I bought this car last summer from a man in Windsor. I've wanted a '55 since I was 10 and watched 2 Lane Blacktop with my dad for the first time. That was 30 yrs ago and I've spent more time than I care to admit trying to figure out how to get my hands on one. They are always too expensive, or I'd find one just after I spent money on something else (dishwasher or diapers etc).
Lucked out and had some cash that wasn't spoken for so I bit the bullet. That's not entirely true, I used my wife's kitchen reno fund to scrounge the balance after I scrambled to sell off some treasures.
Drove non-stop to Windsor Fri morning to get it, loaded it up and turned around. Home Mon morning and the wife and kids meet me on the curb. First thing the wife says is "You aren't painting that any other color", and the kids instantly christened it the "Cherry Bomb."
Its a nice enough car, not concourse quality though. Its got a mid-80's 350 with a Saginaw 4 spd, Dart heads/intake, Q jet, 3.36 gears. Its a cool enough car for cruising to the Dairy Queen but its no race car.
The dirt: inner fenders cut at some point for fenderwell headers. Headers are long gone and fenders rough patched back together.
Frame cut and welded on for ladder bars. Ladder bars long gone too, looks like quick and dirty removal with a torch.
Rear fenders radiused at some point, now patched back in with original style openings.
The only info I got at time of purchase was that it was a race car back in the day and was rebuilt in its current configuration around 30 yrs ago. Then it changed hands 2 or 3 times until the guy I bought it from sold it to me.
That is a nice ride . You and your family should have some fun times in it. Just remember the icecream will wash out of the back seat , but the fun memories you will have will last forever. Ed
I hear that! With 4 kids there's no point in losing my mind over a stain or two. Would be a losing battle.
Since I got it I've ditched the tint, front bumper, and am now working on getting the drive line in order. I blew up the old rear end a week ago (spring fever) and now have it pulled out. I have a Muncie M22 I am putting in it, and am in the process of ordering a Currie 9" rear end kit to swap in with a 4 wheel disc conversion. It ain't original so I'm gonna have some fun with it.
I hear that! With 4 kids there's no point in losing my mind over a stain or two. Would be a losing battle.
Since I got it I've ditched the tint, front bumper, and am now working on getting the drive line in order. I blew up the old rear end a week ago (spring fever) and now have it pulled out. I have a Muncie M22 I am putting in it, and am in the process of ordering a Currie 9" rear end kit to swap in with a 4 wheel disc conversion. It ain't original so I'm gonna have some fun with it.
very nice car! Glad you got rid of the tint, that would've been the first thing I did.
First thing I did to it was remove the 2" lowering blocks.
Then the chop: I had to radius the wheel wells. They had been done before to this car so I don't think there's any harm done. Plus I prefer it. My car, my way. You can see remnants of the old flared edge here, I left as much material as possible because I didn't have my new tires and honestly, I wasn't sure how to proceed!
I found some "gasser" patch panels from Golden Star and am currently in the process of fitting them. I'm not ready for a full on body work and paint job so my plan is to try matching the paint as closely as possible and painting to the stainless spear for now (removed in this pic). Don't really care about show quality paint, a hack 55 is better than no 55.
As you can see in the last pic, I've got my M/T Drag Radials on now. A couple weeks ago an old car guy was eyeing up the Chevy and he commented: "If you hook up with those you're gonna break things."
Fast forward 4 days and here I am: pulled my recently grenaded rear end and am now ordering up a new setup. The old guy was right! I was having a bit of fun and the rear went south on me. I was planning on replacing it anyway but now it's a priority.
I picked up a good condition Muncie M22 with a Hurst shifter and a Lakewood bellhousing last weekend so I'm going to swap out the Saginaw while the car is down.
I've decide on a Currie 9" kit, comes with axles and built to bolt into the 55. 4.10 gear and a Detroit locker and while I'm at it I'm going to do a 4 wheel disc brake conversion and put in new poly bushings. Got myself a heaping plate of work to do now to get it back on the road quickly. I looked at the car all winter in the shop waiting for spring and then broke it the third time out.
I've got a Model A sedan (long term project) and I can't afford to have another car that's undriveable. The Chevy needs to get its wheels back under it ASAP if I'm gonna keep my gal happy.
Front bumper delete, single most effective mod you can do to a 55 (just my opinion of course). May not be good for any HP gains but the car just looks better! And drops 50 lbs.
Horn crapped out so I committed a major sin. I know letting a Dodge part touch a Chevy is sacrilege but I had to do it. This was sitting on the shelf at a local resto shop. I saw it last fall and it haunted me since then so I finally bought it. Mee-Meep!
-- Edited by Joe Mosely on Wednesday 15th of April 2015 10:40:54 PM
Haha I am ready to take some licks for putting a Mopar part in the car. No its not really being built for a highway cruiser although I will be taking it on a trip for my older kids' piping band competition in May (cross your fingers that it will be back together by then). For everyday highway legs I've got my Marauder. The Chevy is mostly for kicks driving around town. Scratches that itch I got when I was kid seeing James Taylor rowing the gears in slo-motion in TLB.
Currie axles/housing en route, Saginaw out and on the floor. Muncie ready for install, just need to decide what clutch to buy and then its going back together!
Update for anyone who's interested: Axles and housing arrived along with a new transmission crossmember and a rebuilt lsd diff with 4.11 gear. Now waiting on my brakes (had to change my plans a bit). Now staying with drums because the wife reminded me that we are trying to redo our kitchen. Maybe discs someday.....
I'm also a bit of a gun nut, I collect 1911 pistols as well as a few others. I sold a few last year to help raise funds for the car, looks like I'm going to be doing it again. Too many projects and I'm just a workin stiff.
I love this car. I may have to start selling some of my guns to finance some of the good deals that are around currently. I really need to get my old shop moved to the new shop!
Thanks! I'm terrible at body work so I'm really not making very fast progress. I don't want to mess it up so I spend more time looking at it than doing it haha. Driving it in the meantime though, or at least I was until I blew it up.
Its at my "work" shop right now, a lot more room to spread out than my home shop. The home shop is full of Model A and guns/parts, and whisky. If I had been thinking clearly I would have moved the A to the big shop and put the Chevy in the garage so it would be easier to tinker a bit here and there. As it is I have to plan my time carefully so I can get away to wrench on it.
But its pretty nice having so much room! 50x80 lets me have a few projects on the go.
Got to go and put my flak jacket on now.
