Wheels Galleries

At age 16, Meridith Dale is rightfully proud of her new ride, although she has logged less than 10 miles behind the wheel of Trixie Tee so far. The car will spend at least a year on the show circuit before she begins driving it regularly.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Meridith Dale, accompanied by her friend, Amber Marks, eases the Trixie Tee off the lift in her dad's shop.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Meridith steers her hot rod under the watchful eyes of car-builder Jack Marinelli, right, and Mike Mistretta, who buffed Trixie's paint up to a show-worthy shine.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Trixie is channeled low over her custom-built frame rails.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Ready to roll, Meridith Dale can now say she has her own '60s-style hot rod, built to her specifications.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

The shorty V-6 was donated by an old Chevy van and allows the little '22 T-bucket to maintain correct proportions for its under-100 inch wheelbase.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

The one-of-a-kind dashboard and instrument cluster were crafted from metal conduit and then covered in sheet metal. Check out the slightly oversized crystal shift knob and the "Trixie Tee" pinstriping on the dash.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

A spoon-style accelerator pedal feeds fuel to the engine, while a cast aluminum butterfly from Hobby Lobby fills in as the brake pedal.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Jeb McGregor was tabbed to create the white/metallic teal vinyl interior to match Meridith Dale's Trophy Queen purse, which served as inspiration for Trixie Tee.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

The Chevy V-6 engine produces a surprisingly deep bass rumble through a set of custom-bent headers created from roll bar tubing by Donnie Blecha.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Silver-flaked 15-inch steel wheels were treated to a set of chrome spiders, with porta-wall wide whites added inside and out to the Coker Firestone bias-ply tires.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Tight quarters inside the T-bucket required the use of a tiny 9-inch steering wheel, which provides a view of the Classics speedo and accessory gauges.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Meridith Dale was also inspired to create Trixie by Jack Marinelli's classic 1929 Ford hot rod. Marinelli says the Trixie Tee project was "the funnest car I've ever built."

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle