catch a glimpse of some of finest rods and customs in North America.

Tom subsequently picked up many awards for this car.


The car is built on a solid Horton chassis and features a Canadian Ramrod Fiberglass body.The Ramrod is built with longer suicide doors and smooth, radiused corners.

The chassis is as pretty as the top side having had all welds ground smooth. Everything underneath is either polished or plated.

The stainless exhaust system was custom fabricated by Tom and polished. All plating was expertly done by Cambridge Custom Chrome.

Although sporting the popular Ford 9" diff, a Track 9 centre section, with removeable cover, was used to spice up the view from the rear.

In the adjacent photo, you can also see the license plate recess that was added by Tom and the LED tail lamps.

The car is currently wearing 17" American Racing Torq Thrust II's in back and 15's in front with BFG Comp T/A HR4 rubber. Originally, Tom had outfitted it with Weld Racing "Double Knuckle" wheels and BFG Euro T/A's.