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Steve Reid charted his own course in building his '34 Plymouth highboy coupe. He built the '54 Plymouth flathead 6-cylinder engine before he figured out what to put it in, then settled on an original '30s chassis and a fiberglass body.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Keeping his street rod authentically Plymouth, Reid sold off a 360 Dodge V-8 and built this one-of-a-kind flathead 6-cylinder engine, complete with homemade headers -- not your garden variety power plant.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Often mistaken for a chopped '33 or '34 Ford coupe, Reid's Plymouth is fiberglass-bodied, but carries the correct dimensions of an unchopped 5-window. Note the understated '50 Pontiac taillights.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

The grille shell and insert aren't Plymouth pieces, but Essex Terraplane parts set off the front end of the coupe with a little extra style.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Another view of the mighty MoPar flathead six reveals a modified Chevy 6-cylinder HEI distributor; the flamed air cleaner cover is actually a Teflon-lined skillet.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Those skinny "cycle fenders" up front were created by slicing a swap meet spare tire cover in two and fitting the pieces snugly to the 165x15 Kelly tires. Chevy wheels fitted with early '50s Plymouth hubcaps and ribbed trim rings finish the look.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

The fiberglass Plymouth coupe body was produced by a now-defunct one-man company in Pennsylvania and features correct suicide-style doors.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

Reid used '52 Plymouth wheel centers on widened rims to mount the 235x75x15 radial blackwalls to the '68 Dodge rear end. He slanted the dual rear exhausts downward to match the exposed frame rails of the highboy.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

A '52 Plymouth donated its steering column and wheel to the cause. Reid fabricated his own instrument panel insert and built a long-throw shift lever out of bar stock to control the '87 Mustang 5-speed transmission.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

The coupe's bucket seats are salvage yard items of unknown heritage, still wearing original gray fabric covers. But Reid plans to have them reupholstered in something a little more appealing, probably leather.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle

All in all, Reid's '34 Plymouth 5-window coupe is an exercise in the unusual. "There's a lot of homemade stuff on this thing," he says.

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Mike Berry / The Wichita Eagle