VERY cool car, you done well. Pop a pin hole in the bottom of that dash and let whatever's in there leak out. Disco.
Dang! I remember this one... and still miss it! I still agonize over whether I should have let it go but I'm sure every one of y'all feel the same about one past car or another. Keep working on your coupe but I encourage you to think through each step and keep an ear out for good suggestions. The fellows are a great help to me on another thread where I'm doing somewhat of the opposite... taking a fresh, slick build and revamping the look to be less show car and more hot rod. Good luck, Al
So you think this could be an old gasser with an updated look? Are you saying nobody ever bend the rules in gasser class? I bet there was at least one who pulled a "true smokey" and got away with it!! I even saw the gasser interior thread, and some of them has a very full, but hollow interior, the ran cardboard door plates, small buckets and a hollow back seat with no padding. But non the less a full interior, and I thought it was very few things that was carver in stones, with gassers. And stuff regarding racing in general. And Smokey Yunick was one of a kind, but by far not the only rule bender in around!! Just saying. Does the original own have anything to add on the car? Maybe some story's from previous owners? Does it drive like a street car with a vengeance, a true gasser or it's a very beautiful poser? ️ How does the mill run? Did I miss out on it being a power-hop, other slush box or a three pedal car? Noise pedal, wife pedal and "true-man pedal". From right to left that is.
Bending the rules that's racin'. Sometimes all it takes is a lenient tech guy to get into the staging lanes. years ago when I was still racing the '55 (many years ago now) at some places where we raced I ran stock and others I ran gas class. Depended on the tech and how he interpreted the rules. I used to pit with a guy that raced a Healy 3000 with a GM 6 in it. He had the 6 dressed to look like the Healy mill and was forever trying to pass it off as stock and forever getting caught and either black flagged or bumped to MS class. There was a guy that eventually ended up famous that ran a '33 Willys and at one time he had two spare tires one that he teched with and the other filled with concrete that he raced with.
Here's its 3 window brother from '71 Nats (pic taken from web, not by me!) Consider this another vote to keep the slots!
I’m pretty sure this was built as a street car. Yes, it’s very peppy, has a low rear end gear, and it may have gone down the strip a few times in its life, but I doubt that was what it’s purpose was. It has an automatic trans (TH400). I only have a brief history so far on the car. I’m meeting up again this weekend with the guy I bought it from and he’s gonna give me some names to contact to verify this. The car was built (or partially built) by a Sims in the Quad Cities (Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, Moline) area probably in the early 70’s. Shortly after the build it went to another guy in the same area who owned it up until May of this year. The guy I got it from bought it from him to resell. It sounds like the Sims fella is still in the area so I’m hoping to talk to him soon. As I learn more, I’ll post it up. Or if anyone from the Quad Cities recognizes or has pics of it, let us know.
Be interested in the history for sure and I am serious about the intake if you need it. I doubt that its going anywhere and if I use it its going to have to be opened up a bit. By my way of thinking better left alone and thrown on an early small block than opened up on a let small block.
Very cool! The yellow paint is my favorite. Im with a lot of other guys...different rolling stock, so go fast goodies, clean the interior up and start doing donuts
My eyesight is not the best, but the wheels in that photo don't look like your garden variety slot "mags", at the least the fronts appear to be Halibrands. In my opinion; the price that Corn Fed paid for his 5W was a steal even if it had been sitting on blocks.
Yes, I'm interested in the intake. Can ya PM me some pics? The rims are not Halibrands (REALLY wish they were). The fronts are "Indy" and the rears are some unknown brand, maybe something like RWT?
Yes, they all are chrome.. I wish I could find a chromed dash for it. One already filled for a slew of gauges would totally set the interior off.
I know, but what I was referring to was the statement Phillips made regarding the wheels on the car in the photo he submitted.
Yes, got a few guys wound up several years ago when I bought a really nice 40 deluxe coupe and said I was going to drop it on an S-10 chassis and stretch the body through the quarter window to get it matching the wheelbase. Cornfed , that reminds me a lot of a model A coupe that ran around my home town when I was kid. It was nose high...I like it a lot. [/QUOTE]
The more I poke around on this car I'm sure it was a nice rust free stocker when they started rodding it. I'm not finding any evidence of rust. Not even any pits on the frame. I wish all the bodies you find today were like this one. And I'm rather impressed with the quality of the interior. Whoever stitched it up knew what they were doing. The execution and fit are not what your typical backyard guy would do. I'm really hoping I can talk to the original builder and find out who did it. There was a well know upholsterer in the area at that time that I would squeal like a school girl if it turned out it was one of his jobs. To me it would be like having real Von Dutch striping or a top chopped by Bill Hines.
LOL if they are Indys they are at least the more expensive of the slots that US put out. When I was younger the local handled Western Wheels and Us wheels. The ones that said Indy on them were about 7 dollars a wheel more then the ones that didn't say Indy on them. I guess it cost about 7 dollars a wheel more for the extra letters. LOL Its a shame that the van crowd liked slots so much they are actually not a bad looking wheel.
There really weren’t that many Vanners around here back then so I don’t blame them. I think the reason slot mags get such a bad rap is because they were so cheap that every jacked up Camero and Mustang had them so they are now associated with the redneck mullet crowd. This also includes the Crager SS. They are a decent looking rim and would be OK on the right car, but I personally wouldn’t run them for the same reason. Maybe 20 years from now it will all change and Slots will be big again. It happened with chrome reverse…they were hot, then looked down upon, and now are cool. Just like PNB’r said, wait long enough….
I actually like slots to an extent and like you said on the right car. For some reason I like them mixed and matched and not on all 4 corners, I have a pair of narrow Ansen slots for example that will eventually end up on the front of something, but probably backed by a pair of steelies. Makes me an odd duck. LOL No matter what happens the car is bitchen and I know it will end up being put right. hey I just noticed are those head lights King Bees?
If it quacks like a duck...... Slots on the front, steelies on the back. Beaner, you gotta know, slots are light. Good for front runners. Steelies on back, heavy helps traction. Back in the day, function was always first, style second. In our minds, every stop light was a place to drag. The more you did to make your car look faster, the better, cooler car you had.
LOL that is why I own the Ansens, and a pair of 8 wide reversed steelies (I got the stuff to make a pair of 7s because the 8s don't look right on everything). Around here the old guys I think had it backward, they all say of you ruin anything but stock wheels they go on the back. I think it comes from, "well I have enough for a pair of hot rod wheels and slicks or a pair of fronts and no slicks." But I'm with ya light wheels on the front and stickies on the rear.
A true "blast from the past". Odds are you will never have this opportunity again. So just fix the necessary items like wiring, brakes, new tires, ??, etc. Don't ruin//wreck it by trying to make a "2015" street rod out of it. Preserve the great history that you have been so fortunate to buy and drive it like it is. It simply does not get any better.
The Jalopy Journal
