In an era where public school activities are struggling due to significant funding cuts, Susitna-Valley teacher, Levi Lanning, has bucked the trend. Lanning donates his time, instructing students on how to build a Hot Rod Car, for the after-school club that he founded last year. KTNA’s Colleen Love has more.
The Hot Rod Club at Susitna-Valley High School is for any student who has an interest in bringing an old car back to life. Su-Valley provides the space and most of the tools, and shop teacher, Levi Lanning, provides the rest.
“The car we’re working on now, the grill is off of a 1934 Ford commercial truck, the front half of the body is 1934 Model A Sedan, and then the rear half of the body is a 1934 Chevrolet 4-Door Master Coup, which the body lines actually are very similar and line up. It’s not necessarily what I would be building for myself but I think it was a good, obtainable project for the kids and that’s kind of why we picked it.
The kids he’s referring to are both high school students and middle school students.
“So what we’re doing, we kinda split it up into two groups. Basically, the high school kids do lots of my fabrications, so like, this frame isn’t a frame that we bought. We built the frame from box tubing to replicate an older frame, just with a little bit more modern technology. So we’ll actually do sheet metal shaping. And then my middle school kids, the middle school group is doing all of the mechanical work. We tore the engine all the way down and then we’ve been doing the assembly of the engine. They’ll end up doing the brakes and stuff like that. So like, it’s basically going to be a brand new engine when it’s done, just with old parts, built by middle schoolers.”
According to Lanning, a “Hot Rod” car starts out as a vehicle that was built before World War Two. The car is then stripped down and the engine modified so the car will go faster than the original model. Racing hot rods has been a popular hobby since the 1930s. Races originally took place on the dry lake beds of California and then hot rod racing expanded nationwide. Lanning says the car the students are currently building will easily be able to drive over 100 miles per hour.
“I’m guessing this engine will probably have somewhere right around 325 horsepower, which is a lot in a car that’s probably going to weigh close to 1,800 pounds.”
Lanning says the School District doesn’t currently provide a monetary stipend for what he’s doing. He explains why he’s willing to donate his time to an after school club.
“The relationships with these kids and seeing them grow. You know, everybody says, oh, no kids are taking up trades…well not from this school. They’re going to take up some trades and they’re gonna go to work and they’re gonna make some good money and I’m glad that I can be part of that.”
Su-Valley’s first hot rod car is expected to be finished in the spring of 2027. Lanning says he plans to number the car 267 in honor of the classes of 2026 and 2027 who have done so much of the work. Lanning says that he looks for old cars at auction houses, and after this car is finished, he plans to start another hot rod project with another group of kids at the school. He even admits that he’s already purchased the car.
“I already got the car. I already got the next car and all the parts.”
Lanning says that any former students who have worked on the car will be able to drive it, as long as they have graduated from high school and hold a valid drivers’ license. For KTNA, I’m Colleen Love
